Salvatore DiMasi

Salvatore Francis "Sal" DiMasi (born August 11, 1945) is a former Democratic state representative in Massachusetts.

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).

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.

The former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives originally joined the state legislature in 1979, as a member of the Democratic Party.

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.

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.

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.

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 Globe confirmed that a Federal Grand Jury probe had been launched investigating the charges.

He eventually resigned from this post in January 2009, just six months prior to being indicted on several Federal charges, including conspiracy to defraud the federal government, extortion, mail fraud and wire fraud.

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.

DiMasi was found guilty on 7 of 9 federal corruption charges on June 15, 2011.

DiMasi is the third consecutive Massachusetts house speaker to later become a convicted felon due to crimes committed in office.

DiMasi went to college at Boston College and studied law at Suffolk University Law School.

He was born and raised in the North End of Boston, home to Boston's Italian American community for over 100 years.

He was the Commonwealth's first Italian-American to be elected speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

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.