Mayor Don Stephens and Rosemont attorney Robert Stephenson sat down with the Daily Herald after releasing the report they said should lay to rest any allegations of mob involvement. Here's a partial transcript of that interview. A complete transcript will be posted on the Daily Herald's Web site this weekend.

Daily Herald: How did you come upon the idea of contacting these former U.S. attorneys and Department of Justice people to do this investigation?

Stephenson: The idea came from me. After the Attorney General issued her March 25, 2004 letter (and) press conference, I had a discussion with the mayor and said it's time to stop boxing shadows, that everything that was in her letter was totally meritless. It was my recommendation that we retain people who were known experts in organized crime. I knew Pete Vaira, I knew Pete Wacks, I know Dan Webb.

Daily Herald: Do you worry that no matter what you do, people are going to say this was paid for by Rosemont so it's unreliable?

Stephens: Let's go to the question that was put to Bob (during the press conference). If this report was unfavorable, that we'd hide it. You guys would have been in with a freedom of information request so fast our heads would have swum. And you'd have got it.

Daily Herald: Are you confident that you have everything the gaming board has? I mean, did they have to turn over everything to you?

Stephens: If they don't, then they failed to disclose material that they were required to disclose under the administrative procedure act. For example, her (Lisa Madigan's) accusation that the mayor coerced Donald Flynn to sell stock to his friends. ... He (Flynn) has denied that accusation ... but more importantly, the 12 people who bought the stock were interviewed by the Illinois Gaming Board staff, ten of them told the Illinois Gaming Board staff they didn't even know (Stephens).

Stephens: Supposedly I got stock for them. I don't even know these people.

Stephenson: And the two people who did know the mayor said he had nothing to do with them buying the stock.

Stephens: When Bob told me that we were subpoenaed at the public hearing, we were going to be one of the first witnesses at the revocation. I said, 'Great. I want to testify.' We never got called. And the next thing I heard, they didn't want me as a witness. Why? They gonna get the answers they don't want?

Daily Herald: So the two there were concerns about were ... Boscarino and ...

Stephens: Salamone. I don't even know who he is.

Daily Herald: How did they get wind of the stock sale and get involved?

Stephenson: Salamone testified (to the IGB) that he found out about the sale of stock through his brother (Vito Salamone) and that it was arranged directly with Emerald Casino. He does not know the mayor. He has never spoken to the mayor.

Daily Herald: And Mr. Boscarino?

Stephenson: The FBI has never considered Boscarino an organized crime member or organized crime associate. ... What the "66 report" says is that it appears he is good friends with organized crime members. ... Being a good friend ... doesn't make you in the view of the FBI connected to organized crime. ... There is no allegation in the 66 report that the mayor knew anything about Boscarino knowing anybody connected to organized crime.

Daily Herald: I covered Boscarino's trial on (charges of swindling Rosemont in an insurance deal) and Ralph Aulenta (Boscarino's partner) testified that he was given inside bid information (from Rosemont) on what the other companies were submitting.

Stephenson: What Ralph Aulenta testified to ... was that he saw "bid information" on (Rosemont CFO) John Hochstettler's desk. He never said that he ever met with the mayor of Rosemont.

Stephens: I don't even know him.

Stephenson: He purportedly got the inside information from John Hochstettler. John Hochstettler adamantly denies providing any kind of information to Aulenta. And the reason why Wacks believes Hochstettler is, one, the timing of the bid information. The bids were not submitted until after he had met with all the bidders, so there were no bids to show him. ... The information was kept entirely secret. ... And the fact is Aulenta also said Boscarino didn't know anything about the inflated premiums, contrary to what the government contended in the trial. So you are dealing with somebody's credibility who is at least questionable.

Daily Herald: So it was just ... he happened to come up with the lowest bid?

Stephenson: Right.

Stephens: The first time out. Then he cheated us.

Stephenson: She (Madigan) makes the ... claim about Boscarino ...that his father was gunned down and therefore he's automatically a member of organized crime. The FBI disagrees with her.

Stephens: And you know, up until the last two or three years, I never knew Nick's father was killed. And I've known Nick for 40 years.

	© 2004 Daily Herald, Paddock Publications, Inc.