The FBI has arrested NYS Senator Malcolm Smith and a NYC councilman as part of a public corruption probe. The agency says Smith & Dan Halloran were arrested this morning. No other details are provided.
Queens lawmakers State Senator Malcolm Smith and City Councilman Dan Halloran were arrested this morning by the FBI in a corruption probe. The NY Post reports that they're accused of plotting to "rig this year’s mayoral election through fraud and bribes." Sources tell the tabloid, "The pols allegedly formed an alliance built on cash payments and fraud to get Smith — one of the state’s top Democrats — placed on the GOP mayoral ballot."
State Senator Malcolm A. Smith, a contractor and real estate developer who rose to become the first black president of the State Senate, and City Councilman Daniel J. Halloran III were arrested early Tuesday on charges of trying to fix this year’s mayoral race in New York City, according to federal prosecutors.
Mr. Smith, a 56-year-old Democrat, and Mr. Halloran, a Queens Republican, were among about a half-dozen people facing charges in the federal corruption case, according to a criminal complaint. Others included the mayor of the Rockland County village of Spring Valley, Noramie F. Jasmin, and her deputy, Joseph A. Desmaret, the complaint said.
Mr. Smith has said he was considering running for mayor of New York as a Republican, and the charges contend that he made payments to Mr. Halloran in exchange for the councilman’s assistance in setting up meetings with Republican leaders as part of an effort to get on the ballot.
Mr. Smith, according to the complaint, agreed with a cooperating witness and an undercover F.B.I. agent, who was masquerading as a wealthy real estate developer, to pay off leaders of Republican Party county committees in New York’s five boroughs. The bribes were to be paid to obtain specific certificates authorizing him to run for New York City mayor as a Republican even though he was a registered Democrat.
The undercover agent and the cooperating witness served as intermediaries between the senator and Councilman Halloran, the complaint said.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Shhhhh JoeBox will be angry we threw stones on his democraps
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
Shhhhh JoeBox will be angry we threw stones on his democraps
Typically, Graham's reading comprehension problem prevents him from understanding just who was bribed and who was offering the bribes... We'll just let Graham continue with his political wet dream!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Shady"not-for-profit" associated with known slob Vito Lopez is still getting nearly two million dollars in the budget, but you are not allowed to know who put it in there. Remember when our great reformer governor was going to crack down on all this corruption? Until he got enough people to believe he wasn't the same old Andrew Cuomo whose dad tried to hand him a high paying State job whilst he was getting rid of low level hospital workers because peons are the cause of all NYS budget woes. While on the subject of corruption, what inexperienced young man handed a very high level job in the Clinton administration because of who his dad was, facilitated the bipartisan orchestrated bank/mortgage calamity? Why didn't Wall Street get caught in all its wrongdoing while this guy was NYS AG? Meanwhile, the paper tells us that there was a lot of damage to the "lawn" at the Capitol during a legal protest over the cheesy gun legislation. So what?
"Every time a politician is arrested in New York it should not feel like a scene from Groundhog Day. And yet it does."
-- U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara,
Funny Stuff!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
LOL! Convicted on nothing, yet this douche bag judge wants to make a gun grabbing political statement. I'm not saying that I doubt these scumbags aren't most likely guilty, but what does shotgun confiscation have to do with charges of political corruption?
Quoted Text
Halloran’s lawyer told US Magistrate Judge Lisa Smith that his client owns two shotguns, and one of them was confiscated by feds this morning.
“I want that [second shotgun] surrendered in 24 hours,” Smith said.
“The charges we unsealed today demonstrate once again that a ‘show me the money’ culture seems to pervade every level of New York government,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara
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