Reputed New England Mafia Boss Arrested
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday against the reputed acting boss of the New England mafia paints him as a ruthless leader who fretted about being swept up in a Rhode Island strip club extortion case that has ensnared several mob figures and associates.
Read: Indictment (.pdf)
Anthony DiNunzio, 53, was arrested in Boston by federal agents on allegations that he participated in the shakedown of Providence-area strip clubs. Defense attorney Robert Sheketoff entered not guilty pleas on his behalf on charges including racketeering conspiracy and extortion conspiracy. He declined to comment outside court.
The indictment says DiNunzio assumed a leadership role and eventually became the acting boss of the New England mob in late 2009 and early 2010. DiNunzio is the brother of Carmen "The Cheeseman" DiNunzio, the reputed former underboss of the New England mob.
Anthony DiNunzio is quoted as telling a senior member of the Gambino crime family that he "changed everything" after taking over the mafia and had a brutal style for dealing with anyone who crossed him, according to the indictment.
"I get to watch you die in the ground. ... I'll bury you in the ... ground puts all the dirt. You're alive. They stay there. I'll stay there ... ten hours until (you're) dead. And I'll dig you back up and make sure (you're) dead," the indictment quotes DiNunzio as saying on June 22, 2011, during a meeting at My Cousin Vinny's restaurant in Malden, Mass.
During the same meeting, DiNunzio fretted about a search of him a month earlier that resulted in the FBI seizing $5,000 from him after he met with Rhode Island mob captain Edward "Eddy" Lato. DiNunzio said the cash was "marked money" and predicted to Lato that they would be arrested.
"Come on, let's go have a steak for lunch because we are probably going to get pinched tomorrow" the indictment quotes DiNunzio as saying.
Lato and former New England mob boss Luigi "Baby Shacks" Manocchio have pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and admitted to being in the mob.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
