Second trial begins in Lincoln Park case

Eric Tucker

Wednesday, July 20, 2005 | 9:39 a.m.

WORCESTER, Mass. -- Two former executives affiliated with Lincoln Park conspired in meetings and by fax to propose a bribe aimed at winning support for more gambling machines at their greyhound racing track, a federal prosecutor said.

The retrial of Lincoln Park, Daniel Bucci and Nigel Potter began in U.S. District Court in Worcester on Tuesday, five months after a jury in Providence deadlocked on the most serious conspiracy charge against the defendants and found them innocent of several other counts.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Moore said in his opening statement that Bucci and Potter conspired in 2000 and 2001 to pay up to $4 million to the law firm of former Rhode Island House Speaker John Harwood.

The defendants have said there was no bribe intended, and what they discussed was a bonus to their law firm for a job well done.

Prosecutors allege the two men, in exchange for the proposed payment, expected to win political support for more video lottery terminals at their park in Lincoln, R.I., and hoped to block state approval of a rival casino proposed by the Narragansett Indian Tribe.

The two concealed their true intent by pitching the money as a performance bonus for Harwood's law partner, Dan McKinnon, who was also a lawyer for Lincoln Park, Moore said.

"The defendants knew what they intended to do. They knew how they were going to do it. And they knew what not to call the payment," Moore said.

In referring to the proposed bribe, Moore said, Bucci and Potter used terms such as retainer, arrangement and performance bonus.

"It was called everything except what it was -- a bribe," Moore added.

Defense lawyers say the proposed payments were never made and were never approved by Lincoln Park's London-based parent company, Wembley PLC. Court papers show McKinnon rejected the idea, and neither he nor Harwood was charged.

Potter's lawyer, Leonard O'Brien, sought Tuesday to distance his client from Bucci, Lincoln Park's former general manager. Potter was the top executive with Wembley PLC.

Bucci raised the idea of a _$1 million performance bonus with Potter in 2000 and continued to press for the payment despite the uneasiness of other corporation employees, O'Brien said.

He added that Potter, unsure about the legality of Bucci's proposal, consulted with outside lawyers and accountants and felt the idea should be broached with Wembley's board of directors.

The board told Potter to "proceed with caution" and Bucci was asked to write a detailed description of his proposal that would cover, among other things, what McKinnon would do to warrant the payments, O'Brien said.

But Bucci did not complete all of the recommended steps, and the board never signed off on his proposal.

"As far as Nigel Potter was concerned, the (process) ended without any decision being made," said O'Brien, adding that Potter planned to testify.

The second Lincoln Park trial was moved to Massachusetts after a federal judge said the publicity surrounding the case made it difficult to guarantee a fair trial in Rhode Island.

The first trial ended in February when a jury deadlocked on several charges, including the most serious conspiracy count. The jury found the defendants innocent of several counts of wire fraud.

A lawyer for the gambling facility, John Tarantino, said the alleged scheme was limited to discussions of whether a bonus should be paid to the park's law firm.

Bucci's lawyer did not give opening statements.

Francis "Skip" Sherman, former president of Wembley USA, a subsidiary of Wembley PLC, testified that he attended a management meeting in Boston several years ago during which Bucci recommended paying McKinnon a $1 million bonus.

"I believe I asked what the performance bonus was for," he said, adding that the firm had not previously paid such bonuses.

Although he couldn't recall Bucci's response, Sherman said he decided not to pay McKinnon the bonus.

But Sherman also acknowledged that Lincoln Park had been looking to expand the number of video lottery terminals, lucrative gambling machines that generated substantial revenue for the track. He said the corporation used lobbyists to help with legislators.

Shareholders of Wembley PLC voted Monday in favor of the sale of Lincoln Park to BLB Investors, part of a $435 million deal that was also approved by state officials in Rhode Island.

Sherman was the only witness to testify Tuesday. The trial was scheduled to resume this morning.