Throughout the afternoon, word trickled into coffee shops, restaurants, meat markets, and fruit stands. Salvatore F. DiMasi, the cherished neighborhood representative long before he was an embattled speaker of the Massachusetts House, had been indicted by the federal government after a months-long investigation.
And still no one in his North End neighborhood wanted to believe it.
"I'm shocked, just like everyone else," said Ellen Bruno, the 46-year-old manager of the Hanover News shop, who said she campaigned for DiMasi not long after graduating from high school. She joined in conversation with others throughout the day as they bought lottery tickets and cigarettes, and expressed disbelief at the indictment.
"He was a very good friend of the whole neighborhood," Bruno said. "He's still close to my heart, and I don't want it to be true."
By yesterday afternoon, it seemed everyone had heard that DiMasi and three associates were indicted by a federal grand jury in an alleged kickback scheme involving a software company that won million-dollar contracts with the state.
But those who supported DiMasi, even after he resigned amid controversy, would speak only of the man they knew long before he held one of the most powerful posts in the state.
For three decades, he tended to their needs as their state representative, they said, handling micro-issues ranging from parking and fees to rodent problems, noise, and development. He helped find jobs, and housing.
He was a gentleman along the way, they said. More importantly, he lived all of his 63 years in the neighborhood, Boston's Italian-American enclave, and anyone from the neighborhood is family.
As one man in Hanover News put it, "He's my friend, and I can't say anything bad about him. If he's crooked, they're all crooked." The man asked that his name not be published.
DiMasi became the third consecutive speaker of the House to be indicted on charges of misconduct in office. But to residents in the North End, the rest are politicians. DiMasi was known as the neighborhood guy who sent his clothes to the Lavanderia dry cleaning business just across the way from his Commercial Street home. He bought fruits and vegetables from the nearby shop.
"Basically, ingredients Italians would want," said Alberto Alba, the owner of Alba Produce on Parmenter Street, who said DiMasi came in with his wife regularly for produce.
Yesterday, other residents came in chatting about the indictment.
"We're all shocked," Alba said. "We're just laying low, seeing what happens next."
Antonio Chioccarelli, owner of Trattoria il Panino, would shake DiMasi's hands every time he came down the street. And Joe Pagliuca, owner of Pagliuca's Ristorante on Parmenter Street, would welcome him and his wife, Deborah, as his guests. DiMasi enjoyed a special - roast veal with potatoes, no garlic or salt.
"We all love him, the whole neighborhood loves him," Pagliuca said. "Whatever anybody says, he was a good guy."
To some, the arrest was inevitable: DiMasi's tenure as speaker of the House has been tainted since a series of Globe stories detailed his associates' involvement in a state contract for
"Politics is just confusing," said Chris Jonson, a 38-year-old clerk at an accessories store on Hanover Street. But it seemed everyone knew DiMasi, or "Sal."
"He came from a good family," said Sal Arena, a 91-year-old who gathered with friends at a small park off Commercial Street, not far from DiMasi's home.
Milton Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com. 
