Celona testified that The Image Group was something that "never got off the ground." Nor, he said, did he use that corporate name when he discussed consulting work with Woonsocket-based drugstore giant CVS a few years later.

Corrigan was apparently driving at the fact that Celona was trying to hustle consulting clients to fill out his income after the failure of the family business.

Earlier today, Corrigan introduced a letter that Celona wrote in 2003 to the head of the Ocean State Hearing Aid Center, discussing a prospective consulting agreement. There was no evidence, however, that any agreement was ever signed, and Celona’s tenure in the Senate came to an end months later after publicity regarding some of his financial dealings with companies that he later pleaded guilty to selling his office to CVS, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, and Roger Williams Medical Center.

The Parcells revelation came toward the end of Celona’s third day on the stand, and his second day of cross-examination by Corrigan, a lawyer for defendant John Kramer.

Prior to that, Corrigan walked Celona through a series of transcripts of his TV show, The Celona State House Report, on which Kramer appeared eight times from 2000 to 2003 to promote CVS’s charitable endeavors.

Celona, often reluctant to concede making remarks attributed to him in the transcripts, conceded that he had promoted CVS’s golf tournament and road race and the company in general.

His love of sports came through in the transcript of one show, in which he described CVS’s chief executive, Tom Ryan, as a nearly "perfect individual" –– Ryan’s only fault, Celona added, was that "he’s a Yankees fan."

It’s unclear how much longer Celona will be on the stand. When Corrigan finishes, a lawyer for his co-defendant, Carlos Ortiz, will take his turn questioning the government’s star witness.

Read Journal staff writer Mike Stanton's earlier report on this morning's testimony.