Anthony L. Dinunzio, the acting boss of the New England La Cosa Nostra, was sentenced Wednesday in Providence, R.I. federal court to 6 years and 6 months in prison for his role in extorting protection payments from adult entertainment businesses in Rhode Island.

Dinunzio, 53, of East Boston, Mass., pleaded guilty on Sept. 13 to one count of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise (RICO).

“Today, the admitted leader of the New England La Cosa Nostra was sentenced to prison for the years of significant harm he caused to the people of Rhode Island,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer in a statement. “Anthony Dinunzio and his NELCN subordinates used threats of violence to extort protection payments from business owners throughout the state, and his sentence sends a powerful message about the department’s determination to hold mafia leaders and associates to account.”

“Over the last several years, the FBI and its federal, state and local law enforcement partners have undeniably shattered Omerta, the New England LCN’s code of silence,” said FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers. “Through persistent, methodical and unyielding investigations, Mr. Dinunzio and others in the LCN know they no longer are able to rely on their sworn bonds for protection from the FBI and our partners.”

U.S. Atty. Peter Neronha/gov photo

What’s $500 million for a corporate behemoth like Google?

Maybe a drop in the bucket, but for the government it’s a nice piece of change.

Rhode Island U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha plans to discuss at a press conference Monday afternoon how the money paid out to the Justice Department will be distributed, the Associated Press reported.

Google gave up the cash as part of a settlement after the Justice Department found it was distributing Google ads for Canadian pharmacies, which were selling drugs illegally.

By Danny Fenster

A new leader has been named to the nation’s largest uniformed federal law enforcement agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection,  reports the website AllGov.com.

David V. Aguilar has been named the head of  the agency. The move came after after Senate Republicans refused to hold a hearing on President Barack Obama’s nomination, Alan Bersin.

Aguilar has worked on the border for 33 years, according to the news report. As of January 1, 2012, Aguilar now commands more than 20,000 border enforcement officials.

Aguilar joined the Border Patrol in June of 1978, in Laredo, Texas. He was a first line supervisor and then Assistant Patrol Agent in Charge and Patrol Agent in Charge in Laredo. From 1988 to 1996 Aguilar was a Patrol Agent in Charge for three Border Patrol Stations in Texas: Dallas, Rio Grande Valley and Brownsville. He continued moving upward in Texas and Arizona after that.

To read more click here.

By Allan Lengel

A California woman may have to answer to a higher authority — a federal judge, that is — after being charged with scamming a group of nuns out of $285,000 and using the money to pay for items such as lingerie and pet sitting.

The FBI Monday arrested Linda Rose Gagnon, 57, of Tustin, on three counts of wire fraud for allegedly swindling a group of nuns at the U.S. Province of the Religious of Jesus & Mary Inc. in Rhode Island in a real estate scam.

Authorities say Gagnon operated the California-based Rose Enterprise Inc., a company she claimed helped clients with delinquent mortgages and real estate transactions. She had no real estate license.

According to a federal indictment, Gagnon, a former student of a boarding school operated by the Sisters of Religious of Jesus & Mary, visited the convent in Rhode Island in November 2008 and learned the organization was attempting to purchase a property in San Diego as a residence for nuns. It has residences for nuns all around the country.

To read more click here.

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• Repeat Drunk Driver Arrested AGAIN (AP)
• Attys in Oregon Bomb Plot Case Want Info on FBI Training For Stings (AP)
• New Gitmo Trials Could Include 9/11 Suspects (AP)
• Coast Guard Officer Stands Trial in Fatal Wreck (AP)
• Woman Faked Pregnancy To Smuggle Drugs (The Smoking Gun)
• Woman Caught With $170,000 in Underwear at JFK (NY Daily News)
• Congressman Thinks Muslim Hearings are Scary (MSNBC)

U.S. Atty. Peter Neronha/gov photo

The unusual circumstances warranted this headline in the Providence Journal on Wednesday: “U.S. Prosecutors Left in the Cold on Drug Bust.”

The paper reported that when state police and DEA agents in Providence, R.I., last week announced the seizure of 145 pounds of cocaine, $1.2 million in cash and the arrest of three men allegedly linked to the Mexican drug cartels, “it came as news” to fed prosecutors.

“We were unaware of this investigation,” Jim Martin, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha, told the paper. “These are the types of cases we certainly would want to prioritize.”

To read the full story click here.

FBI's Janet Fedarcyk at Brooklyn press conference/fbi photo

Federal authorities Thursday announced what they called the largest mob roundup in FBI history: the indictment of 127 people, including key Mafia figures from the New York, New Jersey and New England crime families, on charges ranging from murder and racketeering to gambling, extortion and loan-sharking.

About 800 law enforcement members from the FBI, the Secret Service, the U.S. Labor Department, and state and local law enforcement Thursday arrested 121 people who were named in 16 indictments filed in different jurisdictions. Four others were already in custody, and one member of the Colombo family was arrested in Italy.

The indictments were aimed at all five New York crime families — the Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno and Luchese families — along with the New England Patriarca family and the New Jersey Decavalcante family.

“Today’s arrests mark an important and encouraging step forward in disrupting La Cosa Nostra operations,” Attorney General Eric Holder said at a press conference this morning in Brooklyn, N.Y. “But the reality is that our battle against organized-crime enterprises is far from over.”

Authorities said the indictments resulted from years of investigations, including the use of wiretaps and cooperating informants.

“These cases are the cumulative results of years of investigative work, including the development of key cooperating witnesses, a trend that has definitely been tilting in law enforcement’s favor,” said Janice Fedarcyk, head of the New York FBI. “The vow of silence that is part of the oath Omerta is more myth than reality today.”

To read more click here.

Read indictments

By Allan Lengel

Retired Secret Service agent John Joseph Lardner rode behind President John F. Kennedy on Pennsylvania Avenue during his inauguration in 1961 and later went on to head up the agency’s Rhode Island office, the Boston Globe reported.

He died of a heart attack in Easton, Mass. on Nov. 19 at age 80.

The paper reported that Lardner told his family he was proud to be the kid from Lowell who grew up to guard the president.

But he was mum about most everything else about the Kennedy years, the Globe reported.

“There’s a reason we’re called the Secret Service,” Lardner often told his nephew, Michael Walsh of Bedford, N.H., according to the Globe.

Lardner, a US Marine Corps captain, was a Secret Service agent from 1959 until his retirement in 1983 as special agent in charge of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Mass.

“My dad lived his life by the Marine Corps code,” God, corps, and country, his oldest daughter, Kristin M. Brown of East Sandwich, Mass., told the Globe. “It was just the way his life was.”

The Globe reported that Lardner never talked about his assignment on the day Kennedy was shot or whether he was even in Dallas.

“He would never tell,” his daughter said.

“He had strong opinions about the assassination, but it was very difficult for him to talk about,” she told the Globe. “He was never a man at a loss for words, but it was the one subject you just couldn’t approach him about.”

After the assassination, he protected Jacqueline Kennedy and her children. His family told the Globe they believe Jackie Kennedy personally requested him.

The Globe reported that Lardner was a life-long Republican and supported state candidates including Senator Scott Brown.

“The only time I saw him cry in the 33 years I knew him was the day President Reagan died,” his daughter told the Globe. “He adored him.”