By George P. Hassett
Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone is being accompanied by an armed police officer today after a supporter of an opposing campaign allegedly made threatening remarks against him, according to multiple sources close to City Hall.
Lenny DiCicco, a volunteer with Richard J. Scirocco’s campaign to unseat Curtatone as mayor, allegedly said, “Don’t stand too close to the mayor this weekend,” to another person who reported the remark to Curtatone’s staff.
A spokeswoman for Curtatone would not comment on the situation. Scirocco confirmed that DiCicco is a supporter of his but said the remark has been twisted by Curtatone volunteers with political motives. DiCicco actually said, “We’re going to bury him in the election,” to a Curtatone supporter who twisted the words to make the remark sound more ominous, according to Scirocco.
“The old Italian guys like to bullshit each other and bust each other’s chops,” he said. “That is all this was. This is just bullying stuff by Joe’s people, they like to play dirty. They just want another zing on my campaign.”
Scirocco said Curtatone is wasting valuable police manpower by reportedly assigning a police officer to protect him after DiCicco’s alleged threat. Phone calls to police and DiCicco were not immediately returned.
Looks like poor Scirocco's being 'set up' again?!
Posted by: Kate | August 24, 2007 at 03:06 PM
I think Mr. Hassett should seek out Mr. DiChicco, the Mayor's godfather, and see if he really said what was said.
Now that's the story.
Posted by: Somerspeak | August 24, 2007 at 03:48 PM
As anybody read the full page story on scirocco in the Boston Herald today? Keep up the good work Ricky! Scirocco is wasting taxpayer's dollars on this election. Do the city a favor and get out of the race. Scirocco and DiChicco are two fools. Stop making fools out of yourselves!
Posted by: anybody read the herald today? | August 24, 2007 at 04:16 PM
Suzanne Bremer is the only real choice, if you want some change in Somerville.
Posted by: Democracy | August 24, 2007 at 04:24 PM
bremis should stick with real estate and forget about running for mayor. She can't even do real estate right nevermind running for mayor
Posted by: susane bremis should stick with real estate | August 24, 2007 at 04:37 PM
Suzanne Bremer (not Bremis) is a librarian at Tufts University. To my knowledge, she has never worked in real estate.
Posted by: Ron Newman | August 24, 2007 at 04:42 PM
Irene Bremis has worked in real estate but is not running for mayor.
Posted by: Reality Show Ron | August 24, 2007 at 04:45 PM
http://www.suzanneforsomerville.org/
Posted by: Democracy | August 24, 2007 at 05:12 PM
Will somebody please help me to understand why the hell Scirocco is even running? Does he even have any supporters? WHY is he wasting his money and OUR time at all? WTF! The guy has a record, he is obviously an abusive dick to women...i'm sorry, all 4 woman can't be lying. He doesnt really seem to have a responsible bone in his boday according to his past.
Get this guy out of my site!!!!!
Posted by: rachelfromtheville | August 24, 2007 at 06:48 PM
Wow, we have some lousy candidates. I would figure Marty Martinez would run for Mayor. Looking at this slate of candidates, I actually think he could win. One question though, the paper said that the Progressives support him, who are they and why?
Posted by: Slumerville | August 24, 2007 at 06:49 PM
Wow, we have some lousy candidates. I would figure Marty Martinez would run for Mayor. Looking at this slate of candidates, I actually think he could win. One question though, the paper said that the Progressives support him, who are they and why?
Posted by: Slumerville | August 24, 2007 at 06:51 PM
Curtatone should be in police custody, not under their protection.
Posted by: curt and tony | August 24, 2007 at 08:34 PM
With this field of mayoral candidates, I think that I'll be voting for the one that Somerville News endorsed last time: Nobody.
Posted by: Fool on the Hill | August 24, 2007 at 09:16 PM
Jubilation T. Cornpone for Mayor!
Posted by: SomersGettheShaft | August 24, 2007 at 09:23 PM
Bill Baro should have run again. He's a good man ... not like Curtatone and the girlfriend beater.
Posted by: unionsquareboy | August 24, 2007 at 10:37 PM
Lenny the cohog and ricky ridiculous should be ashamed of themselves! I will refrain from writing an extensive dialogue about thease idiots because I refuse to give them any coverage. The bottom line is as follows: DUMB AND DUMBER!
Posted by: Dichicco | August 24, 2007 at 11:22 PM
I don't know any Progressives who support Scirocco. It would surprise me if any did. PDS did not endorse any candidate for Mayor, and I believe Scirocco received zero (0) votes at PDS's endorsement meeting.
Posted by: Ron Newman | August 24, 2007 at 11:25 PM
HAS THE COHOGS WIFE TAKEN OFF THAT SILLY CROWN YET. SOMEBODY SHOULD TELL HER THAT SHE LOOKS SILLY WALKING AROUND WITH A CROWN ON HER SQUASH!
Posted by: HAS LENNY THE COHOG'S WIFE TAKEN OFF THAT SILLY CROWN YET? | August 24, 2007 at 11:25 PM
The comment was because the Mayor doesn't shower on the weekends and the heat was going to make him smell! I wouldn't want to stand next to that either!
Posted by: Stinky | August 25, 2007 at 12:07 AM
Hopefully, this should pretty much do it for Sirocco's campaign. The last thing he needed was more associations (albeit from a distance) with violence after the Herald article.
Posted by: SomervilleReader | August 25, 2007 at 07:43 AM
Let's elect the librarian and cut out this crew of mafia types from Somerville. Let's go from 'da ville' to a proud cleanly run city.
Posted by: JTdisMo | August 25, 2007 at 08:30 AM
urgent, just got an e mail from the friends of cohogs of america foundation, they demand that you stop the association with lenny as one of them or legal action will begin immediately.
Posted by: thenoseknows | August 25, 2007 at 08:46 AM
Hey, all of these dumb broads needed a beating!
Me not running for mayor? Fugggitaboudittt!
Posted by: Ricky Scirocco's brain | August 25, 2007 at 09:04 AM
I agree. Let's vote for Suzanne Bremer. When I put my signs up in my yard, my neighbors will go nuts as they keep bragging about how chummy they are with Curtatone and how many favors they get from this administration.
>>
Let's elect the librarian and cut out this crew of mafia types from Somerville.
Posted by: Bremer for Mayor | August 25, 2007 at 03:05 PM
Scirocco is no Saint and why he is running for Mayor no one knows. He has absolutely no chance of winning. But, people please. The article in the Boston Herald, bodily threats to the mayor? Is Richard Nixon mayor of this city or what. Sounds like someone might be a little paranoid and delusional and is afraid of losing this election. Nixon was the same way and look what he did to his opponent.
Posted by: William Hurst | August 26, 2007 at 06:25 PM
I doubt Lenny ( the Mayor's godfather ) would be dumb enough to say anything like that.
Scirocco is a total moron and doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell winning the election,but why would the Mayor's godfather support this guy. It looks like the Mayor has even turned some close friends into enemies.
Posted by: The Mayor's Godfather | August 27, 2007 at 12:38 PM
That's a shocker...
Posted by: Shocker | August 27, 2007 at 02:41 PM
Scirocco was clearly set up, those women threw their faces and ovaries at him
Posted by: Hudson Modzeel | August 30, 2007 at 08:33 PM
If people want to stop seeing an error prone candidate for Mayor and want to see an error prone alderman running for re-election, come to Ward Six. "Princess Rebekkah" Halfwitz, our Alderman-In-Training-Wheels is a living example of why you should never let your 10 year old drive the family car down the street. However, I do believe that candidates like Scirroco and Alderman Halfwitz should be allowed to run for office(and be ridiculed too). After all folks, this is what freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and democracy is all about!
Posted by: No Friend of Princess Rebekkah | August 30, 2007 at 09:17 PM
how much did the taxpayers have to shell out to protect our wimpy mayor from a 80 year old man? what a joke he is, he thinks our police dept is his own little driving and protective service, next he'll have them changing his kids diapers. i'm gettin out of this city. this isn't the city i grew to love.
Posted by: rider | September 03, 2007 at 10:36 AM
Can the Somerville News find out how much extra money it cost the city to protect the mayor from a senior citizen?????
Posted by: How much? | September 05, 2007 at 04:04 PM
The Somerville News’ website only had an abridged version of the story that ran in the paper, so I asked the editor, George Hassett, to send along the complete article. Here it is. The News at its scrappy, muck-heaving finest. Enjoy! ( From: "The Boston Daily" )
Mayor gets police protection after threat
By George P. Hassett
Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone was accompanied by an armed police officer Friday after his godfather, a staunch supporter of an opposing campaign, allegedly made threatening remarks against him, according to multiple sources close to City Hall.
Lenny DiCicco, a volunteer with Richard J. Scirocco’s campaign to unseat Curtatone as mayor, allegedly said, “Don’t stand too close to the mayor this weekend,” to another person who reported the remark to Curtatone’s staff. As a result of the comment, police were notified and an officer was assigned to a paid detail guarding Curtatone Friday, according to the sources. Police would not release any information about Friday’s police details. Jacklyn Rosetti, a spokeswoman for Curtatone, refused to comment on the situation and denied requests to speak with the mayor were denied.
DiCicco said he is enthusiastically supporting Scirocco over his godson, but never made any threats. It is, he said, a case of words being twisted by Curtatone supporters with political motives.
“What I said was, ‘You guys need to come over to our side, because we’re going to bury this guy.’” DiCicco said he was speaking to Daniel Spinoza, a longtime Curtatone backer, and was referring to the election, not an act of violence.
However, Spinoza twisted the words to make the remark sound more ominous, according to DiCicco and Scirocco. Scirocco said the comment was simply part of the banter between two longtime acquaintances with different political allegiances.
“The old Italian guys like to bullshit each other and bust each other’s chops,” he said. “That is all this was. This is just bullying stuff by Joe’s people, they like to play dirty. They just want another zing on my campaign.”
DiCicco said the innocent banter turned serious when two Somerville police detectives showed up at his home. “That’s when I knew someone was trying to pull a cutie,” he said.
The detectives were satisfied with DiCicco’s explanation for the alleged threat and laughed with him about the situation, he said. “They knew it was nothing,” he said.
However, the incident has encouraged DiCicco to oppose Curtatone more than ever, he said. “I got a million things against {Curtatone}. There is a lot of stuff nobody knows about this guy that I know. Now it’s time for me to start throwing some bombs,” he said.
DiCicco said he was a close friend of Curtatone’s father but he had a falling out with the mayor because of family feuding. He said he now supports Scirocco because of Scirocco’s work with kids in the city’s Little League baseball organization.
Scirocco said Curtatone is wasting valuable police manpower by reportedly assigning a police officer to protect him after DiCicco’s alleged threat. Jacklyn Rosetti, a spokeswoman for Curtatone, refused to comment on the situation.
Posted by: The Rest of the Story | September 07, 2007 at 12:29 PM
Jacklyn Rossetti has moved into a 'spokesman for Curtatone' position? Wow, that was fast! From a made-up position in the Communications office, to spokesman for the mayor. I guess it really does help to have friends in high places!
Posted by: I get by with a little help from my friends... | September 07, 2007 at 02:43 PM
I don't know Jacklyn, but 'spokespeople' for the Mayor have generally worked in the Communications office, under the last several mayors.
Posted by: Ron Newman | September 07, 2007 at 02:47 PM
Rossetti, Rossetti, let's see. Is she related to three other Rosetti's on the city payroll. Nice!
Posted by: Somerspeak | September 07, 2007 at 03:37 PM
When are you people going to wake up? I am very disappointed in the citizens of Somerville. Shame on you. Do your reasearch on Mister Scirocco. He is a very violent man with a very violent past. He has 5 children with 5 different mothers. No fault of theirs. It is just a coincedence that these mothers had (have) restrainers orders on him? Come on. These women do not even know each other. The only thing these women have in common is being assaulted by this monster. Mister Scirocco loves being in the limelight. How he has gotten away with it this long is amazing! How many people other than these women are afraid of speking the truth? I challenge anyone that knows the truth about him to come forward. Speak about the violence, the lies, the games and most of all his days of dealing drugs. If I remember correctly he was one of the biggest cocaine dealers in Somerville. I challenge people to come foward with this information. Get this monster out of Somerville once and for all....
Posted by: Hoorah | September 13, 2007 at 02:45 PM
He's not going to win the mayor's race, or even come close, so I don't think we've got too much to worry about here.
Posted by: Ron Newman | September 13, 2007 at 06:03 PM
Hoorah, Thank you for speaking for those 5 females. THEY CAN NOT SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES! There was a mistake in the Boston Herald, they mentioned 4 ex-girlfriends and 4 children THERE ARE 5 DIFFERENT (MOTHERS)
WOMEN AND 5 CHILDREN 4 BOYS AND A GIRL. These girls did not DESERVE WHAT THEY GOT,
OR WHAT THEIR CHILDREN DIDN'T GET!
Posted by: SPENCER FOR HIRE | September 24, 2007 at 07:46 PM