Tribune Chronicle / R. Michael Semple Senior Assistant Ohio Attorney General Daniel Kasaris holds up a program from the 2007 National Championship football game between Ohio State and Florida during his opening statement Tuesday in the corruption trial of former Niles mayor Ralph Infante.

WARREN — An FBI special agent identified several occasions when former Niles Mayor Ralph Infante lied about how he received two tickets to the 2007 National Championship game between The Ohio State University Buckeyes and University of Florida Gators.

During a secretly recorded 2009 interview conducted in the mayor’s office, Infante initially told FBI Special Agent Deane Hassman of Youngstown that he never takes gifts from anyone.

“I’m pretty good at that,” Infante said in the recording.

Infante said Anthony Cafaro Sr. and his son, Anthony Cafaro Jr., may have purchased tickets to his re-election campaign’s $10 chicken roasts, but otherwise he had not accepted anything from the Cafaros or the Cafaro Co.

However, under more questioning, Infante recalled asking Anthony Cafaro Jr. if he could obtain tickets for the National Championship game.

Infante described a group of people, including his wife, Judith; his sister, Karen and her husband; Niles Service Director Neil and Linda Buccino; and one other couple were planning to travel to Arizona to tailgate at the game.

“My sister had tickets and was going to the game,” Infante said in the recording. “We were going to buy tickets down there.”

Infante said they would have just tailgated if they could not get tickets.

When questioned by Hassman whether he was given tickets by Cafaro, Infante initially denied it. Later in the recording, Infante remembered telling Anthony Cafaro Jr. if he could get tickets to let him know.

Infante initially stated the tickets were paid for, but later changed his statement.

“I think he just gave them to us,” Infante said in the 2009 recording.

When questioned if he recorded having received the gifts on 2008 Ohio ethics forms, Infante said he was not sure. Hassman later presented Infante documents showing he did not report the tickets.

On Dec. 3, 2015, during a second recorded interview, Hassman was surprised the mayor stated it was his wife who purchased the tickets while they were in Arizona.

“My wife bought them for me for my birthday,” Infante said in the recording, noting his wife paid for the tickets in the hotel lobby.

Hassman, during questioning from defense attorney John Juhasz, said the bureau had been investigating Anthony Cafaro Sr. since 2006.

Businessman Bruce Zoldan, owner of Phantom Fireworks, testified spending about $75,000 for tickets and a loge for the National Championship game for himself, Anthony Cafaro Sr. and his family and others. Zoldan testified that Cafaro reimbursed him for the cost of the tickets he purchased. During Wednesday’s testimony, Hassman estimated loge seat tickets had a value of about $4,000 each.

When questioned about numerous cash deposits made into his checking account, Infante, in the 2015 recording, said he did not know where they came from. Infante said his wife, for the most part, handles the family’s finances.

Infante said his family income primarily comes from his retirement, the pay he received as Niles mayor and rental income from a house he owns.

He noted his wife had numerous jobs over the years, including a job at Walmart. She also received about $50 a week for working on Mondays as a bartender at ITAM #39, which Infante said the couple continued to operate after Infante’s father died.

He called the nonprofit a money loser that they continue to operate because his father had been involved in it. Income was earned at the ITAM primarily from liquor sales, some food sales on the weekend, from a juke box, and four video gambling machines, Infante testified.

Paul Nick, executive director of the Ohio Ethics Commission, testified that Infante did not report receiving gifts in 2007 in his 2008 ethics forms.

He also stated Infante did not report income from his rental property or what may have been earned at the ITAM. Infante did report income earned as mayor, as a member of the board of elections, and his retirement income.

rsmith@tribtoday.com