Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FBI tapped 3 other offices

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 07 Dec 2003 12:27:08 -0500

FBI tapped 3 other offices           Posted on Sun, Dec. 07, 2003    

Phones of Ronald A. White, a second Street ally, 
and the city treasurer were targeted.

By Emilie Lounsberry and Nancy Phillips
Inquirer Staff Writers

Besides bugging Mayor Street's office, the FBI tapped the office phones of 
the city treasurer and two of the mayor's most influential political allies.

Federal authorities placed wiretaps on the phones of Center City power broker 
Ronald A. White; city Treasurer Corey Kemp; and Imam Shamsud-din Ali, a 
prominent Muslim cleric, according to court-system sources familiar with aspects
of 
the investigation.

White, 54, a top political ally of the mayor's and a major player in the 
city's lucrative government bond business, has emerged as a central figure in
the 
wide-ranging inquiry that has shaken City Hall.

Last week, John Christmas, a deputy chief of staff in the mayor's office, 
testified before a federal grand jury that has begun reviewing evidence in the 
case. In an interview yesterday, he declined to disclose the focus of the 
prosecutor's questions or to say what he had told the panel.

Christmas said he did not want to "aggravate" federal authorities. "I really 
don't want to run afoul of them," he said.

The wide use of phone taps underscores the ambition and reach of the federal 
corruption investigation. Conversations recorded from the taps may have 
provided the evidence needed to persuade a judge to take the extraordinary step
of 
allowing the government to place a listening device in the ceiling of Street's 
City Hall office.

Investigators have played tapes or cited details of recorded conversations as 
they have questioned people who had dealings with White. The tap on White's 
phone was in place for six to nine months, according to sources in the court 
system, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Two people also said that federal agents, during an FBI raid in October at 
White's Center City law office, intimated by their remarks that they had 
information from taped conversations.

"They were clearly trying to [say] this office was bugged so don't lie to 
us," said one person.

The FBI, with the permission of a federal judge, also had a tap on the office 
phone of Kemp, 34, who quit as city treasurer last month amid reports that 
the FBI had been pressing him to cooperate in the investigation. Kemp's lawyer, 
Michael McGovern, could not be reached for comment Friday.

As treasurer, Kemp played an important role in bond deals, bringing together 
lawyers, financial advisers and underwriters. With the finance director and 
the Mayor's Office, the treasurer helps determine who gets a share of the hefty 
fees from bond work.

Another phone tap, one source said, was at the office of Keystone Information 
& Financial Services, a business run by Ali, 54, a longtime backer of 
Street's whose business enterprises collected $1.2 million in city fees in
fiscal 
year 2002 alone.

Ali's lawyer, Joel Slomsky, declined to comment yesterday.

Reelected by a landslide

Federal agents searched Ali's home and offices and confiscated documents and 
computers on Oct. 8, the day after the bug was found in the mayor's office and 
the federal investigation became public - during the height of Street's 
reelection campaign.

Street, who was subsequently identified as a subject of the investigation, 
has insisted that he has engaged in no wrongdoing. He was reelected to a second 
term by a landslide on Nov. 4.

The bug planted in his office, which was in place for two weeks, did not 
record any incriminating evidence, The Inquirer has previously reported.

The investigation has reached into many corners of city government, from the 
Housing Authority to the Finance Department to the Board of Pensions to the 
Minority Business Enterprise Council to the Philadelphia International Airport. 
As investigators seek to follow the money that drives the city's business, 
contractors, investment advisers and Commerce Bank have received subpoenas.

Commerce Bancorp announced in a filing last week that it will extend to 
Pennsylvania and to the rest of the nation its suspension of political 
contributions while it evaluates the "reputation risks" of such activity. In
April, 
Commerce - long known for its extensive political ties - said it would stop
making 
political contributions in New Jersey.

White quit as a member of the board of directors at Commerce's Pennsylvania 
subsidiary on Oct. 16, the day his office was raided by the FBI.

Federal prosecutors are investigating possible violations of the Hobbs Act, 
the anti-extortion law often used to prosecute public officials, and also are 
looking for evidence of bid-rigging, according to documents.

White's lawyer, Creed Black Jr., declined to comment on the federal inquiry.

Primary fund-raiser

White has been one of Street's primary fund-raisers, contributing $234,000 
through two political action committees since Street became mayor. He has 
received $2.6 million in bond fees and other legal work for the city.

The effort to obtain secretly recorded conversations is regarded as a 
critical element in public corruption investigations, which are among the most 
difficult cases to initiate and prosecute.

Dennis J. Cogan, a veteran Center City defense lawyer, said that in a case 
involving campaign contributions, prosecutors would have to show a specific 
"quid pro quo" relationship between a contribution and the award of a contract.

"It's got to be explicit," he said.

Temple University law professor Charles H. Rogovin called electronic 
surveillance "an essential part of the arsenal" used by prosecutors to target 
corruption.

"To a high degree, you need electronic surveillance," he said. "There's 
nothing better to corroborate testimony than the tape."

And one bug often leads to another.

Investigators "like to get recordings and then leapfrog to the next level," 
said one defense lawyer, who said that a phone tap in White's office could have 
been what provided probable cause to place a bug in the mayor's office.

Rogovin said that the premature discovery of the bug in the mayor's office 
may have hurt the investigation, but that it may not have been permanently 
compromised.

"I'd be surprised if they're not working assiduously," Rogovin said of 
federal agents and prosecutors.

One local lawyer, meanwhile, said that the multifaceted investigation has 
caused a lot of jitters at City Hall and among people who do business with the 
city.

"A lot of people are pretty scared in this town," he said.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/7430620.htm

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From: "Bill Smith" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2003 13:22:46 -0500

I found this on a scanning list and haven't been able to dig up any
verification.

The City of Corbin announced last week that it will begin testing/using
Nextel and phasing out normal police-fire VHF High Band communications in
the near future. The city is also in the process of updating the dispatch
center CAD System.