CLEVELAND Attorney: Lengthen Saadey's sentence

The defendant's lawyer says he'll argue for a 33- to 41-month sentence.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
CLEVELAND -- Calling Russell J. Saadey Jr. the "go-to guy" when it came to fixing DUIs in Austintown, the government doesn't want his conduct treated as an ordinary bribery conviction at sentencing.
As it stands, Saadey faces 46 to 57 months when U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. O'Malley sentences him Jan. 9.
In a motion filed in U.S. District Court, Thomas J. Gruscinski, an assistant U.S. attorney, has asked that Judge O'Malley increase the sentence to the 63- to 78-month range.
A jury found the 47-year-old Austintown man guilty Oct. 19 of racketeering conspiracy, extortion, filing three false income tax returns and submitting five false credit card applications. The charges related to the mid-1990s when he served as an investigator for then-Mahoning County Prosecutor James A. Philomena, who is now in a federal prison.
Found innocent: The jury that found Saadey guilty found his 45-year-old cousin, James A. Vitullo, innocent. Vitullo served an assistant prosecutor in Austintown until Philomena left office at the end of 1996.
The case against Vitullo was based on the testimony of an ex-judge and three ex-lawyers, all of whom admitted giving or accepting bribes. Jurors did not believe their testimony.
Philomena, now a government witness, testified at the trial.
Vitullo took the witness stand in his own defense; Saadey did not. Both Vitullo and Saadey turned down pretrial plea agreements offered by the government.
Saadey's lawyer, David J. Betras, said he will argue for a sentence in the 33- to 41-month range. Betras said the credit cards had no balance and the government based its charges on the credit limit -- the potential loss.
Testimony showed that Saadey had falsely inflated his income to obtain the cards.
Betras said the government is pursuing a boost in Saadey's prison time because it lost in its prosecution of Vitullo "and wants to make an example."
Gruscinski said in his motion that he doesn't want Saddey's conduct to be treated as an ordinary bribery case. He said justice in Austintown was bought and sold through The Upstairs Lounge.
From testimony: Testimony showed that those seeking to have their cases, mostly DUIs, fixed at Mahoning County court in Austintown often met Saadey at the bar-restaurant on Mahoning Avenue. The business is owned by Saadey's cousin.
Saadey's case was built primarily on the testimony of businessmen who testified that he took part in extortion schemes. Philomena implicated Saadey in the extortion of two car dealers who wanted their odometer rollback case fixed.
Saadey, who told The Vindicator during the trial that he took and passed a polygraph test and had offered to take one for the government, felt confident after his conviction about an appeal.
"[Prosecutors] gave immunity to the man who took the money -- I wasn't involved at all," he said after the jury verdict, referring to Frank Amedia, who received immunity for his testimony. Amedia, a Youngstown businessman who retired to Florida in May 2000, said he delivered cash to Saadey that former Canfield car dealers Robert E. Harvey Jr. and Phillip Courtney collected to fix their odometer rollback case.
Amount: Philomena got $34,000, a third of what he believed was a $100,000 bribe. Harvey testified that he and Courtney paid $200,000.
Gruscinski, in his motion, said Saadey "held the keys to the back door" of the prosecutor's office and used his position not only for personal gain but to undermine the criminal justice system in Mahoning County.
"That fallout far exceeds the damage normally contemplated by the applicable [sentencing] guidelines alone," Gruscinski said. "Unlike with the other defendants who simply took advantage of an opportunity to pay isolated bribes, the defendant's conduct warrants an upward departure for the effect it had on the justice system in Mahoning County."
meade@vindy.com