Reputed New England Mafia underboss Carmen "The Cheese Man" DiNunzio was arrested yesterday on charges that he delivered a $10,000 bribe to an undercover FBI agent posing as a state official, part of an alleged conspiracy to secure a $6 million Big Dig contract.
more stories like thisDiNunzio, 50, who owns a cheese shop in the North End, was indicted along with two other men on a federal charge of conspiracy to commit bribery. He was secretly recorded and videotaped by the FBI in September 2006 as he allegedly paid cash to a man he thought was a Massachusetts highway inspector. DiNunzio thought the payment would help him and his friends secure a contract to provide 300,000 cubic yards of loam, a soil mix, for the project, according to the indictment.
"I'm the Cheese Man," DiNunzio, of East Boston, said in an apparent boast to the undercover agent, who had said he was worried that the deal could fall through. "We straighten out a lot of beefs, a lot of things."
DiNunzio was indicted along with Anthony D'Amore, 55, a convicted drug dealer and alleged mob associate from Revere, and Andrew Marino, 42, of Chelmsford, who owns a small trucking company, Marino Trucking.
Federal authorities called the indictment significant because it comes as the local mob, which had been nearly dismantled in the 1980s and 1990s with waves of federal prosecutions, has been regaining strength as mobsters are returning to the streets after years in prison.
It also could illustrate an overconfident, sometimes reckless hierarchy of the local branch of La Cosa Nostra, more commonly known as the Mafia. It would have been unheard of in the days of the old guard for an underboss to personally deliver a bribe to a man he barely knew.
And given that local mob leaders like Gennaro "Jerry" Angiulo, Raymond "Junior" Patriarca, and Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme were all toppled by wiretaps and FBI bugs, it seemed almost baffling that DiNunzio would be so chatty and allegedly careless.
"I don't think anyone ever suggested there were geniuses involved in" La Cosa Nostra, said US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, when asked during a press conference if there has been a dumbing down of the mob. "I don't think they are any dumber, but as dumb as they have always been."
In a brief appearance in US District Court in Boston yesterday, DiNunzio, a hulking figure who tips the scale at over 400 pounds, was dressed in a bulky blue sweatshirt and black pants that he hitched up each time he stood to address the court. He pleaded not guilty. D'Amore and Marino were not arraigned because they were without lawyers.
DiNunzio's Boston lawyer, Anthony Cardinale, told the court that he is worried about his client's health if jailed because DiNunzio suffers from a heart condition, Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, and other ailments
He takes a lot of medicines, without which he can't survive," Cardinale said.
more stories like thisUS Magistrate Judge Joyce London Alexander ordered DiNunzio and D'Amore held without bail until a hearing Wednesday on whether they should remain jailed until the case is resolved. She ordered that DiNunzio be taken to the Devens federal prison hospital in Ayer. Marino was freed on personal recognizance.
DiNunzio has been a made member of the Mafia since the late 1990s and was tapped to serve as underboss four years ago by reputed boss Luigi "Louie" Manocchio of Providence, according to an FBI affidavit filed in court. DiNunzio was arrested in December 2006 by Massachusetts State Police on state charges of extortion and gambling conspiracy and is currently awaiting trial in Essex County.
Though DiNunzio was subdued and looked forlornly at the crush of reporters that filled the courtroom, federal authorities depicted him as the leader of a dangerous and violent organization.
Warren T. Bamford, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office, said La Cosa Nostra remains the foremost organized criminal threat in America and is involved in everything from stock market manipulation and telemarketing scams to gambling, loan-sharking, and murder.
"The threat of [La Cosa Nostra] is still with us; it has not gone away," said Bamford, adding that it is crucial for the FBI and other agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and Boston police, who participated in the DiNunzio investigation, to keep the pressure on the mob.
"We've caused a significant disruption in this organization," Bamford said of the indictment.
The indictment alleges that in May 2006, an unidentified cooperating witness began meeting with DiNunzio and D'Amore about the soil contract. The two men, along with Marino, allegedly paid the purported Massachusetts Highway Department inspector, who was a friend of the witness, a $10,000 down payment. The deal was that the inspector would receive a total of 5 percent of the contract's value, which amounted to about $300,000.
When it looked like Marino was going to back out of the deal on Oct. 9, 2006, according to the FBI affidavit, the undercover agent posing as the inspector told DiNunzio. "What I need is a guarantee that somebody's got their foot on Marino's neck."
"Right here, you got the guarantee from here," DiNunzio replied.
The reputed mob leader told the undercover agent that if Marino did not come through, "They better leave town . . . 'cause it ain't gonna be safe nowhere for them."
In an earlier recorded conversation in Sept. 2006, the cooperating witness, who was also involved in setting up the bribery plan, suggested that he and D'Amore might become made members of the mob "if we do a good job."
But D'Amore was not interested in joining the family, according to the affidavit.
"You can keep it," D'Amore said. "Who needs the [expletive] grief?"
He added, "Wouldn't you just rather be on the outside, like this, looking in and knowing you've got a few friends?"
The witness agreed, saying, "Yeah, membership has its costs."
One cost is the risk of attracting the attention of law enforcement. "There is certainly not a decline in this family," said Jeffrey S. Sallet, the supervisory special agent in charge of the FBI's Providence office and coordinator of the New England division's organized crime program. "We at the FBI view them as a priority investigative target."
Even with yesterday's arrest, Sullivan said there is no evidence of Mafia involvement in the mammoth $15 billion, 15-year Big Dig project.
The loam contract being sought by DiNunzio and the others apparently was intended for the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, almost eight acres of park and open space snaking through downtown Boston on the footprint of the old Central Artery.
One mystifying aspect of the allegations against DiNunzio and the others is how anyone could have believed a Massachusetts Highway Department inspector could help obtain a supply contract. Loam, like concrete and other materials used on the Big Dig, was purchased by building contractors, not the state.
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