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DEL.ICIO.USWitness: Campbell took thousands of dollars in trips
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A travel agent who was a close friend of Bill Campbell told jurors today how he booked the city leader’s trips with female friends to hide it from the former Atlanta mayor’s wife and family.
Campbell would later repay the travel tabs in cash or gambling chips, Gabe Pascarella testified on Monday.
One trip, totaling $1,400, included airline tickets, theatre tickets and a phone card for Campbell and a friend, former part-time travel agent Pascarella testified.
Another trip to San Francisco included a $2,475 purchase at a lady’s boutique, Pascarella said. Some of the trips were for Campbell and TV anchor-woman Marion Brooks, Pascarella told jurors. Brooks, who once worked at WSB-TV in Atlanta and is now in Chicago, has been subpoenaed and is expected to testify.
“These were trips that he probably wouldn’t want his family to know about,” Pascarella told jurors.
Credit card records enlarged and displayed for jurors showed flights on Delta, American, AirTran, Alaska Air, Value Jet and other airlines.
Pascarella also rented a limo in College Park for the mayor.
Campbell’s wife, Sharon, was not in court today — the first time she has been absent since the trial began two weeks ago with jury selection.
Pascarella said he first met the politician when Campbell and Andrew Young came to the upscale East Lake Country Club’s tennis courts around 1980. At the time, Pascarella, who is now retired, managed the tennis courts and soon befriended Campbell. They became part of a close-knit group that included city contractor Ricky Rowe, and they played poker nearly every Friday night.
Federal prosecutors have said Campbell’s lavish lifestyle is a key reason he needed extra cash. They’ve charged him with accepting thousands of dollars in bribes from contractors who wanted business with the city.
Pascarella told jurors about several gambling trips he and Campbell took to Atlantic City, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Puerto Rico, Aruba, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Lake Tahoe, Tunica and others. Campbell was an “aggressive player” who often put a lot of cash on the line, his friend said. Campbell used fake names at the casinos and Pascarella sometimes referred to the then-mayor as “Bill Grande.”
The two friends also went to several boxing matches, like a $1,500 per person seat to watch Mike Tyson square off against Evander Holyfield.
Pascarella and his wife would also go on vacations with Bill and Sharon Campbell, including a sailing trip on a yacht and beach jaunts to Puerto Rico and Aruba.
On Friday, when Pascarella was expected to testify, Campbell strolled across the courtroom and hugged Pascarella’s wife and Pascarella, who was a reluctant government witness.
After the FBI first contacted Pascarella, Campbell agreed to take care of finding and paying for his attorney, who secured Pascarella an immunity deal. That same attorney has represented other friends and relatives of Campbell, he said.
When questioned by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sally Yates, Pascarella acknowledged that after he testified before the grand jury he promptly told Campbell and his defense team what prosecutors asked him and how he answered and they quickly began discussing their strategy, he told jurors.
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