BOSTON — A landlord known across the Outer Cape for renting run-down properties and ignoring municipal tax bills for years is now in trouble with the federal government.
David Delgizzi of Weston was ordered by a federal court judge to explain why he had not responded to directives from the Internal Revenue Service about his delinquent income taxes. The show-cause hearing was set for Nov. 6 at U.S. District Court in Boston.
Delgizzi didn’t show up.
According to the clerk’s notes, Delgizzi told the court he had a family emergency and had to travel unexpectedly. The judge continued the hearing to Dec. 13.
Russell Silverstein, an agent for the IRS, had requested the hearing after trying without success to obtain documents connected to Delgizzi’s 2022 tax returns so that he could calculate what is owed and add it to Delgizzi’s growing tab.
The IRS won’t give out information about delinquent accounts, but the agency placed a lien on Delgizzi’s properties in April for a little over $2 million owed in federal income taxes. The amount covers six years of income taxes due from 2012 through 2017.
In January, the state also placed a lien on Delgizzi’s properties, this one totaling about $382,000 for his personal state income taxes and meals taxes due from his businesses.
Delgizzi has a history of ignoring judicial directives whether they are issued by the state Land Court, housing court, or federal court. In July 2015, he was a no-show for a hearing in U.S. District Court to explain why he had failed to file tax returns for a number of years. The court then ordered Delgizzi to a hearing on Dec. 1 of that year to explain why he should not be held in contempt. Delgizzi again didn’t attend.
He was arrested on Dec. 3, 2015 on a warrant issued by the federal court and brought to the U.S. District Court, where he promised a judge he would attend a hearing the following day. That time Delgizzi did show up and satisfied information requests from the IRS prior to the hearing’s continuance on Dec. 18.
At the time, Delgizzi owed more than $400,000 in federal taxes and $253,000 in state taxes. The agencies removed the liens, but whether Delgizzi paid in full or set up payment plans could not be determined from public documents.
Delinquent on the Outer Cape
Officials in the towns where Delgizzi and his wife, Carolyn, own properties have spent years trying to get them to pay their property taxes.
In Truro, the Delgizzis currently owe $487,974 in real estate and personal property taxes on their five properties, which include the notoriously ill-maintained Truro Motor Inn, which lost its license in 2020.
Truro Finance Director Alex Lessin said the amount includes taxes on properties owned by DDG Nominee Trust, Daniel & David Delgizzi, and Daniel Delgizzi. Daniel was David’s father; he died in August 2020. “All but one property is in Land Court,” said Lessin in an email. “We plan to place the final property in tax title this year.”
The town of Eastham took two Delgizzi-owned condominiums for nonpayment of taxes in 2020, but their deteriorated condition has been a major challenge. Delgizzi still owns nine properties in Eastham on which he owed $21,587 in real estate taxes as of Oct. 31, with interest accruing at 14 percent.
“We are in the process of last attempts at collection for FY23 bills,” said Eastham Treasurer-Collector Maya Golding in an email. If Delgizzi doesn’t pay what is owed, the town will place liens on his properties in December. The interest rate on his delinquent taxes then jumps to 16 percent.
In Orleans, the Delgizzis own the now-closed Lobster Pound restaurant and two houses they rent out. They owed the town $18,740 in back taxes from two previous years but paid the bill in full in early August, just days before a story about their delinquent taxes was published in the Independent.
The Delgizzis purchased three properties in Brewster in 2019 and 2020, making the purchases at the same time Truro officials were locked in a court battle with them over the dilapidated Truro Motor Inn, where they were illegally renting rooms to year-round tenants, and Eastham was completing the taking of the two condominiums in state Land Court.
Brewster Treasurer-Collector Lisa Vitale said in an email that David and Carolyn Delgizzi owed $38,281 in taxes as of Nov. 1.
At Home in Weston
The Delgizzis own several other properties south of Boston, where various newspapers have reported on unpaid tax bills and property takings by municipalities through the Land Court.
David and Carolyn Delgizzi live in a $2 million house at 3 Bittersweet Lane in Weston, where their property taxes are chronically delinquent. According to that town’s treasurer-collector, Zoe Pierce, they owed about $500,000 in real estate taxes on the property when she started her job five years ago.
At that time, the town filed in Land Court to take ownership of 3 Bittersweet Lane. When the Delgizzis didn’t show up for a court hearing, the judge awarded ownership of the property to the town.
“My town manager thought eviction was not a good way to go,” Pierce said. The Delgizzis continued to live in the house and eventually paid the delinquent taxes and got their property back.
“They haven’t paid a dime in taxes since then,” said Pierce. They currently owe Weston about $50,000. Pierce said the town won’t wait this time for that bill to mount. In September, Pierce once again started the process of taking ownership of the house through the Land Court.
Calls to the Delgizzis for comment on this article were not answered.
