DiMasi and the Italians

This friend is Italian-American, and it was his immediate reaction to the criminal charges filed against the first Italian-American speaker of the House of Representatives.

DiMasi is the third Massachusetts speaker in a row to face indictment. Two predecessors - Thomas M. Finneran and Charles F. Flaherty - pleaded guilty to federal charges. Clearly, political corruption is not limited to any single ethnic group. Over the past year, two Bay State politicians who happen to be African-American were also indicted on federal corruption charges: former state senator Dianne Wilkerson was photographed allegedly stuffing cash into her bra, and investigators accuse Chuck Turner, a Boston city councilor, of taking a $1,000 payoff.

But, the charges against DiMasi, who is basically accused of taking money to rig two state contracts, resonated with my friend for the obvious reason. They conjure up the old stereotype many have of Italian-Americans - that they are tied, personally or through relatives, to criminal activities. While “The Sopranos’’ may be compelling TV, in real life Italian-Americans find it less entertaining when the vowels in their last name automatically spark questions about their ethics.

Mario Cuomo never ran for president, at least partly out of fear that ethnic stereotyping would undermine a national campaign. Inoculated, or so he believed, by a career as a federal prosecutor, Rudy Giuliani did run for president in 2008; but he still ran into some trouble on the integrity issue because of criminal allegations against a business partner.

In Massachusetts, Italian-Americans have been acquiring political power for decades. But they did it quietly. In a 2003 Boston magazine piece headlined “The Godfathers,’’ political reporter Jon Keller noted that Italians “are now as much in charge of this town as the Irish.’’ So, he wondered, “Why are they so shy about it?’’

Probably because they knew if they made too much celebratory noise over their rise, they would be cast as “The Godfathers.’’

For a long time, Irish-Americans dominated Boston politics, and the Yankees - not the ball club, but the so-called WASP elite - controlled politics at the state level. But over time, Italian-Americans made inroads.

Foster Furcolo was the first Italian-American governor, elected in 1956. He was followed by John Volpe in 1960. In 1997, after William F. Weld resigned as governor, his lieutenant governor, Paul Cellucci, became acting governor. Cellucci eventually won election in his own right. He did not let worries of ethnic stereotyping get in the way of his love of horse-racing or his ego. He insisted that he resembled actor Robert DeNiro.

Thomas M. Menino became the first Italian-American mayor of Boston in 1993. He is currently running for a fifth term. When Robert Travaglini was elected Senate president in 2003, he was the first Italian-American to lead a legislative branch.

Then, there was DiMasi, a North End lawmaker for 30 years who became the first Italian-American speaker in 2004. He reveled in his Italian heritage, and embraced the image of a loud, passionate, back-slapping Mediterranean. After he hugged then-Governor Mitt Romney, DiMasi quipped that he got “frostbite.’’ He often reminisced about his humble roots and the cold-water tenement he grew up in with his grandparents, next to the Old North Church.

A February 2008 Boston magazine profile begins with DiMasi walking through his old neighborhood, drinking cappuccino on Hanover Street and basking in the adulation of neighbors who will always call him “Sal.’’

The article captures DiMasi in his glory days, just as news reports were beginning to surface about contracts he appeared to be shepherding through the State House, allegedly to benefit DiMasi and a tight circle of friends.

At that same time, DiMasi was mustering all his formidable power to keep casinos out of Massachusetts. He never fully explained his vehement opposition. But it seems plausible that taking the moral high ground in the gambling debate was his way of separating himself from the darker ethnic stereotypes. Sadly, those stereotypes have now caught up with him.

Joan Vennochi can be reached at vennochi@globe.com.