We first reviewed the evolving Italian Political influence in Boston, with new House Speaker  Salvatore DiMasi, Senate President  Robert Travaglini,  Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and State Auditor Joe DeNucci . Then we reported on their capping  the new personal success, with the launching of Italian Heritage Month.

Now, a Profile of Salvatore DiMasi. A heart warming up from the bottom success story shaped by his Italian heritage.

By Erik Arvidson Eagle Statehouse Bureau
October 3, 2004

Rep. Salvatore DiMasi gives a thumbs up to his colleagues in the House Chamber as the new speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives at the Statehouse in Boston Wednesday. DiMasi replaces Thomas M. Finneran who ruled the House with an iron fist during his eight years in the post. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

BOSTON -- In the North End of Salvatore DiMasi's youth, few people owned cars or had enough money to send their children to college.

The DiMasis' four-room flat had no central heat or hot water, so the family showered at the local bathhouse.

There were no organized sports, so a young DiMasi and his friends would play stickball in the playground with a broomstick and a rubber ball.

But it was a neighborhood where people looked out for one another.

"Everyone's doors were open. All of the mothers would sit outside and play jump rope with the children on the street," said Rose Toscano, a longtime friend of DiMasi.

DiMasi, who ascended to the speakership of the Massachusetts House last week, said the lessons he learned as a child have shaped who he is as a person and politician.

His colleagues say he believes government should be more compassionate to those in need.

"Growing up in the North End shaped my values," said DiMasi, 59. "We were poor, but we were rich in our family and in our friends and neighbors. I learned a lot about the importance of community -- the moral obligation that we share to look out for each other in good times and bad.

"If a neighbor was sick, you took care of him. If a neighbor was out of work, you brought food to his family. That's why I entered public life -- to continue that tradition and to help people."

Joseph DiMasi, his father, worked as a bartender at a North End restaurant and in hotels in Boston and Cambridge, while his mother, Celia, stayed at home to raise the children. Both parents are now deceased.

Family members and friends of DiMasi said he always stood out from his colleagues as a young man, whether it was playing football or being active in student government.

"Even when he was a kid, he struck me as a leader," said older brother Nicholas DiMasi. "He was a big strong kid. A great athlete. He was also on the honor roll most of the time."

Marion Driscoll, the speaker's aunt, said she used to baby-sit for all three DiMasi boys -- Salvatore, Nicholas and Joseph. The three brothers, she said, "did everything together. They grew up in a very small room together.

"[Salvatore] was very lovable and playful. He was very good with people. To me, I thought Sal could have been anybody because his personality was so outstanding," Driscoll said.

After graduating from high school in 1962, Salvatore DiMasi set his sights on Boston College, then a commuter school where the tuition was just a fraction of what it is today.

"He did it the way a lot of kids in the North End did it," Nicholas DiMasi said. "You just worked on the weekends or during the summer, and you kept your grades up and tried to get a scholarship."

DiMasi graduated from Boston College with a bachelor's degree in accounting. He was accepted into Raytheon's management development program but later decided he wanted to pursue law.

"He went into business to see what it was like. The law was his first love," Nicholas DiMasi said.

DiMasi received his law degree from Suffolk University in 1971.

Though he spent most of the 1970s as a defense attorney and as an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, a run for public office seemed inevitable.

By that time, Italian-Americans were becoming a growing political force in Boston and across Massachusetts.

John A. Volpe had served as governor and, under President Nixon, became secretary of transportation. Fred Langone was a fixture on the Boston City Council. Francis X. Bellotti was elected Massachusetts' attorney general in 1975.

First elected in 1979, DiMasi quickly developed legislative alliances with fellow Reps. Thomas M. Finneran and Angelo Scaccia, both Boston Democrats.

His legislative career has been best known for his staunch defense of tenants' rights and, more recently, of more rights for gay and lesbian couples.

He was named chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee in 1985, but then House Speaker Charles Flaherty removed him from that post in 1995 after advocates complained that DiMasi was slow to act on domestic violence legislation.

However, DiMasi's close relationship with Finneran paid dividends a year later when Finneran won a tough battle for speaker, and he named DiMasi assistant majority leader.

Lowell City Manager John F. Cox, who served with DiMasi in the House, said DiMasi's strengths are in his ability to win the respect of fellow legislators.

"He has intense loyalty, and the members generally like him. He's someone people have noticed over his career. He's also worked very hard in his life and nothing was ever given to him," Cox said. "He's a very caring individual and he's also extremely smart, and very good on his feet."

There are lingering doubts that DiMasi will run the consensus-oriented House that he has promised. Some liberal-minded legislators see DiMasi as the back-room dealer who helped quash opposition to Finneran...

"I think Sal has been more open and willing to listen," said state Rep. James Marzilli, D-Arlington. "He's going to need to listen, because I think there is a lot of pent-up demand in this House for an opportunity to participate. Most people feel like they've been ignored."

Marzilli and other lawmakers believe DiMasi "mellowed" after he remarried in 2001. He and his wife, Deborah, have two children, Ashley and Christian.

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