There’s no quit in Jimmy Dimora.
At his peak, he was a power-broker, a guy who clawed his way from janitor to Democratic party boss in Cuyahoga County.
If you wanted something built, you went to Jimmy. You needed a job, you called Jimmy.
No hurdle, despite his girth, was too high. Until it was.
As Dimora once put it, “I’m no angel, but I’m no crook.”
The times and the crimes were a changin’.
Now, all Dimora wants is a ticket out of prison.
And this time, he isn’t above switching teams, invoking the name of President Donald Trump to expose what he sees as injustice.
“I was so ignorant as to the conflicts of interest that pervade federal law enforcement,” Dimora wrote in a June 28 email interview with WKYC.com.
“It drives me crazy that it took a Republican president to expose this reality, but it is true. If I suffered these injustices in my former position, I do not know how the average defendant has any chance of being treated fairly.”
Dimora has rarely talked with reporters since heading to federal prison in 2012. Federal inmates are restricted from on-camera interviews or recorded phone calls.
Inmates can, however, communicate through emails and Dimora agreed to answer questions from WKYC.com about his pending appeals.
He’s lost in court, first at trial and later, in his initial direct appeal. Dimora has since filed two other motions, both of which are still pending.
One appeal, languishing for more than a year, cites a U.S. Supreme Court decision, the U.S. v. McDonnell, that a handful of politicians-turned-inmate have deployed for a shot at reduced sentences.
“Like all of the public officials who preserved this argument at trial and in my position, I hope to prevail on my [appeal motion],” Dimora told WKYC.com.
The 28-year prison term Dimora received was one of the most draconian of all corruption sentences around the country. [In fact, privately, some inside federal courthouses whisper that his sentence handed down by Judge Sara Lioi was overkill, punitive, maybe even personal.]
Meanwhile, a second appeal was filed June 14 in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Dimora typed the motion himself from inside the Federal Correctional Institution near Elkton, Ohio.
Dimora, now 63, has no formal law training, but he’s certainly seen and read his share of legal documents since his arrest in 2010.
Like the rest of us, he’s also seen President Trump go toe-to-toe in battles with federal law officials.
“I never thought I would agree with Donald Trump about anything,” Dimora wrote to WKYC.com. “However, how can the judge and prosecutors in my case be fair and not biased when they had so many of the conflicts of interest that I describe in detail in my filings?
“Trump is right to shine a light on the practices of federal law enforcement and the [Department of Justice].”
The June 14 motion filed by Dimora plays off a similar, but failed motion, filed last year by his imprisoned driver, Michael Gabor.
Likewise, Dimora set his sights on U.S. District Judge Kathleen O’Malley, whom he once helped secure the appointment. Dimora now accuses the judge of judicial bias and misconduct.
“How could Judge O'Malley preside over my case,” Dimora told WKYC.com, “which involved allegations of my receipt of free home improvements when she received free flooring services from Mark Dottore while she gave him over $4 million in receivership fees?”
Dimora believes the judge should have recused herself from any dealings with his case based on their longstanding political relationship.
While he was the party chair, Dimora says O’Malley “solicited and received [his] support when she was attempting to become a federal judge in 1994.”
In court papers, Dimora says he once contacted then-President Bill Clinton, hoping to secure for O’Malley the lifetime appointment as a federal judge.
Dimora also cited his past political connections with Anthony O’Malley, the judge’s former husband, as well as his calls with Mr. O’Malley that were “intercepted by the government” as part of the corruption probe.
In his motion, Dimora also repeated claims echoed in the motion filed by Gabor: O’Malley had work done on her home through the politically-connected Dottore, a Cleveland businessman who has been appointed by O’Malley and other Democratic judges to lucrative work as a court-appointed receiver.
Dimora contends O’Malley should have recused herself from the case based on her ties to Dottore and his ties to the Cuyahoga County corruption investigation.
“[I] was astounded upon learning that Mark Dottore installed free floors at Judge O’Malley’s house,” Dimora wrote in his motion.
Neither Dottore or O’Malley have commented on the allegations.
“Isn't it interesting that when Gabor made all of his filings about O'Malley's conflicts [especially the bribes by Dottore] that the federal government never disputed these allegations,” Dimora said in an email with WKYC.com.
WATCH | Phil Trexler discusses his email interview with Jimmy Dimora with Jim Donovan on Tuesday's edition of Donovan Live.
Dimora also alleges federal prosecutors withheld evidence they obtained from Steven Pumper, a construction executive sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in the county corruption case.
Pumper was a key prosecution witness who provided the FBI with a bevy of information, most notably that he performed free or heavily discounted work on Dimora’s infamous backyard patio and paid tens of thousands of dollars in cash, food and alcohol to county officials.
“There is newly discovered evidence that Pumper lied and the government knew about it and/or encouraged it,” Dimora writes in his motion.
Dimora told WKYC.com that, “Pumper has now recanted his testimony. He also states that the government knew he was not being truthful.
“Isn't this the type of conduct that we want to prevent our prosecutors from engaging in?”