By Michael W. Delia Special to the Leader Herald
Did you know that Mayor Carlo DeMaria attempted to assault a 17-year-old boy nearly nineteen years ago? True story.
This tale begins in 2003 when the author was working as a gas station attendant for Energy North Stores at 2 Shirley Street in Winthrop,
Massachusetts. Mr. DeMaria was a tenant of one of the storefronts in the gas station complex, leasing space for his Honey Dew Donuts chain.
At the time, Mr. DeMaria was an Alderman for the City of Everett, working his way towards an eventual meteoric, seemingly corrupt and patronage-laden rise to present day mayor.
For months in 2003, tensions were brewing between the staff of Energy North Stores and Mr. DeMaria and his business practices. It was no secret that he allegedly hired underage girls and purportedly behaved inappropriately in their presence. Mr. DeMaria and I clashed when he demanded my store open 15 minutes early so he could make his doughnut delivery — despite the fact my company was unwilling to pay me any additional over time ahead of the usual 6:00 AM opening time.
To carry favor with the other staff of Energy North Stores, Mr. DeMaria started offering them free coffee and pastry. Although he made several overtures to bribe me through these efforts, I saw through his weak bargaining attempts and was unwilling to accept his offer.
Photo courtesy of Mr. Delia
Eventually, I started purposely drinking Dunkin’ Donuts and other local Winthrop coffees and proudly displaying them at the gas station where I worked. This elicited many questions from the customers of my store that were curious to know why I would not drink Honey Dew Donuts coffee. I told them the truth about my disagreements with Mr. DeMaria, and those comments eventually made their way back to him.
Over time, a dislike developed between Mr. DeMaria and myself over his business practices and his blatant dis- respect for women, especially considering he was married with children and had a reputation to uphold. One day, Mr. DeMaria became fed up and enraged with my actions, recklessly drove into the parking lot of the gas station with his delivery van, exited the vehicle, and made a running charge at me while I was assisting a customer at the full service gas pumps.
As this event unfolded, the manager of Energy North Stores, Edmond Foulkes, witnessed what was about to transpire and ran out onto the parking lot and stood between us just as Mr. DeMaria was about to strike me.
“I vividly recall the incident. Carlo bombed into the parking lot, jumped out of his van, and rushed Mike at the gas pumps. It was about to get very ugly,” Mr. Foulkes recalled about the incident recently.
Another employee who requested anonymity also recalled the incident on that day.
“After the episode unfolded, I told Mike ‘you ought to take this story to the Everett papers!’” said the female employee, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from Mr. DeMaria.
Ultimately, no police report was filed, and the Executive Vice President of Energy North Stores, Pat O’Connell, unsuccessfully tried to prohibit myself from drinking and publicly displaying coffee from stores other than Honey Dew Donuts. I highly suspect he did not want to jeopardize the lease agreement he had with Mr. DeMaria — at the expense of his adolescent employee.
When Mr. O’Connell’s efforts failed, he coerced Mr. DeMaria and myself into signing a document that acted as an unofficial “no trespass order” where we each agreed from which to remain separate when on gas station premises at all times.
Eventually, I moved on from Energy North Stores, attended college, pursued multiple successful careers and relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area where I now work as a Transit Operator for the San Francisco Municipal Railway. Over the years, I debated going public with my story but was always discouraged because Mr. DeMaria holds considerable power and influence within Everett City Hall.
In 2014, several stories surfaced regarding sexual harassment allegations against Mr. DeMaria from staff members at city hall and at his doughnut shop chains in Winthrop and Revere. At the time, I attempted to reach out to the Boston Globe reporters to contribute my unique story. However, the Globe wanted proof of the “no trespass” letter from Energy North Stores, which was no longer in my possession and was allegedly destroyed as part of an employee file purge, according to Mr. O’Connell.
More recently, I decided that now is the right time to go public with this tale for numerous reasons. Specifically, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in October 2021 and nearly died twice. After a successful bone marrow transplant in late April 2022, it caused me to reflect greatly on my mortality and memoir about several untold stories about my life. Unknown as to what the future holds for me, the moment seemed ripe to shed light on this personal event.
Rereading the stories of harassment brought forward by numerous women who were either compensated per non-disclosure agreements, or chose to remain silent for fear of retaliation from Mr.DeMaria is reprehensible at best. Learning about the incestuous relationship that developed between Mr. De- Maria, Las Vegas gaming mogul Steve Wynn, and a lo- cal criminal enterprise to purchase chemically contaminated land and bring “Boston’s First Casino” to Everett was another catalyst.
Knowing of Mr. DeMaria’s personal hubris and untouchable persona in Everett politics, coupled with his alleged extortion of $97,000 from a respected city clerk and political rival also encouraged me. The installation of his wife and sister-in-law to the Everett library board of trustees is also laughable.
The most recent allegations of sexism and racism by Mr. DeMaria brought forward by Everett School Superintendent Priya Tahiliani — a female and person of color — are equally disgusting. I believe city lacks a competitive bid process for contracts and utilizes an overpriced retail supply chain for building materials, all of which are personal friends of Mr. DeMaria. When questioned about this impropriety and wasteful spending, the general response is ‘This is how business gets done in Everett.”
I know there are many voters in Everett that are fed up with what I believe are 15 years of Mr. DeMaria’s unqualified and corrupt leadership, but are afraid to speak up or challenge him. I chose to be that voice, all stemming back from an incident that occurred some 19 years ago when a grown-man and elected city official attempted to assault a juvenile over a dispute about drinking coffee.
Sip on this and think about it.
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Michael Delia reached out to the Leader Herald with this piece. We fact checked his sources. Delia is a writer and commentator.