US Atty. Carmen Ortiz speaks on DiMasi Guilty Verdict

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Sal DiMasi speaks on his Guilty Verdict

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DiMasi guilty in Beacon Hill bid-pushing scandal

DiMasi guilty in Beacon Hill bid-pushing scandal

By Laurel J. Sweet  |   Wednesday, June 15, 2011  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage
Photo by Patrick Whittemore (File)

Fallen and disgraced former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi was found guilty today by a federal jury of conspiracy, mail and wire fraud and extortion in connection with a $17.5 million software deal he tried to shove through Beacon Hill.

In all, the former North End Democrat was found guilty of conspiracy, six of eight counts of honest services mail and wire fraud and one count of extortion.

He will be sentenced on Aug. 18 where he faces up to 25 years in jail.

The jury notified the court it had reached the verdicts shortly before 12:15 p.m. DiMasi glanced back at his wife with a reassuring smile moments before he learned his fate. Once the verdicts were read, the disgraced North End pol stared ahead blankly.

His co-defendant Richard McDonough, 66, was also found guilty of conspiracy and six of eight counts of honest services mail and wire fraud.

A third defendant, Richard Vitale, 66, was cleared of all charges. The judge was told he was free to go. All three men hugged after the verdicts were announced.

“You can’t imagine the emotions that are under the surface when you sit day in and day out with your freedom in peril,” said Vitale’s attorney Martin Weinberg.

Gov. Deval Patrick, who was called to testify in the case, said today: “I hope what it means is the end of a long sad chapter.”

DiMasi breached the public’s trust in his leadership when he exploited a software company’s aggressive pursuit of multimillion-dollar state contracts, a jury of his one-time constituents found today.

On their third day of deliberations at U.S. District Court in Boston, seven women and five men ruled DiMasi was out to line his own pockets.

DiMasi was Massachusetts’ first Italian-American Speaker from 2004 until his pre-indictment resignation in 2009.

DiMasi and McDonough, each potentially facing up to 25 years in federal prison, will be sentenced later by Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf.

Between April 2005 and March 2007, DiMasi was funneled $65,000 in bribes by his unwitting law associate of nearly 20 years, Steven Topazio, through a bogus contract McDonough and Joseph P. Lally Jr., a locally based vice president for a Canadian technology company called Cognos, struck for Topazio to be on call if the firm needed corporate papers reviewed.

Topazio, one of three government witnesses granted court-ordered immunity for their testimony against DiMasi, banked $125,000 never doing a day’s work for Cognos. DiMasi’s cut came from the $4,000 he demanded from Topazio’s monthly $5,000 paycheck and from a $25,000 lump sum he bullied Topazio into handing over.

Prior to becoming Speaker, DiMasi oversaw a $211,000 per-year law practice. But when his attention turned full-time to politics, the cases dried up as he amassed tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt prosecutors said he blew on clothes, fine dining and travel befitting his image as the state’s most powerful politician.

With DiMasi’s help on the Hill, Lally scored millions in commissions selling the state a $4.5 million software license for an education data warehouse for the Department of Education and a $13 million performance management system to permit legislators instant access to agency information.

In return, Lally paid McDonough a total of $300,000 for keeping DiMasi on board with the scheme.

Lally, 50, pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy and honest services fraud in exchange for escaping a money laundering charge and the recommendation of prosecutors that he serve no more than three years behind bars.

Lally, who is still awaiting a sentencing date, was vilified by the defense team as a self-serving liar and generate gambler for turning on the others with his star-witness testimony for the government.

DiMasi, whose annual $59,422 state pension is now in peril, is the Commonwealth’s third consecutive House Speaker to be convicted of criminal wrongdoing, but the first to be headed for the big house.

His predecessor, Thomas M. Finneran, now the host of WRKO’s (680 AM) morning-drive show, pleaded guilty in 2007 in federal court to obstruction of justice for his role in a racially charged redistricting plan. His agreement with the feds enabled him to skate on a perjury charge. Finneran received 18 months’ probation and a $25,000 fine.

Before Finneran, Speaker Charles F. Flaherty Jr. pleaded guilty in 1996 in federal court to tax evasion. Flaherty walked with two years’ probation and a $5,000 fine.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1345698

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Star witness a ‘high roller’ Cognos regional manager says strategy meetings held at casinos

Star witness a ‘high roller’
Cognos regional manager says strategy meetings held at casinos
By Laurel J. Sweet  |   Tuesday, May 10, 2011  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Politics

Photo by Matt Stone

Salesmen for the global software firm at the center of ex-House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi’s corruption trial held strategy meetings at glitzy casinos on behalf of a company that boasted former Big Apple Mayor Rudy Giuliani as an advocate, a former executive testified yesterday.

Christopher Quinter, who was a regional manager for Cognos — now part of IBM — told jurors he once saw sales rep Joseph P. Lally Jr., the government’s star witness against DiMasi, casually slap $10,000 down on a roulette wheel during a business trip to Foxwoods.

“He was a high roller,” said Quinter on his second day of intense cross-examination by attorneys for DiMasi’s co-defendants, accountant Richard Vitale and lobbyist Richard “Dickie” McDonough.

And that wasn’t all Quinter had to say about Lally, his go-to guy on multimillion-dollar state contracts for Cognos that DiMasi is accused of pocketing $65,000 in bribes to push through. During testimony not heard by jurors, Quinter said he warned the U.S. Attorney’s Office during his pre-trial preparation that Lally “was a bull-(expletive).”

Lally pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy and fraud charges in exchange for his testimony against DiMasi, Vitale and McDonough and the word of prosecutors to recommend he serve no more than three years in prison. Already a lightning rod of controversy, it’s unclear when he’ll be put on the witness stand.

DiMasi’s defense team will get their crack at Quinter today. Also yesterday, during questioning by Vitale’s lawyer Martin Weinberg, Quinter said former South Carolina Gov. James “Jim” Hodges and Giuliani worked for Cognos in advisory capacities.

“You wanted a deep Rolodex. You wouldn’t want to hire anybody who didn’t know anyone. You always needed an audience with the key decision-maker. It was the norm in the industry,” Quinter said of Cognos’ attraction to A-list advance men.

Giuliani, a potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate, declined comment. Hodges, who now runs a business and government-relations consulting firm, confirmed for the Herald he was on “a modest retainer” for a couple years, well after leaving office in 2003.

“They had a very good product,” he said of Cognos. “The folks I dealt with were very straight up.”

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1336808

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DiMasi asks to bar witness in corruption case

DiMasi asks to bar witness in corruption case

By Associated Press  |   Thursday, March 24, 2011  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Politics

Former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and two co-defendants are asking a federal judge to bar testimony at their upcoming corruption trial from a man who pleaded guilty in their alleged bid-rigging scheme.

DiMasi, Joseph McDonough and Richard Vitale are charged with scheming to rig lucrative state contracts for the software company Cognos in exchange for payments, with DiMasi allegedly pocketing $57,000.

Earlier this month, another co-defendant, Joseph Lally, pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against DiMasi and the others.

Lawyers for DiMasi, McDonough and Vitale have asked Judge Mark Wolf to bar Lally from testifying. They argue that the promise from prosecutors to recommend a lower sentence and to not force Lally to forfeit his family home gives him incentive to "curry favor" by tailoring his testimony to help prosecutors.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1325851

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DiMasi co-defendant pleads guilty

DiMasi co-defendant pleads guilty
By Laurel J. Sweet  |   Tuesday, March 8, 2011  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage

Photo by Mark Garfinkel



A North Reading father of two pleaded guilty today to banking $2.8 million for getting former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi on board with a lucrative bid-rigging scheme to land Canadian software firm Cognos, whose products he sold, two state contracts worth close to $20 million, prosecutors said.

Stamped a federal felon on his 50th birthday, Joseph P. Lally Jr., who’s apparently now broke, will be sentenced after the anticipated two-month trial of DiMasi, 65, DiMasi’s former financial advisor Richard D. Vitale and former Cognos lobbyist Richard W. McDonough, scheduled to begin April 25.

“Today I accept responsibility for my actions,” Lally, leaning on a post-hip replacement crutch, told reporters outside U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf’s courtroom. “It’s the first step to moving forward.”

Lally told Wolf during his change-of-plea hearing that he has received mental health counseling in the past year and is taking anti-depressants.

“I’m very fortunate to have a very, very loving wife and a supportive network of friends and family,” he told reporters.

Prosecutors will recommend Lally, who pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, extortion and aiding and abetting wire and mail fraud, spend no more than three years in prison in exchange for his cooperation against big fish DiMasi.

When Lally is sentenced, assistant U.S. Attorney S. Theodore Merritt said he will drop money laundering charges, for which Lally could have received an additional 10 years behind bars.

Lally’s attorney Robert Goldstein said he will urge Wolf to let his client off with a term of probation.

DiMasi, Vitale and McDonough are all due back in court tomorrow for a pre-trial hearing.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1321904

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