Salvatore DiMasi

Early life and education

Salvatore F. DiMasi grew up in a cold water flat in Boston’s North End where he lived with his parents Celia and Joseph DiMasi, his two brothers, and Italian immigrant grandparents. DiMasi graduated from Christopher Columbus High School (1963) and went on to earn a BS in accounting from Boston College (1967), and a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School (1971).

Professional career

From 1974–1976, DiMasi served as a Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney. During the same period, DiMasi co-founded the North End Neighborhood Task Force, with neighborhood activist Emile Pugliano, to address issues of zoning, gentrification and crime in Boston's North End. He also opened a private law practice, focused on criminal defense cases.

In 1976, DiMasi ran for state representative against three term incumbent O. Roland Orlandi (D-North End). DiMasi's 1976 state representative campaign was unsuccessful. Two years later, DiMasi ran again for the third Suffolk County state representative seat—and won. In 1979, DiMasi took office as state representative.

While in office, DiMasi served as chairman of the committees on Banks and Banking, the Judiciary and Criminal Justice. He eventually rose to among the ranks to become Assistant Majority Whip, Majority Whip and Majority Leader. In September 2004, DiMasi was elected Speaker of the House.

Healthcare reform

Soon after becoming Speaker of the House, DiMasi sponsored legislation to make health insurance available for all Commonwealth residents. DiMasi worked with legislative leaders and a coalition of diverse stakeholders, from the health care and business community, to craft Massachusetts’s landmark health care law. In April 2006, Governor Mitt Romney signed the first-in-the-nation universal health insurance bill into law. As a result of the law, Massachusetts reduced the number of uninsured adults by nearly half within the first year of mandatory health coverage and increased the percentage of people receiving routine preventive care, according to the first major study of the 2006 law conducted by the Urban Institute.

Casino gambling

In 2007, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick submitted a bill that would allow the construction and operation of three resort-style casinos in the state. He argued that these casinos would generate $2 billion for the state economy and add $400 million in annual casino revenue and $200 million in fees per license to the state coffers as well as add $50 million to $80 million in sales, meal, and hotel taxes. He also touted that the casinos would create 30,000 construction jobs and 20,000 permanent jobs.

Patrick's proposed that the revenue generated would be spent to beef up local law enforcement, create a state gambling regulatory agency, repair roads and bridges ($200 million), gambling addiction treatment ($50 million) and the remainder would go towards property tax relief.

DiMasi strongly opposed the plan, questioning the governor's job and revenue projections, and was opposed to what he referred to as a casino culture, saying: "Do we want to usher in a casino culture—with rampant bankruptcies, crime and social ills—or do we want to create a better Massachusetts for all sectors of the society?"

On March 20, 2008, the Massachusetts House of Representatives rejected Patrick's casino bill by a vote of 108 to 46. Despite the overwhelming vote, questions were raised by critics of DiMasi as to the tactics he used to win. These included allegations that he promised a subsequent vote on a bill that would allow slot machines at the state's four racetracks and the pre-vote promotions of six lawmakers who had been thought to support the bill, but either abstained or voted against the bill. DiMasi denied that any promise had been made on the race track bill and denied that the promotions were connected to the casino bill vote.

Corruption case

According to the Boston Globe "DiMasi and three of his close friends and associates are the subjects of the Ethics Commission probe and other investigations relating to large payments the associates received from Cognos ULC ..." an IBM owned company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with a United States headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts. The Globe also said that "One of the associates, Richard Vitale, DiMasi's accountant, also accepted payments from ticket brokers who were seeking to gut state antiscalping laws." The contracts in question, a $4.5 million contract for the State Board of Education and a $13 million contract for the State Information Technology division, were rescinded after the alleged Ethics violations came to light. IBM, which did not own Cognos at the time of the alleged payoffs, has refunded all paid monies. On December 17, 2008, the Boston Globe confirmed a Federal Grand Jury probe had been launched investigating the charges.

Resignation

On Sunday, January 25, 2009, DiMasi sent a letter to all members of the House informing them of his resignation from both his position as speaker of the House and his seat in the House, effective at 5:00 PM on Tuesday, January 27. His resignation made DiMasi the third straight Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives to leave office under a legal or ethical cloud. In 1996, then speaker Charles Flaherty resigned after being charged with income tax violations, and in 2004 then speaker Thomas Finneran resigned amid a federal perjury investigation. DiMasi was indicted on corruption charges on June 2, 2009.

Indictment

On June 2, 2009, DiMasi and three others were indicted on charges that included conspiracy, honest services fraud, mail fraud, aiding and abetting, and wire fraud.

On October 13, 2009, federal prosecutors added a count of extortion to the charges against DiMasi. With the added charge, DiMasi faced a possible 185-year sentence if convicted on all counts in the indictment. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Conviction and sentencing

On June 15, 2011, DiMasi was convicted on seven of the nine charges. His co-defendant, lobbyist Richard McDonough, was also convicted of taking part in the conspiracy.

On September 9, 2011, DiMasi was sentenced to eight years in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge Mark Lawrence Wolf and ordered to pay a fine of $65,000. The judge also sentenced DiMasi to two years of supervised release after completing his sentence. McDonough received a seven-year sentence.

DiMasi is serving his sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Butner, a federal prison in North Carolina, and was released on November 23, 2016.

Revocation of pension

On August 30, 2012, the Massachusetts Retirement Board voted 5 to 0 to revoke DiMasi's $60,142-a-year pension. His pension had been suspended since September 2011.

Release from prison

In October 2016, federal prosecutors asked a federal judge to give early release to DiMasi due to illness after battling cancer.

In November 2016, Judge Mark L. Wolf released a 69-page ruling concluding that DiMasi, US Attorney Ortiz’s office, and federal prison officials convincingly demonstrated that DiMasi's health has declined so severely that further imprisonment was no longer warranted due to a severe illness. He will be released from Federal Medical Center, Butner on November 22nd.