By Lisa Redmond
Lowell Sun
BOSTON — Both sons of police officers, John “Jack” Maguire and Dominic Cinelli chose wildly different walks of life before colliding in gunfire in a department store parking lot Sunday night.
Maguire, 60, of Wilmington, a Woburn police officer, was gunned down by Cinelli in an exchange of gunfire that killed Cinelli, as well. Police had been called to Kohl’s department store on Washington Street, where employees reported a robbery at the store’s jewelry counter.
Maguire took four bullets to the chest. He was rushed to Lahey Clinic in Burlington, where he died. He leaves behind his wife, Desiree, a 22-year-old son, and a 21-year-old daughter.
Maguire was the son of the late Woburn Police Chief Thomas Maguire.
Cinelli was the son of the late Boston police Officer Arthur Cinelli.
Maguire went on to a 34-year career in law enforcement, earning the respect of his colleagues.
Cinelli went on to a violent and unlawful career of armed robbery and mayhem.
In May 1986, Cinelli pleaded guilty to five armed robberies committed in and around Boston in Suffolk County Superior Court. It would be part of a long criminal career for Cinelli. He was accused of shooting a 60-year-old security guard in the chest during one of those heists, according to published reports.
Cinelli’s brother, Arthur, served time as well after he shot a Medford police officer in 1981 during a bank robbery. Arthur Cinelli and an accomplice, Rocco Costa, were convicted of armed robbery, armed assault with intent to murder, unlawful carrying of a firearm and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in October 1981, according to court documents.
The convictions arose out of the armed robbery and shooting of Sgt. Richard McGlynn, a Medford police officer, a father of eight working a detail on May 2, 1981, outside the officers of BayBank/Middlesex on Mystic Avenue in Medford, according to court documents.
Arthur Cinelli was sentenced to 20-25 years at MCI-Walpole (now called MCI-Cedar Junction) for armed robbery and concurrent sentences on the remaining indictments. His current whereabouts are unclear.
Dominic Cinelli was serving three concurrent life sentences when the Massachusetts Court of Appeals ruled he was eligible for parole in 2005. Three years later, a board granted him parole, and he was released in February 2009.
Maguire is the first police officer killed in the line of duty for the Woburn Police Department.
Two of Cinelli’s alleged accomplices — Scott Hanwright, 19, and Kevin Dingwell, 51, both of Wakefield, have been charged.
At their arraignments Monday in Woburn District Court, Hanwright, who is charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery, was ordered held without bail and Dingwell’s bail was set at $1,000 after he pleaded innocent to accessory after the fact.
Woburn Police Chief Philip Mahoney said his department is in mourning.
Maguire’s colleagues from other departments expressed disgust yesterday about a criminal-justice system they said at times seems unwilling to support them, ignoring mandatory sentencing guidelines and rarely making criminals serve out their entire sentences.
Several local police chiefs either declined comment or didn’t return calls seeking comment last night, but several officers and sergeants, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press, said cases like Cinelli’s spark intense frustration.
“You’re sentenced to three life sentences, and you’re out in 20 years,” one sergeant said. “That’s a message sent to law enforcement that there’s no support.”
Two officers said they understand that the courts and parole officials have a different job to do and that circumstances can be complicated, but they wish that at least the most violent of criminals could serve out their sentences.
“We go out there and do what we have to do to make the streets safer and make the cities and towns where we work a better place,” one officer said. “It’s up to the courts to decide the fate of these guys.”
One sergeant said it can be tough to keep the men under his command motivated when it seems like others in the criminal-justice system just don’t care what goes on.
“John Maguire didn’t have to chase after those guys if he didn’t want to,” the sergeant said. “But he cared, and that’s the amazing part to me when I look at these guys. It’s that they care, even though sometimes it seems like no one else does.”
Timothy Dooling, acting executive director of the Parole Board, said Monday night that officials began an immediate and thorough investigation of the case once they learned of Cinelli’s alleged involvement in the killing.
“We cannot make any additional comments at this time, other than to express our deepest sympathies to the Maguire family,” he said.
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