Rezko calling...
Prosecutors want Rezko jury to weigh who he talked to -- and how often
Before the Tony Rezko corruption case went to the jury this week, Rezko's defense team was quick to remind jurors that they heard Rezko's voice only a few times on wiretaps of star prosecution witness Stuart Levine's home phone. Levine's the one to blame for the crimes Rezko's accused of, Rezko lawyer Joseph Duffy said.
To counter Duffy, prosecutors have given jurors phone charts showing calls Rezko made to people involved in his alleged schemes, and vice versa. Prosecutors say the frequency and times that those calls took place help corroborate testimony by Levine and 34 other witnesses against Rezko, who's accused of manipulating votes on state boards and commissions to enrich himself, his friends and Gov. Blagojevich's campaign chest.
Here's a closer look at the phone calls, and how they factor in to the evidence the jury is now weighing:
Rezko might not have been caught on tape talking to Levine all that much, but he called Levine 148 times between November 2002 and May 2004. Levine, in turn, called Rezko 287 times. This doesn't mean the two chatted each time -- the conversations could have been with assistants or secretaries, or they could have left voice mails. But the prosecution is trying to show that the relationship between the two men is closer than Rezko has claimed.
Aramanda -- a Rezko friend and business associate -- and Rezko called each other 240 times between November 2002 and May 2004. Prosecutors want to show that Rezko was communicating regularly with Aramanda about an illegal $250,000 finder's fee tied to a state teacher pension investment deal. Prosecutors maintain that Aramanda did no work for the money, and that it was used to pay a Rezko debt.
Rezko called Cellini, a longtime Springfield power broker, 148 times between November 2002 and May 2004. Cellini called Rezko 28 times in that span. Cellini held considerable sway over the state Teachers' Retirement System -- where Levine was a board member -- and also raised money for Gov. Blagojevich, according to prosecutors. Cellini, Rezko and top Blagojevich fund-raiser Chris Kelly also allegedly schemed to extort the investment firm Capri Capital for $1.5 million in campaign contributions to Blagojevich or a finder's fee that would be paid to Levine's friend, former Chicago Ald. Ed Vrdolyak. Prosecutors say the scheme fell apart when the firm's principal, Hollywood producer Tom Rosenberg, threatened to blow the whistle.
Prosecutors maintain that Rezko had been giving orders to Beck, former chairman of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, to make sure the panel would OK a McHenry County hospital project from which Rezko was to get a $1.5 million bribe. Records show Rezko called Beck after 7 p.m. on April 14, 2004, in the middle of a dinner that Rezko was having with Levine -- a dinner, according to Levine's testimony, at which they agreed to divvy up millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks. The call to Beck, prosecutors say, was to urge Beck to move ahead on the Mercy deal. Rezko called Beck 68 other times between November 2002 and May 2004.