The lawyer contends he did not ask the Channel 10 reporter to keep his identify confidential. Taricani disputed that in a press conference later today.

06:14 PM EST on Wednesday, December 1, 2004

By TRACY BRETON
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- The special prosecutor in Channel 10 reporter Jim Taricani's contempt case today revealed the source of an FBI tape given to Taricani -- lawyer Joseph A. Bevilacqua Jr., who represented former city tax official Joseph A. Pannone in the Operation Plunder Dome case.

But special prosecutor Marc DeSisto says in court papers filed this morning that Bevilacqua never asked Taricani to keep his identity confidential and that the defense lawyer urged the reporter more than 2 1/2 years ago to tell DeSisto that he was his source.

DeSisto asserts that Taricani told Bevilacqua, a Providence lawyer and son of the late state Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph A. Bevilacqua, not to reveal his identity and "encouraged Mr. Bevilacqua to maintain his silence.''

DeSisto says that last Wednesday, after he subpoenaed Bevilacqua, the defense lawyer admitted under oath that he was the source for the secret FBI videotape that Channel 10 aired on Feb. 1, 2001. He had previously denied to DeSisto, also under oath on Feb. 6, 2002, that he was the source.

DeSisto said he then went to Taricani, who yesterday confirmed through his lawyers that Bevilacqua was his source.

At a brief press conference this afternoon, Taricani disputed Bevilacqua's contention that he did not require a promise of confidentiality from the reporter, saying he was "surprised and disappointed by the story that Mr. Bevilacqua has provided the special prosecutor."

The surveillance tape in question was part of the FBI’s probe into corruption at Providence City Hall, which led to the conviction of former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. It shows former Cianci top aide Frank Corrente taking a $1,000 bribe from informant Antonio Freitas, a Providence businessman who wanted to lease property he owned to the city.

Pannone was among the co-defendants in the case. According to the memo filed today, the tapes were provided to Bevilacqua as part of the discovery process involving his client, who later pleaded guilty to several charges and has been recently released from prison. Corrente was convicted along with Cianci and is still serving his sentence.

Taricani, 55, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 9 for criminal contempt for defying a court order to reveal his source. His case has garnered widespread attention, triggering debates over the freedom of the press and the powers of the federal court.

DeSisto revealed Taricani's source of the videotape in court papers he filed today in response to a sentencing memorandum submitted last week by the reporter's lawyers to U.S. District Court Chief Judge Ernest C. Torres. In it, they ask that Taricani be placed on probation and given home confinement instead of a term of up to six months to serve in federal prison.

They cite Taricani's medical condition as a reason for asking for leniency. Taricani, who has had a heart transplant, takes medication that suppresses his immune system in order to keep his body from rejecting the heart.

In the memorandum submitted to Torres today, DeSisto said that he felt it important to disclose formerly confidential aspects of his investigation because he says he thinks it ``bears on the nature and circumstances of the offense committed by Mr. Taricani'' as well as his character and history of behavior.

The special prosecutor asserts that Taricani has made misrepresentations in his legal battle to keep his source confidential.

``Contrary to Mr. Taricani's repeated assertions, both publicly and before this court, Mr. Bevilacqua, the `source,' did not request any promise of confidentiality in exchange for'' the videotape.

DeSisto says that in the spring of 2002, Bevilacqua told Taricani, who is a long-time friend, that he had signed a waiver of confidentiality ``and that Mr. Taricani should come forward'' and tell DeSisto that he had given him the videotape.

When asked why he denied being the source when he was questioned at the Feb. 6, 2002, deposition, according to the memo, Bevilacqua said that Taricani did not want Bevilacqua to come forward and reveal himself.

"Mr. Bevilacqua gave Mr. Taricani his word that he would not identify himself, which is the reason why he did not come forward earlier," the papers said.

DeSisto argues in the court papers that ``any obligation that Mr. Taricani felt to keep his source private should have dissolved upon presentation of the waiver of confidentiality'' in the spring of 2002. But ``more egregiously,'' DeSisto contends, instead of complying with his source's wishes...Mr. Taricani specifically asked Mr. Bevilacqua not to reveal his identity.''

At the news conference held at the Channel 10 station in Cranston, Taricani made a brief statement in response to the memo, saying he only confirmed Bevilacqua was his source after the lawyer disclosed his identity to DeSisto last week.

"It is unfortunate that the pressure created by the current circumstances has led Mr. Bevilacqua to say that he did not insist that I keep his name confidential," he said.

"I would never have jeopardized my health and reputation and put my family and my company through this ordeal if my source has not required a promise of confidentiality," he said.

He did not take questions from fellow members of the press, citing his upcoming sentencing.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Providence, which prosecuted the Plunder Dome case, released a statement this afternoon saying today's developments put to rest speculation that the U.S. Attorney's Office or the FBI had given Taricani the videotape.

"This revelation lifts the cloud of suspicion which had been permitted to linger, unfairly, over the FBI and this office," U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente said in the statement. "We agree that it was necessary and appropriate for the court to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate this matter. But it is just as important for the people of Rhode Island to be reassure that neither the FBI nor the U.S. Attorney's Office leaked the Corrente videotape in an effort to gain an unfair advantage in the Plunder Dome trial."

DeSisto had been appointed as a special prosecutor to investigate the source of the tape since members of the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI had access to the trial evidence.

-- With reports from projo.com staff writer Jack Perry and The Associated Press