Failed Criminal Mastermind Gets 10 Years

A story that would make a good Quentin Tarantino movie came to a close Thursday night.

Antonio Correia, Sr., 45, of Somerville, was sentenced to 123 months and five years probation on a handful of charges, including conspiracy to commit robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to a missive from the state. Correia pled guilty in April, 2014.

A Boston.com article explains that in 2013, Correia was $90,000 behind on his alimony and child support payments. He decided to solve his financial problems by robbing a drug dealer, and enlisted a man to whom he had previously sold guns in helping find an appropriate victim.

Unbeknownst to Correia, his customer was an informant for The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and had already been sending law enforcement notes on Correia for a year.

According to a statement from the courts, the informant and law enforcement fabricated a diamond wholesaler in Malden for the informant to send Correia to rob. After rounding up a posse that included his 20- and 21-year-old sons and the informant, Correia agreed to planning the heist on Aug. 2.

Upon the cohort’s arrival and prompt arrest at the imaginary diamond kingpin’s location, law enforcement discovered a pair of loaded semi-automatic pistols, a stun gun, a pair of knives, pepper spray, zip ties, masks, gloves, and a blanks-firing starter’s pistol, in case the deed required a touch of foreboding theatricality.

The five other men involved in the conspiracy have also pled guilty, and have been sentenced.