Spagnolo, 72, lives in suburban Revere and, according to the federal government, took the reins of the New England mafia on a day-to-day basis two years ago when his predecessor, Anthony DiNunzio, 55, was sent to prison for racketeering related to his extortion of a pair of Rhode Island strip clubs.
A convicted drug dealer and racketeer himself, Spagnolo’s current charges hold a sentence of up to two decades in prison. He is the most-recent of the over half-dozen leaders of the Patriarca clan to get jammed up with the law in the past five years, holding the distinction of being the seventh New England mob Don in a row to be indicted (the six before him were all convicted).
According to last week’s indictment, Spagnolo instructed fellow “made man” Pryce (Stretch) Quintina, 74, to shake down Constitution Vending and the Revere Moose Lodge, where Constitution had several video poker machines for, “at least $50,000 in an eight-year period from 2004 to 2012.” When one of the men that ran the Revere Moose Lodge decided to try to remove the machines provided by Constitution Vending and replace them with machines from another vending company, he was called to a meeting with Spagnolo and threatened with violence. After a rival vending company contacted the Revere Moose Lodge and attempting to persuade them to use their machines, instead of Constitution Vending’s, the owner of the company was approached by Spagnolo and also threatened, told to back off.