Kelley says Dimora, Russo leached off buddies: ‘These guys are bleeding me dry,’ Dimora friend said

AKRON, Ohio - J. Kevin Kelley on Tuesday morning told jurors that former county commissioner Jimmy Dimora and former auditor Frank Russo drained “sponsors” who repeatedly paid for their dinners, limousines, gambling trips and other entertainment.

Kelley said Kevin Payne, former chief of staff for the county engineer’s office, told him he was upset because he was “spending a lot of money” on Dimora, Russo and others.

“These guys are bleeding me dry. Every time I turn around there’s a call for limousine service,” Kelley said Payne told him.

Kelley said he agreed with Payne but he knew that they needed Dimora and Russo in order to be able to do the things they wanted to do.

 “I understand your concern. But remember any other normal place we wouldn’t be able to get away with what we’re getting away with without them there,” Kelley said he told Payne.

It was at that time that Kelley said he started to “kick in money” to pay for expenses for Dimora and Russo.

Kelley told jurors it was his job to “take care of” things. Assistant U.S. Attorney Antoinette Bacon asked what “take care of” meant.

“I would basically take care of it, whatever the issue was,” Kelley said. “When they asked me to do something I did it.”

Kelley told jurors that planning the Las Vegas trip for Dimora, Russo, defendant Michael Gabor and others took what “felt like hours” to plan.

“It was an organizational nightmare trying to get everyone together,” Kelley said. But Kelley told jurors Dimora wanted everyone together.

Kelley said Dimora told him: “We want to get some of these man-whores out to Vegas with us.”

Bacon walked Kelley through several aspects of the Vegas trip including gambling, the private topless Bare Pool visit, the Prime Steakhouse dinner and Dimora's alleged rendezvous with a female escort.

Prosecutor Bacon asked Kelley to describe the wad of cash Dimora had with him in Vegas compared to the amount of money he carried at a prior gambling trip with the group to Casino Windsor in Canada.

"It was substantially more. Probably about five inches thick," Kelley testified.

During the questioning, Kelley stated that while in Vegas “Ferris was in the process of setting up a girl to service Jimmy.”

“He said she was good. She talked a lot but she was good,” Kelley told jurors in response to Bacon's question about how Dimora described his experience with the woman, identified in earlier testimony as Suzzanne Michaels.

Members of the "A-Team," the inner circle friends of Dimora and Russo, knew that Russo hired people in his auditor's office in exchange for getting money and favors, Kelley said.

“In the A-team it was well known that Frank Russo would take money for jobs,” Kelley testified. He said that when Russo wanted money to go to Vegas, it was believed that "he would just add some people to his payroll" if a sponsor funded the trip.

But there was also mounting concern among some of his buddies as to how openly Russo spent money, Kelley testified.

"He bought a mansion in the Gates Mills area and spent $200,000-something dollars on an addition" to the mansion, Kelley said. "He had the inside totally done."

Kelley testified that Dimora was one of those concerned about Russo's spending.

”He's going to get us all in a jackpot,” Kelley said Dimora told him.

Tuesday's testimony was the second time in which Kelley named Cleveland City Council President Martin Sweeney as periodically attending events with the group. Kelley on Tuesday morning said "Marty Sweeney" dined with the group at the Trout Club, a private fishing club in Bainbridge Township.

On Monday, Kelley said Sweeney was considered a part of the "B-Team" since he attended events with the group less frequently than the others. Sweeney was also heard earlier in the trial on a wiretap conversation in which Dimora and contractor Ferris Kleem inquired with Sweeney about a Cleveland Hopkins Airport taxiway project for which Kleem had placed a bid.

Tuesday was the first day in more than a week Dimora’s wife, Lori, and their children have been seen at trial. A substantial amount of the prosecution’s case during the time of their absence involved details on gambling trips and prostitutes who allegedly provided “sex work sessions” for Dimora and co-defendant Michael Gabor.

Dimora and Gabor have maintained their innocence of all federal charges.

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