[bigboydan]

i guess some people can't be bribed

Burnt Offerings
Bow wow boys pay dearly for bribe attempt



Dan Bucci — will begin a 3 year prison sentence on Nov. 25.



11/08/2005 - by Stan Bergstein

Because gambling is controlled by government, and government is run by politicians, the people who run gambling and the politicians who have power over it are expected to conduct their relationship discreetly and honorably.


The boys who ran gambling in Rhode Island crossed that line four years ago, and on Nov. 25 two of them are scheduled to start serving three years in a federal slammer for doing so.

The details of the case are interesting and unusual.

One of the men sentenced was Dan Bucci, the longtime general manager of Lincoln Park dog track and racino.

The other was an Englishman, Nigel Potter, chief executive officer of Wembley PLC, a major English gaming firm that had American holdings in Rhode Island and Colorado.

The two were indicted on Sept. 10, 2004 in a 22-count indictment that charged them with conspiring in a scheme to bribe the former speaker of the Rhode Island House, John B. Harwood, by funneling phony payments of $4 million through his law partner, Daniel V. McKinnon, who happened to have been Lincoln Park’s lawyer for the last 10 years. What the two were seeking was Harwood’s political influence to get Lincoln Park another 1,500 slot machines, and to keep the Narragansett Indians from building a competing casino.

The bribe was never paid, and Harwood and McKinnon were not charged.

The federal judge who presided over the trial of Bucci and Potter, Judge Mary M. Lisi, was incensed by what had happened, and could have thrown the book at both men. She could have sentenced Bucci to 25 years and fined him $1.25 million, and she could have given Potter up to 20 years and fined him $1 million. As it was, she gave Bucci 3 years and 5 months and a $75,000 fine as the instigator of the scheme, and Potter 3 years and a $75,000 fine. Then she ordered Lincoln Park to pay $1.5 million for allowing the scheme to take place within the company.

Judge Lisi said she was appalled by the way Bucci and Potter conducted their business, and called the case "one of the saddest chapters in Rhode Island history."

The plot took place in 2000 and 2001, and was traced through fax messages between Potter in England and Bucci in New England. McKinnon, who was receiving $500,000 a year as Lincoln Park’s lawyer, was to funnel $4 million in "performance bonus" payments to Harwood, according to the charges.

What makes this particularly interesting is that the delicate relationship between the former speaker of the House and his law partner who represented Lincoln Park was a subject of public comment in Rhode Island for years.

Back in 2002 a talk show host named Dan Yorke, whose show is heard on the Providence radio station WPRO, interviewed Harwood. He said bluntly to the then speaker of the House, "Gambling in this state is a major, pivotal issue. The speaker of the House is a major pivotal player. No other state in America would allow this to happen, John. There is no way with your prominent role as speaker that you can, how would you say, walk away from a conversation about gambling. It is so clear that you are running the railroad south on an ethical level there. You can’t do this anymore!"

Harwood told Yorke, "Here’s the problem: If I talk about gambling, they put me on the front page and say I’m for gambling. If I’m not talking about gambling, they’re saying I’m protecting Lincoln dog track. I have just made the conclusion that I can’t win either way."

Yorke replied, "You could stop the law partnership or you can ask your law partner not to represent the track" – hello?

Harwood said he wouldn’t do that because McKinnon represented Lincoln Parke before Harwood became speaker. He said he hadn’t been to the track in 12, 15 years, and "I don’t even like the dogs myself."

He must like them even less now.

Bucci did not testify in his own defense. Potter said he had been uncomfortable with Bucci’s plan, didn’t realize how powerful a politican Harwood was, and wished he had consulted lawyers earlier than he did about the appropriateness of his planning with Bucci.

Both will have three years together to talk it over.

[pags11]

great article...typical political crap...