Developer reportedly worried about demands made by senator
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In the FBI affidavit, he is known as Associate A, a street-savvy neighborhood businessman with a zeal to build a development in Roxbury. In real life, his name is Azid Mohammed, and from the very beginning, a colleague said yesterday, he was uncomfortable with the pressure being applied to him by state Senator Dianne Wilkerson.
Wilkerson wanted Mohammed to team up on the project with an Atlanta developer. In return, Wilkerson would help the development team win ownership of a key piece of state-owned land in a no-bid deal.
Mohammed complained to the colleague, Christopher Marrano, that Wilkerson "kept saying you're going to have to work with this guy to make any thing happen," Marrano said in an interview yesterday. He said Mohammed did not understand why another player needed to be involved in the deal.
Marrano learned this week why Wilkerson kept insisting that Raj from Atlanta be included.
Raj was really an undercover FBI agent who the government says was paying thousands of dollars in cash bribes to Wilkerson. In exchange, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed this week, Wilkerson agreed to help the developers win ownership of state property abutting Marrano's land.
The episode was a key example of the brazen bribery schemes authorities described, in this case involving $15,000 in payments to Wilkerson, a 15-year incumbent senator. The FBI affidavit described Raj's role in the FBI sting in detail and describes the involvement of Mohammed, who could not be reached for comment, and is identified in the document only as Associate A.
Mohammed, whose identity was confirmed by Marrano, is captured on tape discussing bribes to public officials. Saying he was shocked by the allegations, Marrano said he was unaware of any payments.
The FBI affidavit says it taped Associate A telling an undercover agent that he would have to pay Wilkerson, two state representatives, and a Boston councilor to push the transfer of the state land. The FBI affidavit described it as a "politician payment plan."
"The biggest chunk that we gotta worry about is the senator," Associate A told the agents, according to the affidavit. "This woman is extremely powerful. . . . If she say no, you're [expletive] dead. If she say yes, you're golden."
Associate A suggested the agents pay $5,000 to one state representative, $1,000 to another, and $1,000 to a Boston city councilor. The officials, while known to the FBI, are not named in the affidavit.
Mohammed offered to introduce the undercover agents to the officials so they could offer them payoffs and said, according to the affidavit, "Ninety-nine percent of the times, these people would, would accept or receive these things from a source that they're comfortable with."
Marrano said Mohammed has denied making payoffs to anyone. Both Marrano and Mohammed were interviewed Tuesday by the FBI, Marrano said.
"I thought it was all legitimate," said Marrano, adding: "I feel bad for [Mohammed] because I think he was so eager and anxious to get this development put together he kind of fell into this. I don't think he feels he did anything wrong."
Marrano said he cannot understand why Mohammed made statements about payoffs to officials, but added: "He's a pretty comical guy. He might have just been joking around."
Marrano owns Harrison Supply Co. and the 55,000-square-foot property it stands on at the corner of Harrison Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard. He said his business has been struggling since
For years, he said, he has been trying to sell the property and relocate his struggling hardware store while attempting to regain ownership of the neighboring parcel, which was taken by the state by eminent domain some 35 years ago for planned highway construction.
A $100 million development proposal put together by Mohammed, owner of Brockton-based Trin-Ma Construction, to build a retail and medical complex on Marrano's property and the state parcel drew support from the Boston Redevelopment Authority five years ago. But the proposal went nowhere until Wilkerson threw her support behind the project about a year ago, Marrano said.
Marrano said Mohammed has no interest in his business, but he agreed to give Mohammed a percentage of the profits from any deal he put together if it led to the sale or development of Marrano's property.
"It seemed she had a genuine interest in developing this neighborhood," said Marrano, adding that Wilkerson dealt with Mohammed on the proposal and that he met the senator only at a couple of neighborhood meetings.
"No one ever approached us for money," said Marrano. "They didn't even approach us for campaign money."
But Marrano said Mohammed expressed concern about teaming up with Raj. "He said, I don't know what's going on, but Dianne wants me to partner up with someone," said Marrano, adding that he thought Wilkerson wanted more minorities involved in the project. "He didn't want to do it, but she was very adamant about it."
Mohammed was so concerned about strangers getting involved in the mega project that he conducted background checks on Raj and his associates, Marrano said. "He told me he ran checks on who they were . . . and ran into a dead-end."
After learning of the allegations against Wilkerson involving the project, Marrano said he is disappointed that the project is now apparently dead.
"I felt her heart was in it," Marrano said of Wilkerson's commitment to the development. "But I think the money kind of swayed her. It was just dangled in front of her, and she took it."
