Holmes told voters "you'll receive a $50 check from LTPD or (Yacco's) BLUEWATER Operations"

source: Wikipedia

Kudos (again) to John Heinis of Hudson County View for his stunning courtroom  reporting lat yesterday and earlier in the afternoon.   

Yep, it was another remarkable day at the Raia trial in Newark.  Day Three. And when it was over, the prosecution rested its case.   

MORNING: "BIG HOLMESY"  TESTIFIES

The Three Musketeers

Hoboken political operative Mike Holmes ("Big Holmesy") took the witness stand in the morning. As reported by Hudson County View:  

“[Raia] said make sure you bring the ballots back to the club. They wanted every ballot open to see how they voted,” Michael Holmes said on the stand during direct questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Agarwal.

Holmes... told voters they would receive a $50 check from either the Let the People Decide super PAC or the Bluewater Operations consulting company in exchange for their votes, even though he knew that was illegal, too."

When asked why he did it, Holmes stated that was "what Frank wanted" and "We were loyal to Frank."  For his loyalty, "Big Holmesy" reaped major perks.  Raia comped him for "five Superbowls, dinners, concerts, his wife's funeral, a $3,000 loan and a Bahamas vacation." 

FALLOUT FOR HOLMES?

Clearly, Holmes' role as cooperating government witness has riled some in Hoboken.  One of them contacted me.  He did not wish to be identified, and appeared to have an insider's access to the trial, because he knew that the prosecution had rested even before my court room source told me.  This is most of our exchange:

"Old guard is in the street scrambling and worried about "Who's Next". Word around town is that Mike Holmes flipped on more then Raia and is being kept in the government's pocket for future cases. Funny how he was able to get himself immunity and no one else did. The old guard is really wondering who they can trust these days! After this trial no matter how it goes people will forever be labeled "Rat" 

[REDACTED] has big problems I'm told! I wonder if he's next on mikey holmes list. He had to give up alot more then Frank Raia to get immunity. Big Mikey is gonna take alot of people down.

Heard they have people flipping on not so much [REDACTED]  but the mom and that will begin to show right after Raia is done.  Hope you find my information helpful" 

GA was contacted by someone else who wrote, in part:  

"...word on the street is Holmes was the 1st to flip and got immunity." 

If that is true, that Holmes got the 'F.B.I. ball' rolling,  and that would explain why folks are upset at him. However, don't be so sure that Holmes didn't get ratted out by someone else, and I can think of a few candidates: one or two either went to jail or are serving time, another one has been awfully quiet; kept his distance from the political world he used to inhabit.  In fact, there could be a handful of secret plea deals, you don't know about-- that's why they're called "secret" deals. 

So, was "Big Holmesy" the first to flip?  Doubt it.  I might look at folks close to Holmes who have miraculously evaded prosecution or received light sentences or faded into the woodwork or moved out of Hoboken, even to the burbs. 

Remember that. There is no honor among vote-thieves. What did you expect? 

AFTERNOON...

GA will cover that later. It was pretty extraordinary.  And I mean the testimony of an F.B.I. Agent.