Hung jury in ex-judge’s trial

Bill Gang and

Monday, Dec. 22, 1997 | 11:53 a.m.

The federal jury that for 2 1/2 weeks heard wiretap tape recordings and testimony from snitches in the bribery and corruption trial of former District Judge Gerard Bongiovanni decided today that it couldn't reach a verdict.

U.S. District Judge Lloyd George declared a hung jury, leaving Bongiovanni's future in doubt.

The jury deliberated for 3 1/2 days -- minus the weekend off -- when it decided it couldn't reach a verdict.

The jury originally had indicated on Friday that it couldn't agree, but George instructed the jury to keep trying and urged them to re-examine their positions with an eye toward comprise, if that were possible.

After two hours of deliberations today, the jury decided it was going to be impossible to agree on a verdict.

Although prosecutors said the wiretap tapes gathered over nearly two years by the FBI proved that Bongiovanni was a bribe-taking, judicial favor-giving judge, there was no "smoking gun" to convince some of the jurors.

There were no tapes of him agreeing to take money in exchange for judicial rulings.

There was testimony from two informants -- including from his onetime friend Paul Dottore -- that thousands of dollars in bribes were funneled to the judge in 1994 and 1995, but their credibility was questionable.

Dottore and Terry Salem were convicted of bank fraud for stealing more than $100,000 from a dead man's bank account and both agreed to become FBI informants in exchanged for reduced sentences.

Salem, according to trial testimony, had been paid over $50,000 by the FBI for his participation in the Bongiovanni probe.

Part of his role was to set up a "sting" operation and give bribe money through Dottore to Bongiovanni.

Salem had been indicted on bogus theft charges in state court and the case was assigned to Bongiovanni's court. Salem testified that he gave $3,500 in bribe money to Dottore to guarantee favorable treatment in the case.

Although there was no evidence that the money bought any favoritism for Salem, federal agents did find $500 of the marked bribe money in Bongiovanni's pocket when they raided his house on Oct. 17, 1995.

Bongiovanni initially told FBI agents that Dottore had given him no money but, when it was found, he explained that it was repayment for a loan he had given Dottore, according to testimony.

The trial also involved testimony that two days before, show producer Jeff Kutash had given Dottore $5,000 to influence the civil case he had in Bongiovanni's court over control of Kutash's "Splash" show at the Riviera hotel-casino.

Dottore told the jury that he passed the money along to the judge, who granted a temporary restraining order in Kutash's favor.

Kutash had been tried in George's court this summer on charges he had paid the bribe -- based largely on Dottore's version of events -- but that jury didn't buy the story and acquitted Kutash.