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RICHARDSON’S NEXT COLUMN APPEARED on Tuesday, a week before the election. It summarized the additional information she gathered since articulating the view five days earlier that Cardella was stalked and murdered.

She noted that a spokesman for the Tarantino family—a lawyer from the firm of Fisher & Lovett, specializing in criminal law—issued a statement adamantly denying that his client had anything whatsoever to do with a plot to murder Richie Cardella, if in fact one existed. The police, Jenna pointed out, had neither arrested anyone from the Family nor charged it with any wrongdoing since the shooting occurred. She also indicated that her efforts to reach Salvatore Tarantino or his son were unsuccessful, and that no one from Fisher & Lovett was willing to answer any of her questions.

“I have learned from ‘a source claiming to have ties to the Fiore organization,’” she wrote, “that the Tarantino family has allegedly funneled large sums of their own money to the candidate through other individuals whose names appeared on the lists of contributors. If that’s true, it would be a violation of the Act governing campaign contributions and subject to criminal penalties. The Tarantinos are apparently working very hard on behalf of Fiore’s election, and if he does succeed John Sacco in the governor’s office, they are no doubt counting on his being ready and willing to veto any legislation authorizing State government to get into the casino gaming business.”

In the limited amount of time Jenna had to review the different lists of contributors to Fiore’s campaign and to make follow-up phone calls, she was unable to make a definitive case for the information given her by Lester Karp. In fact, she hadn’t yet scrutinized the latest list she was able to obtain from the Secretary of State’s office. But she pointed out for her readers that a number of individuals from different families around the State, entire households in some cases, were each documented as having made the maximum contribution to Fiore. She went on to infer that such a pattern of giving was unusual at best, and that further investigation was necessary on this aspect of the campaign.

Jenna brought her column to a close by calling on the police to do everything in their power to try and solve the Cardella killing before the election, just seven days away.

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A separate article in that morning’s Herald contained the results of a poll taken by WPRI-TV, in conjunction with the Alpha Research Associates polling firm during the 72-hour period ending at noon on Sunday. It indicated that Fiore’s lead over Singer slipped to a mere percentage point. Considering the margin of error of two percent, plus or minus, in the poll itself, the race was a virtual dead heat.

Cyril Berman knew that the latest tracking numbers were all Jenna Richardson’s fault. Based on his past experience, he assumed the race would tighten up in its final two weeks, but never considered that some external event would suddenly put Singer in a position to win. He didn’t know what Richardson had in mind for the coming week, but figured it wouldn’t hurt to threaten her employer with a libel action for her unfounded insinuations. Maybe that would at least slow her down.