Saugus career crook linked with ex-Revere city council candidate

REVERE – Michael Viola, the Saugus career criminal who owns a sober living house in Salem and was arrested last week for making $25,000 in fraudulent credit card purchases, has several links to former Revere city council candidate Victoria Laws, The Item has learned.Viola and his wife Vincenza Viola, both 45, of 4 Butterfield Road, Saugus, have each been charged with six counts of larceny, three counts of credit card fraud and marijuana possession.Salem District Court records show one of the illegally obtained credit cards was used to purchase a dozen red roses that were delivered to Laws’ home on Randall Road in Revere on Valentine’s Day.Despite the fact that the $101 purchase was made with another man’s credit card, the greeting card was signed, “Love, Michael.”Viola has a 20-page criminal record dating back to 1979, when he was arrested as a juvenile for armed robbery in East Boston.The vast majority of Viola’s arrests were for larceny charges and he is currently in the middle of a Peabody District Court case for larceny of a motor vehicle. However, some of his arrests have been for violent incidents.Viola was arrested in Saugus in May 2002 for allegedly threatening to stab two younger men with scissors. In April 1996, he was charged with disorderly conduct and malicious destruction of property after he admitted to slamming his fists on a woman’s car hood outside a Lynnway car wash following a heated argument.Laws, who lost the Ward 6 city council seat in November 2007 to former Revere police officer Charles Patch, had obtained three restraining orders against Viola since August 2005, according to court records.However, despite those orders, she admitted to driving to Viola’s home – on a dead-end street in North Saugus – as recently as Sept. 15, 2008, which resulted in a violent confrontation with Viola’s wife, Vincenza, according to Lynn District Court records.On that day, Laws said in court papers that Vincenza Viola tried to run her off the road with her car, but Laws managed to pull over just in time. Then, Viola allegedly got out of her car and began screaming at Laws in the presence of Viola’s daughter.In addition, Laws claimed in court papers that Vincenza made numerous harassing phone calls to Laws’ personal and work phone numbers. The incidents prompted Laws to file a restraining order against Vincenza Viola on Oct. 22, 2008 in Lynn District Court.Court records show Laws filed three restraining orders against Michael Viola on Aug. 5, 2005, June 7, 2006 and Sept. 24, 2008. It is unknown if a restraining order between her and Michael Viola is still in effect.Laws did not return a phone call for comment on Thursday.Laws, a single mother of a 13-year-old who owns a Revere real estate business, filed formal complaints with the Revere Police Department and City Hall after her personal information was compromised during a bitter election.On the first day of the election on May 3, 2007 someone anonymously distributed a flier to several Revere businesses that made extremely derogatory statements about Laws.Shortly after the election was over, Laws filed the formal complaints after a police report about a serious 2004 car accident in which she and her father were involved ended up on a MySpace.com Web site containing their social security numbers. She said several people had tried to access her bank accounts after the reports were posted on the Internet.An investigation determined a Revere police officer obtained the report at the request of Patch, but no one was ever charged with wrongdoing.The news of Laws’ connection to Viola coincidentally comes the same day that Albert Terminiello of Eastern Avenue, Revere issued a press release announcing his candidacy to run for city councilor-at-large.