Friday, October 21, 2016

Federal Grand Jury Indicts Corrupt Long Island Officials: New York Times

The FBI's reputation, in the words of J. Edgar Hoover: "We always get our man." The FBI Corruption Task Force has been investigating St. Johns County Sheriff DAVID SHOAR f/k/a "HOAR," other officials and businesses since 2014.

Is that why Sheriff SHOAR looks awful, is quaking in his loafers and endorsing gauche, louche candidates like Hate Radio WFOY owner KRIS PHILLIPS for Mayor of St. Augustine and ANDREA SAMUELS for St. Augustine Beach Commissioner?

As President Teddy Roosevelt said in 1903: "No man is above the law."

Here's the results of the latest FBI corruption investigation:

Nassau County Executive Is Arrested in Bribery Scheme
By VIVIAN YEE, WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and ARIELLE DOLLINGEROCT. 20, 2016

The Nassau County executive, Edward P. Mangano, his wife and a local town supervisor were arrested and charged on Thursday with trading government contracts and official favors for free vacations, a no-show job as a food taster and other bribes — the latest in a series of corruption scandals to embarrass New York.

The arrests capped months of looming trouble for Mr. Mangano, a powerful figure in Republican politics on Long Island and the top elected official in Nassau County. He has been dogged by reports — many published in Newsday — that he had received free gifts and vacations from a longtime friend, Harendra Singh, a Long Island restaurateur with about 30 businesses in the area and several government contracts.
Mr. Mangano’s arrest was another blow to the Republican machine in Nassau County, already weakened by the conviction last year of the former State Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, on corruption charges.
The case seemed destined to tip Long Island politics into upheaval ahead of the elections in November. Several Long Island Republicans are trying to hold onto their seats in the State Senate, which Democrats are targeting in an effort to gain control of the chamber.
A 19-page, 13-count indictment released by federal prosecutors alleges a bribery and kickback scheme stretching back to the beginning of 2010, when Mr. Mangano became county executive after an upset victory over Thomas R. Suozzi, the Democratic incumbent, the previous year.
“With this indictment, we again send a clear message: that no one is above the law,” said Robert L. Capers, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announcing the charges with Federal Bureau of Investigation officials at a news conference in Central Islip.
The three defendants — Mr. Mangano; his wife, Linda Mangano; and the Oyster Bay town supervisor, John Venditto — all pleaded not guilty in Federal District Court in Central Islip on Thursday.


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“No one is above the law,” Robert L. Capers, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said when he announced the charges. CreditJohnny Milano for The New York Times 

According to the indictment, Mr. Mangano and Mr. Venditto, a Republican first elected in 1997, made sure that contracts from the town and county went to a “local businessman and restaurateur,” identified by people with knowledge of the matter as Mr. Singh.
With Mr. Mangano’s help, prosecutors said, Mr. Singh’s businesses received two county contracts worth about $437,000 in 2012, one to supply bread and rolls to the Nassau County Correctional Center, and another to feed the county’s emergency workers after Hurricane Sandy.
Mr. Mangano’s lawyer, Kevin Keating, said the bread contract never went into effect. As for the post-hurricane contract, Mr. Keating said it was awarded to Mr. Singh because his restaurants still had electric service after the storm. (He added that Mr. Mangano had not signed that particular contract.)
Mr. Singh also had two agreements to operate concessions or restaurants on Oyster Bay town property. The town also guaranteed four loans worth about $20 million that Mr. Singh’s businesses received from a bank and a private financing company, prosecutors said. Because of that guarantee, when Mr. Singh defaulted on two of the loans in November 2015, the loans’ holder demanded that the town pay what Mr. Singh owed.
In exchange, prosecutors said, Mr. Singh paid for Mr. Mangano’s vacations, meals at Mr. Singh’s restaurants and new hardwood flooring in the Manganos’ bedroom worth nearly $4,000. The trips the Mangano family took at Mr. Singh’s expense included ones to Niagara Falls, Florida, St. Thomas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, according to prosecutors.
Mr. Capers said that when F.B.I. agents searched Mr. Mangano’s office and home Thursday morning, they found even more gifts from Mr. Singh: a $3,624 massage chair from Brookstone, a $3,372 ergonomic office chair and a $7,304 Panerai Luminor watch.
What Mr. Venditto received, prosecutors said, included free limousine service for himself, his family and his friends; discounts on fund-raisers at Mr. Singh’s restaurants; and the use of a conference room at one of the restaurants.
Linda Mangano also received more than $450,000 over several years for a no-show job at one of Mr. Singh’s restaurants, according to the indictment. Among her supposed duties, according to Mr. Capers: serving as a food taster.


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John Venditto, the longtime supervisor of the Town of Oyster Bay, was arrested on Thursday.CreditJohnny Milano for The New York Times 

The Manganos and Mr. Venditto tried to cover up the bribes, according to the indictment, with Ms. Mangano going so far as to fabricate instances of work she had done at the no-show job.
Mr. Venditto was arrested at his home early Thursday, while the Manganos drove to the local F.B.I. office and surrendered.
On Wednesday, Mr. Mangano’s spokesman Brian Nevin had brushed off suggestions that Mr. Mangano was about to be arrested, calling the accusations “preposterous.”
Outside the courthouse on Thursday, Mr. Mangano made clear that he would not resign.
“It’s ridiculous, but I can’t say any more,” he said. “I’m going to tell you this — going to continue to govern, going to go to work, America’s the greatest country in the world, and you’ll all have an opportunity to hear everything, and decide for yourselves.”
Ms. Mangano’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Venditto’s lawyer, Brian Griffin, called the charges against his client “underwhelming” and said that Mr. Venditto intended to “vigorously defend” himself against them.
Mr. Singh, who is cooperating with prosecutors in the case, has already been charged with several crimes, including bribing a former deputy town attorney in Oyster Bay. Mr. Singh is also cooperating with federal prosecutors in Manhattan, in an unrelated investigation into the fund-raising practices of Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York.
Though prosecutors shed light on many of the allegations surrounding Mr. Mangano’s office on Thursday, the status of his chief deputy, Richard Walker, known as Rob, remained unclear. While serving as a government witness during Mr. Skelos’s trial, Mr. Walker testified that he was under investigation over the awarding of county contracts to campaign donors. Mr. Griffin, who also represents Mr. Walker, said his client had not been charged with wrongdoing.
As politicians from both parties called on Mr. Mangano and Mr. Venditto to resign, Democrats sought to tie Republican State Senate candidates to what one called “the corrupt Nassau Republican machine.” Michael Venditto, the town supervisor’s son is among the Senate incumbents.
Mr. Mangano was apparently underprepared for his court date — or, perhaps, utterly defiant. On Thursday morning, amid the arrests, an invitation to a breakfast fund-raiser for him on Nov. 5 was emailed to at least one reporter. Donors were invited to pay $100, the invitation said, to share “Eggs with Ed.”

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