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FBI Witness Says He Paid Boston Cop $10K

The corruption trial of Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner is taking an unexpected turn.

The FBI's star witness Ron Wilburn — who already testified that he gave Turner a $1,000 bribe — now says he also paid a Boston police officer $10,000.

On the witness stand Friday morning, Wilburn said that payment was not made under the direction of the FBI, but he did not elaborate further.

"In Mr. Wilburn's testimony we are seeing events spinning beyond the issue of whether or not Chuck Turner took a bribe. We're going to get to that, at some point in the cross examination," said WBUR reporter David Boeri, who has been covering the story.

Boeri says Wilburn has talked about paying off police officers.

"He and his associate at a nightclub called Mirage in Roxbury, he says, were paying police officers — paying them for details and beyond details — paying police officers in cash," Boeri said.

"He has claimed that he gave $10,000 in cash to Boston police outside Boston police headquarters, the morning after the World Series."

Boston police officials would not immediately comment.

Also on Friday, Wilburn and a federal prosecutor engaged in a shouting match, with Wilburn accusing the government of harming him by revealing his identity after his work as a confidential informant.

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This program aired on October 22, 2010. The audio for this program is not available.

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