Prosecutors say ex-Bruin Cheevers possible loan victim
As racketeering mob trial opens
Former Boston Bruins goaltender Gerry Cheevers allegedly borrowed money from a businessman who got the cash from members of a lucrative North Shore gambling and loansharking ring, according to federal prosecutors.
As jury selection began yesterday in the federal racketeering trial of reputed mob associate Arthur Gianelli; his wife, Mary Ann, 52; and three others, a prosecutor told the judge that one of the alleged loanshark victims slated to testify had actually borrowed money from Gianelli's group on behalf of Cheevers sometime around 2000.
That alleged victim - Philip Castinetti, who owns a Saugus sports memorabilia store - "acted as an intermediary" between Gianelli's group and Cheevers, Assistant US Attorney Fred M. Wyshak Jr. told the judge. Wyshak did not disclose the amount of the loan, though lawyers said it was a small amount.
Wyshak said that prosecutors do not plan to call Cheevers as a witness. However, potential jurors were questioned yesterday about whether they knew Cheevers or any of the other 151 people on the government's list of people who will be mentioned or take the stand during the trial.
Reached at his home yesterday, Cheevers, 68, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame who played alongside Bobby Orr on the 1970 and 1972 Stanley Cup-winning teams, declined to comment and would not say whether he knew the source of the loan.
"I'm really confused as to why my name is on the list," he said.
Castinetti could not be reached yesterday, and his lawyer declined to comment.
Gianelli, 51, of Lynnfield, who is the brother-in-law of convicted former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr., was indicted four years ago along with 16 others in a sweeping federal racketeering case on charges of running the gambling ring and trying to bully the owners of three area bars into selling their businesses to him and his partners.
He is also accused of plotting to burn down the Big Dog Sports Grille, a North Reading bar, in 2003 to intimidate the owners into selling them another bar in Lynnfield.
He is also charged with using threats and intimidation in an unsuccessful bid to force the owners of Clarke's Turn of the Century Saloon in Faneuil Hall and McCarthy's Bar & Grille on Boylston Street in Boston to sell their bars to him between 1998 and 2002.
The indictment alleges that Gianelli and others used extortionate means to try to force a number of victims, including Castinetti, to repay loans. Castinetti allegedly made payments between 2000 and 2004. Cheevers is not named in the indictment.
In 2004, Cheevers declared personal bankruptcy in a petition filed in US Bankruptcy Court in Boston. Court records indicate he paid Castinetti, who was one of his creditors, $4,500 in April 2004.
Jury selection is scheduled to continue today in the case against Gianelli and his wife; Dennis Albertelli, 56, and his wife, Gisele, 54, of Stow; and Frank Iacoboni, 65, of Leominster. A dozen codefendants previously pleaded guilty.
Shelley Murphy can be reached at shmurphy@globe.com. 
