Judge mulls bail for Carmen 'The Cheese Man' DiNunzio
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
Reputed New England Mafia underboss Carmen "The Cheese Man'' DiNunzio realized he'd been caught in a sting when he was being booked on a bribery charge at the FBI last Friday and the man he thought was a corrupt state official stopped by to say hello.
 Carmen DiNunzio |
"He is an FBI agent?" asked DiNunzio, suddenly realizing that the purported Massachusetts highway inspector who had taken a $10,000 bribe from him in the fall of 2006 was, in fact, an undercover FBI agent, according to documents filed today in federal court during a bail hearing.
DiNunzio, 50, of East Boston, owner of a North End cheese shop, was indicted along with two other men last week on a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery.
He's accused of trying to bribe the undercover agent in a bid to secure a $6 million contract to provide 300,000 cubic yards of loam for the Big Dig.
Assistant US Attorney Peter K. Levitt argued today that DiNunzio should remain jailed without bail until the case is resolved because he might try to harm or intimidate a cooperating witness who helped orchestrate the sting by introducing DiNunzio to the undercover agent.
In a bid to convince a federal magistrate that DiNunzio is dangerous, Levitt played a tape of an Oct. 9, 2006, meeting that was secretly recorded by the FBI, in which the reputed mobster assured the undercover agent that he would make sure his associates, Anthony D'Amore, 55, of Revere, and Andrew Marino, 42, of Chelmsford, delivered the loam as promised.
"Yeah, well, we almost, I was gonna throw this (expletive) kid off a roof,'' said DiNunzio, later adding, "Look it, I don't even come out, I come out cause of this guy. I'm the Cheese Man.''
Boston attorney Anthony Cardinale, who represents DiNunzio, said his client, who weighs more than 400 pounds, suffers from diabetes, coronary heart disease, sleep apnea, and morbid obesity, and must be released from jail in order to get proper medical treatment.
US Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein said she'll resume the hearing tomorrow or the next day. She has yet to rule on bail.
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 on those charges in Essex County.
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.
