Former New York state senator Malcolm Smith was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in prison after being convicted of trying to bribe his way onto the Republican ballot in the 2013 race for New York City mayor.
Smith, a Democrat and the former Senate majority leader, was convicted in February of wire fraud, bribery and extortion.
Co-defendant Vincent Tabone, a Republican party leader in Queens who was convicted of taking a bribe from an undercover FBI agent, was sentenced to 42 months in prison.
“Bribes and kickbacks should never play a role in the selection of candidates for public office,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. “By attempting to buy and sell a spot on New York City’s mayoral ballot, Malcolm Smith and Vincent Tabone corrupted one of the most fundamental tenets of the democratic process, that candidates cannot bribe their way onto a ballot.”
5 comments:
Shouldn't Bharara investigate Cuomo for firing the Moreland Commission?
And the resident political genius of Queens County, Dan Halloran, decided to be tried apart from these two.
His supreme intellectualism and knowledge of the criminal system paid off with Halloran getting a ten year sentence while the others got much less time.
Way to go Danny boy!
Two down and a few hundred to go. You would think that the current prosecutions and sentences would have an effect on the other criminals, but noooooooooooo........
Malcolm Smith was garbage anyway did not help his District. Should have got 10 years.
He is a street thug in a suit.
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