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 Jurors
listened to a May 7, 2004, recording in which businessman
William Cellini could be heard describing how he called Hollywood
producer Thomas Rosenberg earlier that day. It's a call prosecutors
say was a vital to the conspiracy to extort the executive for a $1.5
million campaign contribution to then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich by
threatening to withhold $220 in pension funds from Rosenberg's
investment firm.
In the recorded conversation with one of his cohorts, Stuart
Levine, a calm-sounding Cellini says he told the producer that
Blagojevich insiders Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly had gotten wind that
Rosenberg's investment company had already landed around $1 billion
worth of pension funds, even though Rosenberg hadn't contributed to
Blagojevich's campaign.
"I said, 'Well … things have been put on hold,'" Cellini said,
apparently referring to the $220 million in new funds Rosenberg's
company had hoped to receive. Cellini said he went on to tell
Rosenberg that Rezko -- one of the most powerful figures in
Blagojevich's inner circle -- was "flabbergasted" Rosenberg had
received so much state business without reciprocal campaign
contributions.
While Cellini, now 76, apparently feigned outrage in his
conversation with Rosenberg at Rezko's demand for a contribution,
prosecutors contended he was actually in on the squeeze along with
Levine, Rezko and another Blagojevich insider, Chris Kelly.
The conspirators all agreed beforehand that Cellini would call
Rosenberg to lay the groundwork for a follow-up later call where
Levine would turn the screws, Levine testified during a second day
on the stand Thursday. Asked if Cellini had delivered the message to
the executive, Levine answered flatly, "Yes."
Levine, who sat on the board of the $30 billion Teachers'
Retirement System that controlled the pension money, earlier
described how he, Cellini and others pulled strings behind the
scenes to ensure people beholden to them would also sit on the
board.
Cellini's trial is the last in a series that grew out of a
federal investigation of Blagojevich, whose own corruption trial
earlier this year also featured secret recordings as evidence.
On the tapes, Cellini, a Republican from Springfield, sounds
businesslike and meticulous. His tone sharply contrasts Blagojevich,
who was heard on recordings rambling and frequently peppering his
sentences with profanities.
Cellini, once known as the King of Clout for the influence he
once wielded in the corridors Illinois power, has pleaded not guilty
to the charges and consistently denied wrongdoing. His attorneys
have said Cellini had no idea that others connected to the teachers’
fund meant to extort Rosenberg, and that Cellini was actually try to
help the producer.
Earlier in the day, the government sought to establish how close
Cellini was to Levine and Rezko, who was described at his own trial
in 2008 as the one pulling the strings in Blagojevich's
administration.
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Levine testified that he, Rezko and Cellini -- along with their
wives -- flew together on a private jet to attend a White House
Christmas party when George W. Bush was president.
On one call played Thursday, an attorney for the system says
about the pension system's director, "He somehow thinks he's in
charge," and Levine bursts out laughing.
The jovial Levine -- then a multimillionaire -- who is heard on
wiretaps in 2004 jars with the deferential, soft-spoken man on the
witness stand this week. Levine, who is now 65 and works in sales at
a shopping mall, appears uncomfortable as he responds to
prosecutors’ questions, often with "yes" or "no" answers.
The government's case hinges on Levine, who is expected to
testify for several more days.
On Thursday, prosecutors continued to air Levine's checkered past
in meticulous detail, apparently hoping they can reduce the damage
to his credibility by bringing it up themselves.
Levine went down a long list of schemes he hatched to receive
kickbacks and bribes when he sat on several state boards, many of
which schemes he admitted to but was never charged with. As he did the day
before, Levine also addressed his rampant drug use over more than 30
years, which he told jurors he stopped the day the FBI arrived at
his home in a leafy Chicago suburb to say he was the target of an
investigation.
The prosecution tried to get ahead of another claim defense
attorneys are likely to make once they begin cross-examining Levine,
possibly as soon as Friday: that his drug use may have damaged his
brain.
"Do you know if your use of drugs has affected your memory?"
prosecutor Chris Niewoehner asked.
Levine answered in his characteristic short, quite clip of an
answer: "It's possible," he said.
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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