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Evening update of Jimmy Dimora’s trial for Tuesday, Jan. 24 Plain Dealer reporter Stan Donaldson updates you on what happened during the afternoon session of the county corruption trial of former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora in Akron. Watch video
AKRON, Ohio — Jurors and the rest of Northeast Ohio need wonder no longer what federal prosecutors believe motivated Jimmy Dimora –  an insatiable appetite for sex.
For the first time Tuesday, prosecutors in Dimora’s racketeering trial offered accounts of how people trying to curry favor went to great lengths and expense to arrange extra-marital trysts for the then-Cuyahoga County commissioner.
They connected with female escort services. They dispatched limos to pick up women from as far away as Toledo. They searched for discreet spots for encounters. They dropped off condominium keys.

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Midday update of Jimmy Dimora’s trial for Friday, Jan. 13 Plain Dealer reporter Jim McCarty updates you on what happened during the morning session of the county corruption trial of former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora in Akron. Watch video
AKRON, Ohio — Intriguing new details emerged in testimony today regarding the  April 2008 trip to Las Vegas by former Cuyahoga County commissioner Jimmy Dimora, convicted former county auditor Frank Russo and others.
Construction company owner Ferris Kleem has admitted that he paid thousands of dollars toward the gambling trip for Dimora, Russo, Parma politician and county employee J. Kevin Kelley and others.
Kleem, who is cooperating with federal prosecutors, also said he paid for a $1,000 prostitute for Dimora. One month after the trip, Kleem’s Blaze construction won a $2.9 million road-resurfacing contract.

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For the first time Friday, the wild excesses that federal prosecutors had previously only hinted at in their five-year investigation of corruption in Cuyahoga County government came to life in U.S. District Court.
And all of the good times came gratis of Ferris Kleem, a Berea contractor looking for $45 million in county contracts, an FBI agent said.
Kleem, owner of Blaze Construction, Phoenix Cement, and the Teamz and Tony K’s restaurants, bankrolled the trip to Las Vegas in April 2008 for Dimora, then-Auditor Frank Russo and seven of their friends.
During the second day of testimony in Dimora’s racketeering trial, prosecutors devoted much of their attention to the trip, detailing thousands of dollars of gambling chips, a $2,000 dinner, prostitutes, limousines, more than $6,000 for hotel rooms and charges, and first-class airplane tickets.

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AKRON, Ohio — Recordings of FBI wiretaps of former Cuyahoga County auditor Frank Russo and former commissioner Jimmy Dimora played in federal court today showed the two men bristling over questions from a  columnist for The Plain Dealer immediately after their infamous Las Vegas vacation.Dimora is on trial on federal racketeering charges in Akron and Russo took a plea deal in 2010, pleading guilty to 21 corruption-related offenses and faces nearly 22 years in prison
The charges against Russo also revealed details about federal allegations about the Las Vegas trip, a frequent topic in afternoon testimony by FBI agent Michael Massie today.
Late in the afternoon, however, prosecutors also played a recording in which Russo talks with Michael McIntyre, a reporter at The Plain Dealer who writes the “Tipoff” column.
First McIntyre asks Russo: “Well, were there a lot of prostitutes with you guys?”

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The trial’s first witness, FBI agent Michael Massie, was back on the stand this morning around 10 a.m. He is expected to testify most of the day.
Massie on Thursday  had recounted how the county corruption investigation began in the summer of 2007, and mushroomed into a series of wiretaps of the cell phones of Dimora, Russo, Kevin Kelley, Steven Pumper and William Neiheiser.
This morning, prosecutors called him back to the stand and then played  recordings, includidng one between Kelley and contractor Ferris Kleem.
The conversation centered around a scheme prosecutors say involved Kleem, who has admitted that he gave cash, appliances and a trip to Las Vegas to elected officials in exchange for favors, including meddling in the bidding process for construction work at the Juvenile Justice Center Complex.
Kleem said he paid for a prostitute for Dimora and gave him appliances for his home and $2,000 toward a Rolex watch.

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Prosecutors told the jury that Russo and Dimora got $4,000 each from Kelley.
They also played a number of audio recordings of wiretaps from the FBI investigation of Dimora, noting that they tapped two of his phones because he rarely did work in his office.
They also played recordings of phone calls between Dimora and contractor Steve Pumper , as well as between Pumper and then-Common Pleas Judge Bridget McCafferty.
The charges against Dimora are found in a 36-count, 148-page federal indictment, and say that the longtime power broker used his county commissioner’s office as the base to run a criminal enterprise.
The charges say that he not only defrauded the public, but sold his position to enrich himself and his friends.
The indictment also says Dimora received bribes and kickbacks, trips, home improvements and appliances, meals, entertainment, jewelry, lodging and prostitutes.

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Dimora is accused of running a criminal enterprise while serving as a commissioner and chairman of the county Democratic Party. He faces more than 30 counts, including racketeering, under an indictment originally filed in September 2010.
He is being tried along with friend and former county auditor’s employee Michael Gabor, who is accused of bribery and conspiracy.
The charges against Dimora are found in a 36-count, 148-page federal indictment, and say that the longtime power  broker used his county commissioner’s office as the base to run a criminal enterprise.
The charges say that he not only defrauded the public, but sold his position  to enrich himself and his friends.
The indictment also says Dimora received bribes and kickbacks, trips, home improvements and appliances, meals, entertainment, jewelry, lodging and prostitutes. In exchange, the charges state, Dimora steered government contracts, grants and loans, jobs and pay raises. He’s also accused of fixing court cases and favoring his benefactors in dealings with the county.

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Pumper said he offered Dimora $35,000 in cash — and Dimora accepted about $33,000 — in exchange for moving the purchase along. He also performed the free work on Dimora’s house.
But Whitaker said Cuyahoga County was already going to buy a garage and Pumper did not pay Dimora $30,000 to seal the deal.
The charges against Dimora are found in a 36-count, 148-page federal indictment, and say that the longtime power  broker used his county commissioner’s office as the base to run a criminal enterprise.
The charges say that he not only defrauded the public, but sold his position  to enrich himself and his friends.
The indictment also says Dimora received bribes and kickbacks, trips, home improvements and appliances, meals, entertainment, jewelry, lodging and prostitutes. In exchange, the charges state, Dimora steered government contracts, grants and loans, jobs and pay raises. He’s also accused of fixing court cases and favoring his benefactors in dealings with the county.

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The book’s history begins in 1896, with a pastoral photo of a group of farmers participating in “threshing day” along Mayfield Road. It proceeds to tell the story of the earliest settlers (and the two basket factories that operated in the then-village); the schools and churches that opened to handle the city’s growing population; local businesses; the building of Notre Dame College; city officials; the rebuilding of the Playground of Possibilities; and the everyday life of regular people.
Just over a year ago, the historical society, in a Sun Messenger article, put out the word that it was seeking photos for the book.
Ardell Quinn was the reputed madam of a brothel that operated on Donwell Drive. The supper club/brothel was raided by none other than Eliot Ness. Quinn was convicted in 1937 for transporting minors across state lines for immoral purposes. This photo was supplied by Karen Zoller, director of the Notre Dame College Library.

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Witness list in Jimmy Dimora corruption trial should provide some surprises: Mark Naymik
Published: Thursday, January 05, 2012, 5:40 AM
View full sizeMarvin Fong, The Plain DealerFormer Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora arrives Wednesday for the opening day of his trial at the federal courthouse in Akron.
Former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora’s public corruption trial just got a whole lot more interesting for me.
It has nothing to do with charges of bribery, prostitution, gambling trips or taped phone conversations, which illustrate how little Dimora and his buddies cared about the public’s interests.
What excites me is the witness list, revealed publicly for the first time Wednesday during jury selection.
The list includes many obvious players, such as former Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo and J. Kevin Kelley, the big weasel in all this who pleaded guilty early in the investigation to acting as a middleman in bribery schemes involving Dimora and Russo.

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