Reputed New England Mafia underboss Carmen “The Cheese Man’’ DiNunzio has cut a plea deal with state and federal authorities that will send him to prison for six years for bribery, extortion, and illegal gambling, according to his lawyer.
The 51-year-old DiNunzio is expected to plead guilty this afternoon in US District Court in Boston to charges that he 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.
As part of a sweeping plea deal, he is scheduled 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.
“We’ve assessed both cases and decided this is the best result that we can achieve under the circumstances,’’ said Boston attorney Anthony Cardinale, who represents DiNunzio.
DiNunzio was dubbed “The Cheese Man’’ because he owns the Fresh Cheese shop on Endicott Street in the North End. He has been under house arrest in his East Boston home and has been prohibited from working at his shop, since his indictment in the federal case 14 months ago.
He was snared in an FBI sting in 2006 when prosecutors say he delivered a $10,000 bribe to the undercover agent and was recorded promising that he would do what it took to make sure the Big Dig deal went through.
“Yeah, well, we almost, I was going to throw this [expletive] kid off a roof,’’ said DiNunzio, referring to a friend who was wavering on the deal, as he met with the agent in October 2006.
“Look, I don’t even come out, I come out ’cause of this guy,’’ said DiNunzio, referring to his stature in the local branch of La Cosa Nostra, more commonly known as the Mafia.
When DiNunzio was arrested in the federal bribery case, he was already waiting trial on the state extortion and illegal gambling charges that had been brought in December 2006.
DiNunzio allegedly became a made member of the Mafia in the late 1990s. He was appointed underboss five years ago by reputed New England Mafia boss Luigi Manocchio of Providence, according to an FBI affidavit filed in court when he was arrested in the federal case.
Massachusetts State Police Detective Lieutenant Stephen P. Johnson, who oversees organized crime investigations, said that DiNunzio was the top Mafia figure in the Boston area before his 2006 arrest on the state charges.
In the state case, DiNunzio is charged with extorting bookmakers by forcing them to pay money to the mob to stay in business.
Under the plea agreement, DiNunzio will be allowed to serve his term in federal prison. Cardinale said he will ask the judge to recommend that DiNunzio, who suffers from diabetes and pulmonary problems, be placed at the prison hospital in Ayer.
