Turner arrested, charged with accepting a bribe

City councilor denies taking $1,000 payoff

A frame from a video recording allegedly shows Turner accepting $1,000 cash. (FBI SURVEILLANCE PHOTO)

The grainy surveillance pictures looked similar, but the subject within them had changed. The FBI swooped into Boston City Hall yesterday morning and charged Councilor Chuck Turner with accepting a bribe, marking the second high-profile arrest of a black politician in a month and triggering fresh questions over where the federal investigation goes from here.

Turner's arrest on charges of pocketing a $1,000 payment from a nightclub operator and lying to federal agents about it came 24 days after the FBI charged state Senator Dianne Wilkerson with accepting payments from the same businessman, who was seeking help in obtaining a liquor license.

Law enforcement officials indicated that the investigation will continue and could result in more arrests, fueling a mix of surprise and speculation through the halls of city and state government.

"The question is, is there another shoe to drop?" said state Representative Linda Dorcena Forry, who represents Dorchester.

Wilkerson was arrested Oct. 28 and resigned her Senate seat Wednesday under intense pressure from her colleagues. Waves of federal grand jury subpoenas have landed at City Hall and the State House, as well as the offices of developers and various state officials.

Turner is a five-term city councilor who gained prominence in the 1960s as a local community organizer. He professed his innocence after a hearing in US District Court in Worcester yesterday, where 30 supporters chanted their support for him.

"I am absolutely positive that a jury of my peers will come to the conclusion that I am innocent," said the 68-year-old Turner, amid chants of "Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!" outside the courthouse. A federal magistrate released him on $50,000 bond.

The investigation thus far has featured allegations of attempted extortion, political favors, and backroom deals. Agencies that have received subpoenas include the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, the Boston Licensing Board, and the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

Although Mayor Thomas M. Menino's office has received a subpoena, US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said specifically yesterday that Menino is not a subject of the investigation. He also said that, beyond Wilkerson, it does not appear any other members of the Legislature are implicated.

But Sullivan pointedly refused to say the same about other city and state officials.

"We have charged two individuals, a city councilor and now a former state senator," he said, referring to Wilkerson's resignation from the Senate Wednesday. "Beyond that, we are not going to comment."

Asked about concerns that the investigation was focused on two influential leaders in the city's African-American community, Sullivan replied: "Is that a serious question? The affidavit lays out the conduct. It's the conduct of two individuals. We are blind to color when it comes to the evidence."

Sullivan declined to comment when asked whether other members of the City Council will be implicated or if people connected to the Boston Licensing Board, the agency that awards liquor licenses in Boston, or the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission are being investigated.

Authorities said yesterday that they have made more than 150 recordings during their undercover investigation. The first batch of images from those surreptitious operations showed Wilkerson allegedly accepting bribes in restaurants around the State House.

In the second set yesterday, one image accompanying a 12-page affidavit shows Turner allegedly taking folded green bills from a cooperating witness in his Roxbury district office on Aug. 3, 2007, in exchange for help in securing a liquor license for a Roxbury nightclub. Turner's trademark white goatee is apparent.

According to the affidavit, the witness told Turner, "You take the wife to dinner . . . and have some fun.' " The wad of cash allegedly included five $100 bills and 10 $50 bills.

"Turner accepted the money, while smiling and nodding his head, and responded, 'okay,' " according to the affidavit.

A little more than a month later, the cooperating witness went to City Hall with a cash bribe and asked for Turner. The assistant, who is not named in the affidavit, is quoted as asking the witness, "I'm gonna ask you one question . . . is it money?"

"When the CW falsely responded, 'no,' the assistant explained that money could not be provided in City Hall," the affidavit said.

Finally, the affidivit describes how, shortly after Wilkerson was arrested on extortion charges on Oct. 28, two agents visited Turner at City Hall. He denied taking any money from the cooperating witness. He also rued the pervasiveness of corruption among politicians, according to the affidavit.

"If you took out all corrupt politicians, you'd take out 90 percent and be left with us 10 percent," he told the FBI agents, according to the affidavit.

Yesterday, FBI agents went to Turner's house in Roxbury at 6:30 a.m. to charge him with attempted extortion and lying to the agents, but he was not there. They found him 30 minutes later at his City Hall office and took him into custody.

"I had left my house at 5:30 to come to work," he replied, when reporters asked him later why he was at City Hall so early.

"I am a seven-day-a-week city councilor."

As the surveillance photograph allegedly showing Turner accepting cash was splashed on television news and websites yesterday, the Boston City Council asked its staff and city lawyers for legal opinions on what it could do about Turner when it convenes to discuss his case in a special closed-door session scheduled for Monday.

In the meantime, Council President Maureen Feeney stripped Turner of his committee assignments, including chairmanship of committees on education and human rights.

"These charges are disturbing and shake an already fragile public trust in elected leaders," Feeney, who has turned over calendar and phone records to the FBI as part of the on-going investigation, said in a statement.

"If these charges prove true, I will not let the actions of one member cast a dark cloud over this entire body," she said.

In an interview at Fenway Park, where he met with green industry business leaders yesterday, Menino said that he was surprised by Turner's arrest and that it further undermines public confidence in government.

Elected officials "are supposed to be there to help," he said. "Things like this continue to get people frustrated and somewhat angry at times."

Responding to moves against him on the council, Turner said the body has no say in whether to discipline him or force him to resign. "The only people who can make the decision whether I serve is my constituents," he said before he got into his daughter's sport utility vehicle. "I am going to be back at work Monday."

Turner recently sent an e-mail to the Globe for a feature to be published in the Sunday Magazine about people who stood by Wilkerson. He said it was ridiculous to talk about ethics, given the country's history of slavery and prejudice and the influence of rich people over the government.

"From an ethical standpoint, I don't think the vast majority of Congress should be allowed to sit, he wrote. "It's time for Americans to admit that ethics never have had a significant influence on American politics."

Yesterday, Turner's lawyer, Barry Wilson, said Turner was not guilty and brushed aside the surveillance photographs.

"I've seen some grainy photos," he said. "I don't know what they show. I think somebody doesn't like Chuck Turner."

If convicted, Turner faces up to 20 years imprisonment on an attempted extortion charge and five years on a false statements charge.

The FBI's 18-month corruption inquiry hinges in large part of the cooperation of a witness identified in court documents only as CW.

The Globe reported this month that Wilkerson has told close associates that CW is Ron Wilburn, an entrepreneur and former nightclub manager from Revere and erstwhile political supporter of Wilkerson. Wilburn has declined interview requests.

CW is also not identified in the affidavit filed in support of Turner's arrest. But the document says that in early 2007, he told investigators that he had heard that Turner took cash payments.

CW said that although he never paid Turner anything, he was aware of an instance of Turner "taking a cash payment for writing a letter of recommendation for an individual with a criminal record," said the affidavit. The document does not name the individual or the circumstances.

John Drake and John R. Ellement of the Globe staff contributed to this report.