As Leon Sylvester took the stand for the first time Friday, he gave new testimony about how Mayor Mark A. Lauretti allegedly took cash from James Botti’s safe.
Sylvester, a former Planning and Zoning commissioner, wasn’t there. He learned about the alleged transaction from Botti, in a conversation sometime between 2005 and 2008, Sylvester testified during Botti’s federal corruption trial at U.S. District Court in New Haven Friday.
“He described that in one of his offices, he and the mayor were talking and the safe was open and there were bundles of cash in the safe,” Sylvester testified. “And the mayor saw them, looked at them, and helped himself to three.”
Each bundle had $10,000, Sylvester said Botti told him.
The testimony provided second-hand info on conversations that allegedly took place between the mayor and Botti.
Sylvester said Botti told him the mayor said “This should help you” as he left the office.
Botti later told Sylvester his attorney had retrieved that cash from Lauretti, Sylvester testified.
Friday was the first time someone testified about the alleged incident, although the allegation appeared in the federal indictment against Botti.
The cash in Botti’s safe has been central to the government’s case against him, and was detailed in previous testimony here and here.
Sylvester also testified that Botti told him about paying for Lauretti and his family to go to Disney World — something Botti’s former accountant also said during testimony last week.
Lauretti has not been charged with a crime and has denied any wrongdoing.
Wiretap
As promised, federal prosecutors played wiretapped conversations between Lauretti and Botti in court Friday – but the contents of the conversations revealed little more than the general relationship the two had.
In one conversation — taped on May 14, 2005 — Lauretti asks Botti for help removing a fallen tree from his secretary’s property.
“I am down here and I got my chain saw here,” Lauretti said, after he called Botti about 1:58 p.m. “I could use some help.”
“All right, let me pack up I’ll come down,” Botti responds.
The mundane nature of the conversations could have been because Lauretti knew about the wiretap, an FBI agent suggested in his testimony Friday.
“We believe that Mark Lauretti became aware that his phone was tapped,” FBI Agent Christopher Halpin said.
In a second phone call prosecutors played Friday, Botti asked Lauretti if he still wanted “these fences.”
“I think I do,” Lauretti responds. “Listen, I’m gonna call you back in fifteen minutes, OK?”
Halpin said they recorded no phone call on Lauretti’s phone 15 minutes later, noting that he had other phone lines he could have used at city hall, home and his restaurant.
Out of 1,400 taped conversations between May and July 2005, the two conversations played were the most relevant to the case, Halpin said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Kale also played two voicemails Botti left Lauretti, regarding an ethics committee decision and a utility pole being put on Lauretti’s River Road property.
Kale didn’t make any arguments regarding the conversations, and the exact purpose of entering the as evidence was unclear Friday afternoon.
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828 Bridgeport Ave. Phone Calls
The FBI also “repeatedly” subpoenaed phone records for Botti’s cell phone and Lauretti’s home and cell phones during their investigation, Halpin testified.
Through those subpoenas and phone records from former Planning and Zoning Chairman Allan Cribbins, the FBI detailed a flurry of phone calls between Lauretti, Botti, Cribbins and another planning and zoning commissioner in the week before the vote on Botti’s 828 Bridgeport Ave. project.
Botti had proposed building two restaurants and a bank at 828 Bridgeport Ave. The Planning and Zoning Commission approved the project on June 20, 2006. Prosecutors claim Botti bribed Lauretti during that time to win influence with the board.
“So just looking at the list, you can’t tell us what was said,” Botti’s attorney, William Dow III, asked Halpin. “You can’t say who was on the phone, nor can you establish what was said.”
“No I can not,” Halpin replied.
A Visit To Danny O’s
Sylvester also confirmed that he visited fellow Planning and Zoning commissioner Daniel Orazietti at his restaurant, Danny O’s, the morning of the vote on 828 Bridgeport Ave.
Orazietti testified about the visit Thursday.
“Jim Botti called me that morning,” Sylvester said. “He thought that Danny Orazietti was not going to go to the meeting. He asked if I could influence Dan to go.”
Sylvester said Botti was “emotional” when he called, and he felt he was being unfairly treated.
Sylvester said he did go visit Orazietti, and while he was encouraging him to go to the meeting, he also spoke of his views on the project.
Two More Witnesses
The U.S. attorneys said they have two more witnesses to call on Monday, and then Dow has an opportunity to call witnesses in Botti’s defense.
Friday, Dow declined to discuss if he would call any witnesses.
“I’m not in the habit of discussing my refined legal strategy in the public media,” Dow said.
Dow has indicated in past hearings that he wants to call character witnesses who will speak to Botti’s tendency to exaggerate and brag. Dow has also said in the past he wants to call Botti’s former land-use attorney Dominick Thomas.
