The history of the Boston Mafia can be seen in an arc between two individuals separated by several decades and several hundred pounds, comparatively speaking.
The original so called Boston Mafia “Cheesman” was Frank Cucciari, one of the founding members of the small but powerful New England branch of La Cosa Nostra. He was a soft-spoken old-world Mafia don, born in Sicily and a friend of Charles Luciano. Cucciari, like most of the other society of friends of his time, migrated first to New York City. Then he moved, as if by secret command, to Boston.
He earned his moniker because of his (apparently quite legal) involvement with the Purity Cheese Company, located at 55 Endicott Street, Boston. His arrest record included collars for assault and battery, grand larceny, suspicion of murder, and more.
He was fearless with authority, absolutely loyal to his comrades, dangerous to his enemies, and benign to his North End friends and neighbors. His stature as an elder Mafia statesman earned him an invitation to the ill-fated Apalachin Summit, where he was acting as Luciano’s own emissary. Collared there, the charges against him were dismissed — but it made him famous long after he’d retired from the active life of violence.
After receiving a diagnosis of incurable cancer, he shot first his wife, then himself. A sort of a Roman fall on one’s own sword sort of ending.
The Second Cheeseman
Now we come to the contemporary North End Cheeseman: Carmen DiNunzio. He also earned his title from trafficking in cheese — apparently, he managed a North End business, also on Endicott Street, called “Fresh Cheese.” DiNunzio was allegedly the underboss of the Boston Mafia that Cucciara co-founded. However, Cucciara and his colleagues (in particular, Joseph Lombardo and Filipo Buccola) created a going concern that lasted eight decades. On the other hand, DiNunzio and his brother, Anthony DiNunzio (the alleged top Mafia boss), have presided over a dying business and a family riddled with rot and treachery.
In recent years, both DiNunzios have been doing jail time; their organization is full of informants. Law enforcement has been diligent to keep pruning the top slots in the Boston and Providence families. No one in authority lasts long enough to get much done. There are perhaps only about 30 made core members today, down from a height of 100. There has been a serious and crippling loss of heft.
Anthony DiNunzio’s five immediate predecessors also went to jail. The family’s work is far from glamorous. The sorts of enterprises it conducts tend to be petty but high-risk: They include shaking down strip clubs and trafficking in extortion and loam. Carmen DiNunzio went down for trying to bribe an undercover agent pretending to be a state highway worker. He had hoped to win a $6 million sweetheart contract to provide 300,000 cubic yards of loam to the Big Dig.
Change Of Boston Mafia Times
The early Mafia found its biggest and steadiest profits in gambling and moneylending. Cucciara didn’t need to fear informants inside his organization. He knew his friends well: Some from his earliest days in America. The DiNunzios’ organization could barely move without insiders giving up their secrets. Cucciara stayed in the shadows: Few outside his immediate circle knew who he was. Carmen and Anthony DiNunzio were immediately famous after arrest.
Cucciara inspired fear and respect to outsiders. Newsmen openly mocked the unhealthy and diabetic Carmen DiNunzio for his excessive weight and the vague air ridiculousness and antiquity he generated. His lawyer even said: “Carmen’s the nicest guy in the world.” This is an odd compliment for La Cosa Nostra underboss.
In Frank Cucciara’s lifetime, the New England LCN was the most feared secret society in the region. It generated many thousands in legal and illicit revenue, collectively. Its leadership was first class: it controlled entire market segments and had the power to move statewide elections. Such things would be laughable if uttered about the contemporary organization.
Clearly between the two Cheesemen something significant happened. That’s what we’ll be exploring in this website and in another book.
thebostonmobbymarcsongini 