"Do you know Anthony Boiardo?"

"Do you know Paul Rigo?"

" ... Did you receive any money from Paul Rigo or his associates?"

On the same day, before another federal grand jury, Newark's chief municipal court judge, James DelMauro, also invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked if he'd taken illegal fees for officiating at weddings. Thus, Newark residents were treated to the simultaneous spectacle of seeing their city's chief executive officer and chief judicial officer both saying that honest answers would place them in criminal jeopardy. DelMauro escaped ouster proceedings by resigning from the bench. He was subsequently indicted for income-tax evasion.

The legal arguments on Addonizio's case continued into the following day. At one point Addonizio interrupted his attorney, Bernard Hellring, and told Judge Shaw, "Your Honor, I'd like to take the stand."

The mayor was sworn in, and the first question was put to him: "Do you know a man - personally - known as Anthony Boiardo, also as Tony Boy Boiardo?"

"I do know him-and my answer may tend to incriminate me."

"Well, I guess that disposes of that one," Judge Shaw quipped.

The judge reserved decision. A week later-December 17-the parties filed back into the courtroom to hear his ruling. Judge Shaw started to comment on the case, but Stern interrupted him: "The grand jury having just indicted him - "

There was a mad scramble as reporters rushed to the telephones outside. When order was restored, Judge Shaw said, "In light of the fact that the grand jury has indicted Mayor Addonizio, a ruling on the question is moot."

The action had been predicted - indeed, hastened - by Attorney General Mitchell. On the day Addonizio took the stand in open court, Mitchell had addressed a bankers' convention in Boca Raton, Florida. He mentioned crime in New Jersey, then went on:
"In this state, within the next week or ten days, there is going to be a massive indictment of public officials on the local level; and also in this state, through the activities we have carried on, we're going to break up probably the largest gambling syndicate that's ever been broken up in this country."
(The second case Mitchell mentioned was the Strike Force's roundup of Sam the Plumber DeCavalcante and 54 others.)

Though neither would say so publicly, both Lacey and Stem were plainly piqued by Mitchell's statement. Lacey got word of it at a press conference where he and Lordi were announcing the turnover of the county grand-jury records. All he would say about it was, "I don't comment on what Attorney General Mitchell says and I don't think he comments on what I say."

Again, though neither Lacey nor Stem will admit it, Mitchell's announcement forced the office to move faster than it had planned. It also presented a problem for Stern in drafting the indictment.

"I didn't have all the evidence at that time," he explains, "yet I was sure I would have it by the time of the trial. I had to devise an indictment to cover it."

The problem had been bubbling in his mind throughout the initial interview with Rigo, and he had fallen asleep on it that Friday night in Washington. The next morning, while waiting with Lacey to catch the shuttle back to Newark, he suddenly burst out laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Lacey asked.

"I just figured out how to draft the conspiracy count."

On the plane he dashed off a rough version for Lacey, framing the first count as a catchall, charging a general conspiracy to extort money from contractors, engineers and suppliers. Under it, almost any evidence of corruption could be introduced in evidence. But "to treat it less broadly would have been unreal."

Given more time to mull over the problem, Stern might have spotted the hole the defense eventually did. In the Colonial case, the defense had argued - unsuccessfully - that it wasn't bribery, it was extortion. In the Addonizio case, the defense would argue that it wasn't extortion, it was bribery. In future cases Stern was careful not to repeat the mistake: The indictments charged both bribery and extortion. A defendant trying to escape one crime by pleading another would be hoist by his own petard.

The indictment also alleged 65 specific acts of extortion, involving total payoffs of $253,000 from or through Rigo. Fifteen persons were named: Mayor Addonizio; Public Works Director Benjamin Khrush and his predecessor, Anthony LaMorte; Corporation Counsel Gordon and his predecessor, Norman Schiff; six current or past members of the city council - Frank Addonizio (a distant cousin of the mayor), Lee Bernstein, Calvin West, Irvine Turner, James Callahan and Judge Guiliano; Mario Gallo, a contractor; and three members of the mob-Tony Boy Boiardo, Joseph Biancone and Ralph Vicaro.

Several - including Addonizio - were also charged with income-tax evasion.

The Newark Chamber of Commerce immediately called for Addonizio's resignation, and state officials pondered the possibility of removing him. But Addonizio was determined to remain in office. That evening, free on a personal bond of $25,000, he showed up at city hall for a council meeting.