"Stay well and fight back."

On Monday morning, May 12,1986, the stage was set in Portland’s Federal Court for the Ricci VS. Key Bank trial to begin. A cavalcade of lawyers, prospective jurors, reporters, and curiosity seekers showed up at the courthouse ready for another round from Ricci, fresh from his performance that weekend in Waterville. Unknown to them, Joe had rewritten the script because some of the day’s actors were on his payroll. He had no more intention of going to trial then than he had of speaking first at the state convention, and as usual he was determined to get his way.

Judge Selya was furious over the motion to disqualify him from presiding over the trial, and delivered a stinging 23 page address from the bench accusing Joe and his attorneys of ‘judicial blackmail.’ He told the packed courtroom that allegations he was politically biased were the “rankest of hogwash” and called them “a scurrilous personal attack.” He stated that the (recusal) motion papers were thoroughly unprofessional because neither the motion nor Joe Ricci’s accompanying affidavit contained any facts whatever making any sort of requisite factual link between McKernan and Selya, or even Chafee and McKernan, other than both were Republican congressmen. He said Ricci’s attorneys instead opted for “...a conclusatory grab bag of abject and utterly unfounded speculation.” Selya denied that he harbored a political bias towards Joe, telling the court that he didn’t even know Congressman McKernan and had never heard Chafee speak of him. “The claim of endorsement and support of McKernan by Chafee, in my judgment, is wholly a figment of Ricci’s or his counsel’s imagination.

Selya provided analysis of Ricci’s case to date, explaining that less than two months earlier Ricci and his attorneys had been anxious to get their case to court, enthusiastically agreeing to the May 11th court date because it was the earliest available. He cited a hearing on February 11th when this date was set, and one of Joe’s attorneys stated: “The sooner we start the better.”

Selya noted that at that time Ricci was also a candidate for governor, but said nothing about the trial conflicting with his campaign. The judge went on, outlining Joe’s request in late April to delay the trial on the grounds that his New York lawyer needed more time to prepare for trial, when in fact he simply didn’t want to interrupt his vacation. He mentioned how Joe and his lawyers used the excuse that his campaign was nearing the primary, and 60 MINUTES would be airing a piece that might prejudice a jury. It was only after Selya denied the 11th hour continuance request that Joe and his attorneys renewed their motion in May.

This time, Selya explained: “...the focus had changed dramatically.” Bergen had joined Joe’s legal team, and argued that Ricci lacked a trial attorney familiar with his suit. Selya didn’t buy that argument either because Joe already had three attorneys of record who he said were capable of trying the case. Selya noted that Bergen’s motion on May 6th was “...laced with thinly veiled threats that all Ricci’s attorneys would withdraw if no continuance was granted, and that Selya’s planned July vacation might be jeopardized. Selya had termed Bergen’s new motion thoroughly unprofessional and dismissed it, and it was only after that the allegation of his political bias was contrived.

Selya told the court that the recusal motion had been motivated by desperation, “...a calculated move to force a postponement.” He called the Ricci team “spitefully irresponsible” and said they “...pose an ominous threat to the integrity of the judicial system.” He said Bergen’s recusal motion was filed “in bad faith” for the improper purpose of delay, and cited a federal law that prohibits attorneys from filing motions for improper purposes, requiring them to make “a reasonable advance inquiry” into the legal basis for their motions. He accused Bergen of “lacking intellectual honesty," and said that any lawyer with intellectual honesty would know that his motion was improper.

Finally Selya said that the court system “...must respond firmly, swiftly to such behavior if it is to retain any social viability." He said he was going to ask a separate judge to determine what sanctions should be levied against Ricci and his attorneys in “this tawdry situation.” He hinted that such sanctions could include even the dismissal of the four year old civil suit. Pending this he granted Joe the continuance he wanted all along, and acknowledged inadvertently he was “...playing the plaintiff’s game.”

Spectators and participants in the morning’s courtroom drama were stung by Selya’s public ridicule of Ricci and his lawyers, but Joe was non plussed. Outside the court he told reporters that he was more confident than ever in his attorney Jim Bergen, because he stood up to a an obviously biased Judge, who demonstrated his bias by criticizing “...one of the finest lawyers in Connecticut.”

The headlines the following day on the front page of the PORTLAND PRESS HERALD read Judge Blasts Ricci, but few knew the behind the scenes story of the blasting Joe was doing of his own. He was not one to suffer in silence, and if he was in pain, he’d make sure somebody somewhere hurt more.

The day after his convention speech he had Sharon Terry make a series of threatening calls to Jennifier Wescott, the campaign aide responsible for choosing the time slot for his speech in Waterville. He was convinced Jennifier had stolen an audio copy of his taped address to the convention, and wanted it returned. Sharon threatened the already beleaguered Jennifer with legal action, if she did not deliver the tape. Her protestations that she knew nothing about the tape were ignored as the harassing calls continued to her parents home.

When I returned from Massachusetts on Sunday where I had visited my mother on Mother's day, I went directly to the big race at Scarborough Downs, and didn’t get home until 7pm that evening. Two messages from Joe greeted me. The first call sometime on Sunday morning said: “Hi...this is Joe. I just want to let you know that unless I have a copy of the tape of my convention speech by 2pm today Maura, you can consider any and all employment you have with me terminated.(Click) The second message amended the first: “Hello...this is Joe. I heard that you might be in Massachusetts and may not have gotten my first message, so I want the tape in my hands by 6pm tonight in time for my radio show, or...we’re not fooling around over here.” (Click) Both messages surprised me as I (like Jennifer) knew nothing about any tape Joe allegedly had taken from him. Yet these two messages from him steeled my determination to be rid of his campaign, and not feel guilty about refusing to have anything else to do with his ill fated bid for governor.

The pugnacious threatening tone apparent in both calls was the impetus I needed to finally wake up, and refuse to look back. I didn’t return Joe’s calls, preferring not to get into a complicated discussion with him. Instead I wrote a letter outlining my contractual obligations to him, and his to me, so my future role as his employee would be clearly understood by both of us.

Sometime after his appearance in front of Judge Selya on the 12th of May, perhaps the next day, I received still more calls at night at my home, though I was putting in full days of advertising work at the track. It was after 11pm when I was in the shower, and came out to hear Joe talking to me through my answering machine: “Hello...“ he said, “...My name is Joe and I just want you to know that I have both copies of uhh, the tape, the synthesized tape, and the real one.” (Click) Dumbfounded, I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Had he actually thought I took a tape of his speech and had it doctored to make it sound better or worse than his actual speech at the convention? Such reasoning was beyond my comprehension. I refused to plug into the madness. Then a half hour later, at midnight, still more messages, these from Father Bob, Joe’s spiritual emissary. Father Bob said Joe was upset by my behavior, and he wanted to talked to me about it. I listened to his message but was not moved by this midnight plea from the priest on Joe’s payroll. My own brotherwas an ordained member of the clergy, and I understood human frailty and how Joe was appropriating virtue at the expense of Father Bob.

By Tuesday May 13th the press had gotten wind of the fact that Jennifier Wescott, Celeste Cloutier, Dan and I were no longer with Joe’s campaign. Jennifer had written a letter to the newspaper, apologizing to the Democratic party for what she considered inappropriate behavior by Joe at the convention. In this letter she said she felt that the Democratic Party had not discriminated against her candidate in any way, and in fact had been very supportive to the Ricci campaign. She explained that nobody in the party acted in a deceptive manner towards Joe, and that he knew the ground rules for the speaking order well in advance. She summed up her letter by saying she had resigned from the campaign in protest. When asked by the press, I confirmed that I too had quit because I simply felt that “...my professional advice was not being heeded.” Campaign researcher Celeste Cloutier, however, was more vocal, saying she resigned over what she considered “...a disorganized and unstable environment, and described many of the decisions affecting the campaign as “last minute.” Dan simply refused to comment.

Wednesday’s morning edition of the PORTLAND PRESS HERALD consequently carried the headline Ricci Campaign Loses Four Staff Members. The three column article outlined the various reasons for the resignations, and noted that a call to Ricci’s office had not been returned.

The afternoon edition of the paper carried another story headlined Ricci relieved by staff changeover. In the accompanying article Joe was quoted as saying that he already replaced the departed members of his campaign by adding Rev. Robert Allanach and Sharon Terry to his staff as “...chief advisors as well as friends.” He told the reporter that the departures of the others “...were not exactly resignations...they were people who either had the option to resign or be let go...” He said he was “relieved” by the changeover in personnel. He told the reporter that “...people were getting too aggressive in making decisions without consulting the person who was running for office...“ and characterized his departed staffers as “...people who watch too many Robert Redford movies.” He affirmed that his campaign was still in full swing declaring: “We are running smoothly, and we will continue to run smoothly."

Later that night Dan and I turned on the six o’clock news, and saw a report about a speaking engagement Joe had attended that day in Freeport. When local TV anchorwoman Morgan James, tried to speak with him about his campaign staff turnover, he got visibly angry, and left the event without even talking to the group assembled at the restaurant. The camera showed him jumping in a car and being driven away by someone who looked like Sharon Terry. Another scene showed the locks being changed at the Ricci for governor campaign headquarters implying that Joe felt his ex-campaign aids were capable of some sort of sabotage. I was astounded to see this on TV.

What was not reported was that on that same day Joe called Brad Buck his chief of security at Scarborough Downs, and insisted he immediately scan the entire campaign office from floor to ceiling in search of drugs which he felt certain somebody had ‘planted‘ there. Brad Spent hours going over the building, but no contraband was ever found.

Throughout all of this I was determined to stay the course, and ride the turbulence. I threw myself into ad production and media buying for the track. I believed that things would eventually settle, and I could continue to carry out my duties. I did not realize, however, that Joe was about to set off minefields everywhere.

At 2:30am on the morning of May 14th Brad Buck was awakened at his home by an angry phone call from his employer who seemed to be in a rage. Without apologizing for the unorthodox time of the call, Joe told Brad that he had fired the track’s presiding judge, Dick Herman. He said Brad had to know about it because if Dick dared to show up at work that day he wanted him escorted off the premises by security personnel. Herman was the top racing official at the Downs, responsible for enforcing state and national harness racing rules and regulations, so Brad was stunned. Joe refused to give Brad any of the details of Herman’s firing. He simply ordered him to arrest Herman for trespassing if he showed up that morning. After talking to Joe, Brad called the officer on duty at the track that night to learn more. That officer said he too had received a bombastic call from Joe who told him Herman was not to be allowed on the grounds, and to notify his relief officer so he could get rid of him if he appeared the next day.

Although Joe alerted security about Herman's termination, he neglected to let anyone else know including Herman himself, or Eric, the general manager of Scarborough Downs. When Eric arrived at work the next morning the receptionist told him that Dick Herman needed to speak to him, and it was urgent. When Eric called Dick he found the usually crusty racing official extremely upset. He told Eric that he’d been greeted by Downs security guards, and told he had to leave the premises per order of Joe, that he had been fired. Eric immediately went over to the building where Herman had his office, and promised to make some phone calls to find out what was happening. After a few minutes he reached Martha Amesbury who confirmed that Joe indeed wanted Herman fired effective an hour ago, but she didn’t say why. Herman wanted a reason, but nobody had any, and he also wanted it made official...a pink slip or something in writing, so Eric, bewildered himself, hastily scribbled a note to Dick:

"I have been instructed to terminate your employment under instructions from Martha Amesbury and Joe Ricci. The reasons for this action were not disclosed to me. The termination is effective immediately."

The entire racing office, horsemen and women, and other racing officials at the Downs were stunned by Judge Herman’s sudden ousting, and deluged Eric with inquiries, which he was helpless to answer. Yet before the news of Herman’s departure had time to settle Joe had moved on to something else.

On Wednesday and Thursday nights, May 14th and 15th, there were two collisions during the races, each injuring drivers, and sending horses to the ground. Driving mishaps in harness racing are common, but having two accidents two nights in a row was enough to create a major crisis for Joe. These accidents also came on the heels of two arrests at Scarborough Downs, and Joe viewed these unrelated occurrences as one troubling ensemble, proof that his business was being undermined by someone or something.

On Friday morning, May 16th he was at the track in a rampage. Eric arrived at work and found seven separate memos from Joe on his desk.

Before Eric had time to read (let alone digest or respond to) any of the memos, he was summoned to the conference room. Red faced, pacing and chain smoking, Joe told Eric that he was convinced his entire track was under siege. He informed Eric that he should attend a meeting that he had scheduled for that afternoon. He said that the track surface specialist, Dan Coons was going to be there along with representatives from Maine Harness Horseman’s association, the United States Trotting Association, the Humane Society and the FBI. He then picked up the telephone, and called the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and said to the receptionist who answered the phone: “Hello, My name is Joseph Ricci...I’d like to talk about the abuse of animals at Scarborough Downs. Could someone please call me back? Its urgent.”

He was obsessed with the fact that the two accidents had occurred, and refused to acknowledge that dozens of driver accidents had happened in previous years. (according to Eric about 50 occurred the year before despite Joe‘s statements that there had been no more than two) Joe assembled members of the racing office including the race secretary, Karl Jannotta, and track supervisor, Don Knapton, and program manager, Mindy Fitzgerald to listen to him expound on his theory. He told them that he found it curious that both accidents happened on the second turn. He was also concerned that there had been a carryover for nine days on the twin trifecta, and said that this had never happened before at the beginning of the meet. It was because of this added ’coincidence’ that he decided to cancel twin tri wagering.

Everybody from the racing office simply stared, but when Joe briefly left the room, they explained to Eric that the reason there had never been an extended twin tri carryover during the beginning of the meet was because that was the first year Scarborough Downs offered twin tri wagering in May. When Joe returned minutes, later, the racing staff was ready to resume discussion of the track accident, and other racing matters, but Joe was carrying a salad from the kitchen, which he wanted Deanna to document via a memo. “This salad is not up to my standards...” he informed the racing officials.

During the next three hours, Joe called in various employees to document stale bread, or inferior food in the kitchen, and Eric couldn’t understand why. It was agreed the chef was going to be terminated, so Eric wondered what Joe was trying to prove, and to whom.

Joe had been in an emotional frenzy for four hours until Eric finally left for an appointment. When Eric drove away close to 2 o’clock, he was convinced his employer was mentally unbalanced, and he didn’t know what to do. He feared that Joe’s instability could have serious ramifications for the track. The presiding judge had already been fired without cause, the chef was on his way out, the racing secretary was confused, and the overall moral of the place was lousy and getting worse.

That evening Eric called me at home to let me know what had been going on that day when I had been doing work at a production studio. He told me that Joe’s partner, Gerry Davidson, had phoned him and expressed concern over Joe’s erratic actions. Eric said he thought Davidson ‘s phone call had been prompted by John Campbell because: “John and Dick are just bananas over Joe’s behavior...” Eric had explained his experience with Joe to Gerry and sought some insights from the psychiatrist who perhaps knew Joe better than anyone else. Gerry told Eric that he thought Joe was having a breakdown, and asked him if he had been acting nervous or anxious around Joe. When Eric explained that he had a difficult time hiding how flabbergasted he felt, Gerry warned him that such actions "could exacerbate Joe’s paranoia." He advised him to stay away from Joe if possible.

Eric felt a responsibility to the track and to Joe, and didn’t know what to do. Now he had Joe’s partner, the vice president of the corporation that owned Scarborough Downs, and a expert in mental health advising him to stay away from Joe for his own good. Davidson said he was going to try to get Joe some help before it was too late, and urged Eric to contain the damage to Scarborough Downs and help avoid a public relations nightmare.

Instead of returning to the Downs that day after his meeting, Eric went home, and called Martha and told her that he needed a few days to assess his role at the track. He then called Karl Jannotta the race secretary and gave him a pep talk, urging him to hang in there, ride the ‘rockiness,’ and to tell the others to hang tight and do their jobs. He explained that he was going to be off for a few days, but assured him that things would get better, and he’d be back.

When Eric called me he seemed worn out from the morning he had spent with Joe. “He’s self destructing...“ he told me, "...so I can’t be angry at him. I’m more angry at Martha who insists on making some sense out of his lunacy.” He told Martha he was not going in to work saying: “You can do whatever you want with me, but I’m not coming in. I haven’t quit, but you can fire me if you want, but rest assured I’m not going to the press, I’m being above board, and I have no intention of slamming Joe anywhere. I’m just standing back until this blows over.” Martha's response was to tell him he was taking Joe too personally, that he was overreacting. Eric felt that she didn't have a clue: “She didn’t come in until the end of the day. She didn’t sit in on five different meetings, where halfway into it, without getting anything accomplished, he’d clear the room and call another meeting.“

He told me how Joe ranted on in front of the racing office personnel about how ‘strange’ it was that both accidents had happened on the second turn as if that had dramatic significance. “Well, they’re only four turns on the track so the odds were one out of four that it could’ve happened.” Eric declared. “But Joe told everyone that it was more than just a simple coincidence, that nothing like that ever happened in the history of his ownership of Scarborough Downs.“

"Joe just makes these sweeping statements, which aren’t based upon any facts." he complained. He conveyed other examples of Joe’s bizarre behavior such as wanting a letter typed by the secretary who was finishing up a previous letter Joe had given her to type. He couldn’t wait five minutes, and ordered Eric to: “...get a Kelly girl in here," demanding his letter be typed that moment. "He didn’t realize you can’t hire a Kelly girl to type just one letter, and that they don’t materialize from thin air the second you call for one."

Hank Burns, harness racing columnist, for Portland Newspapers called shortly after Eric. He was still trying to track down the reason for Dick Herman’s firing, and asked me if I could help him out. I told him, that I was sorry that I couldn’t since I knew as little as anyone else except Joe. “Well I just got off the phone with Joe...” Hank revealed, “...and he told me that his decision to fire Herman was totally personal, and had absolutely nothing to do with his performance at the track. Then in the same breath he told me it was ‘off the record’ and if I printed a word of it he’d sue me, and that he had three tape recorders taping my call...Listen ..." Hank continued, (lowering his voice) "...can you tell me something off the record, just for my own information? Has Joe gone nuts?”

I responded by simply noting that Joe was under a lot of stress, and it was a difficult time, but Hank seemed desperate to know more, not so much for his column it seemed as to just make sense out of his behavior for himself. “Joe has never treated me as he did today... “ Hank continued, sounding hurt. He said he had innocently poked his head into the track’s conference room, and Joe shot dagger-eyes at him, glaring and barking at him. “I just don’t understand it...Joe just seemed so volatile."

When Hank interrupted Joe in the conference room, Joe had been conducting a general staff meeting attended by about half dozen employees. The meeting at 2pm that day that Joe told Eric he was arranging between Dan Coons (a track consultant) USTA, the Humane Society, Maine Harness Horsemans Association, and the FBI never happened. Instead Joe summoned about half dozen employees to appear at 3pm, and contracted a professional audio firm to put microphones in the conference room to document everything that was said. When everyone was assembled he read a series of his observations into the record that established what he felt was the impending destruction of his racetrack. He was particularly upset over what he termed a complete breakdown in security procedure, evidenced by the intruder caught in Linda’s office. He blamed Brad Buck, chief of security, for not having the door to the administrative offices secured, and chastised him for his incompetence. Brad, a former police chief who had fifteen years experience in law enforcement took his job very seriously, and was offended by Joe’s public dressing down. Yet he suffered in silence until after the meeting was over.

Then he attempted to explain to Joe the circumstances surrounding the breach of Linda’s office, and the subsequent arrest of the intruder who had been trying to steal her calculator. He told Joe that the matter of securing the door in question had been brought up before the season began, and it had been decided not to have that door locked, because it provided access for kitchen employees.

Joe did not apologize to Brad, but merely glared at him, and ordered him to meet with Martha to decide on future security precaution. Later Joe asked Brad to give him a ride home to Falmouth, and during the fifteen minute ride, he acted like he was confiding in Brad telling him: “You’re the only one I can trust.” Joe told him that there were ‘forces at work’ to put him out of business, and he was fighting for his life. He also mentioned the firing of Dick Herman and said it was purely personal. He promised Brad that they’d soon sit down together and he would tell him about everything that‘s been going on. He also promised that he’d make arrangements so Brad could get a company car, and a raise. After Brad dropped Joe off, he felt extremely unsettled. He had enough experience in law enforcement to feel appropriately uncomfortable. His inner sense told him something was amiss.

That weekend the May 18th issue of MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM carried two articles pertaining to Scarborough Downs, both written by Hank Burns. His regular weekly column, titled Herman Firing a Fact, reason a mystery outlined the unexplained circumstances surrounding Herman’s termination, and reminded readers that he symbolized 'the new stability' that we have come to expect at the downs. Hank went on to write: “...This stability resulted from a delicate balance between Joe Ricci’s passion for excellence, and his understanding that excellence usually comes from letting good people make good decisions.” He also reminded his readers of an earlier article he had written just weeks before at the beginning of the racing season. "Two weeks ago we asked Joe Ricci this question: Who actually runs the Downs? He answered : 'Eric runs the show. The secret is to let competent people make competent decisions.' “For three years...” Hank continued, “...Joe has walked the tightrope, influencing without controlling, and the result has been an era of stability at the Downs. But now there is concern that there may be some backtracking . Moynihan says ‘ I was very concerned about the firing. Herman was a very strong team member and now he has been lost.’ Hank continued his piece writing: “Harness racing may very well continue to be successful in Maine- even without Dick Herman, But the industry is in trouble if the management team at the Downs begins to look over their shoulders and worry about their security. For example two weeks ago Ricci called Maura Curley, ‘a creative genius’. This past week Curley quit Ricci’s Democratic gubernatorial campaign staff. Just what effect will this have on her job at the Downs?” he asked writing: “Moynihan admits , ‘It might be difficult for her to continue in the Downs job.’ Curley will only say ‘ I have contract with Scarborough Downs and I expect to fulfill that contract’.” If Curley goes, who will be next?" Burns ended his column writing: “If only we could convince Joe Ricci to admit he has made a mistake in firing Dick Herman. But we will have to get back to a policy that sees resonable people making reasonable decisions.”

A companion news story titled: Ricci orders investigation of track accidents explained that Joe Ricci had taken swift action following the two accidents at the track that week, calling for an objective investigation of the incidents from USTA, FBI, MHR , and MSPCA. Burns wrote that Ricci had sent him a letter following the mishaps expressing concern that both accidents occurred in the second turn and in the night’s fourth race. But Burns wrote: "...it should be noted that accidents in harness racing are common—especially with cheap horses, who have bad habits. Scratch N’ Sniff, the horse reported to have caused the pile up Thursday, has shown a tendency to break stride, and cause problems.” Burns finished his article by noting: “Ricci still refuses to comment on Wednesday’s firing of Judge Herman, but does say that the cancelling of the twin trifecta at the Downs has nothing to do with the Herman firing...Mr. Ricci had little comment on the status of General Manager Eric Moynihan and Publicity Director, Maura Curley, only saying ‘As far as I’m concerned Eric is my general manager and Maura Curley has the job if she wants it.” Ricci conceded. “...organizations have occasional problems, and occasional breakdowns.” Burns concluded.

Joe appeared at Radio station WYNZ that night accompanied by Alice Quinn, the woman he admitted using cocaine with the evening before his announcement speech in Wiscasset. He was defiant as he counted down the time until his STATEWATCH show began. He was convinced that the repercussions would be great following his week in the news spotlighting problems with Judge Selya, his campaign staff, Judge Herman, Eric Moynihan, and the accidents at the track. He was posed to do battle. He drew attention to Hank Burns articles in that day’s paper: “I have a most distorted journalism award to give out tonight...“ he told his listeners. “It’s between the paper, and Morgan James." ( the TV anchor person he refused to talk to earlier in the week who reported that fact on the night’s newscast) “Actually I have a song to dedicate to Morgan later...we’ll do it around 11:15pm..." he said. (although his show only ran until 8pm) He attacked Hank Burns, saying that if someone fires an executive at an insurance company or another business, it's not news: “For some reason every time I do something it's newsworthy, and its not just because I’m running for Governor..." he complained, “...They’ve been at it for awhile.”

The second call of the evening came from Joe’s friend Ed Marcello, the man who Joe sent to Florida during the Kerrigan caper, and helped financially with his unsuccessful bid for state representative. Ed began his call by saying he usually watched other newscasts, but for some reason that week he watched WMTW and saw an anchor woman do a report that: ”...I think is the most flagrant bit of reporting I’ve ever seen in the state of Maine.” Marcello told Joe that it was terrible that she distorted everything: “She was outside of a tavern filming you...” he declared, “...as if you were in the tavern, and God knows what she was trying to make the audience think you were doing in there. Then she came on and talked about your staff resigning, and everything, it was terrible!” he exclaimed.

Joe responded by saying that her actions spoke for themselves, and indicated that he’d been up at the Jamison Tavern with Alice Quinn to speak to the Freeport Rotarians: “I have a pretty stand pat policy. I wouldn’t talk to Morgan James as you know. The film was very distorted. If they want to talk about issues. I’ll talk about issues..." he declared, “...But if they want to do profiles and you know, do that kind of stuff...I’m not into that..." he explained.

He then launched into a litany of issues he was concerned with, mentioning the various inequities in the system ranging from the low rate of AFDC to special interest legislation, involving Ival Cianchette's Cianbro Corp., to high state tax rate for no services: “You gotta understand...“ he concluded, sounding resigned to his fate of martyrdom: “...They’re going to have to shut me up, and before this is over, you’re going to see all kinds of distortions.” With that he led into his song dedication: “Here’s to you Morgan, for sloppy journalism..." he announced telling his audience to: “...listen to the words of the song by John Fogarty....There’s still some of us out there who know why John Kennedy’s files are sealed...”Then the lyrics of Fogarty’s song: “Cuz I Saw It On TV" punctuated the airwaves...

Marcello had also told Joe that everyone was stealing his ideas, like his opposition to nuclear power, and position on prison reform: ”Maybe awhile ago the name Ricci was like a five letter dirty word...” he declared, "...but no more." Well I’ll tell you something...”answered Joe, “...If I make it past June 10th (the Democratic primary ) the name Ricci will be synonymous with special prosecutor.”

Throughout the show Joe characterized himself as: “...a liberal activist Democrat...” and predicted that: “...if dirty tricks have it, I’ll be known as God you name it...It's gonna get funky before it's all over...” he warned. ”But you know something...“ he stated with a fierceness in his voice: “...my grandmother raised a tough child, and we’ll handle it.”

He painted a picture of himself as someone who had sued the local newspaper out of desperation over its use of innuendoes regarding his bank case, which he then said he didn’t want to mix with his campaign. And in response to a comment from one caller, Joe falsely maintained that his suit filed against the bank in 1982 was the “first time I’ve ever litigated in my life.”

Other calls to the show that night included ones from Elan staff members Father Bob, and Sharon Terry. Sharon called and identified herself as a member of his campaign committee who had to call because she was so upset by the treatment Joe had received that week from other members of his committee. ”I don’t even know if you’re gonna like me calling..." she said, "...but I just had to speak out...Certainly your theme has always been the same. It hasn’t changed since Wiscasset...“ she observed, noting that his staff had been notified 48 hours in advance of the change he wanted in Waterville, and she thought the response he got “...was just totally unfair.” Soon after Father Bob called saying he had been working on Joe’s campaign and had traveled throughout Maine: “They’re pockets of very poor people who don’t even have running water, and no toilets... “ he explained. “You might call them a silent majority in the state..” he added “...and they really like what you’re saying...they’re really a lot of people out there behind you.“

Joe thanked Father Bob who also complimented him on his convention speech which Joe had played on the previous week’s show. ”I thought it was just excellent... “ he effused, apologizing to Joe for not having attended the convention. Joe humbly thanked Father Bob again for his kind words, and reiterated the theme that he was being persecuted. ”You and I both know what they are going to do to me in the next four weeks...“ (until the primary) He declared: “It's gonna come fast and heavy, and there’s not a lot we can do except prevail...” “And we will...” responded Father Bob, to which Joe agreed, quoting an old saying from Mexico: "That what we cannot change we must therefore endure."

After Father Bob hung up, Joe explained to his listening audience that the caller was Father Robert Allanach, “...the founder of Little Brothers, more of the kind of people who belong to this campaign who are trying to change things for people.”

Toward the end of his broadcast Joe said: "It's obviously going to get rough and ready during these last four weeks, and I’ll be ready for it, no matter what they say...I don’t have anything against all of the media...And I have no intention of talking about my bank case, outside of a correction here or there when they misprint...”

Then taking on a tough edge to his voice he continued: “..And this is Joseph Ricci telling you boys who I’m running against—and that’s not chauvinistic...you keep throwing it, and I’ll keep catching it...but I’m gonna keep comin. You got it Severin? (Severin Beliveau) So give that message to big business next time you have tea..." he added, before taking on an even tougher tone for his standard weekly closing: “This is Joseph Ricci, saying, stay well, and fight back!”

In the one week since the convention everything had begun to unravel because of Joe’s erratic and unpredictable behavior. A week earlier in Waterville Dan and I had no idea that his inappropriate intensity there would be the beginning of a reign of terror at his racetrack. I had witnessed Joe's spurts of lunacy before, but they were usually followed by a perspective of calm seemingly rational behavior, an almost immediate display of 20/20 hindsight.

But this time it was different...Each new day seemed to bring news of another extraordinary incident.

Chapter Twenty Seven

"The coup is complete."

On May 21st, the next night of racing after his radio show, Joe paced nervously around the grandstand. Then just before post time he closed down one of the concession stands saying it was filthy, and had to be shut, before the state saw it. He ordered Brad Buck to send one of his security guards to the store to buy industrial strength cleaners. While the stand was being cleaned he apologized to his customers by giving away free food.

Next he approached Brad again, telling him that there were more police than usual on the premises and they were there trying to find a reason to shut him down.(town ordinance requires two town police officers on duty during racing) Brad patiently explained that there were no extra men on duty, just the standard two officers.

Then he told Brad that the betting areas were not marked as prescribed by company policy, that there were not enough signs posted, and that all this was against the law. He instructed Brad to send a guard to the store to buy thick black tape, and make signs stating: “No one under the age of 16 allowed in the betting area.” Brad dutifully had the area taped off, and signs were made prohibiting anyone under the correct gambling age of 18. After all this was done Joe went up to one of the on duty police officers and profusely apologized for having broken the law, telling him it would never happen again.

Neither Brad nor the officer understood what laws had been broken, and were dumbfounded by Joe’s behavior.

Originally, I dreaded talking to Joe after the convention, because I was uncertain of my resolve to dramatically divorce myself from his campaign. But the threat he left on my answering machine that ".we’re not fooling around over here” bothered me more than I admitted. Consequently, I decided to avoid Joe at all costs, until his volatility subsided. I spent most of my time doing production, media buys, and traveled to my appointments, rather than have them come to me at the track. And I worked feverishly to make sure all my work was above reproach.

I dropped into my office on Wednesday morning, May 22nd, and Theresa, the usually cheery day receptionist, was noticeably tense, pale. She, like numerous other employees, had been the object of Joe’s terrorism for over a week, and was grimly holding on, fearful of what was coming next. She had heard from the previous night’s receptionist that Joe and Ed Marcello had a big fight in Joe’s apartment, screaming loudly at each other. Afterwards Ed had gone up to the diningroom, and was telling waiters to put drinks and food on his tab. When it was pointed out that he didn’t have a tab, he became indignant, and claimed he owned one quarter of the racetrack.

Meanwhile Linda had gone to comfort Joe in his apartment, and called the upstairs bar, asking that two glasses of wine be delivered to them. When the nervous waiter knocked on the apartment door, Joe appeared with such a ferocious look on his face, the waiter jumped, and the tray with the glasses went crashing to the floor. “It is just crazy here...” Theresa warned, pointing out that Bobby Leighton (who had been appointed head honcho in Eric’s absence) was making life miserable, because Joe was making impossible demands upon him. “It’s good you haven’t been around...” she observed. “But it’s great that you’re always checking in telling me where you are and what you’re doing, because Martha keeps calling for Joe checking up on you.”

Moments after I went into my office and closed the door, Bobby approached me and asked a series of questions concerning my ads and media buys which I politely answered. Then he told me Joe wanted a series of extraneous time consuming documentation that had never before been required from me. Bobby had always been good natured, ready with a smile, but then he was cold, regarding all those who perceived to be out of favor with Joe as the enemy. It seems that Eric and I had become “one of them," and I felt hurt.

I wondered if Bobby had totally forgotten the unyielding devotion to our jobs that we demonstrated during the previous two seasons. Didn’t he remember the 80 hour weeks we worked? Could all our contributions be ignored simply because we’d suddenly fallen out of favor with Joe? Was it an hallucination I wondered when I read in Hank Burns' column on May 4th the quote from Joe saying Eric “...had grown into one of the best general managers (of a harness racetrack ) in the country?” How then could he in a matter of days fallen so far from grace?

I told Bobby that I was empathetic to his plight, but he didn’t have to be a 'hit man' for Joe. I’d do my job as competently as I always had, and be cooperative. Then, attempting to cut through the mind set that Joe attempted to place like a plaster mold in the heads of all his workers, I told Bobby that I wished Joe no harm, that I’d been initially angry after the convention because he abused people but no more. “He’s not well...” I observed, “...and I don’t want to do anything that‘s going to increase his anger and neither do you, so let you and me try to work together through this. I for one just want to be left alone to do the Job I was hired to do.”

A few minutes later, as I was driving out of the parking lot, a motorcade of autos approached, carrying Joe, and Linda, Sharon,Alice, and Martha, the charter members of Joe’s ‘nodding committee.’

That afternoon I called Dan to let him know about the latest developments.

Dan exclaimed: ”He literally tries to destroy people around him who he thinks reject him, even though they just may merely not agree with him. Right now he seems to be dismantling everything that he can’t relate to, any sense of structure, authority...sanity! He’s getting rid of it piece by piece. It's frightening, and there’s no telling where it’ll end.”

I said that perhaps our walking away in Waterville was a catalyst for his subsequent actions which may have been a reaction to feeling our loss. While Dan agreed that what I said might be true, he was adamant that we didn’t bear any of the responsibility for his behavior. “He has set the forces into motion, just like King Lear did, and only he can stop them...”

The next night at the Downs was a relatively quiet Friday evening until a patron lost money on a race and became angry. He had wanted to change his bet but had been told he couldn’t. In an agitated state, he approached Linda who was in the clubhouse diningroom, but soon cooled off. A few races (and drinks later) he lost again when his horse slipped on the rain soaked track. This time he sought out Linda, and became furious. Linda responded by calling security officers who escorted the guy outside to the parking lot where they told him it would be best if he had someone drive him home.

According to Brad Buck, the man (who had the physique of a body builder) became even more agitated, and lunged at one of the officers grabbing him by the throat. By that time, other security personnel had arrived, and wrestled him to the ground, finally handcuffing him. Then his companions started yelling about brutality, and he claimed he couldn’t breathe and was having an asthma attack. He pleaded with officers to take off his handcuffs which they did. But seconds later, he was swinging away again. In the scuffle Brad Buck ripped his pants, and broke his glasses before the man was cuffed again and taken away in a police car.

At 6:15 am the next morning Brad Buck was awakened by a call from Joe. “I want to know why my patrons are being brutalized!” Astounded, Brad attempted to explain the previous night’s incident in detail, but Joe was not interested in hearing the facts. He warned Brad that if he didn’t ‘get with the program’ he’d end up like Eric, and Linda. He said Linda had already been terminated, presumably because it was she who called security in the first place. Brad was speechless as Joe threatened him: ”If you allow Scarborough Police to make any more arrests on my property you’re fired...“ he stated before abruptly hanging up. At 8am John Campbell called Brad, who was then wide awake from the tumultuous intrusion into his sleep, and instructed him to be at the clubhouse conference room at 3pm for a meeting regarding the previous night’s incident.

Seven hours later, Martha, assistant controlller Steve Leclair, John, Lt. William Zaccula of the Scarborough police department, and Brad assembled in the conference room where Joe was waiting with a recording crew to document every word that was said. Once everyone arrived, Joe launched his attack on the Scarborough police department whom he said had violated his patron’s constitutional rights by brutally attacking and arresting him. He raged on about the police department’s lack of authorization to brutalize his fans. He implied that the police department had been out to ‘get him’ and was doing so by getting his patrons. He said he was going to prove that the subject in question hadn’t been drunk and disorderly. He was going to personally order the guy to take a blood test to determine how much alcohol was in his system. From that point he was also going to hire a video crew to ’monitor the behavior‘ of the police on duty as well as his own security personnel. This camera crew would in effect document their every move.

Brad sat quietly through much of Joe’s performance, comfortable in the knowledge, that he and the police department had acted appropriately. When he heard that Joe wanted to conduct an ‘independent blood test’ on the subject in question, more than fifteen hours after his arrest to see if he was intoxicated, he realized that Joe was irrational, and no information, no explanation was going to change his mindset. Nevertheless he told Joe in front of his lawyer, two controllers, and the Scarborough lieutenant that he felt the arrest was proper, and there was no use of unnecessary force.

Joe’s eyes narrowed, and darkened. He said he wanted a guarantee that they’d be no more arrests at his track, and that Brad would see to it that there weren’t. The lieutenant said that was an impossible guarantee. Brad agreed, and tried to plea with Joe. “You’ve never doubted me before...“ he said, ”...and I’ve always told you the truth, and I’m telling you now.” he continued, explaining the physique of the patron in question, and his assault upon an officer, not once, but twice.

Joe, however, was unyielding and stared at Brad with eyes that screamed ‘betrayal.’ Again, he repeated his ultimatum. “There will be no more arrests at Scarborough Downs.” Finally Brad had no choice, and told Joe that if that’s the way he wanted it, he’d have to resign.

Brad went home in what he later described as an extremely angry state, and wrote the following letter to Martha whom he considered his immediate superior:

Martha Amesbury

Scarborough Downs

Route 1

Scarborough, Maine

24 May, 1986

Dear Martha,

It is with regret that I tender my resignation. Neither you nor Joe can imagine the devastation and humiliation I feel as a result of today’s meeting, and this morning’s telephone conversation with Joe. I have supported Joe 100% and have always worked in his best interest. Doubting my loyalty to him, Scarborough Downs, Elan, and his campaign as well as his ordering me to violate M.R.S.A. Title 17A is absurd.

I apologize for taking a few days off but I haven’t felt able to work. However, I will complete the remainder of my time. Please make my termination effective June 15, 1986. I will work until June 8, and whereas I have one week’s vacation, will take time June 9-15.

Again, I regret this turn of events as I had enjoyed my employment . However, Joe’s orders at 6:15am this date not to permit Scarborough Police Dept. to make any arrests on Scarborough Downs property is no only unethical but in my opinion totally illegal. I have been ordered to obstruct government administration which is in direct violation of Title 17a Sect, 751 and possibly section 603-improper influence.

I thank you, Eric and Steve for an enjoyable working relationship. I am sure that you realize that I will not enter into any unethical or illegal arrangements. I also consider Joe’s decision to follow police and security personnel with video cameras as harassment and an insult to my professional integrity. Friday night’s altercation will be decided in a court, and not in Joe’s conference room.

I will be referring this matter to my attorney to insure that my rights and ethics are not further violated.

Very Truly Yours

Brad J. Buck

Race Secretary Karl Janotta, and his assistant Don Knapton did not imagine the hail of abuse that was awaiting them when they went to work on the night of May 24th. It was the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, and they’d believed they had put together a competitive racing card (program) for the fans. They felt their jobs were secure, because both were good at what they did, and had earned the respect of drivers, trainers, and horse owners throughout the state. Joe too had seemed pleased with their work. It was Karl’s third year as race Secretory, and his performance at the downs had brought many accolades from nearly everyone. A handsome man in his 30’s with a wholesome face Karl was enthusiastic and energetic, both competent and kind.

Karl and Don were summoned to face Joe in the conference room with Bobby Leighton sitting at his right side about 10pm. Joe’s face was already contorted with anger when they arrived. He wanted to know why they had scheduled the evening’s feature race earlier in the program than had been customary. Joe wanted the feature to be the second to the last race of the night, to keep the fans there. Trouble was that Joe had been ordering Bobby to stagger the races, allowing more time between them (a tool to increase bets, and concession and bar sales because people have nothing else to do) and the races were getting over later and later. The feature race had run on some nights, with an empty track, and Don decided to try and schedule it a little earlier, so fans could see it.

“How dare you tamper with that...” Joe exclaimed, telling both men that they’d set back racing at least ten years, that they were a disgrace to the state of Maine harness racing industry, incompetent and foolish. The attack took about an hour, with Joe sputtering as Bobby just nodded his head. After subjecting Don to enough abuse, Joe finally fired him. Karl, supportive of his assistant, then offered his resignation. He told Joe he’d finish the month, but afterward told Eric: “I would have said anything just to get out of that room."

The next night Joe invited Father Bob and Sharon Terry to be the guests on his radio show and talk about how victimized he had been at the hands of people trying to make him look bad. During the course of his hour show he rambled incoherently, hung up on callers, and acted so angry one could almost see him sneering.

I listened to the broadcast on my car radio as I was returning from Massachusetts. When I got home my phone was already ringing. Gerry Davidson had listened to the entire show and was aghast at the appearances of Sharon Terry, and Father Allanach. “I had no idea Father Bob was that much under Joe’s spell...” he stated. The purpose of his call to me that night, he said was to ask me if I could give a spin to Joe’s actions, and avert a major public relations catastrophe for Scarborough Downs. ”

Actually, though, my worst fears have already been realized... “ he commented saying that the article in that Sunday’s paper which outlined Joe’s contacting of USTA and the FBI, etc. made it look like the track was indeed corrupt. He said it was too bad that Joe’s extreme paranoia was making everybody else look bad and may in fact destroy the track. He told me he and his lawyer had gathered enough evidence from Eric and Dick Herman to intervene and prevent the destruction of the Downs.

“We’re going to need serious public relations help after Wednesday...” he stated, alluding to the day he and Joe and their attorneys were scheduled to appear in court to find out what sanctions were going to be handed out for actions toward Judge Selya thirteen days earlier. He said he feared that Joe might go wild in court then and further exacerbate an already awful situation.

I realized after talking with Davidson that he was keeping in contact with Eric and me in an effort to assuage the pain of Joe’s actions. But I doubted his ability to step in and take over on the basis of the contention that Joe was incompetent to manage the track. He made the process, that he never clearly outlined, seem too simplistic, and I was wary. I asked him how he thought Joe would react to his quest to take over, and he told me he thought in his state of mind he’d ‘be relieved.’ At the time I respected Davidson’s evaluation of Joe both because he was a psychiatrist, and his business partner for over twenty years, and arguably a person who knew Joe better than any other.

Nevertheless my gut instinct was that Joe would never retreat like a wounded animal, and let Davidson take over his track. If he was going to be beaten, I felt certain, it would only after plenty of bloodletting and only then after he’d destroyed everyone around him.

Hank Burns, the harness writing columnist called after Davidson to let me know that he heard about the latest round of firings at the track, and had also listened in disbelief to Joe’s ranting on the radio that night. ”I have to write a story about all this... “ he told me realizing that I was still in charge of public relations and trying to despite everything put Joe in a favorable light. Hank said that what was going on at the track and what was happening to this gubernatorial candidate was really much more than a harness racing story.

“Let me read you the list of who’s been fired or quit out there...“ he insisted. “It incredible..." he continued, "...we have the presiding judge, race secretary, assistant race secretary, bar manager, chef, chief of security, gift shop manager already gone, a general manager who decided to go on vacation two weeks into the meet, and a public relations person who does her work on the road, avoiding her office...What gives?“ he asked with exasperation.

Eric called next, and he told me that he too had been contacted by Hank. “I had to think hard about not giving him any incriminating quote...“ Eric said adding that he also wasn't going to lie, and say everything was hunky dory. “I told him I’m not happy with the way things are and that's the truth...”

Despite the gravity of the circumstances Eric said he was trying to do the right thing, and preserve the morale of the track even though he wasn’t there. He told me he had called Jean Emerson, the editor of a harness trade newspaper, and a person very connected with horsepeople. “Jean’s my ear to the MHHA, and I told her to tell everyone that this chaos is just temporary, thing swill be back to normal soon...I couldn’t tell anyone that Davidson’s trying to take over, and stabilize things..” he told me ”...but I don’t want people to quit. I want them to realize there’s still hope for racing.”

Eric and I discussed our separate conversations with Davidson and agreed that what he said was going to happen, couldn’t occur easily. Eric told me that John Campbell had called him, and that he and Dick Poulos were equally nervous about Joe‘s actions, scared to death about the hearing that Wednesday, fearing Joe was capable of doing anything inside or outside the courtroom.

The next day the headline: Personnel Bloodbath at Downs, a one column article by Hank, ran in the sports page of the morning paper. “Heads continue to roll at Scarborough Downs...” was the lead sentence followed by an account of who had officially been fired, resigned, or unofficially dismissed. The article said the upheaval less than a month into the meet had unsettled horsemen, and quoted one horseowner as saying: “I never heard a bad word about Karl Janotta. Everyone liked him. The team of Eric Moynihan, Karl Jannotta and Don Knapton localized the attitude around here and made everyone feel at home."

On Tuesday, May 27th I got a call from Alan Garber, Gerry Davidson’s Massachusetts lawyer, who wanted information about my experience at Scarborough Downs, and with Joe’s campaign. Interested in finding out exactly what was happening I asked more questions of him than I answered. He told me that he had already talked to Dick Herman regarding his abrupt firing and to “Mr. Moynihan who was very guarded...” Garber was non committal about what type of action he was going to file on Gerry’s behalf. After talking to him I had little belief that the situation at Scarborough was going to get better soon. In fact I felt certain it would get worse.

Later that day I stopped by my office at Scarborough Downs, and overheard Bobby Leighton who had taken over Eric’s office talking in desperate tones over the phone to Martha. It seemed the Maine Harness Horsemen’s Association had sent a letter complaining about the late night races which had begun to drag out to midnight on weeknights. They said they didn’t want to race past 11pm, and also wrote they were concerned about the recent firing of Don Knapton, and the loss of Karl Janotta.

That night Eric called me, sounding better than I had heard him sound in a while. His old dry humor had returned. When he told me where an associate of mine had recently gone fishing, I asked him how he knew. “I know virtually everything...“ he joked. “Now that I’ve been away from Joe for more than a week my mind is really becoming quite clear, the brainwashing techniques are starting to reverse themselves.”

After a few seconds though he became serious, and announced that he had written his resignation letter that afternoon. “I decided to write it before the personnel bloodbath includes me..." he stated saying: “Joe’s starting to build a case against me, and I’m going to be held accountable for each and every problem out there, even if the problem wasn’t a problem until Joe made some decisions during my absence that resulted in things not going the way he hoped. I’m going to be blamed for all the things that are going wrong in my absence and I just don’t want the stink of the shit to hit me when it goes down...And another thing...“ he continued, “...I don’t want everyone to think that I’m agreeing with his actions as general manager. I mean everyone knows something is wrong that I’ve been ‘on vacation’ for two weeks. They think either I’ve quit, or I’m being fired, but nobody wants to say the truth, so I’m gonna jump the gun. I mean there’s no way they’re gonna have me back. What am I supposed to walk in after a month’s vacation and say 'hey everybody what’s happening?'....Oh? No managers left?...Gee sorry.”

During this conversation I mentioned to Eric that Davidson’s lawyer had contacted me, and had said he talked to him as well, but told me Mr. Moynihan had been guarded. ”Well...they want sensational smoking gun stuff, and I don’t want to get involved with that...” he stated. “My contribution, if there is one, to this move by Davidson will be just an account of my own job harassment over the past month. I’ll give them what is public knowledge, that he fired everyone. And I’ll say how they were fired, and if they want to prove that he shouldn't be running a racetrack, well what‘s been happening there is irrational enough. They want me to talk about illicit drugs and firearms, and I’m not going to.”

I sensed Eric was completely overwhelmed by everything, and couldn’t really blame him for not wanting to risk life and limb by coming clean with what he knew or suspected about Joe, though I was curious about exactly what Eric did know.

I also wondered why Joe’s own partner knew about his drug use, but let him continue to function as a role model at Elan.

Eric said he felt that Davidson didn’t know what a long haul he might be getting into by taking Joe on, and mentioned that Davidson’s plan had been to get together and do something with his attorney after the sanction hearing the next day. But because of the loss of Karl and Don an emergency existed. “People are working there that aren’t even licensed or just marginal, and the place could shut down...“ Eric exclaimed, revealing that The United States Trotting Association had called Portland horseowner and lawyer, Dana Childs, in an attempt to figure out what in fact was going on at Scarborough Downs. “There’s a crisis out there...but if Davidson takes Joe to court a judge might say 'well what’s the problem the place is still running?'...but my point is that the track is not like a corner store . It may be still running, but incompetent, marginal people are filling in, and everyday is shaky. The place could close tomorrow, I mean what‘s it going to take to get some stability. There are 300 employees who will be out of a jobs and 2,000 horsepeople if it closes...I don’t understand why anyone needs smoking gun stuff. “ he finished.

As our conversation winded down, I asked Eric if his mind was really made up about the resignation letter. ”I planned on returning this week...“ he answered “...but Joe had Martha call me up and give me two more weeks vacation...I don’t know..." he finally sighed. ”I made the decision ten days ago that I never wanted to work for the guy again, regardless of whether things smooth over. The more I'm away from him I realize that his terror tactics are too hard to put up with. Its just not worth it.”

The next two days contained more terrifying vignettes that I probably was not privy to. More than three years later some of the principals involved like Linda Smeaton will still not talk about what when on during those days in May. Word from Eric at the time though was that John Campbell told him Linda (still living with Joe after she had been fired by him) was ‘absolutely terrified’ of being in the same house.

On the morning of Wednesday, May 28th Joe, Gerry Davidson, and attorneys Poulos, Campbell, and Bergen appeared before Judge Bailey Aldrich for a hearing. This was to determine if any sanctions were going to be imposed for the motions filed by Joe’s attorneys earlier that month leading to the postponement of the Key Bank trial. By then each of the three attorneys had his own counsel, and the Portland legal community was buzzing with news of this unusual proceeding. Many lawyers from the law practices in that area stopped by the courthouse out of curiosity. The courtroom was filled with lawyers on trial, lawyers representing other lawyers, and an assortment of curiosity seekers. Aldrich, had been designated by chief judge of the First Circuit of Appeals to preside over the sanctions hearing which Joe and his attorneys feared could end with the most stringent sanction of all--the dismissal of Joe's case against Key Bank.

The hearing that morning didn’t last long though because Joe’s new hireling, New York attorney, Jonathan Moore, asked Aldrich to seal from public view certain documents relating to Joe’s conversation with Poulos and Campbell. After he cited attorney client privilege Aldrich met Moore in his chambers and the hearing was continued until the next day.

Eric went to the courthouse that morning with his brother, but didn’t talk to Joe. But he did manage to hand John Campbell a copy of his resignation letter. When John gave Joe the sealed envelope, Joe ripped it up in little pieces without even bothering to read the narrative Eric had labored over. From all accounts Joe was in the foulest of moods that day, though he didn’t ‘explode’ in court as Gerry Davidson feared.

That night Joe went out to his racetrack and ordered Downs' employee Andy Woodin who programmed the tracks message board to post statements about harassment by Scarborough Police of Downs patrons. Some of Joe’s other messages included pot shots at Hank Burns, the harness racing columnist. At the track Joe also made sure his hired video crew tracked the officers' every move. He wanted to capture any violation of civil rights on tape for documentation in court.

About 8:30pm that evening there was a medical emergency in the track’s clubhouse. Apparently an elderly woman had fainted and EMTs had to be called. Arriving with them was Brad Buck who was finishing up his employment, after giving Martha his resignation letter which apparently Joe had been told about. When Joe saw the unconscious woman on the clubhouse floor being tended to by EMTs ushered in by Brad, he exploded. Convinced that the scene he was witnessing was a ‘sham,’ he stalked over to where the woman was lying on the floor and began screaming for her to get up. One observer who was there says the scene ”was absolutely bizarre. " Joe was waving his hands, screaming and swearing at her, and the sweat was pouring off him. He seemed totally detached from reality.”

After the woman was taken away, Joe turned his attention toward Brad Buck who remembers the scene as though it were yesterday because he says he’d never experienced anything quite like it before or since. He says: “Joe just came over and started screaming at me...He said 'what right do you have to make those accusations about me in your letter? I’m gonna sue you I’m gonna have you prosecuted. You’ve violated my civil rights. You take it back or I’m gonna take you to court.’ He was so irate I really thought he was going to hit me, I really did. And then he pointed to his table and said ‘see those people-those are my civil rights attorneys.’ I guess he had some big hearing on the bank case, and had some lawyers there from Connecticut. He said that if I wanted to ‘fuck around with the big boys’ he’d have his battery of attorneys after me. Anyway I said ‘Joe I’m not going to stand here and argue with you in front of all these people watching us. Either you want me here (through my notice date) or you don’t.‘ And he said ‘not only don’t I want you here till then, I want you off the track now‘ and I said Ok.” Brad said he noted the irony of Joe not being able to call security and have the chief of security ushered off his premises like so many others before him.

I left my house early on the morning of May 29th because I had scheduled radio ad production at a studio in Portland. I was there for about an hour when I got a call from Dan. He told me that Eric had called to let me know that John Campbell had told him I was going to be fired that day. I wondered when and how I was going to be terminated that day as Joe and his lawyers were already in court for the completion of the sanction hearing.

Appearing before the 78 year old Judge Aldrich, Joe’s attorneys argued that their recusal of Judge Selya was not a simple ploy to get the trial continuance Joe sought.

Later that morning I was called away from the production again by Theresa who was at Scarborough Downs. ”I just wanted to let you know that Joe is cancelling races tonight...“ she revealed, adding that Bobby Leighton had just told her to call all radio and TV stations and let them know that the races were being cancelled at Scarborough Downs for the first time ever due to ’harassment’ and announce that Joe was holding a public meeting in the clubhouse that night to outline how he was being harassed. “You’re still in charge of public relations so I thought you should know what I’m doing...“ she stated, though nobody had told her to call me.

After talking with Theresa I called Bobby Leighton and asked him why I had not been informed of a statement that was being issued to the press or of the public meeting Joe had scheduled. Bobby was unapologetic for not informing me, saying simply that he was “...just following orders from Joe.”

Radio and TV news that evening was full of stories both about Joe’s sanction hearing earlier in the day, and his decision to cancel a scheduled racing program—an unprecedented event (except for inclement weather) in Scarborough Downs’ 35 year history. Reports on the 6 o’clock news promised to keep viewers abreast of the developing events at Scarborough Downs, while also relating that Judge Aldrich had not made a decision on whether to impose sanctions on Ricci and his lawyers.

Hundreds of horse owners, trainers and drivers filed into Downs clubhouse early that evening along with members of the press and interested public. Stalking up to the podium which was surrounded with mikes from local TV and radio stations Joe began his performance. He was the quintessential victim, and he wanted to let the world, or at least the state of Maine know that he was being tortured by both the Scarborough police, and the Maine Harness Horsemen’s Association who the previous day had the audacity to write him a letter objecting to late night racing, and the recent firing of personnel. The MHHA had written in their letter: “We recognize that Scarborough Downs management is free to hire and fire its racing officials and executive personnel at will, but we fear that the recent wholesale changes present a serious risk of spilling over into the conduct of racing.”

Without addressing any specifics of the MHHA letter, he simply decried this horseman’s association as being “...tools of Lewiston Raceway.” He called for the dismissal of their board of directors, and said the letter they sent constituted "...a business interference with Scarborough Downs contractural relationship with horsemen.” He ranted about the actions of the Scarborough police, reinterpreting the events of the previous weeks, including the incident that resulted in the resignation of his own security chief.

“I’ve fought hard for you over the years...“ he told the horsemen saying they were not being represented by their association’s directors. “I hope you understand...“ he said, “...that I cannot operate a racetrack that is beneath the standards that I have set.” He announced that the track was officially for sale, and said his lawyers had filed a petition to dissolve his partnership with Gerry Davidson at Elan. After railing on and on, he suggested a closed door meeting with “...just the rank and file horsemen..." But before kicking the associations' directors and the press out of the room he launched an attack on the horseman’s association leadership saying: “I want to officially notify the MHHA that I intend to sue each and every one of you directors personally for interfering with my business and creating an environment of strife. I don’t want you on my racetrack.”

After the media and association leaders left the area, Joe changed his mind and agreed to reopen the track the next night and continue the season’s meet. Afterward he seemed pleased with himself. He had gotten the MHHA membership to bar their own elected officials from their meeting with him. He felt he could control the association members and with his bluff of shutting down, permanently weakened the association’s bargaining power.

Ironically, this man was still a candidate for governor who throughout his campaign had been criticizing businesses that engage in union busting tactics.

About 10pm that night I emerged from the shower to catch the tail end of a message left on my answering machine. It was from Martha Amesbury. Winding it back I heard the whole message delivered in an emotionless monotone: "Maura, this is Martha...I’m calling to let you know that you’re services are no longer required at Scarborough Downs..."

That night Joe reportedly narrowed his eyes, lowered his voice, and proclaimed to one of his lawyers: “The coup is complete."

FOR MANY OF YOU--YOU ARE ABOUT TO RECEIVE THE LAST CHAPTERS....IT IS HOPED THAT WE HAVE CREATED AN AWARENESS ABOUT THE PATHOLOGY OF INDIVIDUALS LIKE JOE RICCI....

BEWARE OF THOSE DUCKS IN A RAINCOAT IN THHE FUTURE OF YOUR LIVES...

TO THOSE OF YOU WHHO WERE CONSUMED BY OE AS WE WERE...WE ONLY HHOPE YOU ESCAPED IN TIME LIKE WE DID...

FOR THOSE OF YOU WO WERE IMPRISONED IN THE "RICCI EALITY" OF ELAN....OUR HEART-FELT EMPATHHY IS ALL WE HAVE....

NO WILL KNOW-LIKE YOU DO-WHAT IT'S LIKE TO MEET...

A DUCK IN A RAINCOAT...

REGARDS,

DAN BOSTDORF. PUBLISHER

MAURA CURELY, AUTHOR

~~~

Chapter Twenty Eight

"I'm a Roosevelt Democrat."

Joe kept a low profile during the summer of 1986. Still there were a few aftershocks from the tumultuous days in May.

On June 3rd Scarborough Downs ex-presiding judge, Richard Herman filed a $650,000 lawsuit for wrongful termination, seeking $125,000 to compensate for his losses, and $500,000 in punitive damages. He alleged that , in addition to improperly terminating him, Joe had ”falsely, recklessly and maliciously” impuned his integrity by implying that he was incompetent, dishonest, and unsuited for his job as presiding judge. (Herman, a lawyer, himself reportedly told others that he planned to beat Joe at his own game)

In the Democratic primaries held a week later Joe fared badly, finishing last in field of five with just three percent of the vote. Whether Joe would have done better had he not alienated his campaign staff, fired his management team at Scarborough Downs, been accused of judicial blackmail, and ranted and raved on the airwaves is unclear. But up until the primary day he contended that he was for the little guy, declaring: ” I‘m a Roosevelt Democrat." Yet in the end arch rival Jim Tierney became the party’s gubernatorial nominee.

Gerry Davidson continued to stay in touch . At first he assured Eric, Karl Jannotta and Don Knapton that it would be only a matter of time before they could be back to Scarborough Downs. But it soon became that apparent that his claims were unfounded. Everyone eventually realized that Joe was not going to relinquish his power to Gerry, and Gerry was not going to wrestle anything from Joe.

Gerry faded into the background. Having been Joe’s rather ghostlike partner for 17 years, he once again let Joe call the shots, content to silently share the profits. He knew that his union with his partner was often marred, but was nevertheless impressed with Joe’s instincts which had helped make them millions.

In July Senior Judge Bailey Aldrich, who presided at the sanction hearings in May, delivered his decree. He fined Joe and Gerry $50,000 for inappropriately attempting to recuse Judge Selya in order to get the trial postponed. ”A judge cannot be acceptable if he finds in your favor, but unqualified when he finds against you.” Aldrich said, calling it a “ classic heads- I -win, tails-you-lose.” In a 33-page report Aldrich also issued a reprimand to Joe’s attorney, Jim Bergen, saying he filed the recusal motion only after Selya declined to postpone the trial. He stated Bergen had been “grossly negligent, if not consciously over bearing..” But he observed that the actions of Joe’s new attorney (who showed up at the 11th hour) were "more misguided than truly mischievous.” Aldrich said the motion's "only purpose was to delay the trial, and that Joe Ricci was the instigator. Quoting Hamlet, Aldrich said: “In court desperate diseases are not to be relieved by desperate appliances.“

According to an insider at the time, Joe was non plussed by the lashing he received from the judge and observed that the $50,000 fine was simply “the price of doing business.” He reasoned that if he won millions when the case got to court, the sum would have been a prudent investment.

By the end of August, the case had not received another court date so Judge Selya (who earlier had intimated that Joe and his attorneys were scoundrels and charlatans when they successfully schemed a continuance) decided not to be redesignated the judge for another term. “My criminal docket is such that It will not permit me in the near term to the devote the necessary time to the case... “ he said.

Joe’s lawyers were understandably overjoyed, relieved that they would be given a different judge. Joe had won another round. His desperate recusal motion got him both a continuance and a new judge. He said the $50,000 that would be deducted from a multi-million dollar award was a paltry price to pay.

In October of 1986, 60 MINUTES kicked off its fall season on Columbus Day weekend with the story : Joe Ricci is a Marked Man . The piece contained none of the expose that Joe feared the previous spring when he wanted to cancel the CBS crew’s visit to Maine. Instead the segment was a public relation's dream. It portrayed Joe as a helpless person, who had been emotionally devastated by the cruel rumors about him.

The story opened with a shot of Joe and Linda frolicking with their dogs, and of Joe in his home office, as it described his tribulations with the bank. Most of the piece centered around Ed Bradley's interview with Joe who relayed how his reputation had been irreparably harmed because of the bank. He told Ed with a tremor in his voice, how mothers bring their children a little closer to them when they see him at a check out line in a supermarket, and how his life would never ever be the same.

Linda was also featured, revealing that Joe might start crying at the dinner table because of what the bank did. She also talked about how his relationship with his children has been destroyed because his sons heard the rumors that "their father kills people for a living."

Ed Bradley also was shown interviewing two ex-Elan residents who confirmed that they had been approached by investigators from the attorney general's office who asked about Joe. One of the young women said the investigator "made Joe out to look like a big, bad, horrible person." The other said the investigator made it seem like "people from Joe's organization" were watching her.

Also included were interviews with shoppers at the Maine Mall who confirmed that they thought there might be " something dishonest" about Joe Ricci. All this supported Joe's claims that the bank had destroyed his reputation in the community, causing him extensive financial losses and emotional distress.

No mention was made that possibly the public's perception could be the result of actual stories and investigations concerning Elan that occurred long before Joe Ricci's difficulties with the bank. Or was it Joe's ownership of a racetrack and his excessive lifestyle that caused people to have less than a wholesome impression of him?

The morning after the 60 MINUTES broadcast aired the Portland Newspapers ran a story in which Joe was quoted as saying he was glad the "truth was finally told." The following Sunday harness racing columnist Hank Burns noted that once and for all the myths about Joe Ricci had been laid to rest.

If Joe’s antics alienated folks before the show, after it aired many were forgiving. Even some of those who had been the object of his rage, were still seduced by the story they saw on the world’s most well known news show. That might have been because the portrait of Joe Ricci viewers were fed that night was a lot simpler and easier to understand, than the Joe Ricci they knew.

Dan Gearan, the former assistant general manager of Scarborough Downs who had been forced to resign his post in early June after the mass resignations and firings was one of the tens of millions of viewers who tuned in. Dan and his new wife Ginny had moved to Rhode Island where he took a job with a facility management company. “It was a career job...” Dan recalls: ”...but I left it to go back and work for Joe again." He says: "After seeing 60 MINUTES I started thinking that I sort of cut out on Joe, that he was under a lot of pressure with the lawsuit, and that's why he treated me so terribly."

Dan wrote Joe a letter and apologized. Later he met Llyod Johnson and was offered a job..Dan says "I liked Maine so I agreed to go back. It was a few weeks before I talked to Joe, and when I did I told him I thought he had a better worker then, and Joe told me that he would be better too." Dan says he had no idea what he was getting back into, and should have been less naive the second time around.

On March 3,1987 the case of Joseph Ricci and Gerald Davidson et al VS Key Bank finally went to trial in Portland, Maine. Once again Joe Ricci was front page news and the lead story on the nightly newscasts. Everybody was interested in his $41 million lawsuit against one of the state's largest banks.

A pool of nearly 100 potential jurors was called into the federal courthouse in Portland from which the six member civil jury and three alternates were chosen. James L. Watson from New York, a judge on the U.S. International Court of Trade, presided over the trial after having been specially assigned to the case by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Watson was a folksy judge given to humorous comments that relieved the tension in the courtroom. He was also black, which was interesting considering Joe was charging the bank with discrimination towards him..

The trial proceedings were complex, involving over four dozen witnesses and extensive exhibits. But the claim itself was fairly simple. Joe and Gerry were alleging that the bank’s termination of their credit violated state and federal laws. They claimed that the actions of the bank, caused them millions of dollars in losses at Scarborough Downs, Elan, and their Williamsburg Apartment complex.

A loss of more than $3.5 million in Elan profits with a projection of $17 million in losses by the year 2000 were alleged by a New Hampshire economist, Alan McCausland. He was paid $70,000 to compute a schedule of economic losses, and fly to Maine to be an expert witness. This consultant who specializes in estimating damages in court cases also testified Scarborough Downs lost $600,000 in revenues because the track was unable to pave its parking lot, or install a new betting system, because the bank would not grant a $125,000 loan, and damaged Ricci's reputation.

The alleged losses at Elan were said to stem from a decrease in enrollment due to Joe's damaged reputation.

But bank lawyers strongly disagreed that the bank's actions were responsible for any decline in enrollment at Elan. Instead they cited poor management, and fallout from the 1975 Illinois investigation by the Division of Child and Family Services. (DCFS) (The lawyers could have countered with the scathing indictment of Elan by Massachusetts investigators that same year)

The lawyers for Joe and Gerry blunted this attack, by introducing the 'white washed' 1975 Maine ODAP report into evidence. They maintained that four states--Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island--totally vindicated Elan and in fact praised Elan in this report. They also produced an expert witness from Illinois who testified Elan had a 90% success rate.

The bank's attorey's could also have introduced the damning report regarding Elan done in 1981 by the child advocate's office in Rhode Island. It substantiated that there was no basis whatsoever for Elan's inflated claims of 90% success with its residents.

By attributing Elan's declining population in 1982 to the Illinois report six years earlier, the bankers missed the mark. They should have used an expert who could explain how states are prohibited from sending their kids to Elan because Elan has been found to violate a child's civil rights. (This irony would have been worth pondering for the jury, considering that Joe's $41 million lawsuit was for civil rights violations)

Joe and Gerry’s suit also charged the bank with intentional infliction of emotional distress on Joe, and paraded witnesses who supported Joe's contention that the bank nearly destroyed his psyche.

In a sworn pre-trial deposition Linda Smeaton testified that she and Joe hadn’t had sexual relations for 11 months and that their love life had suffered because of Joe’s anxiety following the actions of the bank in December of 1981.

Betty Lockwood, a therapist who said she treated Joe from 1978 to 1985, told the jury that when she began seeing Joe he had been catapulted into “phenomenal success” in the business world, but that he didn’t have much experience in life, with role models or education and his defenses were “ pretty primitive” when he was attacked. She further told the jury that "Joe was abandoned by his parents as an infant and left in the care of Italian immigrant grandparents who didn’t read or write and attempted to do their job, but in their ignorance often treated him harshly.”

Like so many others, Betty Lockwood, didn’t question what Joe had told her. By blindly believing his false story about being raised by immigrants who could neither read nor wrote, and repeating it to the jury, she perpetuated the myth.

Juror Elaine Curry, a 44 year old real estate broker from York, Maine said later that it was Ms. Lockwood's testimony that impressed her most, and made her feel compassion for Joe..."Where you come from is important, and hearing how the grandparents who raised him couldn't speak English and even make a bus transfer to go see him when he was in the hospital was terrible." she says. "It must have been awful for him to be in the hospital after his car accident as a teenager, and have no visitors. (Joe's aunt Josephine "Chubby" from Port Chester, New York recalls that his grandmother who spoke Italian, perfect English and Yiddish visited Joe every day when he was recuperating at the Burke's Rehabilitation center in White Plains)

Under questioning by Joe’s attorneys Ms. Lockwood also told the jury that Joe had ”gotten hooked on heroin, but went to a treatment facility where he got off drugs and learned that he had "a great deal of intelligence and a great deal of anger at having been abandoned.” She said that Joe learned he was capable of helping others with drug problems and he began on a quiet level doing that as a staff member in a community rehab center.

Ms. Lockwood testified that she attempted to help Joe with some underlying personal problems which included: a lack of self esteem, depression, problems with impulse control, paranoia, and difficulty in interpersonal relationships. She said that after the bank’s actions their sessions had two major themes: ”the stress from the slur on his character by the allegations from the bank,” and “the very terrible financial stress he experienced from having no credit line.” Under cross-examination from Burns, Lockwood, conceded that Joe was phobic, paranoid, jealous, depressed, felt threatened, was anxious, pressured, attacked on all sides, angry, suspicious, feared for his safety, was a hypochondriac, and suicidal before the bank’s actions. She also admitted: “He has a paranoid personality.”

Ms. Lockwood’s description of the fragile state of her patient’s mental state came just two days after Joe’s partner Gerry Davidson testified that Elan had made him and Joe millionaires. According to court documents a 1982 financial statement showed that Gerry had a net worth of $2.5 million including $350,000 in bonds and securities, and $400,000 in mortgage free real estate. The salaries for just Gerry and Joe in 1981 were $433,984 and climbed to $757,984 in 1982 (the year they were refused the $125,000 loan and were allegedly destitute.) In 1983 their combined salaries dipped to $603,200, but rose again in 1984, 1985 and 1986 to $620,537 and $621,113 and $658,424. In addition to their salaries both men took large loans from Elan. In 1981 there was $438,168 in outstanding loans to Joe and Gerry, and this amount rose to $694,522 in 1986.

In telling the story of how he met Joe, Gerry unapologetically acknowledged Elan’s astounding success. He told the jury about his own impressive medical credentials and of his meeting with Joe Ricci in the early 1970’s whom he said he found to be energetic thoughtful and intelligent. He said that Joe was “...certainly a lot better than the Harvard Medical students I was teaching who were supposed to be the creme de la creme.” He told the jury that Joe was once a troubled youth himself who went through a drug rehabilitation program and subsequently "...was not only Elan’s executive director, but the role model for students...Everybody knows that Joe started out with nothing and made it... “ he said. Explaining the social structure at Elan he stated: “All societies have a chain of command. At Elan Joe Ricci is the general.”

Whether or not any juror or parent of an Elan resident, or other healthcare professional questioned someone with Joe’s abnormal personality being the role model for troubled adolescents is worth pondering.

The trial went on the entire month of March and into April. Each new day brought a parade of witnesses and spectators into the Federal Courthouse, and reports of sparring among the lawyers on each side, who with the exception of Poulos and Campbell, hailed from Boston and New York. Harold Hagopian, the court reporter, recalls that in his many years in court, he's never witnessed such a drama, and looking back says the Maine jury didn't know quite what to make of such savvy litigators. He believes that they were simply overwhelmed.

Most of the jury comprised of clerks , a secretary, a mechanic ,and other working people had never been exposed to anyone like Joe Ricci before, and admittedly had difficulty following the claims of such enormous financial loss. Some had never before set foot in a courtroom .

One former employee who sat in at the trial says " Joe gave the performance of a lifetime. He was the underdog, the self made Horatio Alger hero who had been exploited by bankers born with silver spoons in their mouths. He played the role to the hilt--was charismatic as hell...De Niro couldn't have done it better."

Taking the stand Joe expressed a gamut of emotion from pensive sadness to righteous indignation. At one point he exploded telling bank lawyer, Thomas Burns ( a silver haired Bostonian with little charisma) that he " had total disdain for him," and he asked Watson not to let Burns stand beside him while he was in the witness box.

Many observers felt that Burns made the mistake of coming on too harshly to Joe, and then smiling smugly to the jury, and of intimidating Joe's motherly therapist. He also had a knack for talking pedantically, even instructing the jury to " remember your Latin."

"Burns played right into Joe's hands..." says one spectator: "He came across as abrasive and nasty. He just wasn't likeable. I think that damaged the bank's case..."

Joe's lead counsel, Robert Axelrod, a stocky Connecticut lawyer (Bergen seemed to disappear after the sanction hearing) was more down to earth . His straight shooting no nonsense approach complemented Joe's persona. Referring to Burns, he says "The more he got on his high horse, the more I got on my low horse, and that was exactly my plan.... If you say it was the Latin that got him, I think you may be right. It was the Latin that got him."

Axelrod may have have acted folksy, but Joe's legal team was matched dollar for dollar with the opposing counsel. In addition to Robert Axelrod, Dick Poulos, and John Campbell, there were two other Connecticut attorneys, M. Hatcher Norris and John Peters, all helping him and Gerry break the bank.

Near the final leg of the trial in early April lawyers for both sides had lengthy discussions in Watson's chambers about the admission of evidence concerning Joe's use of cocaine.

After Judge Watson allowed bank lawyers to raise the issue, Davidson testified that he referred Joe to a fellow psychiatrist in 1984. He said that it was the lawyers who asked him to help get Joe off the cocaine because they were concerned it might be a factor in the lawsuit. When Burns asked him if he was concerned that Joe's use of cocaine was putting "Elan and your fortune at risk..." Davidson simply replied "Yes," and professed not to know how much or how long Joe had been using cocaine, how much money he spent on drugs, or how long he was under treatment at the psychiatrist to which he had referred him.

Burns also asked Davidson about his prescribing the painkiller Talwin for Joe when it was claimed it could cause drug dependency, hallucinations, anxiety and other side effects. Out of the presence of the jury Burns stated that Joe has been using Talwin "constantly since 1981"

But Axelrod said that Davidson prescribed Talwin only in 1981 and 1982, not in 1984 when Joe was using cocaine. (Joe's ex-wife Sherry says Joe was getting Talwin from Gerry as early as 1970)

Axelrod objected to Burns remarks, asserting that Talwin is a legitimate pain killing drug, and it had been legitimately prescribed for Joe's problems stemming from his auto accident as a teenager.

At any rate Judge Watson did not allow any information regarding Joe's 'addiction' to Talwin to be heard by the jury because of its prejudicial effect. This angered Burns because he wanted to demonstrate Joe's lack of credibility when he testified that his problems with the bank started him using drugs again.

After Gerry made the revelations about Joe's cocaine use, Joe was matter of fact, saying " Why fight it, it's true... If I were an alcoholic I'd have been in a bar." Joe further stated: " I think it's interesting that I've been drug free for 18 years and only had a problem after they cut my credit off."

He later testified that he used cocaine in 1984, and "...four or five times..." after quitting in September of 1984.

After 24 days of testimony both Axelrod and Burns geared up for their closing arguments leaving the results of the seven week trial in the hands of the jurors.

Burns characterized the bankers' actions as prudent, based upon the information they received from a most reliable source-the FBI. Axelrod described Joe as a self made man who was the victim of a "dirty little slimy rumor." Axelrod said that Joe Ricci: "...started on the street and (apparently) had no business pulling himself up by his bootstraps." He explained that Joe's $1 million line of credit was more than a credit line declaring: "It was a symbol of his success...It was a symbol of his acceptance in the community."

After the closing arguments the jurors were given instructions from Watson, and asked to decide whether the bank should be held liable for defamation, the intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, and violation of the federal Equal Opportunity Act.

As soon as the jury had left the room, Joe demanded that his lawyers make a motion for a mistrial because the jury was not told the net worth of Key Banks. Watson quickly dismissed this motion, stating that he would provide that information to the jurors only if they decided that punitive damages were in order.

On Monday, April 13th, after nearly three days and 17 1/2 hours of deliberation the jury was ready with a verdict. When Joe got the word he rushed to the courthouse. Dressed in jeans, a sweatshirt and suede jacket he seemed calm, but his exuberance grew as he heard the findings of the jury who awarded him, Gerry, and their companies a whopping $15 million in compensatory damages -- the largest award ever given in the state of Maine.

The jurors found the bank to have been in violation of the Equal Opportunity Act by not giving an adequate explanation of the decision to terminate credit, and found it also guilty of breach of contract, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The initial award was broken down to include $7 million for Joe personally, $2 million for Gerry, and $6 million for their businesses--Golden Ark Enterprises. The jury said it also found in favor of punitive damages, and planned to decide the following day how much to award .

Outside on the court house steps, surrounded by television cameras, microphones, and reporters, Joe was ecstatic. He had his Stetson hat pulled down over one eye, and looked dramatically different from the businessman in expensive suits that had been seen at the seven week trial. He told the press that the verdict was " a victory for civil rights." Looking straight into the camera he promised to use some of his newly acquired millions to set up a center for constitutional rights, and a non profit weekly newspaper focusing on civil rights. "I think the people of Maine made a statement about rights..." he said, later adding that the bank's action"...cost me more than they could ever pay me." He explained that one of the costs was the relationship with his two sons that he hoped to restore.

The next day the jury awarded an additional $12.5 million in punitive damages, but Judge Watson set aside that award. He explained that he didn't feel the plaintiffs proved by "clear and convincing" evidence that the bank acted with malice when it terminated credit based upon the false rumor from the FBI.

Joe was not upset about having the additional millions taken away. He and his lawyers hoped to use that amount as leverage. Axelrod said his team would not appeal the loss of the punitive damages, if the bank would not appeal the initial award which it said it planned to do.

Axelrod was dramatic when addressing the jury before the punitive amount was awarded. He urged them to send " ...a shining beacon from this very room that's going to tell the banking world that they can't do this anymore." He said that what happened to Joe and Gerry could happen to anyone but most people would not have the "...courage, gumption and finances to stand up to the wrong use of authority."

***

In the weeks after the trial there were more motions on both sides, but one made by Burns is worthy of note. He requested that the jury's verdict be set aside claiming insufficient evidence, and stated that Joe committed perjury in giving testimony that he used cocaine only four or five times since 1984. In a subsequent television interview after the trial Joe admitted he used cocaine during his gubernatorial bid.

Learning of Burns charge of perjury, John Campbell stated: "This is one of the most outrageous pleadings...His television interview was consistent with his testimony that he used cocaine four of five times since 1984." Campbell also stated: "Joe was about as open as you can possibly be on the witness stand about that."

Yet some former employees state emphatically that Joe used cocaine several times a week in 1985 alone, and frequently in 1986 as well.

Despite its initial assurances that it would indeed appeal the jury's award, a little more than three and a half months after the verdict the bank chose to settle....The negotiated terms were $10 million cash, and a $5 million interest free loan.

Now, four years after the trial Joseph Ricci VS Key Bank, the bank's trial attorney, Thomas Burns, is still incredulous. He says: " (The bank) settled against my will, against my advice. It was insane to settle that case because it wouldn't have stood up five minutes on appeal." He further states that "Judge Watson should have set the verdict aside but he didn't do it...the bank panicked and went ahead and threw money at him." Joe also made a personal call to Victor Riley, chairman of Key Bank, headquartered in Albany, New York, and Burns says: "The bank was concerned about the post judgement interest (an appeal would have taken at least a year) and they were going through mergers and didn't want the debt on the books...There were all sorts of problems."

But he emphatically states: "Joe Ricci brainwashed everyone in southern Maine for years about that case. It was a total, utter miscarriage of justice...They never had a dime's worth of damage."

Reflecting upon that case now Watson says it was one of his most memorable. Asked whether he was surprised by the jury's verdict, he hesitates for a moment, chuckles, then simply says "Yes."

Watson has been a judge for 25 years, and has an impressive background. He grew up in Harlem, was wounded serving in an all black army in World War II, and was vice president of NAACP in New York. When he was in Portland presiding over the trial he endeared jurors and court spectators, with his dry sense of sometimes self deprecating humor, and quick wit. Despite his stature as a federal judge who had dealings with LBJ and the Kennedys, Watson does not seem impressed with his status.

Talking via telephone from his Manahattan office, he is candid, but careful in recalling his perceptions of the trial, and Joe Ricci.

Some of his feelings about Joe Ricci whom he considers " ...a very interesting man..." were not for attribution. But speculating about the reasons for the jury's decision to award such an enormous sum in the case, he says: "I think it was the old parable of David and Goliath. "

Talking about both the $15 million award for compensatory damages, and the subsequent $12 million awarded for punitve damages he emphasizes that he immeditely set aside the latter, because it was not legally correct. Asked why he didn't set aside the compensatory award he explains his perception of his role as a judge. He declares: "I don't want to substitute my judgement. They (jurors) are the judges of the facts. I am only the judge of the law. If that's not the case, what is the point of having a jury?"

When asked if it would be fair to inquire how he would have voted had he been a member of the jury, he chuckles lightly, and says: "No...it wouldn't be." He reveals that he "...wanted to settle that case, and it could have been settled in the early stages of the trial for $2 million, but the bank wouldn't agree to the terms."

Proceeding to trial and convincing the jurors of the crimes perpetrated against him made Joe and Gerry millions of dollars richer than Elan had already made them.

Talking to some of the jurors is enlightening. Few thought that Joe really would get that much or even realized that he indeed got the money. They believed the matter would be appealed and drag on. They hadn't followed post trial accounts in the press.

Ironically , it was their lack of knowledge about current affairs that made these people acceptable jurors. Only those who hadn't seen 60 MINUTES or followed accounts of the gubernatorial race were chosen so as to be unprejudiced...This raises questions about the ability of such citizens to make an informed judgement on complex issues such as this multi-million dollar case.

Juror Elaine Curry who says she felt compassion for Joe during the trial confirms that deciding on awarding damages was hard. "We weren't accountants or big business executives. " she says. " Most of us were average citizens who never dealt with that kind of money before. It was very tough to figure everthing out because it was all so detailed."

Chapter Twenty Nine

"I'm a fuckin' animal..."

Four years after securring a stunning victory that brought with it an amazing sum of money, Joe Ricci doesn't appear to have stopped his previous pattern of behavior towards those around him.

Police complaints from a former lover and two ex-employees at Scarborough Downs allege instances of verbal abuse and vicious threats.The most recent complaint filed in the fall of 1990 was forwarded from the Scarborough police to the Cumberland County district attorney's office for possible indictment on a criminal threatening charge, but the matter was dropped. (It should be noted that the district attorney's office that handled this is headed by Stephanie Anderson, Joe's former attorney)

Accounts of Joe Ricci's actions since his historic victory tell a frightening saga of continued drug abuse, and aberrant behavior. He reneged on his promises to use the millions the jury awarded to start a non-profit paper, and set up a center for consitituional law to help people with civil rights violations.

Despite an article in a December 1987 issue of the NEW YORK TIMES stating that a center was set already operating in South Portland, and a paper was in the works, neither ever got off the ground.

Former publisher of MAINE TIMES and free lance writer John Cole recalls how he read about Joe's plans to start a paper, and contacted him. Cole says he developed personnel lists, a budget, article profiles, and numerous other elements for the pending publication, and agreed to do it for little money because he said he realized if he made it work, the pay off would come later. He even hired an artist to design a banner for the new publication to be called MAINSTAY. Cole recalls that: "Joe wanted a populist publication that would address things like day care, fair housing etc for working people."

After just six weeks though, Joe became less accessible , and a series of scheduled meetings were cancelled just minutes before they were supposed to take place. Eventually all his calls to Joe were unanswered. Cole says he was frustrated and decided one day "...to make one last effort to reach Joe and get the paper off the ground." He says he got in his car, and drove to Joe's house, but he wasn't home. He told his housekeeper that he wanted to at least talk to Joe. But Cole says as he drove home he said to himself "That's the end of that," and he was right.

Joe never called him again, never said he was sorry he changed his mind, and wasted his time. "I read things about him in the press, and I always wondered what his life was like..." Cole recalls observing: " He said he really wanted to do the paper, but I wasn't sure he really knew what he wanted."

Two people who felt the bitter sting of their dealings with Joe for the second time in their lives were Dan Gearan and Eric Moynihan. They both returned to work at Scarborough Downs during the summer of 1987 a couple of months after the Key Bank trial.

Like Dan Gearan, Eric believed that Joe would be kinder with the pressures of the trial behind him, especially since he emerged victorious.

After resigning from the track in 1986 Eric had gone to work for Michael Liberty, a prominent developer, but preferred the excitement of the racetrack. When Joe approached him,and suggested he get back into the harness racing industry Eric finally agreed.

" Joe told me he was sorry for what he had done to me, and I couldn't believe he actually apologized..." recalls Eric. "He told me he hadn't known who his friends were, that he had acted badly because he couldn't trust anyone at that time and I believed him. I thought the guy had come around. His eyes were clear, and he was different. I figured he was off drugs, and I guess he was straight for the whole trial."

Eric was offered a three to five year contrct, at the same $40,000 he was making when he left. 1But when he got his first paycheck, he learned he was getting just $30,000. When he mentioned it to Joe, he was told it was a 'budgetary problem' and he was promised a $5,000 bonus at the end of the season.

I realized half way through the season that I made a serious mistake..." he says explaining that Joe wouldn't give him any authority to do anything. " I was naive enough to think Joe changed and that he really wanted me back to do a good job. But then when I saw the parties, the heavy drinking and the drugs...It was just the same bad scene all over again." (During a night of heavy drinking Joe reportedly turned to one Scarborough Downs employee and declared " I hired Eric back so I could destroy him.")

“He was much worse after he won his case against the bank, and got all those millions..." observes April Bishop, who at the time was a 19 year old receptionist at the track with whom Joe had become intimately involved. ” He thought everybody wanted some of his money...“she says, explaining that Joe felt obligated to buy new BMW’s for Sharon Terry and Alice Quinn. Joe had also promised to give a large sum to Linda Smeaton.

Less than two weeks after Joe finally signed a settlement agreement with the bank on July 31st, 1987, Linda Smeaton, (whom Joe often described as his fiancee) was in a serious auto accident. It happened when she was on the way home from Scarborough Downs at 2am on the morning of August 12th. Enroute she was hit head on by a driver in a pick up truck who died from injuries in the accident. Linda, suffered severe leg injuries, and probably would have died as well, if not for the air bag in her Mercedes.

April observes that Joe and Linda had not been getting along at all before the accident, that they barely talked. But that fateful night Joe, Linda, April and a group of others had been drinking in the clubhouse lounge after the races. She says that: "Joe kissed Linda goodbye and even walked her to her car which was very unusual because he hardly ever kissed her in public...I wouldn’t say Linda was drunk, but personally I think she had a good buzz on...“ recalls April who also says: “She drank two bottles of wine by herself, but you know Linda she could put away the wine.”

April says that a while later she, Joe, and others were still partying in the upper club when a Downs' security guard appeared and told Joe that he had a call from the hospital. April ended up taking the call, and she and Joe immediately went over to see Linda who was still suffering from shock. April says: “ Linda didn’t want to see Joe at first because she thought she looked a mess...” Linda eventually had surgery, and ended up spending weeks in the hospital and months in rehabilitation.

During this time April says she spent a lot of time at Joe’s house, talking and listening to music. Though she admits her relationship with Joe had been intimate, she contends that sex was not a major factor. She says she didn’t think Joe was very sexual, that she thought he really preferred a non sexual relationship with a woman which was Ok with her, because she had been fascinated by his mind.

In candid (but sometimes halting conversation) April, a wholesome looking young woman from northern Maine outlines her own devastating relationship with Joe which lasted about a year.

“I would have done anything for him...” she says “ ...I loved him more than anything in the world. I totally abandoned my family. I didn’t see them for a year and a half. I didn’t dare leave (the area) because I thought he needed me or nobody else could do my job, or else something would go wrong if I left and he’d blame me...I stayed glued to him... I had never been more loyal to any one person in my life.”

April says she would often go over to Blackstrap Road when Linda wasn’t there, though, Linda knew about their relationship. Sometimes she and Joe would go to Sheraton Inn for drinks, or take walks around the barn area at the track. “I wasn’t dating anybody else at the time... “ she says, “...He wanted a romantic relationship, but only when he was in the mood. But at all times he always wanted me to be in love with him.”

After Joe made his multi-million dollar settlement with the bank he gave April $4,000. (She was earning $5.50 an hour) But just a few days later he suspended her from her job for three weeks without pay insisting she was having an affair with Eric. This happened following the President’s Pace race which was held on the 1987 Labor Day weekend.

“I had been working about three weeks in a row without a day off...” remembers Eric, explaining that everyone was absolutely exhausted. "Many employees had been putting in 12 hour days with no extra pay... I don’t even remember what my kids looked like, and I was just anxious to get home and sleep that night. ” he recalls.

But he says that after the track handled a half a million dollars Joe started inviting people up to the lounge, and asked April to order about 20 pizzas. About 100 mutuel workers, cocktail waitresses, and other employees ended up in the clubhouse bar eating and drinking.

Eric says: " Joe was in a good mood, and stood up in front of everybody and pulled my hand up in the air and announced ‘ this is the guy that made this day possible.’" He says it was about 9:30pm and he was just ready to go home, but Joe was throwing the party, so he couldn't leave.

Eric says: "Joe suddenly disappeared and a little while later came back up , and was so drugged up he could hardly communicate and said he was going home."

Eric says Joe told him to let the party go until 11pm and then close up. "We had so much money to count and paperwork to do that night that it wasn’t until about 11:30pm that I finally sat down and had my first drink...”he recalls.

April hadn't planned on attending the post race party in the clubhouse lounge, but Dan Gearan’s wife, Ginny, had brought her down a beer, and suggested she just come up for a drink after she finished her work.

Then at about 11:45pm a security guard appeared telling her Joe was on the phone . She took the call at her desk and was shocked to hear his angry voice. Joe said "I’m gonna blow you and Eric right outta the water..." When she asked him what he meant he just repeated himself, and demanded to talk to Eric.

"I was shaking, and my stomach was so sick "...she recalls.

Joe accused Eric of having an afair with April and said he’d been watching Sports Overtime (A viewer call in show on a local TV station) and that the two had made a call trying ot make the track look foolish. He told Eric he didn’t want either of them to come back to work.

Recalling the incident in a separate interview from April, Eric is still incredulous. He says: "Without trying to sound overly dramatic I broke downat Joe's attitude...I just hung up the phone, and went outside and sat on the stairs. I had been there for three weeks solid, and was so tired I couldn’t keep my head up. I had put so much into that day, and it was such a success. It was the first time a Maine track ever handled half a million dollars in one day. Earlier in the evening Joe had congratulated me in front of everyone, and then to have him call me up two hours later and threaten to blow me out of the water, and then tell me not to come back to work...I was just so upset I had a security guard drive me home...Besides that, I considered him a physical threat. I pictured the guy at home with his house full of guns, drinking and on drugs.”

Eric says that he decided nevertheless to go in to work the next day, hoping it would blow over. It eventually did all blow over though Joe wouldn’t talk to him until about two weeks later when he matter of factly admitted his allegations about him and April, having an affair, and conspiring a call to the program had been untrue.

April says Joe called her at work the following afternoon and said he was on his way to the track. She remembers: "He called this big meeting and he was wild. He drove up himself in his jeep, jumped over the wire fence, and went running up the stairs. Then we all were ordered in the conference room, and he started yelling at everybody, saying they had to get their shit together or be out of jobs next year. Everybody was nervous and blown away because the day before had been such a success. He kept pacing and dragging on his cigarette, and looked awful. He told everyone there was just 21 days left to the season, and he was deciding who was coming back next year, and people had better shape up. Then he turned to me and said... 'I guess you're staying on for the winter... but I want you to take the next 21 days off, because I don’t want to see your face for a while, and neither does anyone else around here.'"

After the meeting ended, April says she went out to her desk, and Bobby Leighton and a security guard were there waiting for her to clear out her things. She said she was so humiliated. She got in her car and doesn’t remember driving home. But when she got there she burst into tears, and called Debbie, Eric’s wife with whom she was friendly. “During those three weeks I was suspended I was absolutely miserable. I was so hurt... “ April reveals, saying she couldn’t sleep and drank constantly. She never heard a word from Joe during this time.

During the end of September she went back to work, and Joe came in. "He was in a fantastic mood and he walked in told me ’ you look beautiful,’ gave me a big hug and a kiss, and acted like nothing had ever happened...” But later that afternoon he cornered her in the parking lot. when she was on her way home.

“He was waiting for me by my car...” she remembers, and he looked really angry. "We took a walk by the fence and he said ‘listen, if you’re gonna do that shit, just take it in my apartment.’ Then he said ‘Listen I’ve heard it from everybody around here...It really makes me sick, you’ve really pissed me off’...I said what are you talking about, and then he started rattling off names of guys I supposedly had sex with right in the open in the clubhouse...I couldn’t believe it. I said Joe what are you talking about, I haven’t done anything with anybody, but he was convinced. It really hurt that he didn’t believe me. ”

April says that Joe wouldn’t talk to her for awhile, and then one day out of the blue called up and suggested she come over to his house after work and share a couple of bottles of champagne. She says she went over, and brought the matter up regarding his accusations abouther, and he told her not to worry about it, that he never really believed them anyway. The topic was closed.

April says she and Joe eventually put that incident behind them, and through that winter of 1987 became close again. Meanwhile Joe’s actions towards other Scarborough Downs employees were as erratic, and unpredictable as ever.

During the end of 1987 Eric Moynihan, Dan Gearan, Martha Amesbury, and Steve Leclair all felt the extreme pressures. “He became so suspicious of me then it was scary...” says Eric, "...He wouldn’t talk to me and he and a security guard walked around with me to every opening in the facility and locked it with a key lock, and then we put a chain on every door." Eric says Joe developed a story that someone was caught at midnight outdoors near the toteboard with a five gallon can of gas.

Shortly thereafter controller Steve Leclair was fired, and Joe told everyone that he had embezzled thousands of dollars from the company, and systematically purged the computer to cover his crime. Consequently employees who had been waiting for their end of the season bonuses were put on hold. Yet everyone familiar with the incident says that no crime or systematic purging ever took place.

Dan Gearan (who helped develop the track’s software) contends that Steve LeClair simply got in over his head, and became overwhelmed by Joe’s demands. Martha (who had been a key witness for Joe during his bank case) had like the others much of her power stripped away during the summer of 1987 when Joe , fresh from his victory was more arrogant than ever. She had been told to stay away from the track, and Steve’s work load became greater.Both Dan and Eric say that Joe used to grill Steve unmercifully that summer during meetings in the conference room.

Eric says that Steve tried to come in and give Joe accurate answers, but Joe kept hammering at him so Steve, relented and told Joe what he wanted to hear. He observes that Steve eventually lost control of everything, and nearly lost his mind. After Steve was fired Joe told everyone who would listen that Steve was some kind of criminal who had purged the computer records to cover his crimes.

Yet Dan Gearan says that Steve was meerly overworked, and didn't fully understand the software system he was using.

After Steve was fired, he applied for unemployment compensation benefits, and when an interim controller employee filled out a questionaire from the employment office simply stating that Steve: " ...had been relieved of his duties..." Joe's lawyers, Stephanie Anderson and Claudia Sharon were livid recalls Gearan who says they didn't want Joe to have to pay unemployment compensation. " The employee quit after Joe chastized him for not writing "embezzlement" as the cause for Steve's termination.

Soon after Steve's departure Joe enlisted the help of a team of accountants from Connecticut which he flew up to Maine in his private plane. Eric says it was weird that Joe had to go to Connecticut for accountants, and surmises that maybe he didn’t trust anyone in the state. About six people would be flown up on Monday and stay overnight at the Sonesta Hotel in Portland through Wednesday night, and then be flown back to Connecticut. This apparently went on for a few weeks while Joe attempted to track down the money he believed had been stolen from him. Meanwhile Eric and the others had to forfeit their offices at the track, which were taken over by the team who were fed lobster, and catered lunches.

One of the members of this Connecticut accounting firm, Greg Batterson, became the track controller reportedly lured away from his old firm by an offer of a $100,000 salary from Joe.

Observers say, that Greg is similar to Steve as he desperately strives to please Joe, smoking packs and packs of cigarettes, and drinking endless cups coffee, often forgetting to eat.

During the winter of 1987 Joe was also busy deciding what to do with the $15 million he secured from Key Bank. Linda Smeaton left Blackstrap Road and attended spas in the south where she got therapy for her serious leg injuries. Joe took several trips himself to Arizona and Texas to look into starting another Elan in a warmer climate. He also went to Hollywood to see about getting a movie made about his life...He'd come back from these trips with stories of having talked to Martin Sorsese, and Clint Eastwood...

In March of 1988 Joe offered April Bishop a promotion for the upcoming season at Scarborough Downs. He told her he wanted her to be in charge of group functions held at the track during the races. Along with this promotion he said he was going to buy her a new car,telling her to order a loaded red Mazda RX 7. "At first Joe said he was going to pay for the whole thing but then decided he was just going to give me $2,000 for the down payment..." April recalls,“...that meant I had to finance $18,000, but Joe said he was going to increase my salary from $5.50 an hour to $400 a week, and told me I had nothing to worry about, so I thought I had nothing to worry about. “

She was excited about her new job and image. After her raise and new car she also got her first credit card, and charged $1,300 for new clothes. She didn’t really know what Joe had in mind for the sales and marketing effort, but was determined to do a good job and succeed.

"When I was earning $5.50 an hour I had been working many 13 hour days, and never getting any overtime, but I never complained...“she recalls. She thought the promotion was the result of having paid "all those dues."

Joe took her to the Sheraton Inn for drinks, and they discussed her new position. “He told me we were getting started really late (with the group sales effort,) and that it was his fault... “ she explains. “He said ' I’m not going to hold it against you if we don’t do well this year. Just do the best you can do, and we’ll take from there...’ then he said that in the fall he was planning on starting another Elan in Florida, and that we’d go down there together, and leave everything behind us.”

But less than two weeks later, Joe instructed Bobby Leighton to fire April. She was never given any reason for her termination, and Joe wouldn’t discuss it. She was suddenly left with no money for rent, her credit card bill, or payments on the shiny new red Mazda Joe had told her to buy. While she was looking for a new job that summer, her car was repossessed, and she was left without any car at all, having used her old vehicle as part of the Mazda down payment.

***

When the Scarborough Downs racing season opened in May of 1988 Joe was reportedly using cocaine frequently. Eric couldn’t believe that he had returned to work for Joe just a year ago thinking he had changed, and feared what lay ahead.

Joe had begun to do things at the track, that Eric found alarming. He brought in Elan staff like Sharon Terry, Marty Kruglik a former resident, and Alice Quinn, and endowed them with positons of authority, though they knew absolutely nothing about harness racing, or the daily operations of a race track.

Joe also made dramatic changes in the handling of money.

For many years there had been a secure money room behind the mutuel line that contained a huge safe with alarm systems. Cash was counted and stored there before armed guards came and transferred the money to the bank each morning after the races. But in early 1988 Joe decided to no longer use the money room, and the existing cash handling procedures. Instead all the money was transferred to the administrative offices on the second floor of the clubhouse, and only Joe, Linda , Sharon, and Alice had access to the area after the races while the cash was being counted.

He changed procedures regarding collection of money from all the concessions as well, demanding that receipts were turned in after every race. On one occasion an elderly woman, who had been working at the track for several years, did not include a slip in one of her cash totals. When Joe found out, he told Eric to fire her. Eric went to talk to her about it, however, and learned that she had been busy, and was making the slip out, but an impatient security guard picking up the money refused to wait .

Regardless of her reasons, Joe wanted her fired.

Eric says Joe 's actions became increasingly unpredictable.

Then on the evening on May 16th much of the madness that was brewing erupted. Eric remembers that he was behind the mutuel line with Bobby Leighton when Joe appeared. He says that Joe "was apparently whacked out on something, was sweating profusely, and dragging on a cigarette." He asked them if they had realized that many more adults than usual were using the track’s pinball machines that night. and commented that he though this was ‘odd.’ ”Then all of a sudden this smile came over his face, like the mysteries of life had suddenly been revealed to him... “ recalls Eric who explains that Joe walked over and grabbed the telephone. Dialing someone he didn’t address by name, he told him that there was a meeting scheduled for after midnight at Scarborough Downs and declared: "I want you to bring the shotgun, and load it for bear." Then whirling around to Eric he growled " And I want you there."

Joe called a meeting about 12:30am which Eric says he attended with Bobby Leighton and Llyod Johnson. Joe appeared with Sharon Terry in tow, and began screaming. “I kept expecting some guy to show up with a loaded shotgun...” recalls Eric, who says that Joe just lambasted all of them for over an hour. “He kept saying things like ‘I don’t ever want you to do what you’re doing again. You’ve got to stop doing these things.’ But he wasn’t specific on anything, and nobody knew what it was that we were supposed to stop doing." Eventually Joe turned the meeting over to Sharon as he would do at Elan and asked her to be more specific. "But she just mimicked Joe saying , a bit more calmly ‘ well you’ve really got to stop doing these things' and then Joe would start screaming again."

Eric reveals "It was insane. He kept getting angrier and angrier, threatening to fire all of us. He was totally covered with sweat and worked himself into a frenzy. Finally he jumped up and shouted at the top of his lungs in a deafening roar ‘ I’m a fucking animal! Don’t you forget it! I’m a fucking animal!’ But then within a matter of seconds, he snapped to his senses seem to gain composure and added ‘ well not really’ ...That‘s when I said to myself, 'it’s time for me to go home, round 15 is over'.. I quit the next day."

Less than a week after that mad midnight meeting, town officials in Scarborough received a terse letter from Joe’s New York attorney, Jonathan Moore, accusing them of harassing his client. The letter cited eight incidents between May 12th and May 19th where police and fire department personnel had deliberately harassed Joe Ricci and his business. It threatened legal action if the officials did not agree to a meeting to discuss their behavior. Eight occurrences in all were outlined in the letter.

Contacted by the press Joe proclaimed “Scarborough Downs is under siege. They are trying to destroy my business and destroy harness racing.”Joe contended that on May 12th two fire engines and a rescue unit responded to a person who had a heart attack at the track. He said that the two engines were not necessary. (Actually only one small truck arrived) He claimed they used sirens as a subliminal message to “...arouse fear and suspicion“ among patrons that “...Scarborough Downs is not a safe and secure place to spend an evening.”

On May 13th he said police cruisers chased a motorcycle at high speed through the Scarborough Downs parking lot which endangered the lives of his patrons, and gave the place a bad name.

He said the track experienced three temporary power outages on May 14, 18th and 19th and claimed it was “ inconceivable that three outages could occur within the space of six days. He said their occurrence was related to his support of closing the state’s nuclear plant the previous fall, and accused the Scarborough police of negligence in not investigating them. ( The reality was that there were frequent problems every May when the transformers were used for the first time after being shut off and frozen during the winter.)

On May 15th he said the police arrested a man outside his clubhouse and forced him to stand spread eagle while his car was searched. Joe claimed the police chose the most visible place to arrest the man in an effort to portray his track as an unsavory place.

And on May 17th he said a rescue unit arrived to treat an injured person, but that his own security personnel had not been alerted before hand.

Finally, he alleged that on May 18th he caught a man who claimed to be a plumber wandering around an unauthorized area at the track. He said the man’s truck was parked near a door where food and beverages were delivered. He called in the Scarborough police and said the police (wrongly) concluded that the man was just a racing fan who was trying to sneak into the sports pub to watch the races.

All of Joe’s allegations made the front page of the daily newspaper. Town officials responded by refuting his contentions. But nevertheless they met with Joe and his attorneys for fear of repercussions, and attempted a rational solution to the irrational accusations. Talking to the press Joe said: “ We have our own theories on who is trying to harm us. Considering what I’ve said, what I’ve done, and what I believe, I don’t find any of this an accident.” His attorneys receiving upwards of $100 an hour concurred. Jonathan Moore told the press that there were too many occurrences to call them coincidence, declaring: “We’re saying someone out there is trying to harm this business. There’s a lot going on here and we want to get to the bottom of it."

Joe, never one for want of an audience also utilized the message board at the track to detail his complaints. He asked track patrons to contact the general manager, Bob Leighton if they had been harassed by the police while trying to enjoy an evening at the track, and offered free admission to everyone until June 1st.

A short while later Dan Gearan walked into work one day and was told that Joe was waiting for him in the conference room. When Dan arrived Joe was seething. He ordered his secretary to write Dan a check for $10,000. Recalling that day, Dan says he was "...absolutely dumbfounded..." When the secretary was done, Joe tore the check from her, signed it, and threw it at Dan saying: "Take this, and get the fuck out of my life..." Dan explains that for a long time Joe had promised to help him and his wife buy a home. "He dangled it in front of me like a carrot ..." he recalls, " ...He'd say every once in a while ' don't worry, I 'm going to make good on my offer...'"

Dan says the check flew to the floor, and asked Joe what was the matter, but Joe just walked out of the room, leaving Dan and the secretary staring at each other. When Dan followed Joe outside to the clubhouse corridor, Joe sneered at him, and ordered him to immediately turn in his track ID to security.

Dan did as he was told, and says the chief of security wailed: " Oh no you too?" just as Joe appeared. "I'll give you a full report later..." Joe told the security guard, pointing his finger accusingly at Dan and declaring: "He rewired the telephone system."

Dan says he was 'in shock' but took the check, and immediately left the premises. He later heard from other employees that Joe had accused him of "...doing everything from rewiring the telephone system to sabotaging the toteboard and even conspiring to blow it up."

By the end of May Joe had once again gotten rid of Dan Gearan and Eric Moynihan in a series of events that had a strange quality of de ja vu to them. One observer (noting the similarities between Joe’s sweeping firings and charges of harassment in May 1986 and the ones that occurred two years, later almost to the day) stated: “ Maybe Joe’s lunacy can only be controlled by a jury awarding him $15 million. Maybe if he could hold court all the time as he did in 1987 he wouldn’t have to run a three ring circus just to keep his life interesting. He feeds on being the perpetual victim, and with his bank case, he played that role to the hilt. If only people had a clue about how he actually victimizes everyone around him, then justice would really be served.”

With other managers out of the picture Joe deluged Bobby Leighton with demands, even though he knew that Bobby was already feeling fragile and overworked. Finally the stress became too great, and Bobby collapsed behind the mutuel line late one afternoon in May. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital where he was diagnosed as having a hiatel hernia. Upon leaning the news Joe was astounded, and reportedly exclaimed: “ See what the town of Scarborough did to Bobby!”