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Bill Cellini-Stuart Levine Phone Conversation

DATE: 5/7/04
TIME: 3:44 p.m.
ACTIVITY: Home Telephone 1 incoming from (217) 523-5129
CALL 736

LEVINE Hi.
2 CELLINI Okay, so I got on the phone.
3 LEVINE Yes. (laughs)
4 CELLINI I just had a uh, an interesting
5 conversation.
6 LEVINE Uh huh.
7 CELLINI Uh...
8 LEVINE I betcha it was with Rosencrans.
9 CELLINI That's it.
10 LEVINE (Chuckles)
11 CELLINI Uh, I never got back to him and there
12 was a message on my phone at home uh,
13 this morning that said please give me a
14 call. And I had promised him I'd get to
15 him, you know the last two days and I
16 never. And so I called him a little
17 while ago and I said Tom uh, geez I
18 don't know how to uh, uh, uh how, how to
19 indicate this. I said I did...I said
20 first of all I apologize for not gettin'
21 back to you I said but I just been on
22 the treadmill with some, some crisis.
23 And I said but I did a little bit of
24 preliminary checking and I said you may
25 have uh, caused uh, us both some
26 problems. And he says how. And I said
27 well, I said when I made a call to find
28 out where the status was I was told that
2
1 uh, yeah, things have been, have been
2 put on hold and that uh, that somebody
3 had indicated that they were just
4 flabbergasted at the amount of uh, funds
5 that uh, that, that, that you and, and
6 others have gotten on real estate, when
7 they evidently weren't aware of all
8 that. And I said so, I don't know if
9 we're both gonna get harmed over this
10 uh, or what. And, and uh, and uh, and I
11 said uh, evidently I said the best thing
12 I could gather is that somebody must
13 have made a run at this administration
14 in your behalf which cau-, and, and, and
15 TRS was mentioned. Your behalf for TRS
16 which caused somebody in this
17 administration to uh, to check into and
18 that's when they were flabbergasted at,
19 at what was uh, what's happenin'. And
20 um, and he said it absolutely did not
21 happen. And I said what do you mean.
22 He said I have never reached out for
23 anybody to uh, uh, to go to this
24 administration. And I said well, I said
25 I'm, I'm, I just, I said all I know is
26 what was alluded to me and, and it was
27 somebody I said that, that evidently a
28 very light complected uh, black
29 gentleman was supposed to have made the,
30 the inquiry on your behalf. And he said
31 it absolutely didn't happen and I said
32 well, the guy that I was gonna check
33 with was Tony Rezko but he's in London
34 and before I could finish it he cut me
35 off and he said and let me tell you I
36 don't want any interfacing with that
37 guy. He said he would never be somebody
38 that I would go to. He said there are
39 two people in this administration that
40 in my opinion that if they're not under
41 investigation already they're bein'
42 monitored every step of the way and
43 that's Tony Rezko and Chris Kelly. Now
44 that scared the shit out of me when he
45 said that, you know.
46 LEVINE Well that, that's also uh, Tom uh, you
47 know uh, I don't believe a thing that
3
1 Tom says.
2 CELLINI Well, so then wh-, when I said to him
3 and you know when he was hammerin' at
4 that I said Tom, you know uh, I said I,
5 I frankly I, I said I, I have done some
6 interfacing here because that's they’re
7 in charge of fundraising and I've been
8 asked to do some fundraising for the,
9 for the road people and that's who I've
10 interfaced with you know. I said so I
11 know them from that standpoint and I
12 said the only thing I said while I'm
13 sittin' here talkin' to you is goin'
14 through my mind is if some black guy
15 made some approach maybe it's your folks
16 from Capri that did that. He said when
17 I get off this phone heads are gonna
18 roll if they did. I said well, you’re
19 saying you never talked to anybody.
20 Somebody did. You know or...
21 LEVINE Mm hm.
22 CELLINI somebody at least is sayin' that they,
23 they talked in your behalf. And I said
24 you know did you ever by chance talk to
25 Stuart. I said now I never got a chance
26 to talk to Stuart either because I said
27 Stuart, Stuart was gone somewhere...you
28 know my nose is gonna grow here. But,
29 but at that point I didn't think it
30 would be wise to say, you know that I
31 talked to you about it. (chuckles) Uh,
32 I can always have talked to you in
33 between...
34 LEVINE Mm hm.
35 CELLINI His call, or my call today to him and...
36 LEVINE Mm hm.
37 CELLINI Next time he calls me. He said he's
38 gonna call me over the weekend. He says
39 I'm gonna check this out and get to you
40 to see who may have made a call. He
41 said and I'll call you over the weekend.
4
1 But I said did you ever by chance uh,
2 touch base with Stuart. And he said no
3 uh, Stuart was out of town uh, or he was
4 out of town...somethin' about somebody
5 bein' out of town and he just never got
6 a chance to. And I said well, uh, you
7 know again I said let me just say to
8 you...I said I left, I said did you get
9 the message that I left you. And, and
10 he never said he did, but he did because
11 he clearly did.
12 LEVINE Mm hm.
13 CELLINI And I said well let me just walk you
14 through that one more time. I said
15 after you and I chatted I called the
16 people who are, who I have known for
17 years over there and asked if there were
18 difficulties with you and was told that
19 your shop had sufficiently explained to
20 them whatever the difficulties may have
21 been to their satisfaction and therefore
22 they felt as though that you would be
23 uh, able to get an increased allocation.
24 And I said and the uh, uh, uh maybe I
25 shouldn't have said this to him, but I
26 did. I said it's Jon Bauman. When I
27 asked Jon, I said Jon refers to me as
28 the Pope and Stuart as the Rabbi and I
29 said Jon Bauman said yes things are
30 already to go uh, but of course I have
31 not yet talked to the Rabbi who is the
32 person who, you know who, who uh, clears
33 this stuff. (laughs)
34 LEVINE Mm hm.
35 CELLINI And so uh, uh, uh, I said uh, and
36 remember Tom I told you that after I had
37 talked to Jon that I called Stuart and I
38 said to Stuart that I had talked to Jon
39 and that uh, you evidently had resolved
40 to their satisfaction the situation and
41 I said to Stuart is there any problem
42 that uh, that you could see that has
43 anything to do with uh, Tom and the
44 allocation. And I said, and Stuart said
5
1 no not at all. And I said but you
2 recall I left you the message that said
3 there was just a little bit of a two
4 second lag before he said no not at all
5 that made me feel that it would be good
6 for you to probably talk to Stuart to
7 shore that up. And he said well I never
8 got a chance to. And I said well I, I
9 said then I don't know 'cause I haven't
10 talked to him, you know.
11 LEVINE You know he's, he's uh, it's a shame he
12 has no wisdom because he is smart. What
13 he did in his conversation with you it's
14 obvious to me is he put himself in a
15 position where he thinks he can say, oh
16 my God it happened but those assholes
17 how stupid 'cause it wasn't me and
18 somehow put himself in a position where
19 he can uh, uh, uh, uh, uh not say that
20 he uh, that he reached out and wanted to
21 help but whatever it may be. 'Cause
22 he's not sure what he makes of it. He's
23 also not a 100 percent sure what you
24 know and what you don't know.
25 CELLINI Yeah.
26 LEVINE Uh, but none of that makes any
27 difference because um, uh, uh, Tony said
28 don't give him anything and I'm gonna
29 send the message back to him from the
30 guy who was sent to me. (chuckles) You
31 know.
32 CELLINI Oh, Tony's gonna do it to through that
33 guy, okay.
34 LEVINE Oh yeah, yeah.
35 CELLINI Alright.
36 LEVINE T-, Tony said that he is going to tell
37 the guy who made the approach...
38 CELLINI Mm hm.
39 LEVINE That um, uh, that uh, uh, you know Tom
6
1 should uh talk with uh, with uh, Stuart
2 uh, and Stuart will a, will a, will a,
3 you know let him know what I think.
4 CELLINI Well, but he was so, he said, he went
5 further. He said if I thought for any
6 reason that I would have to talk with or
7 deal with either of those two gentlemen,
8 I would say I don't need this money.
9 LEVINE Uh, well he's gonna uh, first of all
10 Tony's not lying.
11 CELLINI Yeah, oh hell no!
12 LEVINE So uh, so I mean there's uh, there's uh,
13 and, and the guy that uh, that Tony
14 described to me you, you, you told me
15 uh, uh, you know who it might be and all
16 that. So uh, it is, it's, Tommy's
17 lying.
18 CELLINI Yeah. Now, I suppose that I may have
19 given him uh, a little bit of a hint of
20 what he could use for cover, but when I,
21 when I said do you suppose your guys at
22 Capri.
23 LEVINE Mm hm.
24 CELLINI Because when you call,...
25 LEVINE Mm hm.
26 CELLINI When I call the phone is answered Capri
27 Capital.
28 LEVINE Mm hm. Well, uh, I mean um, I suppose
29 that it is theoretically possible that
30 uh, that uh, uh, Quentin Primo or
31 whatever his name is.
32 CELLINI Yeah.
33 LEVINE Could of, could of uh, done something
34 um, uh, uh, on his uh, on his own I
35 suppose. Uh, but if uh, if, if Tom
36 feels that he'd rather walk away from
7
1 the money than deal with Tony then there
2 it is. (laughs)
3 CELLINI (laughs)
4 (PAUSE)
5 LEVINE I mean this ain't me. (laughs)
6 (PAUSE)
7 CELLINI Well, it was a, he said, he said I'm
8 sick at my stomach. Tom said I'm sick at
9 my stomach. This is, this is makin' me
10 sick at my stomach.
11 LEVINE (chuckles)
12 CELLINI And I said well hey, I said it sure as
13 hell didn't make me feel too good 'cause
14 I figured I've been kinda flyin' under
15 the radar here, you know.
16 LEVINE Mm hm. (laughs) Well, uh, uh, you know
17 I mean uh, there is no question he also
18 knows that uh, that um, he's got a huge
19 business uh, uh, uh, I say it's a huge
20 business. That he has a lot of assets
21 under management for this particular uh,
22 client for which, for which he has never
23 or not in recent history um, uh, uh,
24 done anything to uh, to ingratiate
25 himself with uh, with people who appoint
26 people there.
27 CELLINI Yeah, yeah.
28 LEVINE To the contrary uh, he uh, he got a lot
29 of uh, a lot of uh, a lot of, a lot of
30 uh, a lot of help uh, and uh, and uh,
31 with no necessity. You know what? It's
32 like you said to me, there's a whole uh,
33 uh, uh, avenue of folks that he stepped
34 on over the years when he felt he didn't
35 need them anymore. That's his, that's
36 his modus operandi.
37 CELLINI Yeah, yeah, it really is.
8
1 LEVINE Yeah.
2 CELLINI Incidently um, I uh, was a with Chris
3 yesterday.
4 LEVINE Mm hm.
5 CELLINI Prior to a meeting that uh, we had on
6 uh, about the, the university.
7 LEVINE Mm hm.
8 CELLINI And uh, um, I, he said w-, what things,
9 w-, what happened was I told him I would
10 see him about an hour before that and
11 uh, I called and I didn't, I got his
12 machine and I didn't get him and so when
13 I showed up at five instead of four, he
14 said I've been standing here since 4
15 where the hell you been. And I said I
16 called you. And he says, you didn't
17 call me...anyway. So, why people were
18 sittin' outside waitin' for him...he
19 sais well, well, well quickly what is it
20 you, what is it you wanted to, had to go
21 over. Well I quickly hit him with three
22 things and one of 'em was I said, you
23 know I believe that Stuart has to be
24 named at this next, before this next
25 meeting.
26 LEVINE Mm hm.
27 CELLINI I think (UI)
28 LEVINE Mm hm.
29 CELLINI Before the next meeting?
30 LEVINE Well, if I'm not named before the next
31 meeting...th-, this next meeting is the
32 last official meeting uh, during my
33 term.
34 CELLINI Okay.
35 LEVINE Yeah.
9
1 CELLINI So it's one before, after that?
2 LEVINE There is, my, my, my appointment is up
3 in July. The next meeting is in August.
4 So the, the uh, uh, the teachers to them
5 this would be Stuart's finished after
6 this.
7 CELLINI After...
8 LEVINE After the May meeting.
9 CELLINI The May meeting?
10 LEVINE Sure. Uh huh.
11 CELLINI Okay. So I, I said to him are you aware
12 that uh, that Stuart needs to be re
13 appointed. And he said, well there is
14 sure as hell wouldn't be any problem
15 with that. I said well you say that,
16 but (UI)...
17 LEVINE Somebody should do it.
18 CELLINI ...(UI) trusted. And he said well,
19 hasn't Tony. I said I, I don't know I'm
20 asking you. And he said give, give me
21 that sheet you know I, I had put it on
22 the yellow sheet...
23 LEVINE Mm hm.
24 CELLINI I put TRS appointment and then I put
25 Stuart, you know...
26 LEVINE Mm hm.
27 CELLINI Question mark. Uh, you know give me
28 that sheet that'll remind me.
29 LEVINE (laughs)
30 CELLINI And I said well here I said but, but
31 you're right it's very important, but I
32 don't know if anybody's addressed it.
33 LEVINE I mean you know Tony says that he has
10
1 and that the paperwork is goin' through,
2 but you know who the hell knows and,
3 and, and um,...
4 CELLINI Okay.
5 LEVINE What I'm gonna do uh, when he gets back,
6 I'm going to, to go there I'm gonna say,
7 you know Tony may be unless you go and
8 carry the papers through yourself it's
9 just not happening. What, and what I
10 don't wanna have happen is that the
11 teachers have in mind that um, in the
12 months between the meetings uh, you know
13 I can't be talkin' to staff anyway and,
14 and uh, and uh, you know there's uh,
15 they're gonna start thinkin' about who's
16 gonna be committee heads and all that.
17 And um, uh, uh, uh, you know it, it's
18 nothin' that can't be fixed later but
19 why, why have something that needs to be
20 undone.
21 CELLINI Yeah. See they, they probably are
22 thinkin' like they are with all the rest
23 of 'em, you know you're there until re24
appointed.
25 LEVINE Oh right, right, right and I did, did
26 point out to Tony although...hold on a
27 second.
28 (PAUSE)
29 LEVINE Um, that uh, that uh, this is not like
30 those once your term is expired you're
31 out uh, uh, until re-appointed you don't
32 stay there until...But uh, but I'm glad
33 that you mentioned it but I'm gonna, I'm
34 gonna uh, uh, at this late date I
35 certainly don't want uh, I not be re36
appointed. (laughs)
37 CELLINI Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, well that's all
38 I was, those are the two things I wanted
39 to report.
40 LEVINE Okay, have a good weekend Bill.

Labels: Bill Cellini, Stuart Levine, Tony Rezko