Cicilline / bribery
Suspect alleges bribery
01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, July 12, 2007
By Mike Stanton
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Shortly after he and his friend Khalid Mason were arrested for dealing crack cocaine in 2004,
Derek W. Isom says that he received a visit in state prison from his lawyer, John M. Cicilline.
Cicilline said that he could get Isom freed on bail for a payment of $25,000, and then “make the whole thing go
away” for a total of $200,000, which he would use to bribe the Providence police, Isom testified in federal court
yesterday.
After Isom and Mason gave him the $25,000, Cicilline told Isom on a subsequent visit to the Adult Correctional
Institutions that the police were offering a deal requiring Isom to serve six years in prison.
“But he said that if we wanted to go forth and pay off the cops, it would be an additional $75,000, for $100,000 for
me, and another $100,000 for Khalid, to make the case go away,” Isom testified.
Instead, suspicious that Cicilline had not delivered on his promise to have him freed on bail, Isom said he and
Mason demanded their $25,000 back, and changed lawyers.
Isom has since pleaded guilty to the drug charges, while Mason is awaiting trial.
Yesterday, Isom shuffled into a federal courtroom in Providence in shackles and prison garb to testify in a pretrial
hearing for Mason.
Mason, who testified when the hearing began last week before U.S. District Judge William E. Smith, charges that
the Providence police planted the drugs in his apartment, and that Cicilline and his paralegal/interpreter, Lisa
Torres, conspired to shake down the drug dealers.
Cicilline and Torres, subpoenaed to testify by Mason’s lawyer, Michael J. Connolly, of Boston, both took the stand
last week and invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to answer questions.
The two were indicted on federal charges in Boston in January, along with lawyer Joseph A. Bevilacqua Jr., of a
similar scheme to collect $150,000 from two drug-dealer clients to manipulate the criminal-justice system. Juan
A. Giraldo, a paralegal and interpreter for the two lawyers, was also charged.
Mason and Isom, who each have extensive criminal records, have known each another since childhood. On Jan.
16, 2004, they were charged with possessing and distributing crack cocaine from Mason’s apartment, at 214
Pavilion Ave., in Providence, after several weeks of surveillance.
Isom testified yesterday that Mason’s grandfather, nicknamed Grampy, rented the apartment, and that Mason’s
family created a “carefree environment” where “there wasn’t no bad influence.” Isom said he never saw any signs
of drug dealing in the apartment.
“Anyone dealing drugs tries to be discreet — you don’t do it around a crowd,” he said. “I did what I did on my own. .
. . at no time did Khalid and I deal drugs together.”
But during cross-examination, Isom acknowledged that he and Mason had sold drugs together at times, though
he insisted they hadn’t in January 2004. He said he pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to deal drugs with
Mason, even though Mason wasn’t involved, because of faulty legal representation by another lawyer he hired after
he dumped Cicilline.
Isom disputed statements attributed to him in various police interviews that he and Mason had dealt drugs from
the Pavilion Avenue apartment, and that the police would probably find Isom’s fingerprints on bags of drugs seized
there.
“I don’t know whose drugs were in that house — whether they were Khalid’s or Grampy’s or the Ghost of
Christmas Past,” Isom said.
Isom’s testimony was followed by the bizarre appearance of another convicted drug dealer, Roger Murray, who
took the Fifth when Connolly asked whether he had ever witnessed a friend of his — “a significant drug dealer in
Providence” — pay Providence police Detective Scott A. Partridge $15,000 in cash as “protection money” in the
parking lot of a Honeydew Donuts store on Allens Avenue.
Connolly also asked Murray, who is serving a seven-year sentence for conspiracy to manufacture
methamphetamines, whether his drug-dealer friend had ever told him that he paid Partridge $15,000 a month “for
a green light to deal,” and whether Murray had passed that information on to Mason. But Murray wouldn’t answer,
and there was no evidence presented to support the allegation.
“It would be inappropriate for me to comment at this time, but I very much look forward to commenting when this is
over,” said Col. Dean M. Esserman, the Providence police chief, regarding allegations that have angered
Providence police officers.
Mason testified last week that Cicilline told him he used some of the $25,000 retainer to take Partridge to the 2004
Super Bowl, and that it would cost Mason and Isom $100,000 each “to make things go away.” Mason said he
balked and demanded his money back, and Cicilline returned $15,000.
Partridge, now a sergeant, took the stand last week and denied the allegations, calling them insulting. Recalled
yesterday by Connolly, Partridge testified that he didn’t attend the 2004 Super Bowl, because he was in court on a
case the Friday before and the Monday after the Sunday game. He also testified that he attended the 2005 Super
Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., won by the New England Patriots, but that he paid his own way and went with seven
buddies who are fellow Patriots season ticket-holders, and have been for 15 years.
mstanton@projo.com
01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, July 12, 2007
By Mike Stanton
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Shortly after he and his friend Khalid Mason were arrested for dealing crack cocaine in 2004,
Derek W. Isom says that he received a visit in state prison from his lawyer, John M. Cicilline.
Cicilline said that he could get Isom freed on bail for a payment of $25,000, and then “make the whole thing go
away” for a total of $200,000, which he would use to bribe the Providence police, Isom testified in federal court
yesterday.
After Isom and Mason gave him the $25,000, Cicilline told Isom on a subsequent visit to the Adult Correctional
Institutions that the police were offering a deal requiring Isom to serve six years in prison.
“But he said that if we wanted to go forth and pay off the cops, it would be an additional $75,000, for $100,000 for
me, and another $100,000 for Khalid, to make the case go away,” Isom testified.
Instead, suspicious that Cicilline had not delivered on his promise to have him freed on bail, Isom said he and
Mason demanded their $25,000 back, and changed lawyers.
Isom has since pleaded guilty to the drug charges, while Mason is awaiting trial.
Yesterday, Isom shuffled into a federal courtroom in Providence in shackles and prison garb to testify in a pretrial
hearing for Mason.
Mason, who testified when the hearing began last week before U.S. District Judge William E. Smith, charges that
the Providence police planted the drugs in his apartment, and that Cicilline and his paralegal/interpreter, Lisa
Torres, conspired to shake down the drug dealers.
Cicilline and Torres, subpoenaed to testify by Mason’s lawyer, Michael J. Connolly, of Boston, both took the stand
last week and invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to answer questions.
The two were indicted on federal charges in Boston in January, along with lawyer Joseph A. Bevilacqua Jr., of a
similar scheme to collect $150,000 from two drug-dealer clients to manipulate the criminal-justice system. Juan
A. Giraldo, a paralegal and interpreter for the two lawyers, was also charged.
Mason and Isom, who each have extensive criminal records, have known each another since childhood. On Jan.
16, 2004, they were charged with possessing and distributing crack cocaine from Mason’s apartment, at 214
Pavilion Ave., in Providence, after several weeks of surveillance.
Isom testified yesterday that Mason’s grandfather, nicknamed Grampy, rented the apartment, and that Mason’s
family created a “carefree environment” where “there wasn’t no bad influence.” Isom said he never saw any signs
of drug dealing in the apartment.
“Anyone dealing drugs tries to be discreet — you don’t do it around a crowd,” he said. “I did what I did on my own. .
. . at no time did Khalid and I deal drugs together.”
But during cross-examination, Isom acknowledged that he and Mason had sold drugs together at times, though
he insisted they hadn’t in January 2004. He said he pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to deal drugs with
Mason, even though Mason wasn’t involved, because of faulty legal representation by another lawyer he hired after
he dumped Cicilline.
Isom disputed statements attributed to him in various police interviews that he and Mason had dealt drugs from
the Pavilion Avenue apartment, and that the police would probably find Isom’s fingerprints on bags of drugs seized
there.
“I don’t know whose drugs were in that house — whether they were Khalid’s or Grampy’s or the Ghost of
Christmas Past,” Isom said.
Isom’s testimony was followed by the bizarre appearance of another convicted drug dealer, Roger Murray, who
took the Fifth when Connolly asked whether he had ever witnessed a friend of his — “a significant drug dealer in
Providence” — pay Providence police Detective Scott A. Partridge $15,000 in cash as “protection money” in the
parking lot of a Honeydew Donuts store on Allens Avenue.
Connolly also asked Murray, who is serving a seven-year sentence for conspiracy to manufacture
methamphetamines, whether his drug-dealer friend had ever told him that he paid Partridge $15,000 a month “for
a green light to deal,” and whether Murray had passed that information on to Mason. But Murray wouldn’t answer,
and there was no evidence presented to support the allegation.
“It would be inappropriate for me to comment at this time, but I very much look forward to commenting when this is
over,” said Col. Dean M. Esserman, the Providence police chief, regarding allegations that have angered
Providence police officers.
Mason testified last week that Cicilline told him he used some of the $25,000 retainer to take Partridge to the 2004
Super Bowl, and that it would cost Mason and Isom $100,000 each “to make things go away.” Mason said he
balked and demanded his money back, and Cicilline returned $15,000.
Partridge, now a sergeant, took the stand last week and denied the allegations, calling them insulting. Recalled
yesterday by Connolly, Partridge testified that he didn’t attend the 2004 Super Bowl, because he was in court on a
case the Friday before and the Monday after the Sunday game. He also testified that he attended the 2005 Super
Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., won by the New England Patriots, but that he paid his own way and went with seven
buddies who are fellow Patriots season ticket-holders, and have been for 15 years.
mstanton@projo.com
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for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed
without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
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