The 55-year-old newsman says he is drawing on his experience with a heart transplant for strength.

09:43 AM EST on Tuesday, December 7, 2004

BY TRACY BRETON
Journal Staff Writer

CRANSTON -- Jim Taricani is scared about the prospect of going to prison. A heart transplant recipient, he's worried that prison doctors won't be able to manage his many medical problems and that his safety could be at risk.

He hopes that Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres will show him some mercy and give him home confinement. But he's also facing the possibility of losing his freedom with resignation.

"I'm drawing on the experience of my heart transplant when I had to face death," the Channel 10 reporter said. "The best way to deal with adversity is to confront it. I do a lot of meditation. I'm of the Buddhist philosophy of life . . . "

In an exclusive interview with The Journal, Taricani, 55, also disclosed for the first time yesterday that no one -- not even his wife, his bosses or his lawyers -- knew who gave him the secret FBI videotape until a special prosecutor revealed the source's identity last week.

For four years, it was a secret between just him and his source, defense lawyer Joseph A. Bevilacqua Jr. And it was a secret, Taricani said, that he would have taken to his grave if Bevilacqua had not come forward himself.

In the wide-ranging interview, Taricani emphasized that the only reason he asked Bevilacqua to come forward was because his lawyers asked him to do so this summer -- when Torres began assessing him fines of $1,000-a-day after adjudging him in civil contempt. Channel 10 paid about $85,000 in fines before Torres turned the case into one of criminal contempt. And as his criminal trial loomed, Taricani said, he made several more attempts, at his lawyer's urging, to try to get Bevilacqua to come forward.

Taricani said he understands why Bevilacqua refused to come forward for so long. The defense lawyer told him, he said, that his life and reputation would be destroyed if he admitted being the source of the tape. He also had a sick daughter and Bevilacqua worried about her. "I was sensitive to that," Taricani said.

Asked whether he believed that by asking Bevilacqua for the videotapes, he was requesting that a source break the law, Taricani said no. He said Bevilacqua told him that because he was no longer representing anyone in the Plunder Dome case, the protective order that had been issued by the federal court no longer applied to him.

And Taricani said he himself believed that the order no longer applied to Bevilacqua because Bevilacqua's client, Joseph A. Pannone, had already pleaded guilty and "the Pannone tapes" he sought from Bevilacqua had already been played at the trial of another Plunder Dome defendant, Rosemary Glancy.

Taricani said he had no idea that the box of tapes Bevilacqua loaned him would include a video showing Frank E. Corrente, the top aide to Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., taking a bribe until he began watching the tapes at his office -- a process he said took several hours.

The reason his station decided to air the Corrente tape before the Plunder Dome trial was because "I knew it was a critical piece of information based on the indictment [of Corrente] already made public" and because "I felt we would be doing a public service showing the tape." It was "a blatant and vivid example of public corruption . . . I knew this was the hot tape. Stories had already been published about it," he said.

Taricani said he defied a court order to disclose his source solely on journalistic principles. "I don't consider myself above the law," he said. But "as an investigative reporter, part of my job requires me to use confidential sources, especially when it concerns government corruption . . . We have a role to play in this society and that is being government's watchdog. When we're forced to give up sources, we can't play our role in society," he said.

Taricani said he hasn't heard from Bevilacqua since he came forward on Nov. 24. He said he's upset by the way Bevilacqua has characterized events in an attempt to save himself.

He also said that he is surprised that W. Dennis Aiken, the FBI agent in charge of the Plunder Dome investigation, would take what Taricani told him "in what I took to be a private, friendly conversation" and then use that to try to expose his source.

The morning of his trial Nov. 18 for criminal contempt, Taricani had a chance encounter with Aiken in Au Bon Pain near the federal courthouse. Aiken offered to sign a waiver of confidentiality in the hope that others would, too, and the source could be identified, Taricani said.

Taricani told Aiken that DeSisto had already shown him a waiver signed by his source. As it turned out, Bevilacqua's waiver was the only waiver DeSisto had shown to Taricani. After the trial, DeSisto summoned Bevilacqua for a second deposition, which resulted in him confessing to being the source.

"Dennis Aiken and I go back 22 years," Taricani said yesterday. "I felt he was trying to be a friend, trying to help me out," when he offered to sign a waiver.

"In hindsight, it was a mistake to talk to him. It wasn't my best moment," Taricani said.

Taricani said he plans to address the court on Thursday and that he hopes that Torres "takes all of what's happened into consideration" and spares him a prison sentence. "One day of freedom taken away is one day too many. I'm very concerned about my health condition," he said.

There are several prison hospitals in the United States that care for sick inmates. The closest one is in Fort Devens, Mass. -- where Corrente, who also suffers heart and blood pressure problems, is serving his sentence. Asked whether he thinks Torres would place him there, Taricani said "that's the closest one to Mass. General [Hospital]," where Taricani received his heart transplant. It's also the closest one to Rhode Island, where Taricani and his wife, Laurie White, make their home in North Kingstown.

As he awaits his sentencing, Taricani is trying keep to his normal routine. Last weekend, he and his wife went out to dinner at Basil's in Narragansett; he watched the football games on Sunday and then went out with his wife for Chinese food.

The outpouring of support for him has been tremendous -- over 2,000 e-mails and many, many phone calls and letters, he said. Yesterday, he received a letter from a California man who also included $200 in cash -- which Taricani said he'll return -- to help him through his crisis. The man told Taricani that he has a son who is a television reporter and that he hopes he "would also have the courage and integrity" to keep his word to a source.

Taricani said he has much to look forward to. He'll be paid his full salary and benefits while serving his sentence. "I've got my job when I come back."

And tomorrow -- perhaps his last day of freedom for a while -- Taricani will take the afternoon off to go to his favorite place -- Beavertail Light, in Jamestown. "I'm going to take a good book and take in the ocean. It's my nirvana," he said.

Court papers

Television reporter Jim Taricani yesterday filed a legal response to rebut the version of events given to the special prosecutor by lawyer Joseph A. Bevilacqua Jr. Bevilacqua gave Taricani a secret FBI videotape that Channel 10 aired on Feb. 1, 2001, showing Frank E. Corrente, Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.'s top aide, accepting a bribe. Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres will sentence Taricani on Thursday for criminal contempt for not revealing his source.

Special Prosecutor Marc DeSisto's memorandum, Nov. 30

Mr. Bevilacqua and Mr. Taricani were longtime friends.

Reporter James Taricani's affidavit, Dec. 6

I have a professional relationship with him [Mr. Bevilacqua]. Over the years he has given me information and leads for news stories.

DeSisto's memo

Mr. Bevilacqua did not request any promise of confidentiality from Mr. Taricani.

Taricani's affidavit

That statement is false. Mr. Bevilacqua asked for a promise of confidentiality and agreed to give me the Corrente tape on the condition that I keep his identity confidential.

DeSisto's memo

Mr. Bevilacqua acknowledges that he voluntarily executed the Waiver of Confidentiality in March 2002. He further confirms that he was not forced or otherwise compelled to sign this waiver.

Taricani's affidavit

He [Mr. Bevilacqua] told me that when he was deposed, he had to sign the waiver. Otherwise, it would have looked like he was guilty. He also stated that he could not come forward and identify himself as the source.

DeSisto's memo

In May or June 2002, Mr. Bevilacqua informed Mr. Taricani that he had signed the Waiver of Confidentiality and that Mr. Taricani should come forward.

Taricani's affidavit

That statement is false. While it is true that Mr. Bevilacqua told me he had signed a waiver form (indeed, I had seen it), he did not tell me then and, in fact, never told me that I should come forward and reveal his identity.

DeSisto's memo

When asked why he denied being the source when he was questioned at his first deposition of Feb. 6, 2002, Mr. Bevilacqua testified that Mr. Taricani did not want Mr. Bevilacqua to come forward and reveal himself as the source of the Corrente videotape. Mr. Bevilacqua gave Mr. Taricani his word that he would not identify himself, which is the reason he did not come forward earlier.

Taricani's affidavit

This statement is false. I never told Mr. Bevilacqua earlier -- either before Feb. 6, 2002 or afterwards -- that I did not want him to come forward and reveal himself as my source. I did not even know about his deposition before it occurred, and I did nothing to discourage Mr. Bevilacqua from identifying himself as the source at his Feb. 6, 2002 deposition or at any other time, nor did I ever suggest or encourage him to lie about being my source.

DeSisto's memo

Most recently, Mr. Bevilacqua encouraged Mr. Taricani to come forward on Nov. 18, 2004, the day of Mr. Taricani's criminal contempt hearing.

Taricani's affidavit

That statement is false. In fact, when I spoke with Mr. Bevilacqua on the morning of Nov. 18, 2004 before the trial, Mr. Bevilacqua told me once again in no uncertain terms that he expected me to keep his identity confidential.