As if listeners to The Howard Stern Show needed another reason to dislike Sal the Stockbroker, it turns out the grating guest negotiated a secret agreement with an Internet firm to plug the company on the popular radio program--unbeknownst to Stern & Co.--in return for at least $45,000 in cash, The Smoking Gun has learned.

Details of the pay-for-plugs arrangement are contained in a federal lawsuit filed by the slimy stockbroker (real name: Salvatore Governale) against Regland, Inc., which Governale claims never paid him.

According to Governale's pending lawsuit, he delivered "three plugs as had been agreed upon" with Regland, which offered bonus payments if the plugs were repeated on Stern's television shows (then airing on the CBS and E! networks). The Regland plugs, Governale states in his court complaint, came during a holiday-themed lampoon of Stern producer Gary Dell 'Abate dubbed the "Lighting of The Teeth."

In addition to the three December 2000 on-air mentions, Governale also took credit for arranging links to Regland's web site from the two leading online destinations for Stern fans--koam.com and marksfriggin.com.

When TSG asked Governale about the covert arrangement described in his breach of contract lawsuit, he acknowledged never telling anyone from the Stern program about the lucrative financial deal. "I get proposals all the time to plug things on the Stern show. Usually, I don't think it's cool...Howard doesn't like it if anyone associated with the show is disloyal, if someone takes advantage of the show," said Governale. "But I think Howard would be cool about this...I didn't think it was a big deal."

Of course, that's probably not the way Tom Chiusano would see it, since the Stern show's bean counter prefers that on-air testimonials come in the form of revenue-producing commercials.

While the King of All Media will decide if Governale's blatant self-dealing is worthy of a Stern rebuke, TSG hopes that Sal's duplicity is rewarded with a lifetime ban. By the way, Governale is seeking $200,000 in damages from Regland, money he could use to expand his Long Island estate. (5 pages)