In 1,234 pages of rambling testimony, a West Tampa lawyer recounted tales of case-fixing and the use of money and sex to buy favors from prosecutors and judges. The allegations come from Manuel A."Manny" Machin in a deposition arising from an investigation of corruption in the Hillsborough County Courthouse. The deposition was released Monday. For the most part, Machin says he got his information from Charles Corces, another lawyer who has been charged by federal officials with bribing a state prosecutor. According to Machin, Corces over the years implicated Circuit Judges Robert H. Bonanno and Harry Lee Coe III, an unidentified federal judge, and prosecutors John S. Valenti and Ron Ficarrotta. Among the allegations related by Machin: Bonanno gave Corces' clients favors for sex. A federal judge was bribed to help Mafia attorney Frank Ragano. Coe and Ficarrotta had a secret system of signals to work out cases in court. Coe, a possible candidate for Hillsborough state attorney this year, dismissed the allegations as politics. Bonanno, Valenti and Corces could not be reached. Ficarrotta declined comment. The corruption investigation began last year when Machin told prosecutors Corces offered to help him fix a case for a murder defendant. Detectives then used Machin to tape conversations with Corces. Valenti and Corces were charged and the investigation last week was turned over to the federal government. Throughout his deposition, Machin expressed doubts about Corces' credibility. "(Corces) has told me so many things about so many people that I no longer know what is true and what is false," Machin testified. "In other words, I reached the point with him where I would listen, but I did not necessarily believe." Here are some of the major accusations in the deposition. Corces boasted of "an inside track" with Bonanno just after he was appointed to the circuit court bench in 1988, according to Machin's testimony. That inside track was the willingness of Corces' own secretary to have sex with Bonanno, said Machin, himself the target of an ethics investigation. "(Corces) felt very confident that he could get anything he wanted in the way of a continuance or special consideration by simply having his secretary continue to provide sexual favors," Machin said, making reference to a specific act of oral sex. The allegations concerning Bonanno didn't end there. Machin said Corces told him he held a dinner party in an effort "to buy Judge Bonanno." Machin said: "I do have reason to believe there was a dinner party that took place. I saw an invitation list." On one of the tapes made public Monday, Machin and Corces sat in the parking lot of a Steak & Ale restaurant on Dale Mabry Highway and planned to dispose of a murder case. A recording of the conversation, taped by Machin, indicates both men were nervous and agitated. A plea hearing was set for the following day, Jan. 15, 1991, but the two men still had a problem to solve: when a payoff for the plea bargain should change hands. "Do you want to count it?" Machin asked. "Count it . . . I do have it, but I just can't give it to you." Machin said if he handed over the money then, his client would worry that the State Attorney's Office might renege on the bargain. "If I come back (tonight) without this money," he said, "(my client's) gonna say, "What the f--- are they gonna do to me tomorrow?' " They finally agreed to make the exchange at the courthouse the following day, and Corces told Machin not to worry. "You know it's cooked on my end," Corces said. In another allegation, Machin said Corces told him Tampa lawyer Frank Ragano paid a $50,000 bribe to win favorable treatment on federal tax-evasion charges. Ragano recently made headlines for his claim that, in 1963, he carried the order to assassinate President Kennedy from Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa to the Mafia. Ragano was convicted in 1990 of evading taxes on more than $100,000 investors gave him for future profits on a movie about Hoffa, his longtime client. Corces represented Ragano in that case. And Machin said Corces described to him how Ragano paid $50,000 to a cousin of the out-of-state federal judge who presided over the case. In exchange, the judge was to drop some of the charges. The judge was not identified in the deposition. The judge dropped two obstruction of justice charges for lack of evidence and sentenced Ragano to three years in prison plus five years' probation for tax evasion. Neither Ragano nor the judge could be reached for comment. Corces also claimed a part in the 1988 case of a businessman involved in an auto accident that left a woman dead, Machin said. Frank Agliano was charged with manslaughter after his Corvette crashed on Bayshore Boulevard, ejecting and killing federal court clerk Viola Cain. Agliano's blood alcohol level was measured at 0.219, according to an arrest report. Agliano said he was the passenger in the car although police said he made a statement that night that suggested he was driving. Two months later the state attorney's office decided not to prosecute Agliano, saying circumstantial evidence wouldn't be enough to convict him. According to Machin's statement, Corces said he, other lawyers and friends of the Agliano family contributed money to State Attorney Bill James' re-election campaign that year while the case was pending. James could not be reached for comment. Records at the Hillsborough County Courthouse show Corces had fallen on hard times by the time he was charged with fixing the murder case. Despite plenty of business, Corces suffered a string of judgments, foreclosure suits and tax liens, including one from the IRS last year for $69,556. In his deposition, Machin offered a possible explanation for Corces' money problems: cocaine. Machin testified he had been with Corces "in his office _ and on two or three other occasions" when Corces had cocaine. "One time in particular stands out in my mind, before I even started sharing space with him," Machin recalled, "where he opened his right top drawer, brought out what looked like a couple of grams of coke and proceeded to snort a line of white powder in front of me." At a brief hearing Monday morning, specially-assigned prosecutors from Broward County dropped state charges against Valenti and Corces. The men now face federal bribery, conspiracy and extortion charges. Valenti, who has been cooperating with federal authorities, is expected to enter a plea in exchange for truthful testimony this week. When Corces hinted that his business might get better someday, Machin asked him to explain. Corces made an "A" with his fingers, a reference to Division A, where Hillsborough Circuit Judge Coe sat. According to Machin, Corces told him prosecutor Ficarrotta could signal the judge with a mere tug of his tie. Corces implied "that when Mr. Ficarrotta objects to something, he supposedly straightens his tie to show that his objection is heartfelt." THE KEY PLAYERS Circuit Judge Robert H. Bonanno Age: 47 Education: Graduate, University of Florida College of Pharmacy, 1967; UF College of Law, 1970 Experience: Former prosecutor and defense attorney, appointed county judge in 1982 and circuit judge in 1988; currently hears cases in civil court Circuit Judge Harry Lee Coe III Age: 59 Education: Graduate, University of Florida, 1958; Stetson College of Law, 1962 Experience: Former prosecutor, appointed judge in 1970; currently hears civil cases, retiring at the end of the month, possibly to run for state attorney Manuel A. Machin Age: 34 Education: Graduate, Florida State University; University of Florida College of Law Experience: Admitted to the Bar in 1983 Charles B. Corces Age: 36 Education: Graduate, University of South Florida; South Texas College of Law Experience: Admitted to the Bar in 1980 John S. Valenti Age: 39 Education: Graduate, University of South Florida; South Texas College of Law Experience: Admitted to the Bar in 1981, immediately hired by the State Attorney's Office Ronald N. Ficarrotta Graduate of the South Texas College of law and an assistant state attorney. He prosecuted cases before Circuit Judge Harry Lee Coe III.