DiNunzio pleads guilty, called no longer reputed boss in Hub

Minutes after DiNunzio, 51, left Essex Superior Court yesterday after pleading guilty to extortion, conspiracy, and illegal gambling charges, a State Police investigator said DiNunzio has been replaced as underboss, a position that allegedly made him second in command of the Rhode Island-based family and first in Eastern Massachusetts.

“He had a fairly short shelf life,’’ Massachusetts State Police Detective Lieutenant Stephen P. Johnson, who oversees organized crime investigations as head of the Special Service Section, said during a brief press conference outside the courthouse.

As part of a sweeping plea agreement that resolved the state charges and federal bribery charges, DiNunzio, of East Boston, will serve six years in prison. In yesterday’s hearing, DiNunzio admitted he extorted $500 a month in 2001 from a North End bookmaker, who was forced to pay the mob to stay in business. He also admitted he managed an illegal gambling operation that placed bets on professional and college sports. He pleaded guilty in federal court last week to delivering a $10,000 bribe to an undercover FBI agent posing as a corrupt state highway official in 2006 in a bid to secure a $6 million Big Dig contract.

Essex Superior Court Judge David Lowy told DiNunzio to return for sentencing on the state charges Sept. 25, a day after DiNunzio will be sentenced on the federal charges.

The legal cases do not mark the end of the local Mafia, but they did shake-up the organization’s leadership, Johnson said.

“It just changes the regime for another leader, and we’ll go after them,’’ Johnson said.

DiNunzio, who got his nickname because he owns the Fresh Cheese shop on Endicott Street in the North End, declined to comment. He became a “made’’ member of the Mafia in the late 1990s and was appointed underboss five years ago, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court.

His lawyer, Anthony Cardinale, said DiNunzio decided to plead guilty because he believed he had made “the best deal he possibly could’’ on the two cases, which could have sent him to prison for more than 15 years.

“I think he’s anxious to get on with the next phase of his life,’’ Cardinale said.

After yesterday’s hearing, Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett said the case proves bookmaking is a serious crime.

“People were endangered,’’ Blodgett said. “Violence was going to happen to people who were coerced into doing things.’’

First Assistant District Attorney John T. Dawley told the judge during the hearing that State Police had secretly recorded telephone conversations during a lengthy investigation that indicated DiNunzio was involved in several extortions and was routinely called upon when disputes arose.

“He was the man to see and the final decision maker on any disputes among bookmakers,’’ Dawley said.