Fungible Convictions

The “Parmesan Don” Carmen “the Big Cheese” DiNunzio was arrested this weekend on charges of running an illegal gaming operation. The implication in the news is that those are the charges they could get him on.

The arrest is a little bittersweet, though. First because Bostonians like to think the days of the mob are over (a lot of condo development in the North End depends on as much), and this confirms that it isn’t (although this video of DiNunzio’s arrest makes you wonder if an inability to keep one’s pants up spells trouble for the mob). But second because DiNunzio and the employees of his cheese shop…

…watched out for my girlfriend the three years she lived across the street.

There are several examples, the most extreme of which is when a sex offender escaped police custody and unwisely looked to take refuge in my girlfriend’s section of the North End. The police, it was rumored, knew they needn’t look for him.

But my favorite instance is from the day my girlfriend moved out: her influential landlady asked the cheese shop to leave open the (public) parking space they always blocked off. Otherwise we would have had to park the U-Haul several blocks away, and one of us would always have to stay behind to watch the stuff—and this on a day we would have to drive ten hours. The cheese shop kindly obliged. And not only that, but DiNunzio himself sat outside and watched the truck for us, telling us not to worry. It was easy to see him as a good neighbor.

Now he’s in holding, awaiting trial. He’s already done time—four years I think in the 80′s—so he could go away for a while. Which means if you’re looking for parking on Endicott Street, you should have one more option.