Jury convicts ex-Fall River mayor Jasiel F. Correia II of extortion, wire fraud, filing false tax returns
By Shelley Murphy Globe Staff,Updated May 14, 2021, 2 hours ago
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Jasiel F. Correia II (center) left Moakley Federal Court on Friday.David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
More than five years after gaining national attention when he became mayor of Fall River at 24, Jasiel F. Correia II was convicted Friday of what federal prosecutors described as âold school corruption,â including extorting bribes from four marijuana companies vying for dispensaries and stealing from investors in a smartphone app he helped create.
Correia, 29, a Democrat who served as Fall Riverâs mayor from 2016 to 2019, was found guilty of 21 of 24 charges after 22 hours of deliberations over four days by a jury of nine women and three men.
Former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia Found Guilty Of Tax Fraud And Extortion
In this Friday, Sept. 6, 2019 file photo Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia, left, speaks beside his attorney Kevin Reddington outside the federal courthouse, in Boston, after his appearance on bribery, extortion and fraud charges.
Philip Marcelo / AP
May 14, 2021
Former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia on Friday was found guilty of 21 counts of extortion and tax fraud by a jury in U.S. District Court in Boston.
The decision came after more than four days of deliberations in the case after jurors heard from 36 witnesses in a nine-day trial at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse located on the Boston waterfront.
Sam Sutter as Boss Hogg
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington used a few pop culture references during the course of the trial. He was reprimanded by Judge Douglas Woodlock for referencing the mob movie, Goodfellas, while cross examining alleged co-conspirator Tony Costa. And when questioning the tax preparer from Liberty Tax Services, he suggested they were the ones with the Liberty, Liberty, Lib-erty jingle (they aren t that s Liberty Mutual insurance).
Still, the image of former District Attorney Sam Sutter, who served an abbreviated term as Fall River mayor after the recall of Will Flanagan, as Boss Hogg, the gluttonous character from the Dukes of Hazzard TV show, was particularly striking.