Convicted Mob Drug Dealer is East Side Mansion’s Suboxone Developer

The elegant yellow brick Tillinghast Mansion on the corner of Lloyd and Thayer Street is being transformed into a Suboxone clinic by one of Rhode Island’s most notorious criminals.

Richard Dion, who manages the corporation Oxford Investment which purchased the East Side mansion where the drug treatment facility is being advertised, is a former Providence Police officer, has deep ties to organized crime, and in 1999 was convicted by federal prosecutors for cocaine dealing, extortion, and racketeering.

As GoLocal first reported on Monday, “One of Providence’s most acclaimed historic mansions is being transformed into a Suboxone clinic..the mansion was purchased for $1.6 million from Deborah Zaki. Zaki is the widow of Hani Zaki, who was murdered in 2001 and the crime has never been solved. He was killed in his home on Prospect Street, just two blocks up the street from the Lloyd property.”

Leading Rhode Island law enforcement officials tell GoLocal that Dion has close ties to Eddie Lato — an identified Capo in the New England crime family.

Federal Cocaine Conviction

According to Federal court documents, “Richard A. Dion pled guilty to five counts of an indictment charging him with distributing cocaine, and to three counts of a separate indictment charging him with racketeering and extortion. Because the quantity of cocaine distributed was more than 500 grams, the Federal Sentencing Guidelines call for a sentence of 63-78 months, mandates a sentence of at least five years in prison.”

The federal racketeering indictment charged that Dion was "part of a wide-ranging conspiracy to collect gambling debts by extortionate means. Specifically, it alleges that Dion acted as an enforcer and threatened at least two people with physical harm if they failed to make payment. One of the victims was Robert Atamian, who Dion learned was addicted to the prescription drug Vicodin. When Atamian became fearful for his safety, he sought protection from the FBI. Agents persuaded him to begin purchasing Vicodin and, later, cocaine from Dion who was under investigation for his role in the racketeering activity.”

Elected Officials and Residents Caught Off Guard

The Providence City Councilman who represents that area was unaware of the sale of the property to Dion and the building's transformation into a Suboxone facility.

“I learned about the proposed clinic from GoLocalProv – thank you for informing the community. I look forward to consulting with the College Hill Neighborhood Association to learn their assessment of local impacts and concerns,” said Councilman Sam Zurier. “I also will discuss the proposal at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Ward 2 Committee which will take place in a couple of weeks. Based on that feedback and a better understanding of the regulatory process, I will develop a position and a plan that best addresses the legitimate concerns of my constituents.”

Similarly, Josh Eisen who heads the College Hill Neighborhood Association tells GoLocal, “CHNA was not notified of the plans. We will need to research and discuss before we can comment further.”

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Dion’s proposed Suboxone clinic may face little regulatory review if his facility is tied to a licensed physician.

According to the Rhode Island Department of Health’s Joseph Wendelken, "Someone who is licensed by the Rhode Island Department of Health as a physician, and who is waivered by the federal government to prescribe buprenorphine, can prescribe that medication without getting a separate facility license from the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities, and Hospitals.“

The impact on the neighborhood - one of the most expensive and historic in the region - may be significant.

“There used to be a day spa there," said Sharon Steele, a leading East Side real estate consultant. "What I don’t understand, is how it goes from a day spa to a Suboxone clinic? What kind of zoning is in place? Wickenden is at least commercial. This is smack in the middle of a residential area."

“From a real estate consultant standpoint, my immediate reaction was, what happened in the dark of night? Clearly this didn’t happen in 24 hours, but it was all kept under wraps — until it became public,” added Steele.

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As GoLocal reported this summer: A former Rhode Island tax preparer who was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison by the Department of Justice has opened a suboxone therapy clinic Wickenden Street in Providence. Neighbors have taken to social media as a number of people were victims of his tax scheme are concerned about the new venture.

Michael Brier, who in 2013 pleaded guilty to underreporting over a million dollars in income and violating a federal court order that had permanently barred him to preparing tax returns for others, opened Recovery Connection in Providence in June, to "provide counseling services to those with opioid and drug addiction issues," at the same location where his tax preparation services had been.

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