Monday, March 24, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Salem, who was secretly cooperating with the government, was being indicted on bank fraud charges. He had called Dottore from California to ask for his help in getting rid of the charges, the government alleged.
Prosecutors have alleged that in this conversation Salem asked Dottore to help him find a lawyer and get the charges dismissed. Eventually, Salem said he paid Dottore as much as $5,000 to bribe former District Judge Gerard Bongiovanni. Bongiovanni, Dottore and a third defendant will go to trial April 7.
Salem: Well, I'll be back in Monday. We gotta sit down and talk. We gotta figure something out here.
Dottore: No kidding.
Salem: Yeah.
Dottore: Well, call me and we'll meet somewhere.
Salem: Ah, well, in the meantime, uh, see if you can reach out and maybe we can get some help in this area. Get some opinions or something.
Dottore: Yeah. Unbelievable.
Salem: Let me ask you this.
Dottore: Mm hmm.
Salem: You know your friend?
Dottore: Which one?
Salem: Well, um, the one you golf with?
Dottore: Yeah.
Salem: OK, does he have a guy that I can go to?
Dottore: An attorney?
Salem: Yeah.
Dottore: Yeah.
Salem: Well --
Dottore: Yeah.
Salem: Well, can you talk to the guy?
Dottore: Yeah, well you know I gotta know what to say to the guy.
Salem: Well, I mean, can that friend help us out? I mean, uh?
Dottore: I don't know, Terry.
Salem: Well, that's all I'm saying, go talk to him and see what we can do. And I'll talk to you in person Monday.
Dottore: Yeah.
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