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The link between politics and strange bedfellows took on new meaning in Atlantic City yesterday when three political operatives were convicted of trying to force a city councilman to resign by secretly videotaping him having sex with a prostitute.
An Atlantic County jury found Floyd Tally and brothers Ronald and David Callaway guilty of conspiracy, coercion, and invasion of privacy in a bizarre case that a county prosecutor said epitomized "how lowdown and dirty" politics had become in New Jersey's gambling mecca.
Both the councilman who was targeted, Eugene Robinson, 67, and the former prostitute, Kristyn Haino, 27, testified for the government during the two-week trial in Superior Court in Mays Landing.
The defendants were taken into custody after the verdicts were announced around 3 p.m. The jury of 11 men and one woman had deliberated for about five hours over two days.
Judge Albert Garofolo set sentencing for Dec. 10. The defendants each face up to five years in prison.
Bail was revoked for Tally, 39, and Ronald Callaway, 54, who were convicted of all five counts they faced. Bail was set at $50,000 for David Callaway, 46, who was found guilty of four of five counts.
"I think the verdict was appropriate," said Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel.
Housel called the criminal allegations that were detailed in the case "highly unusual . . . even in New Jersey."
Neither he nor Chief Assistant Prosecutor James McClain, who tried the case, would comment on the broader impact the trial and its outcome might have on Atlantic City politics.
"We prosecute wrongdoing wherever we find it," Housel said.
The sex-tape case is just the latest in a long line of political-corruption investigations that have tainted Atlantic City's image and, some observers believe, thwarted the city's chance for sustained redevelopment.
Since the dawn of the casino era 30 years ago, the city has been plagued by what many consider systemic corruption spawned in part by the boom-and-bust mentality of the casino industry and by a political philosophy based on greed and power adopted by many of those elected to office.
The sex-tape case was set in motion in November 2006 by a third Callaway brother, Craig, then City Council president, after he had a political falling-out with Robinson.
Craig Callaway, authorities alleged, hoped the threat of going public with the tape would force Robinson, who is also a minister, to resign. Instead, Robinson went to authorities.
Callaway, 50, is currently serving a 40-month sentence in federal prison after admitting his role in the sex-tape extortion plot and pleading guilty to unrelated political-corruption charges in an FBI bribery-extortion investigation.
He was one of three city councilmen caught up in an FBI sting that became public in 2007.
Later that year, then-Atlantic City Mayor Robert Levy, who was backed by Callaway, resigned and pleaded guilty to lying about his military service in order to enhance the size of his government pension.
Levy was the third mayor since the start of casino gambling to leave office in disgrace.
The most notorious was Michael Matthews, who admitted that he conspired to sell his office to mobsters in a series of development schemes in the early 1980s.
"Greed got the better of me," Matthews said in pleading guilty.
In fact, greed and backstabbing have been the hallmarks of local politics through most of the casino era. Robinson was just the latest victim, say longtime political observers.
In poor health, Robinson now lives in a nursing home and appeared in court in a wheelchair. He is not seeking reelection when his term expires this year.
Haino, who said she is a recovered drug addict, provided the most damaging testimony, identifying Tally and Ronald Callaway as the men who told her to lure Robinson to a motel just outside the city. They paid her between $250 and $300 after she had sex with Robinson, she said.
Haino admitted that she performed oral sex on Robinson during their encounter at the Bayview Motel in November 2006. But she said she did not realize he was a city councilman until he gave her his business card and asked to see her again.
Robinson, who was divorced at the time, said he had not had sex for 17 years and was "excited" at the prospect that a young woman was interested in him. He said that he did not know that Haino was a hooker and that he did not give her money for sex.
About a week later a man carrying a laptop computer approached him, Robinson testified, and showed him a tape of the sexual encounter.
Robinson said the man, whom he did not know, told him that if he did not resign, the tape would be given to the media.
Instead, Robinson contacted his lawyer and authorities.
Within days, the tape was provided to a reporter for an online newspaper and became public.
"My religion says I can't rejoice in anybody's suffering, even though they had been my enemies," Robinson said when informed of the verdicts.
"Things should be done in decency," he said. "I think about people who might want to go into public service who may be dissuaded from it because of what happened to me. But justice is being done, and I applaud that."
Contact staff writer George Anastasia at 856-779-3846 or ganastasia@phillynews.com.
This article contains information from the Associated Press.
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