All the remaining defendants, including five on trial, are black.
Theprosecution in the corruption trial of former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem DonHill and others gave jurors a tantalizing glimpse of what authoritiescalled a web of intrigue in which black leaders solicited bribes fromwhite developers because, they said, it was time for those developersto pay.
“The game has done changed,” defendant DarrenReagan is heard saying on an audio tape played during openingstatements by the prosecution.
Defense opening statementswere taking place this afternoon. In a surprising development, Hill’sattorney, Ray Jackson, said his client would take the stand during thetrial.
Prosecutors say Reagan used the Black StateEmployees Association, which represented no employees but orchestratedprotests, to put pressure on white developers to pay bribes to Hill andothers.
Reagan isheard saying on the recording that white developers had become wealthyoff southern Dallas projects, and that it was time for them to pay.
On the wiretap recording, prosecutors say, Reagan is plotting withAllen McGill — who has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commitextortion — to squeeze money from Bill Fisher, a white developer whois the principal informant in the government’s case.
“Ilove to see old Bill sweating like a pig,” Reagan says to McGill on therecording, adding that, “the days of offering a few donations areover.”