PROVIDENCE -- "That's the way the game is played. Money."
And that's what former city tax official Joseph A. Pannone told
businessman Antonio R. Freitas, who was seeking Pannone's advice on how
to further his own interests with the city.
What Pannone didn't know was that Freitas was recording their May 18,
1998, phone conversation, as part of his undercover work for the FBI and
its Operation Plunder Dome probe into corruption at City Hall.
This morning, the jury in the resulting federal case heard that tape and
several more after Chief U.S. District Court Judge Ernest C. Torres
ruled that some of the Pannone tapes recorded by Freitas could be played.
By the close of court today, 11 tapes between Freitas and Pannone had
been heard by the jury. In the May 1998 conversation, Pannone advised
Freitas on how to approach Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., one of four
defendants now on trial.
Freitas was scheduled to meet with the mayor at a meeting of the West
Broadway Neighborhood Association, on neighborhood issues. Pannone
suggested he approach the mayor individually.
Tell him, Pannone said, "He's going to make money." He continued,
"Understand, there's nothing for nothing. There's no free lunches."
While new to this jury, the quote has been heard in court before, after
Pannone admitted in December 1999 to soliciting and accepting bribes in
his position as the chairman of the city's tax board of review.
On the tape, Pannone tells Freitas to hand Cianci an envelope with $500
in cash and tell the mayor it was for a campaign contribution.
"Don't say it's for him, say it's for the campaign," Pannone said.
"If you ain't got no money, he don't want to bother with you," he
continued. "That's the way the game is played. Money."
When Freitas asked if cash contributions to the campaign were recorded,
Pannone replied, "Well, I don't know where the hell it goes."
In a later videotape, Freitas is seen counting out three $100 bills to
Pannone to facilitate payment for work his company, JKL Engineering, did
for the city. The $300 paid June 29, 1998, was part of an $800 bribe
intended for Cianci's former top aide, Frank E. Corrente, according to
Freitas.
In an Oct. 15, 1998, audiotape, Freitas is heard counting out $2,400 to
Pannone in exchange for a large tax break Pannone had helped orchestrate
the day before. Pannone went to Freitas's office to collect the money.
"How much you want?" Freitas asked Pannone.
Pannone responded, "That's enough. That's enough. That's enough."
At that same meeting, Freitas gave $180 cash to Pannone for four tickets
to two separate Cianci fund-raisers.
The groundwork for the playing of the tapes today had been laid by
Freitas's testimony on the stand last week.
The government hopes to use the Pannone tapes, and Pannone's comments
about Cianci's alleged oversight of City Hall corruption, to help link
him to Corrente and the alleged City Hall racketeering enterprise he is
charged with masterminding.
Cianci, Corrente, and co-defendants Edward Voccola and Richard Autiello
face 29 counts of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, bribery, mail
fraud and witness tampering.
