William Cellini trial jury, How Stuart Levine a thief and con man became star witness, Where is Tony Rezko?
“Why was Obama promoting Capri Capital and other investment firms at the same time that Rezko, Levine and Cellini were shaking them down?”…Citizen Wells
“Why was Tony Rezko’s sentencing delayed?”…Citizen Wells
“There is enough corruption in Illinois so that all it takes is someone who is serious about finding it to uncover it. If a U.S. attorney is not finding corruption in Illinois, they’re not seriously looking for it.”…Northwestern Law Professor James Lindgren
Here is another example of why “WE” is capitalized in Citizen WElls. From Commenter and astute observer of Chicago corruption, Bessie, at 10:40 AM.
“In today’s SunTimes there is a propaganda article spoon fed by the
prosecution their justification for choosing Stuart Levine…No mention
of how Tony Rezko would make a better witness, having never been a
drug addict, nor did he ever rip off close friends estate, or have
affairs on his wife with multiple male companions, or suffer long term
brain damage from over 30 years of drug use. They planted this piece
in the weekend paper hoping the jury would read it…and we are suppose
to trust the U.S. Attorney’s office?
Tony Rezko and his partner Daniel T. Frawley will be sentenced
November 22 and 23rd, the day before Thanks Giving, hoping no one will
cover or notice…They think they can sweep these two under the rug and
no one will notice….We should let them know we are WATCHING we are
paying attention and they could sentence them on Christmas day and we
will be there.”
From the Chicago SunTimes October 30, 2011.
“How Stuart Levine — a thief and con man — became star witness”
“To most people, Stuart Levine probably appears unassuming enough.
At 65, he works at a kiosk in a suburban shopping mall selling
electronic cigarettes.
But if the man helping bring down some of the most powerful people in
the state hoped to disappear into suburban obscurity, that hasn’t
quite happened.
Some days while behind that kiosk, the former Highland Park resident
once worth $70 million gets hecklers.
Those are the people who recognize the now minimum-wage-earning
Levine, having had a glimpse of his lurid history, painstakingly laid
bare in public twice after Levine has spent parts of 21 days
testifying in two high-profile criminal trials in Chicago.
He most recently sat as the star witness in the federal trial of
Springfield power broker William Cellini.
If Cellini is convicted, the much-reviled Levine will have been
central to sending some of the most prominent and back-room politicos
to prison. That includes Tony Rezko, a onetime political fund-raiser
to Barack Obama. Levine was the star witness in Rezko’s 2008 trial,
which led to his conviction.
Levine wore a wire against Ed Vrdolyak, a onetime alderman and
behind-the-scenes political force for decades. Vrdolyak ended up
pleading guilty to taking part in a $1.5 million bribery scheme.
Then there’s former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose corruption
investigation stemmed from a probe into corruption involving state
boards that blossomed with Levine. Once he flipped, Levine spent years
getting debriefed by various teams of federal agents and prosecutors.
“This was a massive undertaking,” said Levine’s lawyer, Jeffrey
Steinback, of his client’s role in cooperating since 2004. “You’re
talking about analyzing activities of the entire state government and
having to understand who and what and how it worked and figuring out
from the government’s standpoint who was culpable and who wasn’t.””
“Defense lawyers have repeatedly lambasted the government for pitting
Levine, someone who has admitted to conning people out of millions of
dollars, against defendants who aren’t accused of pocketing any money.
Webb noted Levine spent the better part of his adult life committing
reprehensible crimes, then pointed to an on-screen timeline: the
evidence tied to the criminal allegations against Cellini spanned just
a few days in May of 2004.
“Levine is a whack-job. Okay?” Webb told them.
In his 2008 closing argument, Rezko’s attorney, Joseph Duffy, said
Levine had spent decades living a double-life and fooling the world.
It didn’t end when he faced natural life in prison with no possibility
of parole after admitting to all of his crimes, Duffy argued.
“They are trained to suspect deception, and he conned them,” Duffy
said of the government. “He got the better of them, and he got his
deal.”
Levine’s deal calls for a prison term of five years, seven months.”
“But there’s another side of the story, prosecutors say: there are few
“choir boys” that can expose Illinois’ odorous underworld.
“Flippers like Levine, you don’t see them too often. He’s an anomaly,”
said former federal prosecutor Jeff Cramer. “The government would have
preferred to have put an honest man on the stand. The problem is that
defendants who are on tape trying to extort money never conspire with
honest men.””
“Testimony at trial showed Levine routinely schemed for kickbacks while
serving on state boards, including the Teachers’ Retirement System. In
2004, when he left the board, he didn’t give the real reason: the FBI
had come knocking on his door and played tapes of him secretly
scheming to make kickbacks off board business.”
http://www.suntimes.com/8479435-417/how-stuart-levine-a-thief-and-con-man-became-star-witness.html
Why call Tony Rezko as a witness?
He was only mentioned 75 times in the Cellini indictment and has no drug issues.
He knows everything about corruption in Chicago or as someone stated “He knows where all the bodies are.”
Oops, that may be a problem for you know who.
Citizen WElls 