News Release
U.S. Department of Justice
Peter F. Neronha
United States Attorney
District of Rhode Island
September 12, 2012
Alleged LCN Boss Anthony L. Dinunzio Scheduled to Enter a Guilty Plea
Tomorrow at 11 a.m. in U.S. District Court
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Anthony L. Dinunzio, 53, of East Boston, Mass., the alleged boss of the New England La Cosa Nostra (NELCN) crime family, has agreed to plead guilty for his role in a conspiracy to extort protection payments from adult entertainment businesses in Rhode Island, according to a signed plea agreement filed today with the U.S. District Court in Providence. The change of plea hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. before District Court Judge William E. Smith.
The plea agreement, announced by Peter F. Neronha, United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island; Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Richard Deslauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Field Office; Colonel Steven G. O’Donnell, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police; and Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Pare, states that Dinunzio has indicated an intention to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise by signing the plea agreement that was filed with the Court earlier today.
According to the signed plea agreement, Dinunzio will plead guilty to Count I of the 3rd superseding indictment. The superseding indictment alleges that Dinunzio participated with other members and associates of the charged enterprise in a racketeering conspiracy in which monthly cash payments for protection of $2,000 to $6,000 were demanded of the owners and operators of several adult entertainment businesses in Rhode Island.
An indictment is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Ferland for the District of Rhode Island and Trial Attorney Sam Nazzaro of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section.
The matter was investigated by the FBI, the Rhode Island State Police and the Providence Police Department.
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Contact: 401-709-5357
USARI.Media@usdoj.gov
