Key witness in Chuck Turner corruption trial ends testimony, makes prediction

By Jonathan Saltzman and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A businessman concluded three days of lively testimony Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner's corruption trial today and minutes after leaving the courtroom predicted that Turner will be convicted of lying to FBI agents.

"He's gone,'' Ronald Wilburn, 71, said in US District Court after testifying about his role as an undercover informant for the FBI during an investigation that netted Turner and former state senator Dianne Wilkerson. "They are going to kill him on perjury.''

Turner is on trial for attempted extortion for allegedly accepting a $1,000 cash bribe from Wilburn and for lying to FBI agents for allegedly telling them hat he did not know Wilburn, and that he and Wilburn never discussed setting up a fund-raiser for the Roxbury councilor.

Jurors have seen secretly recorded videotape of the two men meeting in Aug. 3, 2007, and of Wilburn as he allegedly handed over the cash.

"They are going to crucify'' Turner, Wilburn told reporters today.

On the stand today, Wilburn clashed with Turner defense attorney Barry P. Wilson and also used props to show what happened to the paper money as he allegedly handed cash to Turner while being questioned by a federal prosecutor.

During questioning, Wilson effectively accused Wilburn of going to work for the FBI because he was in dire financial straits. Wilburn was paid about $30,000 by the government for his work.

But Wilburn insisted his finances were in good shape when he agreed to become cooperating witness because his wife had a $70,000 a year job with Fidelity Investments and adult daughter was working for the PetSmart chain earning $55,000 a year.

However, Wilburn also acknowledged that his wife lost her job in the fall of 2008 – just about the time that Wilkerson was arrested on corruption charges.

Wilburn also appeared to surprise spectators in the courtroom when he suddenly pulled paper props out of his pocket while being questioned about the handshake – captured on videotape – that prosecutors contend shows him handing a wad of cash to Turner.

Holding a pile of index cards wrapped with a rubber hand in his hand, Wilburn said he took the cash out of his pocket with his right hand and then transferred into his left hand before he took Turner's hand.

The demonstration Wilburn gave to the jurors did not closely match what happened during the actual meeting which was secretly recorded and shown to the jury.

Last week, Wilburn sparred with both prosecutors and Wilson.

Wilburn accused authorities of deliberately unmasking him in as a cooperating witness in a Globe article on Nov. 10, 2008. The Globe reported that Wilburn was the unidentified man who gave Wilkerson $6,500 in secretly videotaped payoffs, leading to her arrest two weeks earlier. The unmasking was based on interviews with three associates of Wilkerson.

Raising his voice, Assistant US Attorney John T. McNeil confronted Wilburn about whether he himself put his name in the media long before that. Wilburn was the subject of a Globe column in July 2007 — when he was secretly cooperating with the FBI — about his inability to obtain a liquor license for a supper club he wanted to open in Roxbury.

“You did it while you were working for the FBI, didn’t you?’’ McNeil shouted on Friday. “Isn’t it true that your name first appeared in the newspaper in an article you initiated?’’

In another startling development, Wilburn said under questioning by McNeil and by Wilson that he was involved in several cash payments to the Boston police before he participated in the corruption investigation of Wilkerson and Turner.

He said Felix “Manny’’ Soto, a protégé who operated Mirage at Estelle’s, the nightclub where Wilburn worked from about 2000 to 2005, repeatedly paid Boston police officers cash after 2 a.m. in addition to the standard payments they received for work details there. Wilburn said he himself never made those payments.

Wilburn said he personally paid a police official $800 outside police headquarters at 6 a.m. after the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, although Wilson said Wilburn originally told the FBI it was $10,000. Wilburn also testified that he told the FBI he made three payments to the Boston police.

Neither side in the trial explained the fragmentary allegations nor what the payments were for.

Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said in a statement on Friday: “Mr. Wilburn’s allegations have been part of an ongoing investigation among the US attorney’s office, the FBI, and the Boston Police Department. I can’t comment any further than that.’’

An FBI agent had previously testified that Wilburn became a cooperating witness in early 2007 as part of a separate public corruption investigation involving a third public official.

Wilburn spent most of Friday's testimony being grilled by Wilson, Turner’s attorney. Wilson, who will resume cross-examination today, sought to portray the witness as a ne’er-do-well who could not pay his own bills while working for the FBI.

Although Wilburn unequivocally testified Thursday that he gave Turner all the money FBI agents told him to hand the councilor, Wilson repeatedly sought to cast doubt on whether it amounted to $1,000.

As Wilson posed questions, Wilburn acknowledged that an FBI agent never counted on camera the bills he gave him before Wilburn entered Turner’s office. Wilburn, who testified that he withdrew the money from his pocket and gave it to Turner in a handshake, said he did not count it, either.

“So you don’t know how much money they gave you, do you?’’ Wilson asked.

“No,’’ Wilburn replied.

“And you don’t know how many bills?’’

“No.’’

The tensest exchange occurred between Wilburn and McNeil.

Lashing out, Wilburn said McNeil unmasked him by filing grainy FBI surveillance photographs in federal court immediately after Wilkerson’s arrest. Only slivers of the cooperating witness are visible in the pictures: the crisp white cuff of a dress shirt, a close-up of a palm, hands pressing neat folds of cash toward Wilkerson.

“You provided a photo of my hand passing the money,’’ Wilburn snapped. He was identified as CW in an FBI affidavit, but Wilburn said, “It should have been RW.’’ He said he has not been able to get work since then.

The scene became even more unusual when a juror got District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock’s attention and said, “I’m just curious if someone’s coaching the witness.’’

The juror was referring to a lawyer in the front of the gallery, Robert S. Sinsheimer, who was gesturing to Wilburn to calm down. Sinsheimer was appointed by the judge last week to represent Wilburn in case the witness was charged with contempt for refusing to testify.

McNeil made it clear that Sinsheimer did not work for the government.