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Zaccaro's troubles are certainly not all his doing. He is an Italian American who owns real estate in New York's Little Italy; questions about any possible underworld ties are constantly asked, as if such a connection were inevitable. Even the most tenuous bits of information made huge, unfair headlines: a pornography distributor is a tenant in one Zaccaro building; a reputed mobster rents an apartment in a building Zaccaro inherited from his father 13 years ago and immediately sold; an imprisoned swindler once owned a building that Zaccaro managed. TIME learned that U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani asked Zaccaro to his office last Thursday to talk about a 1972 real estate transaction. Zaccaro is only a minor witness in the case, and has cooperated with the Government. Explained the U.S. Attorney: "He is not under investigation." Why, then, was it necessary to interview Zaccaro last week of all weeks? Giuliani, a Reagan appointee, did not elaborate on his unfortunate timing.
The fascination with Zaccaro's finances began two weeks ago, when Ferraro announced that his tax returns would not be made public, as she had promised earlier. "The hesitance to release her husband's tax returns," wrote George F. Will in his syndicated column, "may mean he has not paid much in taxes." Indeed that had been the common suspicion. On an ABC news program, This Week with David Brinkley, Ferraro said her husband had relented because "people were jumping to the most outrageous conclusions on a lot of things." Columnist Will, an interviewer on the program, asked if the disclosures would show that her family had paid its fair shares of taxes. Replied Ferraro: "They sure will. And George Will, tomorrow afternoon you're going to call me up and apologize for your column of today."
They sure did — more than 40% out of an average combined income of $173,000 a year. (Instead of a telephoned apology, Will sent a dozen pink roses and a note: "Has anyone told you that you are cute when you're mad?" Ferraro's reply: "Vice Presidents are not cute.") The couple declared a net worth of $3.78 million, nearly all of it in real estate. They did not release copies of the IRS forms that Zaccaro files in connection with his businesses. Only those documents, experts say, would depict the full scope of his holdings and financial habits.
By now, however, the "public's intuitive judgments of Ferraro are probably more important than particulars. "There will be thousands of facts on the table," says O'Brien, "but only one thing matters: Will the public think she's honest? If so, none of the facts will be remembered. But if they decide she's not honest, then all the facts will be perceived as a mosaic of conspiracy and deceit."