NO MERCY FOR (former Hoboken Mayor) RUSSO: 30 months in prison

[bettyellen]

russo became mayor running the dirtiest election day you could ever imagine. i would love to tell you all some great anecdotes about what a scary ass brute he is, but i'm sure his family would sue me, or come after me with a baseball bat.



NO MERCY FOR RUSSO
30 months in prison, must repay $332G in kickbacks
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JERSEY JOURNAL

NEWARK - A tearful Anthony Russo, the corrupt former mayor of Hoboken, was sentenced yesterday to 30 months in prison - the longest sentence possible under the terms of his plea agreement - after he admitted accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes.

Russo was also hit with a $30,000 fine and ordered to pay back $332,000 he took in exchange for doling out lucrative government contracts. Prosecutors said Russo took more kickbacks than any other official to be prosecuted in recent memory.
Russo, 58, wept as he apologized to Hoboken residents and his family for taking the bribes from a city accountant and a city towing business owner during his two terms as mayor.

But citing the need to deter others from similar crimes, Federal Judge Joel Pisano showed him little lenience. Pisano noted Russo is the 10th public official he has sentenced in past years.

"There is a perverse sense of entitlement to receive illegal payments that eventually manifests itself as arrogance," the judge told Russo.

"You were the mayor of a very important city. You were at the top of the pyramid. One in that position, in my view, cannot reasonably ask for leniency."

Even yesterday, Russo was loathe to admit his crimes, equivocating over whether he had solicited the bribes. He alternately told the court he was given the kickbacks without asking, only to recant moments later, saying he'd demanded the money.

Just as Pisano was about to call for a hearing on the issue, the attorneys conferred in the judge's chambers and came back out where Russo finally admitted in court his responsibility."

more:

http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-0/111640760024660.xml

[Kathy in Cambridge]

1. Was he a Dem or a Repuke?

Buddy Cianci was the mayor of Providence and spent some time in prison. Republican, of course.

[bettyellen]

2. i think we are all dems, but he was scary, antisemetic, nasty, threatened

people. you never saw such voter fraud in your life. chain gangs of "campaign workers" who have to vote at three different sites for $60. they escort them, because they ain't gonna pay for nothing.
he tried to hire me to work on his campaign. he tried very hard to persuade me, if you know what i mean. this stuff is the tip of the iceberg, he got a piece of everything built in this town for 8 years.