OSTER

PROVIDENCE — Until yesterday afternoon, the jury in former Lincoln Town Administrator Jonathan F. Oster’s bribery and conspiracy trial had only heard of Oster’s alleged co-conspirator, ex-Planning Board member Robert R. Picerno. But Picerno, or at least of video of him in action, took center stage yesterday during testimony by a contractor who says he paid Picerno bribes.

In a 20-minute videotape secretly recorded just before he was arrested on Valentine’s Day 2002, the man Oster’s lawyer has derided as a “personable scoundrel” and a “flimflam man” was on full display. The ample Picerno filled a chair in front of the desk of David Wayne Daniel, a West Warwick contractor Picerno believed was paying him off to get him a key piece of commercial real estate from the town.

But Daniel was working with the state police. He was questioned on the stand by Assistant Attorney General William Ferland. Defense lawyer C. Leonard O’Brien’s cross examination was expected today.

There were no formal names in Picerno’s patter; it was “Frankie” and “Bobby.” “Fifty green” was $50,000. He would hint and imply — “you know what I’m saying?” — rather than say things directly. And there were repeated hints at nebulous future deals.

Daniel had to act as translator at times, converting Picerno’s argot of construction and bribery into everyday English. At one point, Picerno proposes building a house in one of Daniel’s subdivisions. He suggests Daniel order the supplies, such as lumber and concrete, for Picerno’s house and bill them to the house Daniel is building. Picerno would “give him green” — pay Daniel cash under the table — for the supplies. Daniel could then bill them to his project, inflating the cost and masking his profit and lessen the taxes due on it.

At the time, Picerno was a member of the town’s Planning Board, a panel that could enrich a developer with a “yes” vote or shut down a multimillion-dollar project with a “no.” At the Feb. 14, 2002, meeting with Daniel, Picerno was at times a schemer, proposing new deals. Or he was a raconteur, gossiping about other developers, including former New England mob boss Raymond “Junior” Patriarca, who with his wife built high-end housing in southern Lincoln and who’d bested Picerno in a dispute over a lot. Then he’d be the wily insider, boasting of his clout and hinting at the failed deals he could have saved.

Picerno’s activities are key to the state’s case. Oster is charged with two counts of bribery and two counts of conspiracy. The state alleges that in the Oster conspiracy, Picerno would shake down potential buyers of a piece of town-controlled land on Route 116 and Oster would arrange the sale.

Daniel and his partner, Robert Gelfuso, were to pay Picerno a $25,000 bribe in exchange for getting the property, six acres known as the H&H Screw Co. site.

The videotaped meeting with Daniel was to bring the builder up to speed on how things were progressing. Picerno showed Daniel a copy of the tax title document that he said would enable Daniel and his partner to take over the land. The deal was that Gelfuso would pay Picerno the $25,000 while Daniel would pay $15,000 for what Picerno called legal fees and pay the town $105,000 for the land, which Daniel was convinced was worth more than $1 million.

Picerno implied he had potential buyers or tenants for the H&H property, an unnamed condo developer and Lincoln car dealer Robert Campellone, whom he called “Bobby.”

He told Daniel that his involvement would have to be kept secret.

“You’ve got to come forward with the lawyers,” Picerno tells him. “ … I can’t do that, I could be sitting on the other end, listening.”

Campellone, whose car dealership was down Route 116 from the site, was Picerno’s first bribery target for the H&H land. Campellone testified earlier this week that Picerno lied to him about the terms of the deal. He said he backed out and demanded his $25,000 bribe money back. Picerno wanted the bribes from Daniel and Gelfuso pay back Campellone. Daniel testified Picerno had him make out the $15,000 “legal fees” check to Campellone, whom he didn’t know.

Picerno also dangled the prospect of Daniel building a 7-Eleven store for Campellone across the street from his dealership. Picerno suggested Daniel could offer a price that matched what another contractor could do, “or maybe you can do it for 10-percent more, you know what I’m trying to say?”

Campellone testified earlier this week that he indeed wanted to build a 7-Eleven across from his dealership, Lincoln Dodge, but said he dropped the plan when Picerno said he’d need a payoff to get it approved.

Daniel had testified how his crews on a playground project in Lincoln had been harassed by town officials until he bought $5,000 worth of Oster fundraising tickets from Picerno and then the pestering stopped. Daniel also said that Picerno had helped him get occupancy certificates for some houses he’d built.

“Everything you ask me to do, I did,” Picerno said. He contrasted Daniel’s success to another developer who didn’t seek his help. “Frankie got screwed,” he said — a reference, according to Daniel, to Lincoln developer Frank Zammiello — when Zammiello lobbied to have the town build a new school on land he owned.

“He wanted a school and they shot him down,” Picerno snickered. “ … He didn’t return my calls.”

jhill@projo.com