Mass. corruption case built around e-mail trail (AP)

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AP - Federal prosecutors have relied on a trail of e-mails to build their corruption case against former Massachusetts Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and three associates.

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BOSTON – To build their corruption case against former Massachusetts Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and three associates, federal prosecutors plumbed a web of e-mails sent between the key players.

Those e-mails, contained in a 32-page indictment, detail a scheme to rig state contracts and pressure officials to unknowingly abet a conspiracy from which DiMasi and the others reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Although DiMasi took home just $57,000, it was his political muscle that fueled the scheme, federal prosecutors said.

The four, indicted on conspiracy and fraud charges, maintained their innocence during a court appearance Tuesday and were released on $10,000 bail. DiMasi faces 20 years in prison for each of seven counts of wire and mail fraud and five years for the conspiracy charge.

The case hinges on the pursuit of two lucrative state contracts by software company Cognos spearheaded by Joseph Lally, the company's vice president of sales who left to form his own firm.

Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Loucks said Cognos is cooperating and no other public officials are implicated.

According to the indictment, Lally teamed with DiMasi friends Richard McDonough, a lobbyist referred to as "Dickey," and Richard Vitale, DiMasi's accountant.

A fifth individual, a private attorney who shared office space with DiMasi, was not identified by prosecutors.

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