Attorneys squabble over evidence in extortion case

Federal prosecutors pushed back yesterday against defense lawyers fishing for what evidence they have on two City Hall officials accused of extorting a production company into hiring unwanted union labor.

During a hearing for the defense, U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein refused to order assistant U.S. Attorneys Laura Kaplan and Kristina Barclay to give the opposition even a ballpark figure on how much money the organizers of the Boston Calling Music Festival lost because of alleged pressure from Kenneth Brissette and Timothy Sullivan. But Dein questioned why prosecutors were digging in their heels.

“I just feel like this is something that shouldn’t be a secret at this stage,” Dein said.

Kaplan told Dein the feds have already turned over to the defense the names of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 11 workers reluctantly hired by Crash Line Productions in the fall of 2014 to both supplement and replace nonunion help, along with their time sheets. She suggested to Sullivan attorney William Cintolo that he add up the damage himself because she and Barclay are busy preparing for a March 26 trial.

“I simply want to know what the property is. What did we allegedly take, what did we allegedly steal, what did we extort?” Cintolo argued.

Brissette, Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s director of tourism, sports and entertainment, and Sullivan, chief of staff of intergovernmental affairs, have pleaded not guilty to Hobbs Act extortion, conspiracy, and aiding and abetting.

The feds accused Brissette and Sullivan in a recent court filing of “wrongful government action” and “wrongfully obtaining property for a third party to which neither the third party nor the City of Boston had a claim of right under the terms of the city licensing agreement, Massachusetts state law, or federal labor law.”

Kaplan said yesterday that while the colleagues were not “agents” of Local 11, “they were assisting the union.”