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February 13, 2008

Oster trial: Wearing a wire to the restaurant meeting

PROVIDENCE -- Irony was on the menu.

Over a meeting at Shanna's Country Kitchen in Lincoln, contractor Robert Gelfuso wore a state police listening device as he tried to pull out of Robert R. Picerno, a then-political ally of Lincoln Town Administrator Jonathan F. Oster, whether Oster was involved in a bribery plot to shake down businessmen through a land deal.

Picerno remarks at one point to Gelfuso, "There are too many guys out there who are ... [expletive] wired out there."

A straight answer was hard to come by. At another point in the recorded Dec. 5, 2001, conversation played today in Oster's bribery and conspiracy trial, Picerno says to Gelfuso, after being pressed on whether Oster was involved: "You have to understand, it's going somewhere, OK?"

Picerno says at another point: "But as far as, as far as Oster, don't worry about it ."

The taped conversations were part of Oster lawyer C. Leonard O'Brien's cross examination of Gelfuso, who co-owned the company renovating the Fairlawn playground in town -- a project that has figured through much of case testimony in the state's efforts to tie Oster to Picerno.

Oster, who was town administrator from 2000 to 2002, faces two bribery counts and two conspiracy counts in Providence County Superior Court. The state's case alleges that Gelfuso was a target of that conspiracy. Picerno, a Lincoln Planning Board member during the time of the allegations, pleaded no contest in 2004 to four counts of taking, or trying to solicit, bribes, and three counts of conspiracy to solicit bribes.

Gelfuso yesterday told how Picerno attempted to extort a $25,000 cash bribe and a $15,000 payment disguised as legal fees from Gelfuso and his company in exchange for help in buying the H&H Screw Co. land, a piece of town-controlled property on Route 116 that is at the center of the allegations.

Read about testimony from earlier today.

Read about yesterday's testimony.
-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer John Hill

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 1:32 PM | Permalink

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