The Done Deal

On May 16, 1988, Paul Valliere, the finance director of the Department of Employment Security, picked up a memo he had been working on and walked to what he thought was a meeting with his boss, John S. Renza, and other department staffers.

The department and its 300 employees were about to be forced out of their building on West Exchange Street in downtown Providence, and Valliere had been asked to provide details about what the department would need in a new building.

Entering his boss's conference room, Valliere was surprised to find Renza there with two strangers.

Renza introduced them: Joseph Mollicone Jr., the president of the Heritage Loan and Investment Co. and a major downtown developer, and Rodney M. Brusini, who worked in then-Gov. Edward D. DiPrete's family business and had served as DiPrete's chief campaign fund-raiser.

Valliere didn't know why they were there.

Renza told Valliere to hand out copies of his memo. Brusini asked most of the questions - about space needs, parking, and the like. As the meeting broke up, Valliere says, Renza turned to him and said: " 'Paul, I'd like you to keep this meeting confidential.' "

Until that meeting, Valliere hadn't thought much about state leases, or about the closed circle of money, influence and political power that runs Rhode Island's government.

But over the next few months, Valliere would think about it plenty....