'The Cheese Man' to be freed on bail

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

Reputed New England Mafia underboss Carmen "The Cheese Man'' DiNunzio has been ordered released on $20,000 cash bail by a federal magistrate who rejected the government's claim that he is dangerous and should remain jailed until his trial on a bribery charge.

"I just got word to his family and they are obviously happy,'' said DiNunzio's lawyer, Anthony Cardinale, adding that his client is likely to be set free Wednesday following a 2 p.m. hearing at the federal courthouse.

"I think it was the fair ruling,'' said Cardinale, who had argued that DiNunzio, who weighs over 400 pounds and suffers from diabetes, coronary artery disease, and sleep apnea, is not dangerous.

DiNunzio, 50, owner of a cheese shop in Boston's North End, has been jailed since his May 2 arrest on a one-count federal indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit bribery. He and two associates are accused of paying a $10,000 bribe in September 2006 to an undercover FBI agent posing as a corrupt Massachusetts highway inspector, in a bid to secure a $6 million contract to provide 300,000 cubic yards of loam, a soil mix, to the Big Dig.

In a 20-page ruling Tuesday, US Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein said the evidence against DiNunzio appears strong, but the crime as charged did not involve "violence or threats of violence.''

Though she accepted the government's contention that DiNunzio became second-in-command of the New England mob in 2004, Dein said there was no evidence that DiNunzio threatened or tried to harm the undercover agent even after the loam deal fell through and the agent kept the $10,000.

She also noted that the alleged bribery scheme ended in December 2006, and the government left DiNunzio on the street for 17 months before arresting him.

Prosecutors argued that DiNunzio was a danger and played an FBI tape in court of him saying he wanted to throw an associate off a roof if he backed out of the loam deal.

But Dein said DiNunzio's comments "seem to be expressions of annoyance rather than actual threats'' and noted that he never followed through on them.

She set a number of restrictions for DiNunzio, who must continue to live in the East Boston home he shares with his mother and sister; wear an electronic bracelet; only leave home for court, lawyer, or doctors' visits; submit to random searches of his home by the FBI; and avoid contact with any witnesses or his codefendants.

However, DiNunzio won't be allowed to work in his Endicott Street cheese shop while on bail. An FBI agent testified during DiNunzio's bail hearing last week that known members of La Cosa Nostra, more commonly known as the Mafia, had been observed frequenting DiNunzio's shop.

"Such unrestricted access to other members of LCN is inappropriate at this time,'' wrote Dein, adding that letting DiNunzio resume work at his shop would make it "too risky'' that he would engage in unlawful activities.

The magistrate also ordered the release of DiNunzio's codefendant, Anthony D'Amore, 55, of Revere, on $20,000 cash bail and set similar restrictions. The third man charged in the case, trucking company owner Andrew Marino, 42, of Chelmsford, was released on personal recognizance the day of his arrest.