Vic’s Accusers Get Examined by a Master

Fred James: Last night I was kicked off Vic’s potential testify list for being too old and ugly. Nah, just kidding. They said I was too Fat, old and ugly.

Anyway I was free to actually observe the court session today from 9 AM until it wrapped up at 3:48 PM. This is what I saw:

There were only two witnesses all day, Rick Smith and Bill Allen, two men who were accused by the Feds earlier and plead guilty to a bunch of counts which could put them both away for years. I will simply refer to them as “The VECO Crooks.” More on their status later.

At about 9:07 AM John Henry Brown resumed his cross from the day earlier on Rick Smith. Smith, white haired and white beard with a deep, low voice has a real problem remembering. However most of the data Browne was after was on a WRITTEN transcript from the FBI videos. So for an hour or so the cross went like this:
Browne: Do you remember why you did such and such? Ah: Ah...well, I can’t recall.
Browne: Page seven lines 12 through 17. Please read them to yourself.
Smith: (After reading the passages Sotto Voce): Well yes.

It went on like this as Browne gradually teased out one admission after another which bolstered Vic’s position. For example Smith said Allen would FREQUENTLY give money to kids. And that it was Allen’s idea to give the money to Vic for an Easter egg Hunt. This is tantamount to saying...We were not bribing Vic on that one. We wanted to help the kids! Browne, after much hassle with Smith denying and not remembering, finally admitted that the US government was going to make recommendations to the trial judge which COULD act to lesson his sentence...IF SMITH DID CERTAIN THINGS IN RETURN!! Like testify, wear wires, make Government “monitored phone calls” trying to entrap people. After so much talk from the “VECO Crooks” about “Owning Vic’s ass, guess who actually owns their asses now?

Smith’s body language and memory were highly negative when Browne spoke to him. When US attorney Edward Sullivan (One of their NEW leash holders) then asked questions of Smith, Smith’s memory became alive and potent. He answered questions rapidly and attended Sullivan like a good pet dog. Another blogger I know who witnessed this remarkable transition came to roughly the same conclusion.

After Smith, US Attorney Joe Bottini spoke to Bill Allen. He walked him through his early life, how he got into the pipeline business, how he went from a kid who left high school as a sophomore, gradually worked his way up the ladder to becoming a multi-millionaire with thousands of employees. Allen, 70, described his motorcycle accident which banged his head and which caused him to have difficulty getting ideas “from my brain to my lips’ and finding words.” He had walked slowly up to the witness box and put on a pair of headphones to hear.

Allen, for all his physical problems and age, seemed to have a good recall of many events WHEN BOTTINI asked the questions. Bottini asked him why VECO left the North Sea Field which was apparently lucrative. Smith told him that when Norway began to raise taxes he sold out and put the money Alaska’s North Slope.

Allen admitted under examination:

* an entire litany of who he paid off, who he gave jobs too, why he promoted Rick Smith who conducted fundraisers for VECO, “He done good.” to giving bonuses to employees for the purpose of them giving the money to VECO back politicians.

Brown asked him, given all the charges on Allen, was he ever arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail?” This was to compare him to Vic who WAS cuffed and taken to jail just long enough so that the press could take pictures.

Brown got Allen to admit eventually, after about fifteen minutes of evasion, that yes, he had cut the same deal with the US government as Smith, to do the government’s bidding, wear a wire, call people with the FBI listening in and testify at trials in return for the US making recommendations at his sentencing. He admitted that, as it were, HIS ass was in the government’s sling too.In addition when Allen spoke to Bottini he was relatively animated and answered questions almost cheerfully and his memory improved when he spoke to the attorneys who would make these recommendations!!!

By the end of the day the US government’s case was whittled down by Brown to two items, a grainy black and white video where Allen is giving Vic an unknown amount of money for his daughter’s Easter egg hunt and a girl scout uniform, and the word of Allen principally that he gave Vic sums of cash. It looks like it will come down in the end to “VECO Crooks’” word against Vic’s.

Why should we believe them when we KNOW they are singing like canaries to keep their butts out of the Federal Slammer or at least REDUCE their prison terms due to good recommendations from their new government masters.

Monday the interrogation of Bill Allen should end and the US Government might wrap its case by late Monday or Tuesday. Then the defense opens its arsenal and the case should get REALLY interesting!

IL Fettucinni