Lally, the prosecution’s key witness, provided the most damaging testimony to date in DiMasi’s public corruption trial, detailing a conspiracy over three years to use the power of the speaker’s office to manipulate the legislative process in favor of Cognos.
In his five-hour testimony, he put DiMasi at the center of the conspiracy, saying that DiMasi told him and one of the associates during a Father’s Day golf outing in 2006 that “I’m only going to be speaker for so long, so it’s important we make as much hay as possible.’’
Lally, DiMasi, and associates Richard Vitale and Richard McDonough did exactly that, he told jurors, successfully steering two contracts totaling $17.5 million toward Cognos in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks.
Lally said he used the $2.8 million in commissions he received from Cognos to pay $300,000 to McDonough, a lobbyist, and $600,000 to Vitale, a financial adviser. Both are longtime friends of DiMasi.
Lally said Vitale told him: “He didn’t get a dime of this money. It all went to Sal.’’
DiMasi, he testified, was also receiving separate kickbacks from lobbying fees that Cognos was paying one of his law associates. Those payments, prosecutors said, totaled $65,000.
“He said let’s make as much hay as possible, so that’s what I did,’’ testified Lally, sitting back in his chair.
Lally was a codefendant in the case, but agreed to cooperate with authorities and to testify in exchange for a reduced sentence, with prosecutors recommending he serve two to three years in prison, rather than the 10 years he faced.
DiMasi maintains his innocence. From the onset of the trial, the defense lawyers have worked to attack Lally’s credibility, calling him a liar who name-dropped and brought about a false theory of a bribery scheme.
Under cross-examination later yesterday by Vitale’s attorney, Martin Weinberg, Lally acknowledged that he has lied to friends, co-workers, even family members and that he bragged about meetings with high-profile figures that never took place. He lied on his taxes, he said, and lied to his wife about the taxes.
