Levine: I tried to tape former Ald. Singer
REZKO TRIAL | Sought to record talk of alleged kickback scheme
The chief prosecution witness at the Tony Rezko corruption trial said Friday that government agents had him wear a wire and asked him to "accidentally bump into" a former North Side alderman.
In an unsuccessful attempt to ensnare former Ald. William Singer (43rd) in a separate case, Stuart Levine testified he drove to Singer's neighborhood to try to record talk of a kickback.
(AP)
Up Monday: Levine's cross-examination will continue.
"The plan was for you to go up and engage Mr. Singer in a conversation so you could capture on tape evidence of Mr. Singer's criminal activity?" defense lawyer Joseph Duffy asked.
Levine agreed.
The testimony came as Levine continued to face questioning from a lawyer for Rezko, a former top adviser to and fund-raiser for Gov. Blagojevich. Rezko, 52, of Wilmette, is accused of scheming with Levine to squeeze kickbacks from firms seeking state business. Levine pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Rezko.
On Friday, Duffy tried to portray Levine, who once sat on two state boards, as self-serving in agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors.
Duffy painted Levine as having held back on giving authorities details about an alleged deal with Singer because he still wanted to pocket his cut -- $750,000 -- from the deal involving the sale of a piece of Gold Coast property.
Levine testified he secretly recorded his conversations many times. Among those he got on tape: Edward Vrdolyak, the powerful former Chicago alderman who faces trial in September.
Levine testified he and Vrdolyak expected to receive a $1.5 million kickback from the $15 million sale of a building that formerly housed the Dr. William M. Scholl School of Podiatric Medicine at 1001 N. Dearborn.
Vrdolyak and Levine allegedly schemed to steer the sale to Smithfield Properties Development LLC and receive a cut of the deal. Singer, who couldn't be reached for comment, wasn't charged.
Singer, a onetime liberal reform member of the City Council, once challenged the late Richard J. Daley for mayor and lost. Singer later ingratiated himself with the current Daley administration, serving as the mayor's first School Board chief. In recent years, Singer has served as Washington lobbyist and was finance chairman for U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.).
Not all details of the recording attempt were revealed Friday, but lawyers seemed to indicate Levine, who said the on-off button for the recorder was in his coat pocket, bungled the taping.
"I . . . was not familiar with how all of the mechanics worked," Levine testified. Prosecutors indicated Levine wore more than one recording device.
Contributing: Fran Spielman