Tapes Reveal Moore’s Talks on Payments

Prosecutors in the federal extortion trial of former Compton City Councilwoman Patricia Moore unveiled some of their strongest evidence Thursday: seven hours of secretly recorded audio- and videotapes purporting to show her soliciting and accepting bribes from a local businessman.

Unknown to Moore, the businessman, John Macardican, was collaborating with the FBI in an investigation of official corruption in Compton in 1991 and 1992 when the payments were made.

All told, Moore is accused of extorting $50,100 from Macardican’s Compton Energy Systems, which was seeking permits to build a $250-million waste conversion plant in the city.

She contends that the payments were reimbursements for money owed to her by another undercover FBI operative, who acted as Macardican’s business associate and who became her lover.

In highlights of the tapes played for the jury Thursday:

* Moore and Macardican engaged in a three-month tug of war over how she would receive her first payment of $3,000. The councilwoman demanded that it be paid through a trusted intermediary, while Macardican insisted on paying her directly. Moore won out.

* Soon afterward, she began accepting cash payments directly from Macardican at his El Monte office and negotiated a deal under which she would get $1,500 in cash each month until his project was approved and $3,000 a month thereafter. “That sounds good,” she said.

* Moore balked at accepting a cashier’s check and a third-party check, both of which were made out in her name. “I’d rather that nothing be traceable, John,” she told Macardican.

* Moore complained bitterly that “nothing has been delivered” to then-Mayor Walter R. Tucker III. Tucker, who went on to become a U.S. congressman, was convicted last year of extorting $30,000 from Macardican’s company.

As he did during the Tucker trial, Macardican took the stand Thursday as the government’s star witness.

Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Atty. John M. Potter, he provided narration for most of the taped excerpts.

“At any time did the defendant refuse to accept cash payments from you?” Potter asked. “No,” answered Macardican.

“At any time did she express any qualms about accepting cash payments?” the prosecutor asked. “No,” the witness replied.

Macardican told the jury he met Moore in 1984 when he first sought approval to construct his plant.

Moore, who did not hold elective office at the time, organized opposition to the project. Ultimately, the project was rejected by the City Council, which Macardican attributed to his refusal to pay a bribe.

Five years later, he said, Compton city officials asked him to revive his proposal. After first resisting, he agreed, but he also consented to serve as a “cooperating witness” for the FBI, wearing a hidden tape recorder during meetings with Compton officials.

By this time, Moore was a member of the City Council. To establish rapport with Moore, the FBI employed the services of another undercover operative, Stan Bailey, who like Moore, is African American.

Moore contends that while lobbying for Macardican’s project, Bailey romanced her and conned her out of money before disappearing.

Months before that, however, Moore, Bailey and Macardican met for lunch and discussed the project. The conversation was taped. Moore advised Macardican to stay away from Compton while the proposal was being lobbied. “It’s real important that you not surface,” she told him, urging him to let Bailey “nurture elected officials.”

Although Macardican said he interpreted the remark to mean that any illegal payoffs should be funneled through Bailey, he told the jury that Moore made no move in that direction for nearly eight months.

On July, 22, 1991, Macardican received a phone call from Joseph Spraggins, a Compton contractor and confidant of Moore.

According to an audiotaped excerpt played Thursday, Spraggins said Moore needed $3,000 in a hurry. “She’s up to her . . . in alligators with the IRS so I’m trying to bail her out,” he said. Giving her the money will be “beneficial” for the project, he added.

Macardican agreed but insisted on paying Moore directly. In a series of phone conversations that ensued, Moore demanded that the money be paid through Spraggins, saying he could be trusted never to talk.

In a showdown meeting with Macardican and undercover FBI Agent Robert Kilbane, who was posing as the project’s financier, Moore complained about the hassle “over a lousy $3,000.” She threatened to withdraw support for the project.

At that point, Kilbane relented. Moore and Macardican left the room for a few minutes while Kilbane made the payment to Spraggins.

While a hidden camera was documenting the payment to Spraggins, a concealed recorder strapped to Macardican’s torso was picking up his conversation with Moore outside the room.

The councilwoman could be heard asking for more money, telling Macardican, “My outstanding debt is $29,000.”

Moore also assured Macardican that Spraggins would never talk in a court of law. She was wrong.

Spraggins pleaded guilty to conspiracy last year and is cooperating with the government.