Sammarone, Bozanich attorneys have first meeting with prosecutors today

YOUNGSTOWN

The first meeting between a prosecutor and attorneys for ex-Youngstown Mayor Charles Sammarone and former city Finance Director David Bozanich lasted more than two hours.

The two had their first pretrial meeting, along with downtown developer Dominic Marchionda, on Friday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Marchionda was first indicted nearly a year ago and has had previous pretrial meetings.

Friday’s meeting took place between Dan Kasaris, a special assistant county prosecutor and a senior assistant attorney general, and attorneys for the three. John Shultz is representing Sammarone while Ralph Cascarilla is the attorney for Bozanich. John F. McCaffrey is Marchionda’s lawyer.

Much of the closed-door discussion occurred without the defendants present. They sat in another room, also with the door closed.

On Aug. 30, a grand jury handed up an explosive 101-count indictment against the trio that superseded an Oct. 2, 2017, indictment against Marchionda and his companies for purported corrupt activity. It added bribery charges against Youngstown’s former mayor and finance director.

Read more about the events in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.