Despite his best damage-control efforts, Mitt Romney has been dragged into messy wrongful-firing trial back in Massachusetts. Former civil service commissioner William Monahan has sued Romney for forcing him out of his job when Romney was governor.

Monahan says Romney's staff treated him in a "hostile" way in August 2003, after learning the Boston Globe was going to report he and a business partner had bought a bar from Mafia chieftain Gennaro Angiulo.

Monahan's attorney told a federal judge, “Mr. Monahan was dumbfounded” when Mitt canned him. The shock turned him into a “depressed, despondent” recluse. The 75-year-old Monahan played it to the hilt, breaking down in tears on the witness stand, saying:

I get really upset about it. It troubled me and my family to the point where we were fairly dysfunctional for awhile.

Romney, who is expected to take the hot seat later this week, according to Monahan, told him:

My stomach is in knots. I'm sick over this, but I've been out voted. . . . I need to ask you to resign.