• The federal prosecutor in the Plunder Dome case discloses that the government plans to use a chart at trial showing that the Providence mayor accepted cash contributions at a Florida fundraiser.
BY TRACY BRETON
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE
-- Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. has said publicly that his campaign organization doesn't take cash contributions.
But Asst. U.S. Attorney Richard Rose disclosed in court yesterday that the government plans to use a chart in the mayor's upcoming trial that shows cash collected by Cianci and his chief of staff, Artin H. Coloian -- a codefendant in the case -- from a Florida fundraiser.
The federal prosecutor also said he plans to present the jury with a chart showing cash collected by the Friends of Cianci -- the mayor's campaign organization -- "at a Lincoln Downs fundraiser."
These disclosures by the government came during a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Lovegreen on several motions brought by the defense to try to force prosecutors to turn over more information before the mid-April trial of the case the FBI has dubbed Operation Plunder Dome.
The Plunder Dome indictment charges Cianci and the others with racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, mail fraud and witness tampering. It alleges that the mayor and those indicted with him took more than $1.5 million during the 1990s -- extorting cash and campaign contributions for leases, contracts, jobs, promotions and other benefits.
Yesterday's hearing -- which lasted about two hours -- was filled with verbal sparring between the government and defense camps over how much information the defense had already been given to prepare for trial, whether the government had turned over everything it was required to, and whether prosecutors were furnishing the material in a timely manner.
Lawyers for Cianci, Coloian and the other defendants in the 29-count corruption case argued that they were being hampered in preparing for the trial by the government's refusal to turn over certain information they argued they were entitled to.
But Rose and Terrence Donnelly, the other prosecutor who is handling the government's case with him, countered that they had turned over what they were required to under court rules, and that they would continue to do so as more material was prepared -- or if they discovered anything not already in their possession that could be favorable to the defense.
At several points during the hearing, Rose said he couldn't understand how he could turn things over that were not in the government's possession.
At one point, he disclosed during his presentation that the government has "turned over 84 complete transcripts of recordings we plan to use at trial and have given them the recordings."
Lovegreen -- who will resume the hearing at 2:15 this afternoon because he couldn't get through all of the motions by the end of the court day -- denied several of the defense motions but reserved judgment on others.
He said some of the things the defense was asking for was beyond what court rules provided and said there was no way he could order prosecutors "to give you things they say they don't have."
But he did tell the prosecutors that they must provide the defense with copies of all the charts and graphs they intend to use at trial by March 18 at the latest -- sooner if they are ready before then.
During the hearing, C. Leonard O'Brien, the lawyer representing Frank E. Corrente, Cianci's former top aide, complained that the government "has provided us with hours upon hours of statements" from witnesses but had not identified how it planned to use them at trial.
William Murphy, who represents Edward Voccola -- a convicted felon who received a lucrative School Department lease -- said he wanted to know the identities of any witnesses not already identified as potential government witnesses to conversations tape-recorded by the prosecution.
