Salvatore DiMasi

Salvatore F. "Sal" DiMasi (born 1945) is a former Democratic state representative in Massachusetts. The former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives originally joined the state legislature in 1979, as a member of the Democratic Party. He eventually resigned from this post in January 2009, just six months prior to being indicted on several Federal charges, including conspiracy to defraud the federal government, extortion, mail fraud and wire fraud. DiMasi was found guilty on 7 of 9 federal corruption charges on June 15, 2011. DiMasi is the third consecutive Massachusetts house speaker to be federally indicted.

DiMasi went to college at Boston College and studied law at Suffolk University Law School. He was born and raised in the North End of Boston, home to Boston's Italian American community for over 100 years. He was the Commonwealth's first Italian-American to be elected speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Early life and education

Salvatore F. DiMasi grew up in a cold water flat in Boston’s North End where he lived with his parents Celia and Joseph DiMasi, his two brothers, and Italian immigrant grandparents. DiMasi graduated from Christopher Columbus High School (1963) and went on to earn a BS in accounting from Boston College (1967), and a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School (1971).