Saying that former Massachusetts House speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi had conspired to sell his office and was an example of the American dream gone wrong, a federal judge today sentenced DiMasi to eight years in prison for steering millions of dollars in state contracts to a software company and secretly profiting from the scheme.
US District Court Judge Mark Wolf also ordered DiMasi to serve two years of supervised release and to forfeit $65,000. DiMasi, a lawyer and veteran lawmaker who had risen to be one of the state’s most powerful politicians, showed no emotion as the judge announced the sentence.
In remarks explaining his decision that stretched about 20 minutes, Wolf pointed out that DiMasi had been the state’s first Italian-American speaker and said DiMasi’s life had been “a great American story” that had gone awry.
“As has happened before, this is a dream that’s been corrupted. Unfortunately, none of this is totally new,” he said as DiMasi stood before him.
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