03x05 - The Corrupt Senator

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- She was the rising star

of Boston's Black leadership,

destined, some thought,

to become the city's
first Black mayor.

- We expect our politician
to provide us honest services,

and she was not doing that.

- That's what democracy
encourages.

We fight it out here.

- She was in a luncheon.
I handed her the money,

and she held it
for a few minutes

and then just stuck her hand up

and shoved it in the bra.

- Bribing a state senator

and the betrayal of the trust
of the community--

I'm not sure people
quite realize

the damage
that corruption has

on a community.

- The cooperator was hesitant.

He said, "Hey, she is
the top person

"in our community.

"She is the highest-ranking
African American.

She's a state senator."

- I actually am from Boston

and represent
the capital city.

- If that's truly the best
you've got in the community,



isn't that a problem?

- You forget,
political corruption

is a serious crime.
It's sort of like a cancer.

- She did a lot
for the community.

- She did.

- She just also did
a lot for herself.

- In the FBI, we make
a lot of headlines.

Drug busts, mob stings,

t*rror1st takedowns...

- Get down!
Get down!

- We understand
why people want

to tell stories about us.

- Mark it.
- Freeze!

- fbi.
- fbi!

- Action!

- But they don't know
the half of it.

What really goes down?

We save that
for each other,

when we're talking
agent to agent.

This is "FBI True."

- Cindy Coppola

is a 23-year veteran
of the FBI.

She worked on cases
that included organized crime

and terrorism

and took part in
multinational investigations

into drug trafficking
and money laundering.

Coppola finished her career
with the Los Angeles division,

running two offices,

supervising investigations

and providing
undercover security

for special events.

- So you guys were telling me

about the big case
that you guys worked on

with--the subject
was Dianne Wilkerson.

- Yep.
- Right?

- Wilkerson
was a trailblazer,

the first Black woman
to be a partner

in a major law firm in Boston

and the first Black woman
elected to the state senate,

in 1992.

- This was the biggest
public corruption case

in the bureau at the time.

- Julia Cowley

was first assigned
to the FBI's bank fraud squad,

where she investigated
white-collar crimes.

Cowley later transferred
to Public Corruption,

working on cases that involved
various public officials,

from politicians
to the police.

- So how did her name
get brought to you guys?

- So we had an FBI agent

who was handling
this cooperator

on another case.
- Sure.

- And during that case--

- Another public corruption
case, or...

- Another public corruption
case.

- Yeah.
- Krista Corr spent

her career as a special agent

in the Boston FBI office,

where she was
initially assigned

to the Italian
organized crime squad.

She later joined
the public corruption squad,

where she remained
for 26 years.

- And during that case,
the cooperator said

to whoever he was talking to
in the tape,

"Oh, yeah, I'll have to give
Dianne a call."

So the handling agent...

He asked him, "Who's Dianne?"
"Well, Dianne Wilkerson."

"Well, why would you call
Dianne Wilkerson?"

"Oh, because
to get stuff done,

you have to call her."
"Well, do you pay her?"

"Yeah."
"How do you know?"

- Standing.
- "Well, because I've watched

somebody else pay her twice."

- His business partner
had paid Dianne in the past,

and he'd been present.

We wouldn't have known
about this.

This all just came up
in passing.

This was normal business
for him.

The cooperator
didn't even think about saying

to the FBI, "Oh, by the way,

I paid a senator bribes."

- I think that that's
what makes this

such an incredibly proud city

and one that's steeped
in the principles

of the democracy, that that's
what democracy encourages.

We fight it out here.

- The cooperator was looking
at opening this--

it was called Dejavu.
It was a supper club

in this new development
in Dianne's territory.

And I guess he'd applied
for a liquor license,

been denied,
and so he said,

"Well, you know,
I could call Dianne,

and maybe she can help me."

So that's what we pursued.

Initially, I was doing all
of this background research.

And she had a very checkered
kind of history already.

She, you know, had a 1997
federal tax conviction.

The office of campaign
and political finance

in Boston had multiple cases,

like they had a two-year cycle,

and every two years,
they had another case on her.

- You forget,
political corruption

is a serious crime.
It's sort of like a cancer.

It may start out small,
but then it spreads.

And you could see that in her.

- This is craziness.

She has federal charges
against her.

How is that allowed?

How did she stay in office?

- Well, she did a lot
for the minority community.

- This city is gonna be
browner and Blacker

and more yellow
in the next seven years

than it's ever been.

We're gonna be 50%
of the population,

and so we've got
to deal with that.

- She was very much
a proponent

of African Americans...
- Sure.

- And they--
in the community.

- I want a president
who believes

that health care access
ought to depend

on whether you need it,
not whether you can afford it.

- So the community took
a liking to her.

- Yes, yes.
- Yeah.

- And she did a lot
for the community.

- She did.
- If you think

that you can eliminate
health disparities

without talking about race,

keep thinking.

- She's gonna help
other people,

but she's gonna help herself

at the same time.
- Yeah.

- The agents ask
the cooperator

on the other corruption case

to set up a meeting
with Wilkerson

to see if she will accept
a bribe, as he claims.

- The cooperator was hesitant.
He said, "Hey, she is

"the top person
in our community.

"She is the highest-ranking
African American.

She's a state senator."

And I remember the handler
basically saying to him,

"If that's truly the best
you've got in the community,

isn't that a problem?"
- Yeah.

- And the cooperator went,
"Oh, yeah,"

and that kind of convinced him
to say, "You know what?

I think you're right."

- The cooperator reaches out
to Wilkerson

to set up a meeting,

and because
of their shared history,

Wilkerson accepts.

- So he met with her to help
get this liquor license.

If she doesn't take the money,

then we don't have
a case, right?

Yeah, right
at that first meeting,

he handed her some money,
and she took it.

She was actually
very disappointed.

And then he kind of recovered,
and he said, "Hey,

and there's more
where that comes from,"

you know.
- Sure.

- "I'll meet you again,
and I'll take care of you."

- After Wilkerson
accepts the bribe,

the public corruption squad
must confirm

that this is truly a pattern
of corrupt activity for her.

The cooperator meets
with Wilkerson a second time

in a restaurant
near her senate office.

- Our whole squad
would participate...

- Okay.
- And do some surveillance,

so we'd be in the restaurant

at another table, watching
or listening.

- We watched the cooperator
go in,

and she went in the lounge,
met him in there,

said, "I'm doing this for you,
I'm doing that,"

and he said, "Oh, great,"
and he handed her the money.

And she held it
for a few minutes

and then just stuck
her hand up

and shoved it in the bra

and moved on.

- Wilkerson accepts
two more cash bribes

from the FBI cooperator

and begins making moves
at the local and state level

to help obtain
a liquor license

for the supper club.

- She did all sorts of things.

She not only called the mayor,

called the president
of the city council,

called the joint committee
chairman

in charge of licensure...
- Sure.

- Normal liquor license,
if it's, like, you know,

in the city like here
in Boston,

they've gotta be 2,
$300,000.

- Yes, liquor licenses are...

- Before he even had
a business.

- 250, $300,000
at the time.

But there was this thing called
a special liquor license--

it was for disadvantaged areas,

empowerment zones,
things like that--

where you can get
a liquor license

for $2,900

plus a dollar a seat,

so really cheap.

They didn't have
any more of these.

So what she eventually did
was pushed and prodded

and got senate, house,

Boston Licensing Board,
city council, her,

all a big meeting,
and they agreed

that the City of Boston

would sponsor what's called
a home rule petition

to get 40 new special licenses

for all alcohol...
- For the city.

- And 30 beer and wine

and that she would get
four of them.

And Dianne, as part
of what she was doing

to help us get a license,
she said,

"Oh, I'm gonna call
Chuck Turner

and have him hold
a public hearing."

Chuck Turner was
a city councilor.

He was in her district,
and he was a muckraker.

- Elected to
the Boston City Council

in 1999,

Turner quickly earned
a reputation

for his outspoken actions
and abrasive personality.

- I was rushing so fast

to get dressed
to avoid more harassment

by the police.

- So she called him,

and he was gonna hold
a hearing

as to why there's not
more minority liquor licenses

and to really make
a big splash in the press.

And then, at one point,
this cooperator said on tape,

"Do you want me to go meet
with Chuck, too?"

and she said, "Yes.
Yes, I think you should."

So he went down
and paid him $500,

which Chuck took.

- And there was
no questions asked.

- Yeah, he said,
"I wanna shake your hand

and thank you very much,"

and he had the money
in his hand,

and he shook it.

Now, if I had money in my hand
and I shook your hand,

and there was something in,
you'd go, "Ooh, what's that?"

Right?

- There was none of that.

- No, of course.
- It was all taped.

There was none of that.

So he was comfortable

taking the money.

- The FBI now has
two politicians

taking bribes on camera,

but as they build their case,

they encounter an issue.

- We had a big problem
with this cooperator,

and he came in one day,

and he plopped
the recording equipment down,

and he said, "I'm done.

"I need you to pay my rent.

If you don't pay my rent,
I'm not doing this anymore."

So what we did was,

let's introduce an undercover.

- Get him out.
- Yeah, get him out,

and then we have
all control in the world,

'cause the undercover's
an FBI agent.

So we had one agent who--

actually, he hadn't even gone
to undercover school yet.

Very nervous,
but he was African American,

very likeable,
so we sent him in,

and I think we said he was
the cooperator's nephew

and he...
- Okay.

- Wanted to get involved

in the liquor license thing.

- In October, the cooperator
contacts Wilkerson

to set up another meeting
with himself

and the new undercover agent.

The plan is for this bribe

to come directly
from the agent.

- And the cooperator said,

"Oh, I think I might be
moving out,"

so the undercover said,
"I want the liquor license."

- Okay.
- So the fifth total payment

actually came right
from the undercover.

So now he's in,
so now we can kind of move...

- And she felt comfortable?
- Well, she took it.

Yeah, without a problem.
- Well, of course she did.

She's like, "I'm gonna take
some more cash."

- With the operation
back on track,

another undercover agent
is added into the mix.

This second undercover
is introduced to Wilkerson

as an out-of-state businessman

interested in developing
another project.

- The second undercover
came in,

and he paid--I think
it was maybe the sixth payment,

paid her $2,000

towards keeping
the liquor license thing going.

- In one of her meetings
with the undercover agents,

Wilkerson pitches
a new scheme.

- She had this thing
called parcel eight.

So parcel eight was

this state-owned piece
of property

next to a hardware store.

She kept talking
about direct designation,

and what that meant was,

"I can directly designate

"this state piece of land
to you,

"and it's a very valuable
piece of land.

"As long as you pay,
like, market value,

"I can get a piece
of legislation.

We don't have to put it out
to bid."

- The undercover agents
express an interest

in acquiring
the state-owned piece of land,

and the following month,

Wilkerson is paid
a seventh bribe.

The FBI ups the ante
and proposes a new meeting

with fake investors
in the state of Georgia.

- And we arrange
this big thing

in Atlanta.

There were gonna be,
like, eight undercovers there,

and it was introducing
other people in

and rolling out
this scenario.

And sent her a ticket,
and we're all set to go,

and she--she bagged.

Like, before, she didn't come.
- Oh.

- Do you know why
she canceled at the time?

You found out, maybe,
after the fact,

but did you know...
- She lost the primary.

- Oh.
- She lost the primary,

and now she's, like,
in the fight of her life.

She's gonna do
a sticker campaign

and write in,
and, hopefully, get reelected.

And so she's like, "Nope,
I got too much on my plate,"

so she didn't come,
so we never were able

to roll out that scenario,

even though everything
was in place for it.

- But a call from Wilkerson
provides the FBI

an opening to fully exploit
her land development scheme.

- She contacted
the second undercover and said,

"I'm fighting for my life.

I need you to give me
$10,000 donation."

- The undercover agent
agrees to donate

to Wilkerson's
reelection campaign,

but tells her he needs

the state-owned land
in exchange.

- He said, "Well, I wanna see

this direct designation
legislation."

And she said she would do it.

So we paid her $10,000,

he paid her $10,000 in cash,

in a sandwich shop.

But she was able
to show him the filing

of the legislation.
So she filed it.

- I was feeling really good
about the case.

I thought
we'd put it together well.

And I knew
our evidence was strong.

It was the kind
of corruption case

that you join the bureau
to work.

It's perfect.
- Pay to play, bribery.

The whole--yeah.
- Bribing a state senator...

- Yep.
- And the betrayal of the trust

of the community.

We expect our politician
to provide us honest services,

and she was not doing that.

- When did you know
you were gonna be able

to do the arrest and takedown?

- The problem was,
there was

an election coming up,

and there's two schools
of thought

if you think about it.

Do you take it down
before the election...

- Well, she's still
the state senator,

but even though she lost the--

- She's still
the state senator,

but she's gonna do
a sticker campaign,

so that means you write in
on the ballot,

but if you have enough people,
you can get elected.

It does happen,

and she had a lot of support
in the community.

- But the U.S. attorney
decides

to move on Wilkerson
before the election.

- And then it was a scramble.

It was like, you know, days
of, like, you know,

planning search warrants
and the arrest warrant,

and then I also did
surveillance on Dianne

the days leading up
to the arrest

to sort of understand
what her pattern of life was,

and was she leaving?
- Right, of course.

- So I think I spent
about a week

just sitting out
in front of her house.

- I was sitting in a car,

waiting, you know,
for her to come out...

And this one woman came out,

and then she went back in,

and there was a car
that pulls up.

The last thing you want

is for her to get into a car,

and now you're doing
a vehicle stop.

- Yeah.
- That, you know--no, no, no.

That's a bad thing.
So we wanna get her

before she gets in the car.

So, all of a sudden,
I went, "It's her! Let's go!

And I got out,
and I just started running

down the street
as fast as I could go.

And, you know,
you wanna say "let's go,"

and cars pull up,
but I am just--I'm going in.

- "Stop!"
- Yeah, yeah.

And she was, obviously,
very surprised.

Cuffs on her.

We took her back
into the house.

And we started
the search warrant.

And she said,
"Well, what's this about?"

and I said,
"Well, let me just tell you.

You know the name."
And I gave her the name

of the second undercover

that had just paid her $10,000,
and she said,

"Yes."
And I said,

"He's an FBI agent."

And you could see the wheels
just going

ta-ting, ta-ting,
ta-ting, ta-ting.

And I said,
"So we'd like to talk."

She goes, "I'd be happy
to talk to you

after I contact my attorney."

And that was the end of that.
- Yeah, that was it.

- Wilkerson was arrested

in her Dorchester home
this morning

after an 18-month
federal investigation

dating back to March
of last year.

The FBI says
the eight-term state senator

took nearly $24,000
on eight separate occasions.

We had evidence response team
people searching

at the house,

and we had a team
at her district office.

We had another team
doing her senate office

doing a search warrant there.

- And then, once they took her
into the house

and we knew everyone was safe,

I headed to city hall,

and we interviewed
Chuck Turner in his office.

We ask him questions
about the cooperating witness.

Did he know
the cooperating witness?

Did he ever--you know,
very direct questions.

You know,
"Did he ever pay you money?"

- So did he tell you the truth?

- No.
- No.

- I didn't take any money

from any other developer,
any other person.

I don't need people's money
to do my job.

- How many days
after her arrest

did you arrest him?

- I think it was
about two weeks.

- Yeah.
- It was the weirdest thing.

We walk into the office,

and he's kicked back his chair

with his feet up on the desk,

and he's on the phone,
and now you have six, eight

federal agents
walking in the door--

- And he thinks it's a joke.
- He stays on the phone.

He keeps talking, and we all
kind of look at each other

like "What do we do?"

- Extremely disrespectful
the entire time

and flippant.

So we arrest him at city hall,

and we took him
and escorted him into court

for his initial appearance,

and the hallways were lined
with his supporters,

many supporters,

and they were heckling us,

yelling at us.
- Oh, wow.

It was...
- Contentious, of course.

- I had somebody
chase me down the street,

calling me
a racial ethnic cleanser.

- Yeah, that's not--
- No, we were just--

we were doing our job.

That's what public corruption's
all about.

- Come to the conclusion
yourself

on whether you think
I am in jail

for the issues of justice

or I am in jail
because of issues

of political persecution.

- I particularly took
great personal offense

to Mr. Turner's representations

that he should be compared
to some of this nation's

greatest civil rights heroes,
such as Rosa Parks.

Mr. Turner is no Rosa Parks.

He's a convicted felon

who took a bribe

and then compounded
that offense

by lying about it repeatedly.

- And did it come out,
you know, later on?

Like, did their constituencies
realize that they were bad,

or are they still thinking,
"Okay, you know,

the FBI got this wrong"?

- The perception was that
she was helping her community,

which was
a disadvantaged community,

but really, ultimately,

the people that suffer
the most are--

- Those people
in her community.

- Who are disadvantaged.

- Exactly.
- Yeah, that don't have

the money to pay.

And so they're the ones

that ultimately suffer.

So she did a lot more harm
than good by her actions.

- Total disservice.

- She's only helping people
that are paying her,

so other people--
they don't have

a chance in her community.

That's the bottom line.

Like, all she cares about
is herself

and how it can benefit her.

- A short time ago,
State Senator Dianne Wilkerson

appeared
before a federal judge,

calling these charges

an all-out
character assassination,

but the U.S. attorney says
it's all laid out right here.

She had a history
of corruption.

- The citizens
of the Commonwealth

deserve honest
and faithful services

from the elected officials,

uncompromised
by secret payments in cash.

- Do you know what she
was spending this money on?

- A lot
of Home Shopping Network.

Oh, yes, like boxes
everywhere that--

some of them
weren't even opened.

- There were piles of clothes
with tags still on them,

and she was giving a lot
to family members, I think,

to help
with their living expenses.

- One of the things she said
on one of the tapes was,

"I always feel
that I can do good

and do well at the same time."

- In total, Wilkerson accepted
$23,500 in bribes

from the FBI.

- I'm not sure people
quite realize

the extent that--

the damage that corruption has
on a community.

- Sure.
- So that's

why it's so important.

- If you don't have
checks and balances

on public officials,

you can't trust the police,
you can't trust the judges.

If you can't trust
the public officials,

society
kind of spirals downward.

- As public officials,

we take an oath,

and we're held
to a higher standard,

and we have to hold
all of our public officials,

including us, as FBI agents,
to that higher standard.