Levine denies drugs impaired memory
REZKO TRIAL | Star witness grilled on substance abuse, big cash withdrawals
The star prosecution witness at Tony Rezko's corruption trial insisted Monday his memory isn't faulty despite 30 years of drug abuse.
But Rezko's lawyer, Joseph Duffy, kept after Levine with intricate questions about his drug use and his vast number of cash withdrawals -- totaling as much as $41,000 in a month.
Levine told of doing 10 to 20 hits a night of the drugs crystal meth and "Special K," often mixing the two at drug parties with others.
"You combined them and then reached in with your straw and went right down the line?" Duffy asked. Levine agreed.
Asked about reports that his secretary could hear him snorting drugs in his office, Levine responded without flinching: "If my snorting was so loud that you could hear me through a wall or door, then I'm quite amazed by the loudness of my snorting."
But Levine admitted to a key memory lapse. That involved a Nov. 2, 2002, dinner party at which Levine testified he met Rezko for the first time. Levine said he also met the late Orlando Jones, a longtime top Cook County official, for the first time at that party. That didn't square with evidence Duffy then showed Levine: that he and Jones served on a state health planning board together and attended three half-day meetings prior to the November party.
"Has your memory failed you?" Duffy asked.
"Yes, sir." Levine said.
Rezko, 52, of Wilmette, is accused of scheming with Levine to get millions of dollars in kickbacks from firms seeking state business. Levine sat on two state boards that controlled big-money deals.
Duffy showed a series of checks Levine wrote out to cash. Some months, they totaled more than $40,000.
Levine said he used the cash to pay bribes, tip doormen and secretaries at Christmas. He also said he paid up to $100,000 a year in tuition and other cash help for "drug buddies" and up to $15,000 a month for an off-the-books salary to his father's caretaker.
Levine said he withdrew $1 million in cash from 2000 to 2004 and spent $2,000 a month of that on drugs -- more than $20,000 a year.
Duffy repeatedly asked Levine if he was "trying to minimize" his drug use to the jury.
Levine leaned into his microphone. "I'm trying to tell this jury what I'm required to -- and that's the truth," he said, pausing a moment before lifting his head.