New York State Senator, Majority Leader, Sentenced To Five Years in Prison

New York State Senate Majority Leader Dean (left), and son Adam, Skelos

[From article]
Ex-state Senate majority leader Dean Skelos was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for using his political power to line the pockets of his do-nothing son Adam.
Adam Skelos — who once threatened to “smash” in the head of a supervisor at a job his dad got for him — landed six and a half years behind bars.
Along with the prison sentences, Manhattan federal Judge Kimba Wood imposed a $500,000 fine on Dean Skelos.
The father-son duo were convicted in December of bribery, corruption and conspiracy after prosecutors with Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara’s office played tapes showing that the Long Island Republican strong-armed companies into paying his 33-year-old son more than $330,000.
“You sent a message that you, one of the three most powerful politicians in New York State, were in some measure corrupt,” Judge Wood said of Dean Skelos.
“Your crimes were more egregious than most, with the exception of Sheldon Silver,” she said referring to the corrupt former state assembly speaker, who landed a 12-year prison term just last week in a separate case.
[. . .]



“These cases show — and history teaches — that the most effective corruption investigations are those that are truly independent and not in danger of either interference or premature shutdown.”
The comment was a not-so-thinly-veiled jab at Gov. Cuomo’s Moreland Commissioner.
The governor set up the commission in 2013, saying it was needed to “root out corruption in politics and government.” He then abruptly pulled the plug on it less than a year later after strong opposition from lawmakers.
A smiling Dean Skelos strolled into the courtroom before his sentencing and waved to his wife, Gail. His brother, retired Nassau County state appellate-court Judge Peter Skelos, also was in court for the proceeding.
“You can’t argue that you robbed a bank repeatedly over a course of years and you did it for your family,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Masimore said of Dean Skelos in court. “I think the evidence was very clear that Dean Skelos was strong-arming these victims and forcing them to pay.
[. . .]
Shortly after his conviction, the Long Island Republican began receiving taxpayer-funded pension payments of $95,000 per year.
At trial prosecutors argued that the elder Skelos used his influence to help Adam get jobs he either wasn’t qualified for or that he barely showed up for, including AbTech, an environmental tech company seeking state-funded contracts.
At one point AbTech agreed to increase Adam’s monthly paycheck from $4,000 to $10,000 after Adam threatened to use his father’s influence to block a $12 million contract that would help the company, it emerged at trial.
In another cushy gig his dad got him, the younger Skelos ​threatened his supervisor for criticizing him about his repeated absences.
“Guys like you couldn’t shine my shoes. You’ll never amount to anything. If you talk to me like that again, I’ll smash your f—–g head in,” Adam told his former supervisor, Chris Curcio, at medical ​malpractice ​insurance firm PRI, Curcio testified.

http://nypost.com/2016/05/12/ex-ny-senator-dean-skelos-gets-five-years-in-prison-for-corruption/

Ex-NY senator Dean Skelos gets five years in prison for corruption
By Kaja Whitehouse, Jennifer Bain and Danika Fears
New York Post
May 12, 2016 | 12:07pm

Updated: Convicted NY State Senator Sentenced to 7 Years In State Prison

Posted February 5, 2015 9:05 PM ET; Last updated July 2, 2015 9:03 PM ET


Malcolm Smith leaving court on Thursday.

Photo: Robert Kalfus

[From article]
A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced Malcolm Smith to seven years in prison, saying the former state Senate majority leader corrupted the political process by trying to buy his way onto the ballot in a crooked bid to become mayor of New York City.
No amount of good deeds, not Smith’s community advocacy, church leadership or political authority, were enough to offset his attempts to pollute the process, said Judge Kenneth Karas, who chided the once-powerful Smith for violating the public’s trust.
Summing it up in blunt terms, Karas said, “If Mr. Smith had just said no to the scoundrel, which would have been so easy — ‘This is crazy, I’m not going to buy my way, even if I think I’m going to be the best mayor in the history of New York City, I’m not going to do it, I’m going to respect the process’ — then we wouldn’t be here.”
[. . .]
Dozens of New York politicians have faced legal or ethics charges since 2000, including John Sampson, who replaced Smith as the Senate’s Democratic leader and who is currently on trial in Brooklyn federal court for alleged obstruction of justice.
Smith, 58, chose not to address the court and had no visible reaction when he heard the sentence.
But in a letter to the judge, he insisted that his only motivation was to achieve his dream of becoming mayor.
[. . .]
Smith, who represented southeast Queens in the state Senate, ​was done in when he unknowingly turned to Moses Stern — a crooked Rockland County developer who was, in fact, a cooperating federal witness — as well as ano​​ther man Smith thought was a developer but who was actually an undercover federal agent. He pushed both for money and help trying to fix the election.
In turn, Smith promised them $500,000 in transportation funds for a project in Spring Valley.
[. . .]
Karas also sentenced Tabone, a former Queens Republican Party vice chair who was convicted of receiving bribes on Smith’s behalf​​, to 3¹/₂ years in prison. Tabone was also ordered to forfeit the $25,000 he received in bribes.
In order get on the GOP line, Smith needed the support of at least three of the five borough Republican committees, including Tabone’s.
In February, a White Plains federal jury took just 90 minutes to find Smith and Tabone guilty on the bribery charges. Tabone was also convicted of witness tam­pering.

http://nypost.com/2015/07/01/malcolm-smith-sentenced-to-7-years-in-prison/

Malcolm Smith sentenced to 7 years in prison
By Priscilla DeGregory and Leonard Greene
New York Post
July 1, 2015 | 11:23am

* * *

[From article]
Disgraced former state Sen. Malcolm Smith is facing up to 45 years behind bars after being convicted Thursday in a failed $200,000 bribery scheme to fix the Republican line in the 2013 mayoral election.
A White Plains federal jury took a little over two hours deliberating before convicting Smith and an accomplice, former Queens Republican Vice Chairman Vincent Tabone, on bribery charges.
To get on the GOP line, Smith — once one of the state’s top Democrats — needed the support of at least three of the five borough Republican committees. Queens was secured through Tabone and The Bronx through former Bronx GOP Chairman Joseph “Jay” Savino. He never got the third vote.
Smith, the feds say, turned to Moses Stern — a crooked Rockland County developer-turned-federal witness — and an undercover federal agent for money and help pulling off the botched scheme. In turn, Smith allegedly promised them $500,000 in transportation funds for a project in Spring Valley, NY.

http://nypost.com/2015/02/05/malcolm-smith-guilty-of-trying-to-rig-nyc-mayors-race/

Malcolm Smith guilty of trying to rig NYC mayor’s race
By Rich Calder
New York Post
February 5, 2015 | 12:32pm

New York State Senate Majority Leader Arrested

Senate Majority Leader, Dean Skelos, in front of New York State House

[From article]
The feds busted the second of New York’s infamous “three men in a room” on Monday, charging state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos in a corruption scheme to peddle his influence in exchange for cash and work for his ne’er-do-well son.
Authorities say Skelos, the state’s most powerful Republican lawmaker, shook down two firms that paid his son, Adam, more than $200,000 for jobs he either didn’t perform or for which he wasn’t qualified.
In exchange, Skelos allegedly voted on legislation that favored one of the firms and used his power to help the other score a $12 million government contract.
The case against the Skeloses was partly built on secretly recorded phone conversations, despite Adam allegedly using a disposable “burner” phone to evade investigators working with Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.
“You can’t talk normally because it’s like f- -king Preet Bharara is listening to every f- -king phone call,” Adam whined to his dad on March 28, according to the criminal complaint. “It’s jus t f- -king frustrating .”
[. . .]
A similar corruption case was brought little more than three months ago against Assembly man Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), who resigned his post as speaker but held onto his seat.
“By now, two things should be abundantly clear,” Bharara said Monday. “First, public corruption is a deep-seated problem in New York state. It is a problem in both chambers. It is a problem on both sides of the aisle. And, second, we are deadly serious about tackling that problem.”
[. . .]
Dean Skelos, prosecutors said, even pushed Nassau County officials on payments to an environmental technology firm during the wake of slain NYPD Detective Wenjian Liu on Jan. 4.
In a phone call from the wake, he told his son in coded language that payments to the firm, which sources identified as AbTech Industries, would be coming.
“All claims that are in will be taken care of,” the elder Skelos said twice, according to court papers.
The son allegedly replied: “Oh, OK. Gotcha.”
Dean Skelos was also caught on tape bragging to his son that he would wield even more power by the end of this year.
“I’m going to be president of the Senate [in the 2015-16 session]. I’m going to be majority leader,” he allegedly said.
“I’m going to control everythi ng. I’m going to control who gets on what committees, what legislation goes to the floor, what legislation comes through committees, the budget, everything.”

http://nypost.com/2015/05/04/state-majority-leader-dean-skelos-and-son-charged-with-corruption/

Skelos and son busted in latest corruption scheme
By Josh Saul, Bruce Golding and David K. Li
New York Post
May 4, 2015 | 10:11am

NY State Senator Jailed For One Year

Former NY State Sen. Shirley Huntley

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/former_state_prison_shirley_huntley_mvA923cCqYthDudojdiwYL

Former State Sen. Shirley Huntley sentenced to one year and one day in prison, three years probation
By MITCHEL MADDUX and DAN MANGAN
New York Post
Last Updated: 3:56 PM, May 9, 2013
Posted: 3:14 PM, May 9, 2013

NY State Senator Indicted for Theft of Taxpayer Funds For Non Profits

Non profit abuses are institutionalized in MA, where there is only one functioning political party. There are no efforts to hold elected officials and their wasteful spending accountable in MA. In New York State they are still some Democrats with integrity. I can't identify them or where they are but I know they exist. In MA there are only members of the coalition which exists to steal taxpayer funds and to ensure no accountability.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/state_probe_shirley_huntley_set_xuR46NDSEg2AG5ncqdgV9J

State Sen. Huntley set to turn self in to authorities following investigation into nonprofits
By MICHAEL GARTLAND and JOSH MARGOLIN
New York Post
Last Updated: 4:53 PM, August 25, 2012
Posted: 12:54 PM, August 25, 2012

Black Racist NY Senator

[From article]

""You have these long-term white supremacist . . . Republican senators who have been in the majority for a long time,"

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/race_fury_pol_in_an_ugly_rant_3REIzU9BfOtUTGh0GqPB2J

SEN. KEVIN PARKER " title="SEN. KEVIN PARKER " white="" supremacist="" slur.="" src="http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2010/04/29/news/photos_stories/cropped/kevin--300x300.jpg" height="300" width="300">

SEN. KEVIN PARKER "White supremacist" slur.

Race-fury pol in an ugly rant

By BRENDAN SCOTT

New York Post

Last Updated: 8:13 AM, April 30, 2010

Posted: 3:17 AM, April 29, 2010