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Businessman William Cellini was known in political circles as the
King of Clout because of top-tier contacts with successive Illinois
governors of different parties and even a few U.S. presidents.
Cellini, convicted of conspiring to commit extortion and soliciting
a bribe, was the last person scheduled to go on trial as part of the
federal investigation of Blagojevich. He faces up to 30 years in
prison.
Prosecutors said Cellini, a Springfield Republican, joined
Blagojevich confidants Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly and another man in
2004 to pressure Hollywood executive Thomas Rosenberg for a $1.5
million donation to the Blagojevich campaign. If he refused,
prosecutors said, the group threatened to pull strings to ensure
that $220 million in state pension funds earmarked for Rosenberg's
investment firm would be withheld.
A straight-faced Cellini tapped his folded hands at the edge of
the defense table as the verdict was read, otherwise showing little
emotion. On a spectator's bench nearby, his daughter's lips
quivered. Cellini did not speak as he left the courthouse.
As it had with others, it was Cellini's association with
Blagojevich that drew him into legal peril. He stood trial in the
same courtroom where the impeached Democratic governor was convicted
four months ago of a raft of charges, including seeking to sell or
trade an appointment to President Barack Obama's vacated Senate
seat.
The Chicago trial was a rare stint in the limelight for Cellini,
who never became a household name despite his wealth and the
influence he wielded that led to other monikers like the pope of
Illinois politics. Putting someone of his stature on trial would,
reform advocates had hoped, serve as a warning to businessmen or
politicians to keep their noses clean -- or else.
During her closing arguments, prosecutor Julie Porter played a
secret FBI wiretap recording to jurors of a mirthful-sounding
Cellini as he appeared to talk about the extortion. Porter focused
jurors' attention on one sound: Cellini's laugh.
"That is what corruption sounds like," the prosecutor said, her
voice suddenly rising.
Cellini wouldn't have pocketed any money from the shakedown. But
by going along with it, he saw a chance to further ingratiate
himself with the powers that be, Porter said. The payoff he hoped
for? "Continued access, continued clout, continued status."
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Defense attorney Dan Webb said Cellini got suckered into the
plot, ending up "the ham in a ham sandwich."
"The defendant is not an accidental extortionist," said lead
prosecutors Chris Niewoehner. He added later, "The ham doesn't know
he's in the ham sandwich?"
The defense focused on the government's star witness -- the fourth
man in the plot -- Stuart Levine. A board member on the $30 billion
Teachers' Retirement System that controlled the pension funds
Rosenberg hoped to reinvest, Levine was the only witness to claim
direct knowledge of Cellini's involvement. Rezko is in federal
custody and did not testify. Kelly committed suicide in 2009.
There was no lack of ammunition with which to attack Levine's
credibility.
On the stand, he admitted to being a serial swindler, once
cheating his dead friend's estate out of $2 million. He spoke about
abusing cocaine and other drugs for decades -- sometimes at marathon
parties.
Webb implored jurors not to heed that testimony, saying, "All you
have is Levine's word -- which is worthless."
Cellini, the son of a policeman, played piano in a dance band and
taught high school physics before planting his foot firmly in the
door of state government with an appointment as Illinois'
transportation secretary in the early 1970s. Thereafter, he devoted
himself to business -- parlaying his state links to help earn tens of
millions from real estate, casino and other ventures.
Outwardly affable, Cellini gained a reputation for his business
savvy, hard work and sure-footedness -- but also as someone to avoid
crossing, someone who could make or break a person's career with a
phone call.
[Associated Press;
By MICHAEL TARM]
Associated Press writer Karen Hawkins contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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