November 11, 2008 - 12:11

Turner confirms subpoena, says FBI showed undercover tape to his aide

Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner said Monday that the FBI captured undercover footage of one of his aides during its investigation of state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, the Jamaica Plain Gazette reports.

Turner, a Roxbury member of the Green-Rainbow Party, told the Gazette that the FBI recently showed the undercover footage to Paulette Tillery, the aide being filmed in the tape. The tape only shows the agent speaking to Tillery outside the City Council chamber.

Turner also said the FBI's decision to show Tillery the tape, which was shot on Sept. 12, 2007, is an effort to "entrap" or "intimidate" his staff, according to the Gazette.

"I imagine that they were trying to see if I was going to take a bribe," Turner said with regards to the FBI investigator filming in his office. "I'm not sure what the purpose was," he said. "It's hard to believe they made a [bribe] offer in the back of the council chamber."

Turner said he has not seen the footage, but he did confirm that some of his records have been subpoenaed for the Wilkerson case. Wilkerson is currently facing charges of accepting $23,500 in bribes for, among other things, helping a Boston nightclub obtain a liquor license.

Turner also repeated his statement that he has done nothing wrong and he has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

"I know they don't have any evidence I was taking bribes," he said. "I know I didn't take anything...It shows, to my mind, how corrupt the FBI is."

An outspoken supporter of Wilkerson throughout her campaigns this year, Turner blasted the FBI for targeting black politicians.

"As far as their behavior with me," he said, "it shows me [the FBI is] still an organization that seems to focus on trying to take black politicians down."

"The FBI is, from my perspective, an evil institution," he added.

Jeremy P. Jacobs is a PolitickerMA.com Reporter and can be reached via email at noreply@politicker.com.

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