01:00 AM EST on Saturday, December 4, 2004

BY TRACY BRETON
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Joseph A. Bevilacqua Jr., a defense lawyer in the Plunder Dome corruption case who was the source of a secret FBI videotape given to Channel 10 reporter Jim Taricani, is being subpoenaed to testify at Taricani's sentencing hearing, scheduled for Thursday.

The special prosecutor who is handling Taricani's criminal contempt case yesterday filed court papers asking Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres for permission to compel Bevilacqua's presence and testimony at Taricani's sentencing.

Late yesterday afternoon, Torres granted the request by special prosecutor Marc DeSisto to present testimony at the sentencing hearing and to issue a witness subpoena for Bevilacqua.

In a two-paragraph memorandum of law submitted to the judge, the special prosecutor said that Bevilacqua's testimony might be relevant to the sentence Torres imposes on Taricani. The reporter is facing up to six months in prison for defying the judge's order to divulge who leaked to him the secret videotape, in violation of a court order prohibiting its dissemination by members of the prosecution and defense teams in the City Hall corruption case.

The tape -- which Channel 10 aired Feb. 1, 2001, more than a year before the Plunder Dome trial -- shows Frank E. Corrente, the top aide to former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., accepting a $1,000 cash bribe from Antonio Freitas, who was posing as a corrupt businessman seeking to lease space to the city's School Department.

Bevilacqua was a lawyer for former city tax official Joseph A. Pannone, who was recently released from a five-year prison sentence, which he received after pleading guilty to corruption charges.

John F. Cicilline, a former law associate and longtime friend of Bevilacqua, said Thursday that Bevilacqua has been in Florida since last week, after he confessed to DeSisto, under oath, that he had been Taricani's source.

It was unclear last night how or when DeSisto could serve Bevilacqua with the subpoena or whether Bevilacqua intended to return to Rhode Island before Thursday's hearing. If Bevilacqua refused to return from Florida, DeSisto could apply to a court in that state in an attempt to compel him to return, but an interstate court procedure could turn into a lengthy affair and might not be resolved by Thursday.

Bevilacqua's lawyer, Thomas A. Tarro III, told The Associated Press late yesterday that he had not seen Torres' order but expects that his client will attend Taricani's sentencing, if requested to do so by DeSisto. Whether Bevilacqua answers questions, however, might be another matter, Tarro said. Tarro said he would like to know what, if any, action DeSisto intends to take against Bevilacqua before he's asked to testify at Taricani's sentencing.

Tarro said Wednesday that he expects Torres to "institute civil or criminal contempt proceedings" against Bevilacqua regarding his unlawful disclosure of the Corrente videotape. Tarro said the reason Bevilacqua decided last week to disclose his identity was because he didn't want to see Taricani sent to prison, given his medical condition.

DeSisto declined to comment last night.

Bevilacqua at first denied being Taricani's source, when questioned under oath by DeSisto at a deposition Feb. 6, 2002. But on Nov. 24 -- six days after Taricani's conviction for criminal contempt -- Bevilacqua, in a second deposition, told DeSisto that he was the reporter's source.

Asked by DeSisto why he had previously denied being Taricani's source, Bevilacqua said he had given his word to Taricani that he would not identify himself even though he had never asked for confidentiality. Taricani disputes Bevilacqua's version of events and has called him "a liar." The reporter says he would never have shielded Bevilacqua's identity and run the risk of being imprisoned if Bevilacqua had not insisted on confidentiality.

After Bevilacqua identified himself as Taricani's source, Taricani, on Nov. 30, confirmed that Bevilacqua had given him the tape. But that was too late to avoid his being convicted on the contempt charge.

Taricani, 55, is the recipient of a heart transplant and has to take medication every 12 hours. His lawyers are urging the judge to sentence him to home confinement instead of sending him to a federal prison.