Reputed Mafia underboss 'Cheese Man' DiNunzio pleads guilty
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
Reputed New England Mafia underboss Carmen "The Cheese Man" DiNunzio pleaded guilty today in federal court to charges of bribery and conspiring to commit bribery.
Under a plea agreement, DiNunzio faces a six-year sentence. Judge William G. Young set sentencing for Sept. 24.
Federal prosecutors said the 51-year-old DiNunzio tried to bribe an undercover FBI agent posing as a corrupt highway inspector in fall 2006 in a bid to secure a $6 million contract to provide loam, a soil mix, to the Big Dig highway project in downtown Boston.
As part of a sweeping plea deal, he is slated to appear in Essex Superior Court in Salem next Wednesday and plead guilty to state charges of extorting bookmakers and running an illegal gambling business in 2001, the Globe reports today.
Standing in a courthouse hallway after his plea, DiNunzio, who was dressed in a teal short-sleeved jersey and black pants, declined to comment on his case, but said, "I'm very happy with my attorney.''
Boston attorney Anthony Cardinale, who represents DiNunzio, said DiNunzio decided to plead guilty to the federal and state charges because "we did an evaluation and the made the best deal we possibly could.''
DiNunzio was dubbed "The Cheese Man'' because he owns the Fresh Cheese shop on Endicott Street in the North End.
Cardinale said the shop, which is known for its tasty Italian subs, will likely close because business has fallen off since DiNunzio was arrested on the federal charges a year ago and prohibited from working while confined to his East Boston home under house arrest.
On the beat

Reporter
Milton J. Valencia is covering the federal appeals court ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act. |
|
Recent stories from the MetroDesk


Features

Editor's Choice

A pastor's dream, a church in crisis

Out of pain long past, he forges hope
- Ambitious emissions plan called lagging
- Adrian Walker: Stopped for being black
- Science with a beautiful, and complicated, view
- Chairs bring change of pace to Harvard Yard

From Today's Globe
- Federal court in Boston rules US marriage law unconstitutional
- A year after deadly tornado, Springfield neighborhood still reels
- Warren camp seeks to allay concerns over ancestry questions
- Elizabeth Warren says of ancestry, ‘I won’t deny who I am’
- Boston looks to curb clutter of satellite dishes

LOCAL BLOGS
Universal Hub
The Chinatown Blog
CommonWealth Magazine
Red Mass Group
Blue Mass Group
Boston 1775
The Berkeley Beacon
The Daily Collegian
The Daily Free Press
The Harvard Crimson
The Heights
The Huntington News
The Suffolk Journal
The Tech
The Tufts Daily







