REVERE — Revere Police had a busy 24 hours, responding to a bank robbery in the city that led to a chase that ended with the apprehension of the suspect in Boston and a van driven by an Everett armed robbery suspect that crashed into a backyard on Butler Street.
An armed robbery suspect who was the subject of a large-scale manhunt for several hours Tuesday night was captured around 12:15 a.m. Wednesday. The capture came after an extensive search by state and local officers from several communities (Everett, Revere and Chelsea), State Police spokesman David Procopio said.
Gianni Mazza, 42, a Peabody resident who has ties to East Boston, was found by State Police troopers near the shore of the Chelsea River behind Global Oil, at 140 Lee Burbank Highway, Procopio said.
The police search covered numerous streets and residential backyards and garages, the area around Revere High School, the Boston and Maine railroad tracks, a solar power farm and the shoreline along the river behind oil tank facilities, Procopio said.
Mazza was arrested and charged with armed robbery while masked and failure to stop for police along with a host of other motor vehicle violations. He was wanted for allegedly committing a robbery at gunpoint at Fine Mart Store in Everett Tuesday night. The store employee fought with Mazza and chased him out of the store, Everett police said.
Mazza fled in a white van, which was found and pursued by local police and ended up crashing into a backyard on Butler Street in Revere, coming to a rest in a covered built-in pool. Following the crash, Mazza ran away from the scene, which prompted the massive search.
A Revere officer was being examined for a possible knee injury sustained in the search.
Mazza was arraigned in Malden District Court on Wednesday and was held on $100,000 bail, according to online reports.
“Unfortunately during the holiday season we begin to see more people engaged in desperate acts that result in incidents like this,” Everett Police Chief Steven Mazzie said in a statement. “I’m thankful nobody was hurt and that our officers were able to be in the right place at the right time to assist in the capture of the robbery suspect. It was a great team effort by all involved agencies that resulted in this quick apprehension.”
Less than 12 hours after the manhunt ended, Revere police responded to a call of a robbery in progress at East Boston Savings Bank on Squire Road, which came in shortly before 1 p.m.
The suspect, later identified as Steven Spolidoro, 41, of Woburn, had passed a note demanding money and fled in a car with New Hampshire plates with more than $1,000 in cash, Revere Police Chief James Guido said.
An Everett police officer had pulled up to the bank and asked what was going on. Bank workers reported that a man had just robbed the establishment, prompting the officer to follow the suspect car, but he lost track of it in traffic, Guido said.
Guido said the car’s information was relayed to other units, and was spotted a short time later by Revere police. The chase ended at the end of the off-ramp of the Tobin Bridge in Charlestown, with Spolidoro abandoning the car, Guido said.
A Revere police officer swerved to avoid running over the suspect and ended up crashing the cruiser on the median strip, damaging the car and sustaining minor injuries. Police searched the area and found Spolidoro in a portable toilet in the area.
Spolidoro was arrested and charged with robbery. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Chelsea District Court on Thursday, Guido said.
