Costly steaks

From the Daily News:

The city Conflicts of Interest Board announced Monday that two NYPD chiefs and a retired chief have each paid a $1,500 fine for glomming pricey restaurant dinners courtesy of then-Queens Library boss Thomas Galante's expense account.

Just-promoted Chief of Personnel Diana Pizzuti admitted that she accepted "gifts in the form of meals" at Christo's Steakhouse ($151 per-person), San Pietro ($124-per-person), and Quality Meats ($145 per-person). Galante also picked up the tab at Quality Meats on W. 58th St. for Pizzuti's husband, Robert Iovino, who was celebrating his 55th birthday.

Housing Police Chief James Secreto, and retired Transportation Chief James Tuller, were cited for dining out at Wolfgang's Steakhouse ($154 per person), Christo's Steakhouse, Quality Meats and San Pietro when they were borough commanders in Queens.

The gang that couldn't stay straight

From the Daily News:

Both Smith and his co-defendant, Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens), had colorful online profiles that portray radically different realities from the scheming, crooked lives prosecutors say they were actually leading.

On the Web, Smith and Halloran were legends in their own minds, fighting for the people of Queens, thousands of whom were reeling in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Meanwhile, in hotel rooms and idling cars, prosecutors say, they were hatching plans to bribe men they thought were developers — but were really working for the FBI — to obtain power or just plain old cash.

The two worlds merged Tuesday when both men joined four others in federal court, facing charges that make crystal clear there’s more to the picture than a tweet or two.

From the Daily News:

While the city’s five crime families ran multimillion-dollar rackets in waste management, the Garment District and construction, the elected officials allegedly peddled their influence for far less.

Halloran collected $38,000, Stevenson received less than $20,000 cash and Bronx GOP Chairman Joseph (Jay) Savino sold out for just $15,000, officials charged.

John Gotti spent more on his wardrobe while running the Gambino family.

From the NY Times:

The link between corrupt politicians and steakhouses would appear to be so obvious that corrupt politicians would avoid them altogether, especially since there are apparently as many hidden microphones as shrimp cocktails at a given table. But still they come. Experts on either side of the napkin offered theories.

“They’re men,” said Ben Benson, the owner of the former steakhouse that bore his name. “Men go to steakhouses. The power lunches, the power dinners — it’s what the steakhouse is all about.” Dim lighting, plush booths; there is an unspoken promise of discretion in a steakhouse. As Mr. Benson put it, they are “clubby.” One of his restaurant’s most memorable decorations was itself a reminder of a famous steakhouse crime: a large picture of the mobster Paul Castellano shot dead in front of the steakhouse Sparks in 1985. “Eat at Ben Benson’s,” the poster read. “It Won’t Kill You.”

From the NY Post:

Halloran converted in the 1980s from Catholicism to the pre-Christian Germanic religion, whose believers drink mead or whiskey from horns and dress like characters in a Renaissance fair.

He learned about their tough disciplinary code when he committed an undisclosed act against a female “thrall” — or probationary servant.

He was stripped to his waist, strapped to a tree and flogged with a belt 11 times.

I propose similar punishment for his recent alleged crimes.

Bloomberg forgot he lied

From the Daily News:

In a stunning reversal of a third-term campaign promise, Mayor Bloomberg today answered a reporter's question about his favorite vegetable with a one-word answer: "Steak."

"I like most vegetables. I'm not big on a handful of them," he told reporters, as transcribed by the DN's faithful Frank Lombardi. "But I love steak."

Before he was elected to his third term, Bloomberg told a crowd at the Union Square Greenmarket that his favorite vegetable was really iceberg lettuce -- Celeste Katz's video proof is below. A few weeks later he described himself as "an iceberg lettuce guy," dissing the White House state dinner that featured a vegetarian menu and an arugula salad from First Lady Michelle Obama's garden.