Opinion ID: 809736
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Supermarket Bribe

Text: In the fall of 2008, Richard Baccari, a commercial developer represented by Ciresi, applied to the seven-member North -2- Providence Town Council (Town Council) to rezone a plot of residential land on which he hoped to build a supermarket. Shortly thereafter, a local official overheard one of the councilmen, John Zambarano, telling another councilman, Raymond Douglas, that he was eager to approve Baccari's application because he could really use the money. Zambarano's comment was relayed by the local official to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which enlisted another councilman, Paul Caranci, to join the extortion scheme as a government informant. Caranci was directed to record his conversations with Zambarano, Douglas, and Joseph Burchfield, the third corrupt councilman. On February 9, 2009, the day before the zoning vote, Zambarano told Caranci that Baccari had agreed to pay $25,000 in exchange for approval of his application. Caranci's share was to be $4,000. Zambarano explained that no payments would be made until the vote was completed: I'm meeting [Baccari] and Bobby Ciresi about an hour after the meeting, and he's giving, and he's giving me the money. So . . . I'll give everybody theirs too, and then Wednesday after work I'll . . . give you the $4,000. Zambarano also said that Ciresi had arranged for him to meet privately with Baccari to negotiate the bribe amount and that Ciresi had communicated to him that Baccari wanted his application approved with no conditions. Zambarano left Caranci with the impression that there would be other opportunities to mine Baccari, -3- or different developers, for money in the future: [T]here's something else coming down the road, in the future . . . we can all be part of this again.1 The next day, the Town Council unanimously approved Baccari's application. After the vote, FBI agents tailed Zambarano's car to an empty restaurant parking lot. A few minutes after Zambarano arrived, a car registered to Ciresi's wife entered the lot from the opposite direction and parked for several minutes alongside Zambarano's car, so that the driver's side windows aligned. The car's driver was an older white male with salt and pepper hair who was wearing a suit. This limited description was consistent with Ciresi's appearance. Cell phone records also show that Ciresi received a call from Zambarano one minute before the car registered to his wife arrived at the parking lot and that Ciresi's cell phone was within one mile of the lot when the call was placed. The following day, February 11, 2009, Zambarano and Caranci met in the driveway of Zambarano's home. Zambarano handed Caranci $4,000 and then said that he got this last night after the meeting. Zambarano proceeded to describe in detail how Ciresi had brokered his negotiations with Baccari, noting that Zambarano was 1 Ciresi challenges the admission of the February 9, 2009, conversation on constitutional grounds only; he attacks the admission of the remaining conversations on both evidentiary and constitutional grounds. -4- very close to Bobby Ciresi and that Ciresi had vouched for him to Baccari by advising Baccari that he doesn't want to talk to anybody else. Zambarano also referred to other extortion opportunities that might arise in the future and said he would demand a larger bribe next time.