And people say things never change.
Boston mob boss Carmen"The Cheeseman" DiNunzio paid a downpayment of 10G's to a guy he thought would deliver the mob a $6 million dollar contract to supply loam to the Big Dig in 2006. The deal fell apart and lo and behold, nothing happened to the guy who walked with the 10Gs.
Nothing happened.
Nothing, except legendary New England godfather Raymond Patriarca rolled over in his grave.
This is relevant this afternoon as DiNunzio, the sad-eyed rotund North End cheese shop owner, fights in federal court for bail. The government contends he's a dangerous, dangerous man whose very presence on the cobblestone streets of the North End would threaten public safety.
DiNunzio, who already did time in California for extortion, was arrested earlier this month on charges of conspiracy. "The guy" turned out to be an undercover agent and the whole silly bribery scheme was captured for posterity, and most likely, a jury's amusement, on video tape.
FBI agent Michael J. Kelly's 17-page affidavit filed in federal court doesn't offer any details how the deal fell apart, or how Dinunzio reacted when the deal dissapeared, along with his 10Gs.
It's safe to assume, however, that the threat DiNunzio was caught making on tape was just so much hot air:
"If the check ain't there, then I'm going to the fucking can cause somebody's gonna get hurt. Bad," he told The Guy.
Looks like the only one who got hurt in this chapter of Boston mafia history is DiNunzio.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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1 comments:
Yep, a sad fall. I think part of it is that organized crime works best in insular groups - usually immigrant communities - before the Italian mafia, there were Irish and Jewish gangs, and now we have hispanic, Asian, and Russian groups (plus black gangs, since the African-American community is still cut out of the mainstream even as other ethnic groups become merged). Meanwhile, the Italian community, like the Irish and Jewish communities, has become more integrated - and that means the best and brightest don't need to get into organized crime, and the insularity, which provided protection, disappears.
I just read a review of this book, which you should pick up - Jimmy Breslin's The Good Rat - about the recent NYC trial of the two cops who were afterhour hitmen, and the mafia jailbird who brought them down in court - the informant is actually the father of a judge. Breslin says this guy is a classic throwback to the glory days of the Italian mafia.
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