By Sarina Trangle
State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis), former Bayside City Councilman Daniel Halloran, and Queens Republican Party Ex-Vice President Vincent Tabone went on trial in federal court Wednesday with prosecutors calling the high-profile case a cautionary tale about “the corruption of an election.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Bloom said Smith sought to buy Republican leaders’ support he would need to run on the GOP line in the city’s 2013 mayoral election because he believed this would help him avoid a primary and mount a more viable campaign.
As a registered Democrat, Smith needed three county GOP leaders to sign a certificate called a Wilson-Pakula authorizing him to run as a Republican.
Prosecutors allege that Smith funneled roughly $500,000 in state transportation funding to a pseudo real estate project in exchange for the recipients financing bribes to obtain Republicans’ backing, according to prosecutors.
Halloran allegedly helped broker Smith’s deals and accepted more than $20,000 for the service, prosecutors said. He is also accused of agreeing to steer up to $80,000 in discretionary City Council funding to a company he believed was controlled by those financing the bribes in exchange for cash and campaign contribution checks.
Tabone was charged with taking $25,000 to help Smith get on the ballot as a Republican, prosecutors said.
“It’s about a man who wanted to be mayor, the bribe he was willing to pay and the men willing to be bought,” Bloom told jurors in federal court in White Plains, N.Y. “This is a case about the corruption of an election.”
In his opening statement, Bloom ticked through a list of alleged bribes he said Smith sought to dole out with collaboration from Halloran.
Smith, in a dark suit and blood orange tie, and Halloran, who wore a deep gray suit, a blue tie and an American flag pin, looked mostly stoic as Bloom outlined the prosecution’s arguments. Tabone, in a navy suit and salmon tie, smiled a few times as the court proceedings progressed.
Attorney Gerald Shargel opened his defense of Smith by saying the senator never gave or received a dollar of the so-called bribes.
Shargel said Moses Stern, a cooperating witness who secretly recorded conversations with the defendants, was unreliable. The once prominent member of an upstate Orthodox community and developer was convicted of defrauding Citigroup out of roughly $126 million, according to Shargel.
The defense attorney said Stern presented himself as a political supporter of Smith’s, but the senator was wary and reached out to state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to confirm Stern’s credibility and ask about donations Stern had made to Schneiderman’s campaign, Shargel said.
Shargel said Smith would take the witness stand and explain how he rebuffed entrapment attempts by Stern, who was reportedly attempting to bargain down the 455-year prison sentence he faced by helping the government. A FBI undercover agent also posed with Stern as another rich developer.
Halloran’s attorney Vinoo Varghese also raised questions about Stern’s credibility.
“To buy his freedom of the government he became a scalp hunter,” Varghese said. “Make no mistake. He was after Dan’s scalp.”
Varghese argued Halloran was operating within legal parameters as a political consultant during exchanges prosecutors described as bribes. He said Halloran had previously huddled with city GOP leaders and floated Smith as a potential mayoral candidate who could offer the party a much-needed minority supporter and fresh face.
The attorney said the former councilman never filed the required paperwork to steer City Council funding into a consulting gig for Stern and an undercover agent, as prosecutors alleged he agreed to do.
Instead, Varghese said Halloran attempted to direct the two toward legitimately helping the greater Whitestone Taxpayers’ Association and the struggling Bayside YMCA.
Attorneys for Tabone were not slated to give an opening statement until Thursday morning.
One of his lawyers, Deborah Nirmala Misir, said he maintains his innocence.
Reach reporter Sarina Trangle at 718-260-4546 or by e-mail at strangle@cnglocal.com.
