Back in November 1995, Reyes had claimed to agents that he had personally given $5,000 in cash to each of nine councilmembers, out of his own pocket, and "indicated that you have to know which ones you are able to do this with," according to Stern's affidavit. Reyes then used his supposed outlay of $45,000 as an excuse for claiming reimbursement from the Cayman Group for $50,000 -- a cash payment the July 30 indictment accuses Reyes of taking in a satchel on December 1, 1995, while he was still on Council.
Even before he had allegedly made the cash payments to Peavy, Castillo and Yarbrough, Reyes was convinced he had the Council under control on the hotel project. The affidavit cites a meeting Reyes had with agent Marcos Correa the day after the 1995 city elections, when the lame-duck councilman reported that all the members lined up for Duddlesten had won re-election. When Correa asked what the Cayman Group's role in the contract would be, Reyes allegedly responded, "Your part is going to be the same as Duddlesten. You will be an owner for the percentage you put in."
"Someone may ask you how come you got 40 percent," Reyes went on, apparently pulling a figure out of the air and then supplying his own answer to the hypothetical questioner: "Because I bought the project and I fixed the votes."
One allegation in the Stern affidavit is angrily disputed by an unindicted member of Council. On December 8, 1995, according to the document, Montero and Reyes met then-council candidate Jew Don Boney at a fundraiser for Boney at Reyes's home in Denver Harbor. Boney was in the midst of what was expected to be a tight runoff against Saundria Chase Gray, and Reyes had taken a strong interest in the contest on Boney's behalf.
Stern's affidavit claims that on December 21, 1995, "at a breakfast meeting between [Montero], Reyes and Jew Don Boney, Reyes gave Boney an envelope with cash in it. Reyes called the envelope his business card."
When read that allegation over the phone last week, Boney heatedly asserted that the passing of cash "never happened," although he acknowledged that he had met with Reyes and the Cayman Group investors and had "some discussions" with them.
Boney was clearly agitated at being questioned about the Stern affidavit. "I've made a real effort of my own not to be drug into that bullshit," he said. "I didn't get any money from Ben, I didn't get any money from the agents. I didn't ask for any, I didn't take any. Clearly, there's some people that did. That's where the story is."
Boney, who is not a cooperating witness in the probe, also rejected any suggestion that he had gotten off light in his dealings with the feds.
"They didn't give me any mercy, I can tell you that," he said with a touch of sarcasm. "If there was anything to prove that I took any money from anybody, I certainly would have been indicted."
Boney isn't the only unindicted figure who appears in the affidavit in a questionable light. The document repeatedly refers to Torres's and Tony Reyes's claims that developer Duddlesten promised first a hotel parking garage contract and then a big share of the hotel deal if Hispanic votes could be delivered.
Duddlesten's degree of knowledge of the Cayman Group operation's efforts on his behalf has never been fully established. The government has charged Reyes with mail fraud for causing a "Duddle-sten letter" to be sent to the Cayman Group. The contents of that letter have not been made public, and Duddlesten has refused to discuss the letter with The Insider on an on-the-record basis. In May 1996, after Maldonado went public with her role in the sting, Duddlesten initially claimed to the Press that he barely remembered the Cayman Group operatives, but he subsequently ac-knowledged that he had met with them twice at his home.
One knowledgeable source describes the developer as "a slick son of a gun" who relied on Allyn to line up the votes he needed. "He tells 'em what he needs -- 'You get it done' -- [and] sometimes he doesn't want to know about it and puts the blinders on."
Likewise, there is nothing to prove that any of the unindicted councilmembers whose names wound up on Reyes's list that January day in Montero's office did anything wrong, and the accusations against those indicted will be tested in court. But if the man who knew Council as well as anyone alive actually placed his former colleagues' reputations on his auction block, his deep familiarity with City Hall had obviously bred total contempt for its ethical standards.
The Insider can be reached at (713) 624-1483 or (713) 624-1496 (fax), or by e-mail at Insider@houstonpress.com.
