Jimmy Dimora corruption case wiretaps filled with profanity-laced language and ‘buddy’ talk

Jimmy Dimora corruption case wiretaps filled with profanity-laced language and ‘buddy’ talk
By: Ken Trump, newsnet5.com

AKRON, Ohio - If you want to get the full flavor of conversations federal agents caught in wiretaps during their investigation of former county commissioner Jimmy Dimora, you will have to visit the trial in person.

“You misfit (expletive). You deformed (expletive),” Dimora greeted J. Kevin Kelley in the beginning of a wiretap cell phone conversation played last Friday in Akron federal court. It was one of the many comments consumers of media reports on the trial will never hear in totality.

In her opening statement, Dimora defense attorney Andrea Whitaker warned jurors of the forthcoming foul language and sex talk.

“The background noise is gambling, sexual talk, carousing. The government has confused this kind of behavior with corruption,” Whitaker said.

Federal prosecutors have woven wiretap conversations from their opening statement through the end of the first six days of the trial. Court documents show prosecutors plan on using hundreds, and perhaps over one thousand, hours of wiretaps during the entire three-month trial.

Dimora had a particular knack for peppering many of those conversations with four-letter words and other profanity. Jurors heard it in his cell phone calls describing scantily clad women at the Bare Pool, a private topless pool area at The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, and in his post-Vegas calls describing his assessment of the trip.

Wiretap conversations between Dimora and Kelley also typically included profanity.

Using profanity, though, is not a federal crime for which Dimora has been charged. And FBI Special Agent Michael Massie acknowledged during cross-examination by Dimora defense attorney Bill Whitaker that Massie had the ability to edit out even the smallest clips of any wiretap conversations played in court.

But prosecutors have left in the profanity, perhaps on purpose. While the profanity does not contribute to proving the elements of the crimes charged in the prosecution’s case, it does add to their efforts to create a story for jurors that some might say is reminiscent of an underworld mob movie.

At times, however, the conversations sound less like those expected in a Mafioso flick and more like sophomoric exchanges one would expect to hear in a high school cafeteria.

“Hey buddy” and “Bye buddy,” for example, are J. Kevin Kelley favorites.

If Kelley had a thousand dollars for every time he used the word “buddy” in wiretap conversations, his total take might come close to the amount federal officials claim he profited by in the conspiracy case. Kelley’s conversation “buddies” included contractor Ferris Kleem, Alternatives Agency co-director and Kelley client Brian Schuman, and of course, Dimora.

The language of the Dimora trial adds context, shock, dismay and often disgust to otherwise serious and sometimes dramatic courtroom testimony and evidence. But persons interested in getting the full context will have to be in the courtroom since journalistic standards prohibit reporters from sharing the full verbiage in their news stories.

For most trial followers, especially those with children, that could be a good thing.

Dimora and co-defendant Michael Gabor have maintained their innocence on all federal charges.

Continue to follow newsnet5.com and NewsChannel5 for ongoing trial developments.



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