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JENNA RICHARDSON ACTUALLY GAVE the Fiore campaign more than it expected in her Friday column, and more than her strong intuition was willing to privately concede.

No one was able to satisfy the questions she raised about the presence of Arena’s empty briefcase in the hotel room, the unlatched chain on the door and the failure to call his wife on the telephone before slashing his wrists. Nevertheless, she summarized the Baldacci confession and said that both the Providence and State Police were convinced that Tommy Arena took his own life. It happened without any form of coercion, they agreed, as soon as he learned that Baldacci fingered him as the man behind the killing of Richie Cardella.

Richardson told her readers that she reviewed all the public documents in the federal case that was pending against Arena. She said there wasn’t any clear evidence that a decision for or against Arena in that matter depended solely on the testimony expected to come from Cardella, who was listed as one of several government witnesses. She pointed out, however, that the Justice Department conceded that it was considering a withdrawal of some of the charges ever since Cardella’s death. Arena’s suicide made everything moot.

“It can now be concluded,” she wrote, “that the Tarantino family had nothing to do with the loss of life at Chi-Chi’s that night in September. As reported earlier, the Family has not been charged with murder or any felony having to do with violent crime in over two decades. That record deserves much applause, but Rhode Islanders must remind themselves that the Tarantinos still rule illegal gambling in the State. That being the case, the Tarantinos are obviously desirous of seeing Doug Fiore elected governor inasmuch as his views against State-sponsored gaming casinos would perpetuate the need for the kinds of services and facilities offered by them.

“Yet in all fairness,” the column continued, “Fiore’s position on that issue has strong support around the State from many thousands of individuals who are less concerned with what the Tarantinos would gain than they are with what open and legal casino gambling could do to the fiber of their communities. The issue may well be the one that decides the election.”

Jenna editorialized a bit at the end. She urged the voters to put the Cardella tragedy behind them and judge the candidates for governor on their past records and accomplishments, their positions on the issues that affected Rhode Island most deeply, and on the gut feeling each citizen brought into the voting booth about the character of the two nominees. Dan McMurphy decided to let her get away with it.

* * *

The Fiore campaign was concentrating its efforts in Warwick, West Warwick and Cranston that day.

When Cyril Berman read Richardson’s column over breakfast in the morning, he gave a mild “Yahoo” to Russ Walsh, who was there with him. “The only thing she left out was that everyone should just ignore the Herald ’s endorsement and vote for the man they like the best. Right, Russell?”

“Better yet, Cyril, vote for the candidate whose wife cares enough to show up at the debates.” With that, Walsh gave Berman a thumbs-up.