Videotape shows ex-congressman, cash

Natalie Gott

Thursday, March 16, 2000 | 9:36 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - A 1997 videotape played during former Gov. Edwin Edwards' racketeering trial shows a former congressman handling a bundle of cash in Edwards' office, but it does not show what prosecutors said it would - Edwards handing the cash to the congressman.

Prosecutors presented the tape of Edwards and Cleo Fields on Wednesday as they continued pressing their claim that Edwards extorted $400,000 from former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr.

Edwards is heard discussing on the tape a deal "contingent on getting a license" for someone, but there was no direct link to DeBartolo in the 15-minute conversation between the two men.

Edwards, his son Stephen, state Sen. Greg Tarver and four others have been on trial in federal court since Jan. 10. Prosecutors claim the men took part in a series of bribery and extortion schemes aimed at manipulating the licensing of riverboat casinos during and after Edwards' fourth and final term, which ended in January 1996.

Fields, now a state senator, has not been charged. His attorney, Mike Small, released a statement noting that Fields was not an elected official at the time of the meeting and was never a target in the investigation.

The Edwards-Fields tape was long awaited, but it did not show Edwards handing a bundle of cash to Fields as prosecutor Jim Letten told jurors it would when he gave his opening statements in January.

FBI agent Geoffrey Santini, who returned to the witness stand today for cross examination, said the camera the FBI hid in Edwards' law office in 1997 was not running when Edwards allegedly handed the cash to Fields. Santini said the agent monitoring the meeting neglected to turn on the camera until after the meeting had begun.

The agent monitoring the meeting also is expected to testify later today.

The result was that jurors only heard the early part of the meeting - when Edwards allegedly handed the cash to Fields while saying "I'm negotiating with 'em and ... it's out of what I have until I can get it settled up with 'em."

Edwards also is heard saying, "Make sure that everybody involved is careful about how that's passed out or whatever. Because, as you know, that other guy is under very serious, serious, serious investigation."

Prosecutors say "that other guy" is Tarver, who is alleged to have worked with state gambling board member Ecotry Fuller - also a defendant - to help DeBartolo get the license.

The black and white videotape of the later part of the meeting shows Fields fishing a bundle of cash out of his pocket and asking for an envelope or a piece of paper to put it in. Edwards hands over a piece of white paper which Fields folded around the cash and then shoved it back in his pocket.

Attorneys in the case have said the bundle contained $25,000.

On tape, Edwards is seen and heard telling Fields that the people he is working with "are claiming that offer they made was contingent on getting a license before they had to for an election" - an apparent reference to the possibility that an election would have to be held in the Bossier City area before DeBartolo could place his proposed Riverboat casino there.

The election was never held. DeBartolo did win the license but gave it back after being summoned before a federal grand jury.

Fields was a congressman in the mid-1990s who also made a bid to become Louisiana's first black governor since Reconstruction when he made a 1995 runoff. He lost, however, to a landslide by Mike Foster.

The court-ordered redrawing of congressional district lines cost Fields his majority black district. He later ran for the state Senate and represents part of the Baton Rouge area in the Legislature.

Santini, who reviewed the tapes for the second day, also testified about an incorrect statement he made in sworn affidavits submitted to a judge for his request to keep wiretaps on Edwards' telephones.

Santini said he originally believed that Edwards' brother, Marion, was working on a deal to funnel money to Fuller through Louisiana businessman Beldon Fox.

According to audio tapes played Tuesday, Edwin and Marion Edwards had a deal to give Fox $250,000 after the board voted on the last riverboat casino license and offered a job to "his daughter."

Santini testified that he believed for some time that the money was for Fuller and the job was for Fuller's daughter, who is a pharmacist in Texas.

After interviewing Fox in January 1998, Santini said he learned that the money was really intended for Fox and Fuller had nothing to do with the alleged scheme.

Santini said Fox said he was going to be paid by Marion Edwards if he discussed gaming issues with Gov. Mike Foster, but he never took the issue up with Foster and never received any money.

In a hearing after jurors had been discussed, prosecutor Mike Magner said this was Edwards' "Plan B" in trying to manipulate the riverboat licensing process.

Cross examination of Santini began this morning with Stephen Edwards' lawyer, Jim Cole.

Cole played one of many secretly made tapes of Stephen Edwards' telephone conversation.

On the tape, Stephen is heard giving advice to an attorney for the Hollywood-DeBartolo casino, one day after the casino was granted a license.

Stephen Edwards is heard saying he would contact the state attorney general's office for more information.

Cole apparently is playing the tape to counter prosecutors' claims that Stephen Edwards was trying to get lucrative contracts with the Hollywood-DeBartolo riverboat without doing much work.