New York State Senator Malcolm Smith, a Democrat who represents a Queens district in New York City, was among a group of six people charged in a bribery scheme aimed at getting him the Republican nomination for mayor.
Smith, 56, sought to bribe party officials so that he could run for mayor of New York City this year, U.S. prosecutors said today in papers filed in Manhatan federal court. Also charged were New York City Councilman Daniel Halloran, a Democrat from Queens, and Republican Party officials Vincent Tabone and Joseph Savino.
"A show-me-the-money culture seems to pervade every level of New York government," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement, calling the charges "an unappetizing smorgasbord of graft and greed involving six officials who together built a corridor of corruption stretching from Queens and the Bronx to Rockland County and all the way up to Albany itself."
The defendants, charged with six counts including fraud and conspiracy in a complaint unsealed today, face decades in prison if convicted. They are scheduled to appear later today in federal court in White Plains, New York.
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is the majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.
The case is U.S. v. Smith, 13-00852, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (White Plains).
