Lawyers fire opening salvos in judge’s corruption trial

Bill Gang

Friday, Oct. 16, 1998 | 11:27 a.m.

When he was on the District Court bench, Gerard Bongiovanni was a bribe-taking, case-fixing judge who reduced traffic tickets for a few bucks and let criminals out of jail with impunity, a federal prosecutor told a jury Thursday.

"He deprived the citizens of the state of Nevada of his honest services," assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Shoemaker said during opening statements at Bongiovanni's re-trial on corruption charges.

Not so, defense attorney Thomas Pitaro countered.

He described Bongiovanni as a compassionate, generous man who was a good judge but who allowed himself to be befriended at a time when his wife was dying by a man who turned out to be a thief and crook.

Pitaro said that man, Paul Dottore, was bent on using the relationship to line his own pockets and those of his con-man friend, Terry Salem. The two attracted the attention of the FBI when they plundered the bank account of a dead man of more than $100,000.

But the attention of federal agents and prosecutors was diverted to Bongiovanni when wiretaps revealed Dottore was soliciting money from associates for judicial favors he said he could obtain from Bongiovanni, the veteran defense attorney said.

Bongiovanni was indicted in early 1996 on racketeering and other charges and suspended from his job. He lost his bid in November of that year for re-election.

Pitaro argued that in their zeal to convict the judge, federal officials cut deals with Dottore and Salem for reduced sentences, overlooked other crimes they committed involving hundreds of thousands of dollars and even spent thousands of taxpayer dollars to pay them for their help.

These were the same arguments presented at Bongiovanni's first trial last year which resulted in a hung jury that Pitaro said was deadlocked 10-2 for acquittal.

Shoemaker conceded to the jury in U.S. District Judge Lloyd George's courtroom, "You're not going to like these people one bit and might think they are despicable," but she said the case is not based just on their testimony.

She said that nearly two years of FBI wiretaps and surveillance corroborate their stories that Bongiovanni received much of the bribe money Dottore solicited.

Some of that money was part of a sting operation initiated by Salem at a time before Dottore became a government informant. Salem funneled $1,000 to Dottore, purportedly for a favorable ruling in Salem's criminal case, and $500 of that was found in Bongiovanni's back pocket when FBI agents raided his home on Oct. 17, 1995.

Prosecutors said it proof of bribery, but Bongiovanni has explained that it was repayment of a loan he and others made to Dottore. In his testimony at the judge's first trial, Dottore admitted he owed the judge $500 but said the money found in the pocket was a bribe, not repayment.

Shoemaker said wiretaps in which Dottore and Bongiovanni talk in code confirm the allegations.

But Pitaro said the conversations have such meaning only when interpreted by Dottore and otherwise are "ambiguous and harmless."

Shoemaker said in one conversation Dottore asked Bongiovanni, "Is five OK?" and the judge responded, "5 o'clock? Yeah, five is fine."

She said "5 o'clock" is code for a $5,000 bribe, but Pitaro indicated it was just the time that Dottore and Bongiovanni were going to meet to go bowling.

That purported bribe -- alleged to have been from Strip show producer Jeff Kutash to ensure a ruling in his favor in a civil lawsuit over control of his "Splash" show at the Riviera hotel-casino -- was the largest amount involved in the case.

Shoemaker said most of the bribes involved a couple of hundred dollars that Bongiovanni used for gambling, bowling or dining out.

Kutash had been taken to trial last year on charges of giving Bongiovanni that bribe, but the result was a not-guilty verdict.

Kutash was subpoenaed as a witness in Bongiovanni's first trial, but he didn't appear because of what his doctor said was a stress-related illness.

Prosecutors wanted him for the re-trial, as did Pitaro, but Kutash has been out of the country and could not be subpoenaed.