Mary Manfredo testified Friday that she saw the mayor accept cash from Giorgianni inside JoJo's Steak House in April 2012.
By Alex Zdan and Jenna Pizzi
STAFF WRITERS
TRENTON - The defense will continue its cross-examination of the only witness thus far to testify she saw Mayor Tony Mack accept cash: steak shop operator Mary Manfredo.
Manfredo, a 66-year-old Lawrence resident, has been by Joseph "JoJo" Giorgianni's side since she was 10 years old, she told the jury. Giorgianni's mother gave her the steak shop to operate. Giorgianni owns the building, she testified, but the steak shop and any proceeds are hers.
On Friday, Manfredo testified she saw Giorgianni give Mack a folded wad of money inside the steak shop kitchen in April 2012. The two men embraced afterward.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says that money was part of thousands of dollars in cash bribes circulated among Mack, his brother Ralphiel, Giorgianni and Charles Hall III in exchange for the mayor's official action to get a parking garage built downtown. The garage project was an FBI sting that ran for two years before the Mack brothers and Giorgianni were arrested Sept. 10, 2012.
Manfredo was arrested that day as well, charged alongside Giorgianni in connection with a separate painkiller pill distribution ring not connected to the Macks. Both Manfredo and Giorgianni took plea deals in December.
Hall had pleaded guilty in February 2013, was expected to testify and finished Friday morning when Manfredo took the stand. In contrast to Hall, Manfredo's story remained consistent under cross-examination from Ralphiel Mack's attorney Robert Haney. The questioning is expected to continue today.
Check below for live updates throughout the day.
2:30 p.m.: The jury just heard three phone calls from Nov. 2, 2013 when Giorgianni was in Devens. They heard him threaten Manfredo after she did not put keys for the steak shop in her mailbox.
"Joe, I told you last night I'm so weak and so sick," Manfredo said.
"You ain't seen weak," Giorgianni said.
Manfredo continued to complain she was sick.
"I'm sick too but I'll still smash your teeth in," Giorgianni said.
Manfredo, who teared up when the calls were played, said Giorgianni did not mean what he was saying and that kind of conversation was how the two fought.
"So he didn't kick your teeth in?" Haney asked.
"No, I still have 'em," Manfredo said to laughter in the courtroom.
2:15 p.m.: Another Devens call played in court, this one from Oct. 24, 2013. In the call, Manfredo and Giorgianni discuss two rifles taken by the FBI from Manfredo's home during searches in 2012. Manfredo, who was back in New Jersey, was telling Giorgianni she had found a message on his cell phone she did not like.
Guns were also seized from Giorgianni's home and the steak shop. In the conversation she saw between Giorgianni and his lawyer, Jerome Ballarotto, Manfredo said the two were discussing what to do about an explanation for the seized guns.
"I seen something," she said. "You were telling Jerry and Jerry said 'You're going to put it on Mary. Nice going Joe.'"
Giorgianni claimed they were speaking about the guns found in Manfredo's home.
"That's what he was talking about, that's what I was arguing with him about," Giorgianni said.
He said he had told the FBI the guns found in the steak shop were left over from when his mother operated the place, and Manfredo agreed and said she had done the same.
"Your mother," she said. "That's what I told my lawyer."
1:50 p.m.: Following a lunch break, Haney resumed his questioning of Manfredo, focusing again on the phone conversations she had with Giorgianni while he was at FMC Devens.
"Do you recall discussing with JoJo whether this case will be dropped?" Haney asked.
"I don't remember that," Manfredo said.
"Did JoJo express his dissatisfaction with being at Ft. Devens?" Haney asked.
"Yes," Manfredo said.
The government has been objecting to each wiretapped conversation it comes up, with Moran citing issues of hearsay every time and questioning the relevance of what is being offered.
12:57 p.m.: Haney asked Manfredo if she and Giorgianni discussed newspaper articles regarding the case.
"I don't know," she responded.
Haney played a phone call between Giorgianni and Manfredo from Oct. 23, 2013, while Giorgianni was in FMC Devens in Massachusetts, in which Manfredo tells Giorgianni that there was an article in the paper about a motion to sever Giorgianni's case from going to trial beside Ralphiel and Tony Mack.
"I didn't read the paper, someone called and told me it was in the paper," Manfredo said.
"My niece had called me up and told me it was in the paper," she said.
Haney also asked Manfredo if she and Girogianni talked to reporters about the case.
"I dont talk to reporters," Manfredo said.
"Does JoJo talk to reporters?" Haney asked.
"I dont know if he does or not," she replied.
12:40 p.m.: Haney asked Manfredo if she received any money from government cooperators Lemuel Blackburn and Harry Seymour, and Manfredo said no. Haney asked about the $2,500 in marked bills recovered from Ralphiel Mack's house, which she claimed Giorgianni handed to the mayor's brother.
"Didn’t come out of the checking account," Manfredo said.
"You knew that the only way you could get out of your drug case was to set Ralphiel Mack up with marked money," Haney said.
"That’s not true," Manfredo said.
"You engaged in a lot of planning with JoJo over the course of time between July of 2012 and Dec. of 2013 didn’t you?" Haney asked.
"No," Manfredo said.
12:25 p.m.: Haney questioning Manfredo on the difference between her Nov. 26, 2013 meeting with the FBI and the second session on Dec. 8.
"It's your testimony that you and JoJo Giorgianni did not meet together and revise your testimony to make it more incriminating between Nov. 26, 2013 and Dec. 8 2013?" Haney asked.
"No," Manfredo said.
"You didn't use your testimony as a substitute for JoJo's testimony?" Haney asked.
"No," Manfredo said.
Haney's questioning grew more heated as he asked Manfredo whether she had found discovery materials around Giorgianni's house during her daily visits there. Manfredo said she found nothing.
"And that was because you looked for it?" Haney asked.
"No," Manfredo said.
"You certainly didn't find it, did you?" Haney asked, causing Moran to stand up with an objection.
"Sustained," said Shipp, before anyone else could say a word, smiling as chuckles broke out throughout the courtroom.
12:10 p.m.: Manfredo testified her new information she brought to the FBI at her second meeting on Dec. 8, 2013 was about why Ralphiel Mack came by the steak shop on July 16, 2012.
"I only can tell you what Mr. Giorgianni told me that day," Manfredo said in response to Haney's questioning.
She relayed that information to the authorities at the second meeting, she testified.
"I told them," she said. "I told them that JoJo had $2,500 to give to Ralphiel Mack to give to Mr. Tony Mack."
12 p.m.: Haney is focusing on Manfredo’s various encounters with the FBI, the first on July 18, 2012 when the homes of the Mack brothers and Giorgianni were raided by agents with search warrants. Manfredo was not asked any questions about Ralphiel Mack during that time, she testified.
Manfredo came forward and offered to cooperate late last year, prompting a Nov. 26, 2013 meeting where she told the FBI and prosecutors details of the case, including a July 16, 2012 meeting between Giorgianni and Ralphiel Mack.
"Did you tell the FBI on Nov. 26, 2013 that they shook hands?" Haney asked.
"Yes," Manfredo said.
Haney provided Manfredo with an FBI report from the next meeting on Dec. 8, and asked Manfredo is she amended what she said with new details. Haney brought the report to Manfredo on the witness stand and asked if she recalled what was in a particular paragraph.
"I don’t remember that," she said.
"Did you, for example, make any reference to what caused Ralphiel Mack to be at the steak house on July 16, 2012?" Haney asked.
"Please repeat that," Manfredo said.
"Did you provide a detail about what you contend caused Ralphiel Mack to be a the steak house on July 16, 2012?" Haney asked.
"Yes, I knew he was coming," Manfredo answered.
11:40 a.m.: Shipp is finished hearing objections on the recordings and said he could issue a ruling or deal with the issues as they come up.
"I have some preliminary thoughts but I'm not sure how this comes in," Shipp said, turning to Haney.
"Whats your pleasure?" Shipp asked Haney.
"Your Honor, I would prefer to proceed with cross examination," Haney said, asking Shipp to deal with issues about the recordings when the tapes came up during the cross-examination, "at the appropriate time I would ask the court to let me introduce it."
"I think my purpose in alerting the court and the government about this is to have notification of issues in advance," Haney said.
The jury was brought back in and Manfredo returned to the witness stand. Her cross-examination is continuing.
11:15 a.m.: Shipp is listening through the bulk of the conversations. Haney decided to withdraw two of the 2011 conversations. Now going through some of the specific objections.
Giorgianni was at Devens from Oct. 7 to Nov. 7 last year, leaving just a little more than a month before he pleaded guilty. The trip was designed to give him psychological testing, as Giorgianni had entered a bid to be declared mentally incompetent. Shipp denied that bid the day before Giorgianni pleaded guilty last December.
Moran says the Devens call where the two talk about a news article "injects" the story into the record and "has no probative value." Haney says that it is not the article but the evidence of the two working together he wants to present to the jury.
"And it's their coordination statements and coordination ideas that we say makes it relevant," Haney said.
The government has a strong objection to an Oct. 29, 2013 call from the federal prison that the defense argues shows the two coordinating to get discovery materials for the trial.
"'They're going to teach me to use the computer,'" Moran quoted Manfredo as saying. "'The things that were on the disks are on the computer.'"
"If this is allowed in, it's hearsay and it should not be played," Moran said.
The call also involves Manfredo recounting discussion with her lawyer, Moran said.
Manfredo was referring to the wiretap evidence in the separate drug case, Moran said, which she believed was accessible to all the defendants.
"Ms. Manfredo is not competent to know the nuances of this," he said.
Another call from Devens that Haney called "highly relevant" largely involves Giorgianni's complaints about the conditions at Devens, Moran said. But Haney argued it is clearly the two talking about the corruption case with the Macks, where Giorgianni was charged but she is not.
"This is her take on this public corruption case and the government incarcerating Mr. Giorgianni to test him," Haney said.
10:30 a.m.: Shipp back on the bench. The defense wants to introduce recorded phone calls from Giorgianni, some of which come from his month at Federal Medical Center (FMC) Devens in Massachusetts for a psychological evaluation from early October to early November 2013.
"The government objects to the wholesale introduction of these calls as they are hearsay," Moran said.
The defense intends to use them for impeachment purposes, Moran said.
Two calls involve media reports from late October 2013. The prosecution said playing these calls would violate Shipp's instruction to the jury not to get any information about the case through the media.
"It is the long detail description of an article," said Moran. "It has a highly prejudicial effect on the jury."
Haney said it is not his intention to allow the jury access to a particular news report.
"I assure the court that is not...to put before the jury what was contained in the article," Haney said. "The opposite is true."
Haney said the call will show the two coordinating about the facts of the case and then coordinating to resolve them in their favor, and using a particular reporter to get their story out.
"Were offering it to show how they mold their trial strategy while being fully aware that they are under consideration," Haney said. "It also shows how they are making media releases so they can promote their version of the case."
The prosecution called the calls "highly prejudicial" or simply irrelevant, like one from Nov. 3, 2013.
"It's Joseph Giorgianni simply complaining about the conditions at Devens," Moran said. "That he's cold. And hasn't seen a doctor."
The defense also wants to play five other calls from 2011, where Manfredo is allegedly threatened by Giorgianni and the two also discuss possible video surveillance via a camera on a telephone pole.
In two clips, one from 2011 and another more recent call between Giorgianni and Manfredo where Haney says Giorgianni threatens to physically assault Manfredo.
"We believe the combination of those two recordings will provide the jury with the opportunity to hear what would motivate Mary Manfredo to conform her testimony to that which was being prepared by JoJo Girogianni," Haney said.
10:11 a.m.: Moran is telling the court clerk there have been two more recorded phone calls disclosed - "one long one" - and the two sides need a little more time to review them.
10:05 a.m.: Both sides ask for five more minutes from the judge.
10:00 a.m.: Haney and Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Moran at conferring at the prosecution table while Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Skahill has headphones on. Mayor Mack's attorney Mark Davis is talking with the technical staff on the defense side.
9:57 a.m.: Manfredo is not in the courtroom, however her attorney is.
9:55 a.m.: A public court filing from last night reveals Haney is issuing five fresh subpoenas to have potential witnesses ready to testify for the defense.
9:40 a.m.: Judge Michael A. Shipp is lecturing attorneys from both sides about new objections to wiretap recordings filed at the eleventh hour, along with potential new witnesses.
"This is really not the most opportune way to proceed at this juncture," Shipp said.
Manfredo is not in the courtroom, and neither is the jury. Shipp said that neither side expressed any worries about sequestration, however.
The prosecution seems to have pulled an all-nighter listening to the new tapes the defense wants to use during its cross-examination of Manfredo which have not yet been entered into evidence, Shipp is hearing none of it.
"They don't know what you're objecting to, I haven't heard any of these tapes, and this is no way to conduct a trial," Shipp said.
Loath to delay the trial any further, Shipp is giving both sides 20 minutes to work things out, saying he will return, listen to the recordings, and rule them in or out before he allows the jury back into the courtroom.
"I'm not about to proceed without these things being ironed out," Shipp said.
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