Reputed Revere mobster arrested

WINTHROP - A reputed Revere mobster who was acquitted in a 1984 Lynn murder case was arrested Monday after he allegedly robbed a Beverly landscaper of $11,000 cash on a Middleton side street.

Darin Bufalino, 47, of 190 River Road, Winthrop, was arrested and charged with armed robbery when he turned himself into the Winthrop police station about 6:15 p.m., police said.

Middleton Police Chief James DiGianvittorio said Bufalino pulled out a black handgun and robbed a 23-year-old Beverly man on Village Road, off Interstate 95, about 12:30 p.m. before fleeing on the highway in his 2006 Ford Explorer.

Bufalino worked as an enforcer for notorious mobster "Cadillac" Frank Salemme, who had strong ties to James "Whitey" Bulger.

DiGianvittorio said the victim owns a landscaping company and the robbery might be "a business deal that seems to be a set up."

"We're still investigating whether there was a possible co-conspirator," DiGianvittorio said. No one was hurt.

After the alleged robbery on Monday, Winthrop police went to Bufalino's home and found the alleged getaway car. The suspect was nowhere to be found, but a police lieutenant said Bufalino called the police station "several times" saying he would turn himself in.

According to police logs, Bufalino's car was registered to 10 Elwood Place in Revere, the same address he resided when he allegedly shot a woman in Revere in 1994.

He was transported back to Middleton with a State Police escort to face charges last night. He is scheduled for arraignment today in Salem District Court.
Bufalino has a long and well-publicized history with North Shore law enforcement.

He was sentenced in 1999 to serve 10 years in prison for a 1993 armed bank robbery at the former Boston Five Cents bank at Northgate Shopping Center in Revere. It was perhaps his longest jail sentence served despite being suspected in several serious crimes.

Bufalino and two other men were acquitted of shooting to death drug dealer Vincent DeNino, 26, of 236 Summer St., Lynn, in February 1984 after a judge suppressed wiretap evidence. DeNino's bullet-riddled body was found in the trunk of a car in a Revere supermarket parking lot after being shot once in the shoulder and four times in the head, allegedly for refusing to pay $10,000 in a cocaine deal.

After the homicide, Bufalino fled to County Cavan, Ireland where he worked as a pub bouncer and was suspected in a murder similar to DeNino's. He was jailed in 1987 for the Lynn murder after fleeing Ireland to Spain and extradited to the United States in 1989.

In 1995, Bufalino pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced to three to five years for shooting a woman and nearly shooting a male friend in a Revere parking lot after a drug deal went bad.

In 1992, he was arrested for stealing cash from an armored car on Broadway in Revere.

Lynn Daily Item