Closing arguments made in bribery trial

Eric Tucker

Thursday, Aug. 4, 2005 | 9:08 a.m.

WORCESTER, Mass. -- Two former gambling executives concocted a simple scheme to pay a bribe of up to $4 million to the law firm of the powerful speaker of the Rhode Island House, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday.

In a closing argument punctuated by periodic shouts and finger jabs, Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Moore said Nigel Potter and Dan Bucci fully intended in 2000 and 2001 to bribe then-Speaker John Harwood in exchange for political favors.

"It is as simple as this: They wanted to bribe John Harwood, the Ocean State emperor," Moore said.

Potter, Bucci and the Lincoln Park greyhound track are being retried in federal court on charges they conspired to bribe Harwood by making a series of payments to his law partner, Dan McKinnon, who did legal work for the track in Lincoln, R.I.

The defendants say the payment was a bonus for good legal work.

Prosecutors say Bucci, the track's former general manager, and Potter, chief executive of Lincoln Park's British parent company, Wembley PLC, hoped to secure legislative support for their plan to add more video lottery terminals at the track. They also allegedly wanted Harwood's help in blocking the Narragansett Indian Tribe from building a rival casino.