In his first interview regarding a lawsuit filed against the Saints, former team director of security Geoffrey Santini summarized the gist of his claims: G.M. Mickey Loomis was trying to cover for coach Sean Payton.
Santini tells USA Today that he came to this conclusion when Loomis told owner Tom Benson that both of the “senior staff members” who were potentially abusing and/or stealing Vicodin had medical conditions that justified taking the drug, even though Payton allegedly didn’t.
“He was protecting Payton,” Santini said. “That day pretty much ended it for me.”
Santini also confirmed what we and others have reported -- that Payton and Joe Vitt are the two unnamed employees in the lawsuit.
And amid suggestions that Santini’s lawsuit amounts to extortion (as we’ve previously explained, it doesn’t), Santini was blunt regarding his motivation. “I was witnessing crimes, and I wasn’t going to stand for that,” Santini said. “I did everything I could to save the people that were involved, but it just didn’t go that way. Mickey didn’t let it.”
Santini also said he has no “ill will” against the team, and that his goal was to “save” the team from itself with respect to the temptation to cover up the Vicodin issue.
We suspect that Santini also was concerned about saving himself, and rightfully so. He spent 30 years with the FBI, and he would have been a target if there had been any evidence that he was involved in covering up possible evidence of criminal conduct.