[1] His parents divorced when he was young and he lived with his mother in Everett, Massachusetts' Woodlawn housing projects.
[2] He attended Everett public schools and Bunker Hill Community College.
[1] In 2004 he ran for state representative, but lost to incumbent Edward G. Connolly in the Democratic primary.
On December 20, 2012, US Attorney Carmen Ortiz announced that Smith had agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of deprivation of rights under color of law for his role in a voter fraud scheme in which Smith cast absentee ballots for voters who were ineligible or unaware of ballots being cast in their names.
As part of his plea agreement, Smith will not be allowed to run for public office for five years.