The Family Business

Keith Morrison Correspondent • Profile

Boston.  A cold wet morning in March, 2006.  The Big Dig was almost done.  20 years, it had taken to make the web of tunnels under Boston's harbor.  Biggest highway-tunnel project ever.  And all that drilling, pounding, pouring cement birthed an engineering marvel and a mecca for corruption and incompetence.  It was the backdrop for bad news...like the time a motorist was crushed by faulty ceiling tiles.  And for a murder mystery novel.

And now, on this cold and damp March morning, it seemed, perhaps, it had spawned a real murder.

Ten miles from the tunnel, police cars gathered in the soggy parking lot of a Big Dig supplier, Allstate Concrete....owned by a family named Zammitti.

In the dull overcast the rain was gathering force, a forensic nightmare.

And almost right away a theory began to float in the heavy air, half spoken: looks professional, looks like the mob.

Reporter: The Zammitti's company was a big dig contractor.

There were two victims; one an employee who may have gotten in the way of the hit, the other the apparent target, a married father of three named Michael Zammitti, Jr....

Witness: It's shocking.  Good kid, good family, good business person.

Allstate Concrete was a father and son outfit: Michael Zammitti, Senior and his son, Michael, Jr.

Dave Dalton: His father just said, “Okay here are the keys to the business,” and pretty much let him run with it.

Mike's best friend and best man at his wedding, Dave Dalton.

Keith Morrison, Dateline NBC: And these are guys who work hard. 

Dave Dalton: They worked extremely hard. 

Mike Jr. never went to college...but he learned what he had to.  He and his dad pumped concrete day and night at the big dig, witnessed the accidents, the constant delay, the rising costs.

Still, surrounded by the rough and tumble of sand hog construction, Mike Jr. was gentle, non-confrontational.   

Mike Sr. was the tough one, at least with everyone but his son.  They were inseparable.

Dave Dalton: They got along great.  They–they were soul mates.  Everything they did they did together.

Video   Fitzpatrick discusses lover’s child custody Prosecutor Dan Bennett questions Sean Fitzpatrick about him wanting Michael Zammitti to be a “weekend dad.” Dateline NBC

When Mike Jr. was younger, and school let out, the rest of the boys headed for the playground or to chase girls, but not him.  He went down to the concrete pumping company.

Keith Morrison:  How old was Mike when he got involved in his dad's business?

Dave Dalton: When he was old enough to hold a wrench himself.

Dave Dalton: Big trucks.  Big toys.

He learned to drive the big rigs well before he was eligible for his learner's permit.   

Dave's wife, Dee Dalton says being around Mike made for some good times.

Dee Dalton:  He enjoyed life, he enjoyed having fun.

And while Mike worked hard too, and seemed to be all business, there came a day when he encountered the one thing that never seemed to distract him from his work.

It was a truck driver he met at a job at the airport.

Underneath the yellow hardhat was long brown hair and a tall, young woman.

Her name was Michele Begin.  She drove trucks and rode a motorcycle but had a soft face and a willing smile.

Dave Dalton: He was kind of giddy about her.

Keith Morrison: So he went sort of head over heels?

Dave Dalton: Yeah I guess you could say that yeah.

She thought he was the most beautiful man she'd ever met, so she married him, was enveloped in the big Italian family's dreams, and work ethic, and its play. 

Mike's sister, also named Michele, welcomed her as the sister she never had.  But Mike's new wife quickly learned that her husband had to work long hours to keep the family business going.  

For Mike junior and his father ‘Big Mike,’ their only respite from the long hours was fixing up antique fire engines and driving them in local holiday parades in the Boston area and New Hampshire.

The Zammittis kept a vacation home on Lake Ossipee in the small town of Freedom.

Video   Michele describes ‘anniversary’ gift Michele Zammitti talks in court about a book of poems Sean Fitzpatrick published for her. Dateline NBC

Mike Jr. and Michele had three children, life was good.   

Dave Dalton: He–he was just a good person.  And he loved his family.  He got out of work, he came home.  Always. 

But now it was that March morning:  Monday the 13th.

The two Mikes were due at the shop at 8:00.  Along with their handyman, Chester Roberts.

Mike Sr. was late, held up by a telemarketing call. 

He arrived in the parking lot minutes after 8 a.m.  His son's truck was already there.

He walked into the garage.  And there was the body of Chester Roberts.  

So overwhelmed with shock, he didn't recognize Roberts.  He dialed 911.

Michael Zammitti Sr.’s 911 Call: Yeah, at 17 New Salem Street.  I just walked in my garage.  I don't know if someone is dead on the floor or not.

Operator: Okay, they're not breathing at all?

Michael Zammitti Sr.: I don't know.  Hurry up.  Bye.  You there?

Operator: Yes, I'm having someone right over there, right away.

Michael Zammitti Sr.: Allstate Concrete.  Jesus.

Operator: Allstate Concrete.

But where was his son?  He climbed the stairs to the second floor office.  When he opened the door, the air was sucked out of him.

Massachusetts State Trooper Kevin Baker: Michael Zammitti Jr. was in a chair seated, and he had been shot in the face.

Shot twice with a 16-guage shotgun.

The shooter, or shooters, must have encountered Chester Roberts as they were leaving.  Police found his body at the bottom of a staircase, shot in the back, as if he'd turned to run away.

Officer Baker: Unfortunately, our only eye witness was Chester Roberts and he was brutally killed simply because he was an eye witness.

Video   Michele on her imagined life with her lover Prosecutor Dan Bennett questions Michele Zammitti about the night Sean Fitzpatrick said he loved her. Dateline NBC

Mike Sr. waited for the police, and through his shock told them what he could.

Officer Baker:  Not only was this his only son but this was his life-long business partner.  They spent almost all of their time together.

Mike Sr. told the officers, "they" killed his son.  But who were they?

The cops set up yellow tape to keep the curious away.  But they could not hold off the avalanche of theories.

Wakefield Police Chief Richard Smith: There were a million stories, a million rumors, a million innuendos that were out there. 

Had the Zammittis made enemies?  Was it what it looked like, a mob hit?

Mike Sr. called his wife Pat.  Pat called Michele.  Waves of shock and grief.

When Mike Sr. got home, they called an ambulance.  The pain in his chest felt like a heart attack.

Who had done this?  And why?

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