PROVIDENCE, RI—Theodore “Teddy” Cardillo, 69, an alleged associate of the New England La Cosa Nostra (NELCN), has agreed to plead guilty to a racketeering charge contained in a second superseding ndictment, according to a plea agreement filed today with the U.S. District Court in Providence.
According to the plea agreement, Cardillo will admit to the court that he was an associate of the enterprise charged in the indictment and that he knowingly assisted other members and associates in a racketeering conspiracy in their collection and receipt of monthly protection payments paid by the operators of several adult entertainment businesses in Rhode Island. Cardillo will also admit to his participation in a racketeering extortion scheme through the use of implied threats of injury or serious damage.
The announcement of Cardillo’s agreement to plead guilty was made by Peter F. Neronha, United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island; Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Field Office; Colonel Steven G. O’Donnell, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police; and Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Pare.
Cardillo will be the ninth defendant named in a series of federal grand jury indictments to admit to being leaders, underbosses, members, or associates of the NELCN and to their involvement in the racketeering and extortion conspiracies. Seven of the defendants have been sentenced to federal prison. An eighth defendant, Anthony L. Dinunzio, 53, of East Boston, Massachusetts, the acting leader of the NELCN crime family, pleaded guilty in September 2012 and is awaiting sentencing.
An indictment is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Ferland for the District of Rhode Island and Trial Attorney Sam Nazzaro of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section. The matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Rhode Island State Police, Providence Police, and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation.
