City Hall on Trial
Plunder Dome defense lawyer denies he sought confidentiality
10:38 AM EST on Thursday, December 2, 2004
Journal photo / Connie Grosch At Channel 10 yesterday, reporter Jim Taricani, center, appears with his wife, Laurie White, and lawyer Deming Sherman, at lectern. Taricani says he would not have put his family and employer through the ordeal if his source had not requested confidentiality.
PROVIDENCE -- Joseph A. Bevilacqua Jr., a defense lawyer in the
Plunder Dome corruption case, was the source of a secret FBI videotape
given to Jim Taricani, the television reporter who faces sentencing next
week for criminal contempt.
Special prosecutor Marc DeSisto revealed Bevilacqua's identity in court
papers filed yesterday. He also asserted that Taricani had made
misrepresentations in his legal battle to keep his source confidential.
Contrary to Taricani's repeated claims, in public and in court, DeSisto
said, "Mr. Bevilacqua, the 'source,' did not request any promise of
confidentiality."
The special prosecutor said Bevilacqua had urged the Channel 10
reporter, more than 2 1/2 years ago, to tell DeSisto that he was the
source.
In a statement yesterday afternoon, Taricani said he was "surprised and
disappointed by the story that Mr. Bevilacqua has provided the special
prosecutor . . ."
"It is unfortunate that the pressure created by the current
circumstances has led Mr. Bevilacqua to say that he did not insist I
keep his name confidential," Taricani said.
"I would never have jeopardized my health and reputation, and put my
family and my company through this ordeal, if my source had not required
a promise of confidentiality."
The secret tape was part of the FBI's probe into corruption at
Providence City Hall, which led to the conviction in June 2002 of former
Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. and others. It showed Cianci's top aide,
Frank E. Corrente, taking a $1,000 cash bribe from an FBI informant who
was posing as a corrupt businessman.
On Nov. 18, Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres found Taricani
guilty of criminal contempt for refusing to identify his source.
Taricani is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 9, and could receive up to
six months in prison.
Taricani's lawyers had asked Torres for a sentence of probation with
home confinement. Taricani, 55, was the recipient of a heart transplant
in 1996 and has to take medication every 12 hours to control his immune
system.
Taricani has repeatedly said that the person who gave him the tape was
unwilling to waive his confidentiality and that he'd promised to keep
the source's identity secret. The case has garnered national attenton,
triggering debates over the freedom of the press and the powers of the
federal court.
DeSisto said his response to Taricani's request for a lenient sentence
lays out formerly confidential aspects of the investigation that bear on
the nature of Taricani's offense and the reporter's "character and
history of behavior."
IN THE Plunder Dome case, Bevilacqua represented Joseph A. Pannone, the
former chairman of the Providence Board of Tax Assessment Review, who
had been indicted in 1999 on charges of money laundering to facilitate
bribes for property-tax reductions.
Pannone pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison. He
would later be indicted again on corruption charges and again would
plead guilty.
On Nov. 11, 1999, and again on Aug. 7, 2000, Bevilacqua received copies
of FBI videotapes that were made as part of the Justice Department's
probe of corruption in city government.
On Aug. 8, 2000, Bevilacqua agreed to abide by an order issued by Senior
U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux that prohibited all members
of the prosecution and defense camps from disclosing any of the FBI
audio or video recordings.
March 16, 2004: Transcript of court hearing where Torres finds Taricani in
civil contempt
Nov. 4, 2004: Transcript of court hearing finding Taricani in criminal contempt
Nov. 18, 2004: Transcript from U.S. District Court proceedings finding
Taricani in criminal contempt
Recap
recent coverage of the Taricani contempt case and the aftermath of
Operation Plunder Dome
The tapes were turned over to the defendants and their lawyers by
prosecutors as part of the pretrial process. Lagueux's order was
intended to ensure fair trials for the defendants.
Bevilacqua and Taricani were longtime friends, according to DeSisto's
filing. Sometimes, the reporter would drop by the lawyer's office to
chat and talk about current events.
By late 2000, Bevilacqua had stopped representing Pannone; a colleague,
David Levy, had taken over the defense. In November or early December,
according to DeSisto, Taricani showed up at Bevilacqua's office one
morning and "noting that Mr. Bevilacqua was now out of the Pannone case,
asked for a copy of the videotapes." The tapes were covered by Lagueux's
order.
Bevilacqua gave Taricani several videotapes, including the Corrente
tape, which he ultimately aired two to three months later.
Bevilacqua told DeSisto that he never requested confidentiality, but
that Taricani offered it, saying he would not identify Bevilacqua as the
source because of the "newsman's privilege."
Taricani returned the tapes a day or two later. According to Bevilacqua,
the Corrente tape was the only one that Taricani copied.
According to DeSisto, Taricani "sought approval to air the tape from his
news director seven to ten days before its broadcast date." Channel 10
aired the tape on Feb. 1, 2001 -- at the start of the television ratings
period.
On May 31, 2001, Torres appointed DeSisto as a special prosecutor to
determine the source of the leak. The judge said that if anyone who was
covered by the protective order had leaked the tape to Taricani, it was
a crime that should be prosecuted.
DeSisto, according to Torres, questioned about 14 people under oath. All
of them, including Bevilacqua, denied being the source.
In March 2002, Bevilacqua gave DeSisto a waiver of confidentiality,
which would release a reporter from a pledge of confidentiality.
According to DeSisto, Bevilacqua was one of a number of people he asked
to sign such waivers.
Two or three months later, according to DeSisto, Bevilacqua told
Taricani that he had signed the waiver and that Taricani should come
forward and identify Bevilacqua as the source.
On July 15, 2002 -- after DeSisto claimed he had exhausted all avenues
to identify the source -- the special prosecutor summoned Taricani for a
deposition.
The reporter refused to answer any questions about how he obtained the
videotape. During the deposition, he was shown Bevilacqua's waiver of
confidentiality. After consulting with his lawyer, Taricani continued to
refuse to answer any questions, including whether he had received the
tape from Bevilacqua.
A few weeks ago, on the morning of Nov. 18, Taricani and W. Dennis
Aiken, the FBI agent in charge of the Plunder Dome investigation, had a
"chance encounter" at a coffee shop in Providence. It was the morning of
Taricani's trial for criminal contempt.
Aiken -- who had been one of the people bound by Lagueux's protective
order -- told Taricani that "he intended to sign a waiver of
confidentiality in the hope that others would follow suit and thereby
help to identify the source of the leak."
According to Aiken, Taricani responded that "the source of the tape had
already provided a waiver to the special prosecutor DeSisto, and that
Mr. DeSisto had shown him the waiver in the presence of his counsel."
According to Aiken, Taricani said that his lawyer had instructed him not
to confirm the identity of his source "since they could not be sure that
the source had not been 'forced' into providing the waiver."
DeSisto said Bevilacqua "confirms that he was not forced" to sign the
waiver.
Aiken immediately recounted his conversation with Taricani to U.S.
Attorney Robert Clark Corrente, who in turn notified DeSisto.
DeSisto says that the only waiver he had ever shown Taricani was
Bevilacqua's. DeSisto approached Taricani and his lawyers and once again
asked the reporter to comply with Torres' order and confirm that
Bevilacqua was his source.
Taricani requested a brief delay in the start of his trial to review
this development with his lawyers. The reporter persisted in refusing to
identify his source.
The trial proceeded and ended in less than an hour, with Taricani's
conviction for criminal contempt. According to DeSisto, after the trial,
Taricani contacted Bevilacqua and told him of his conversation with
Aiken.
The next day, Aiken made out an affidavit in which he recounted his
conversation with Taricani at the coffee shop. DeSisto began the process
of obtaining a subpoena to compel Bevilacqua to testify again.
On Nov. 24, Bevilacqua voluntarily appeared at DeSisto's Angell Street
law office, accompanied by his lawyer, Thomas A. Tarro III, and his
brother, lawyer John Bevilacqua, the former state Senate majority
leader. The Bevilacquas are sons of the late state Supreme Court Chief
Justice Joseph A. Bevilacqua.
Under oath for the second time, Bevilacqua told DeSisto that he had
given the Plunder Dome tapes to Taricani. Bevilacqua said that he had
never sought a promise of confidentiality, but that Taricani had
promised to keep his identity secret.
He told DeSisto that he had urged Taricani to come forward and reveal
his identity as recently as the morning of the reporter's trial for
criminal contempt.
According to DeSisto, Bevilacqua was asked why he originally denied
being the source. Bevilacqua, he said, told him that "Mr. Taricani did
not want Mr. Bevilacqua to come forward" and that Bevilacqua had
promised Taricani "that he would not identify himself, which is the
reason why he did not come forward earlier."
DeSisto then informed Taricani that Bevilacqua had testified that he was
Taricani's source.
On Tuesday, Taricani, through his lawyers, confirmed to DeSisto that
Bevilacqua had given him the videotape.
DeSISTO SAID he divulged some aspects of his investigation to address
"certain issues that Mr. Taricani claims support leniency" in sentencing.
Taricani claims, in his sentencing memorandum, that he did not believe
that his source was bound by the Lagueux secrecy order.
DeSisto said that claim should be rejected because it is clear that
Bevilacqua, even after he handed the case over to his associate, was
bound by the order as an attorney for Pannone.
He was not supposed to release any of the tapes to anyone except Pannone
or "those he deemed essential to the defense of his client."
DeSisto also said that "there was no logical reason" for Bevilacqua to
seek -- or for Taricani to offer -- confidentiality "other than to
protect against the ramifications for violating the protective order."
"This was not a situation where the source feared retaliation for
exposing corruption," DeSisto argued.
DeSisto also said "any obligation that Mr. Taricani felt to keep his
source private should have dissolved upon presentation of the waiver of
confidentiality" in 2002.
But, "more egregiously," instead of complying with his source's wishes,
said DeSisto, Taricani "specifically asked Mr. Bevilacqua not to reveal
his identity."
According to Bevilacqua, the special prosecutor also noted, Taricani had
the tape for almost three months before airing it -- "more than enough
time to determine if the release of the tape violated the protective
order."
DeSisto said Torres should also take into account that Taricani "granted
Mr. Bevilacqua an unsolicited promise of confidentiality" and then
"refused to acknowledge a valid waiver by Mr. Bevilacqua of any
purported promise of confidentiality" and "finally encouraged Mr.
Bevilacqua to maintain his silence."
"These actions," DeSisto says, "were all taken in direct violation of
this court's order, affirmed by the First Circuit, that Mr. Taricani
must reveal the identity of his source because there is no legal basis
for him to have afforded Mr. Bevilacqua a so-called promise of
confidentiality."
AFTER READING a statement to reporters yesterday, Taricani declined to
answer questions "in light of my upcoming sentencing." Later in the day,
in a a statement released by NBC, Taricani said:
"Mr. Bevilacqua repeatedly insisted that I keep his name in confidence
despite the fact that he had signed a waiver. He told me that he had to
sign the waiver, otherwise it would have raised suspicions that he was
my source. As a result, I upheld my promise to him. Mr. Bevilacqua's
allegations that it was not necessary for me to keep his confidence are
simply untrue. I categorically deny his account of these events."
Bevilacqua did not return a phone call left yesterday at his Pocasset
Avenue law office, which was closed by 3:30 p.m. No one answered the
phone at his East Greenwich home.
Tarro, his lawyer, said that Bevilacqua decided last week to disclose
his identity as the source because "knowing Mr. Taricani's medical
condition, he didn't want to see him go to jail."
Asked if he thought Bevilacqua would face criminal charges as a result
of his leaking the tape to Taricani, Tarro said, "I believe the court
will institute civil or criminal contempt proceedings in regard to his
disclosure of the tape."
In response to a question, Tarro said there was no plea agreement in
return for Bevilacqua's admission.
With reports from staff writer Mike Stanton.
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