Albany Riveted by Double Life of an Assemblyman and Informer

The New York Times ^ | 4/9/13 | THOMAS KAPLAN

[publius1]

On a drizzly Monday in Albany, Nelson L. Castro, in sharp red tie, rose on the floor of the State Assembly to welcome a delegation of fellow Dominican-Americans visiting from New York City. The 199th anniversary of the birth of Juan Pablo Duarte, a founding father of the Dominican Republic, was approaching, and Mr. Castro had prepared a resolution to honor him. Multimedia

Four days later, after traveling back to the Bronx, Mr. Castro met with two businessmen who had enlisted his help in their efforts to open an adult day care center in the borough. One of the men handed Mr. Castro three manila envelopes stuffed with $12,000 in cash and explained, according to a criminal complaint, “Consider this a contribution.”

Unbeknown to the men, Mr. Castro was recording the conversation. Since 2009, just nine months after he was elected to the Assembly, he had led a double life: simultaneously representing the West Bronx in the Legislature, and informing on his colleagues to state and federal prosecutors investigating public corruption.

[publius1]

Question: is this fraud by the US government? In effect, they put in office a man guilty of felonies that would have barred him from holding office in order to use him to get information on other office holders. Is this subversion of lawful democratic electoral processes, the federal government acting unlawfully to entrap others? Is there a difference between this and the feds keeping a hired killer on the streets so as to trap other criminals?

[Dutchboy88]

Are you concerned that they are going to catch you doing something? Otherwise...

[Iron Munro]

Ho-hum.

Another crooked black, democrat, NY politician.

Take a number please.

[publius1]

No, I’m concerned that the feds intentionally withheld information about the conduct of this assemblyman from the voters — information which would have barred him from office. I do not endorse the crimes but isn’t this a kind of fast & Furious with the electoral process?

[AppyPappy]

Entrap? They took the money.

[Dutchboy88]

Not really. Fast and Furious put guns in the hands of criminals intentionally to see if they made their way back to the US. This is a sting operation to snag crooked politicians taking/making bribes. Don’t smear the edges.

[hdbc]

Let’s hope Andrew Coumo’s name comes up.

[publius1]

You’re right. Maybe a better parallel would be intentionally withholding something like the Obama birth certificate, or knowledge of some crime by a presidential contender that would bar him from office biut pout him under the control of the FBI.

[Liz]

SALIVATING FOR AMNESTY TAX DOLLARS ---- On a drizzly Monday in Albany, Nelson L. Castro, in sharp red tie, rose on the floor of the State Assembly to welcome a delegation of fellow Dominican-Americans visiting from New York City. The 199th anniversary of the birth of Juan Pablo Duarte, a founding father of the Dominican Republic, was approaching, and Mr. Castro had prepared a resolution to honor him.

(EXCERPTED from a DR travel brochure) The DR is a Caribbean nation notorious for corrupt governments and strong-arm dictators. Despite US politicans' fondness for the "amenities" at its posh resorts and celebrities relaxing at posh villas spending big bucks there, the DR has no safety net or state-sponsored job creation for its largely impoverished citizenry.

The one million Dominican citizens currently living illegally in the US send home about a billion US dollars annually---which is considered by the corrupt do-nothing DR govt to be a major source of state revenue. A steady exodus leaves for US shores (lured by the endless US gravy train).

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Wired-up Bronx Democrat Nelson Castro, a Dominican Republic native---led a life of crime before landing in the Albany legislature.

IS HE A US CITIZEN? Nelson Castro, the Bronx state assemblyman at the center of NY's latest political corruption scandal — got into office even though he had a record of criminal arrests in two states and had lied in court about voter registration fraud at his Bronx apartment.

BACKSTORY Bronx Democratic Party leaders anointed Castro---a former staff member for State Sen. Adriano Espaillat, a Dominiocan Republic native; party bosses were eager to elect a young Dominican politician in the South Bronx, where the Dominican population was growing rapidly.

He was a candidate who had led a life of crime:

<><> a 1989 felony arrest in Michigan for larceny. Michigan court records show that 19-year old Castro pled guilty to a misdemeanor conspiracy and was sentenced to 180 days probation.

<><> In 2003, Castro was arrested again in New York, this time for grand larceny. He was accused of pocketing $4,900 in unemployment checks while holding a job. He pled guilty to petty larceny, repaid the money and was slapped with three years probation.

<><> Then in March 2008, Castro was arrested a third time — for driving in East Harlem with a revoked license and as a scofflaw who owed more than $3,000 in parking tickets.

Even more disturbing revelations about Castro followed.

<><> During the hearing before Special Referee Mary Lynn Dlabola, evidence emerged that 10 people registered to vote from Castro's one-bedroom apt including Castro's fiance, his cousin, his aunt and uncle, two relatives of his fiancée, and three people who were key figures in Nelson's Castro campaign. Most had registered to vote only months before.

Castro lied---and testified that he had no idea all those people were registered there. Asked why so many people were claiming to live in the same tiny apartment, Castro's lawyer claimed at one point that it was a "common practice in the Dominican community for families to take in relatives."

ARE THE NEW DOMINICAN VOTERS US CITIZENS? Unbelievably, Castro also told the court he "did not know" a man who was actually his coordinator of volunteers. That campaign coordinator was a votino scam artist, and had 15 other people registered to vote at his home address, as well.

The investigation led to a sealed indictment against Castro for perjury. To save himself---he got wired-up and allowed to run again---and be elected. (NY Daily News factoids.)

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REFERENCE It was recently revealed that US Senator Robert Menendez (Democrat-NJ)---using US govt authority and resources---acted to discourage plans by the United States government to donate port security equipment to the Dominican Republic to detect drug cargo.

Menendez cited concern that the advanced screening gear might undermine efforts by a private company — a company run by Menendez's major campaign contributor---a friend w/ dual residences in Miami and the Dominican Republic.

Menendez's intervention with the Department of Homeland Security came even though Mr. Menendez has publicly chastised the Obama administration for not doing more to combat the surging drug traffic moving through Dominican ports.

And it came shortly after the senator’s Miami friend,----who is also a resident of the Domincan Republic---Dr. Salomon E. Melgen, arranged to meet with a senior State Dept official, accompanied by a former aide to Mr. Menendez........in a related push to protect his company's port security contract, which is worth as much as $500 million over 20 years.

MEDDLING IN US AFFAIRS The Dominican Republic government has now moved to save Menendez's degenerate a**-----if the DR staves off the dreaded Christie appointment---guaranteed the corrupt DR will get a foreign aid check with lots and lots of zeros.

[Liz]

"Nice suit Nelson, who's your tailor?" AS TV's JUDGE JUDY
MIGHT SAY: " Show me where you got the money to pay for this."

Nelson Castro / by Victor Chu for New York Daily News

This convicted Dominican criminal in our midst does not seem to have any visible means of support. L/E needs to determine how many identities this hardened criminal has---and how many are riding the gravy train. And is he getting a cut of the gravy train looting from all those Dominican "voters" registered at his address.

UNDERWORLD KINGPIN LOOTING TAXPAYERS? In a cruel joke on taxpayers, this shyster Castro chaired NY state Assembly's "Task Force on New Americans." Every govt budget, agency, committee, and bank account under Castro's control should be examined with a fine-tooth comb for govt fraud, racketeering, conspiracy, collusion, nepotism, secret LLC accounts, and money laundering, wire fraud, tax evasion, etc, etc, etc.

The super-secretive criminal latino underworld is now infesting the US political system. The collusive tight-knit coterie of conspiratorial political operatives have one goal----to loot the public treasury, and act as a pressure group to advance Third World ambitions. All attempts to lift the veil of criminality is met with cries of foul. But that should not be a deterrent

TAKE A GUESS---ARE ILLEGAL BRONX DOMINICANS ENGAGED IN GOVT FRAUD? Taxpayers must demand that L/E subpoena copies of Castro's legislative district (1) checks, (2) wire transfers, (3) bank account statements, (4) invoices, (5) bills, (6) delivery tickets, (7) correspondence including e-mail, employment contracts, salary agreements, and, (8) all legislative district financial books/records.

Scrutinize Castro's legislative district bank accounts for suspicious activites: (A) large deposits, (B) funds transferred from one account into another, (C) request for withdrawals.

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REFERENCE Under the Bank Secrecy Act passed by Congress, banks are required to establish, implement and maintain programs designed to detect and report suspicious activity indicative of money laundering, govt fraud and other financial crimes. “The Bank Secrecy Act was enacted to protect the tax-paying public from harm by identifying and detecting money laundering from criminal enterprises, govt fraud, tax evasion, money laudering and other unlawful activities,” explained the special agent in charge for Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations.

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CASTRO'S CORRUPT VOTINO SCAM SHOULD SPARK NEW INQUIRIES---AND PROSECUTION----L/E should rigorously investigate the latino criminal uderworld---corrupt parasites undermining the US political system----proof-positive that govt documents were falsified to hide the corrupt use of tax dollars. L/E will likely find that Castro and the latino underworld doled out tax dollars to finance votino scams, and other illegal conduct.

[Liz]

VOTINO FRAUD ALERT---Castro forged papers / By BRUCE GOLDING, NYpost

CASTRO Flipped to dodge rap.

Voter fraud was one of ex-Bronx Assemblyman Nelson Castro’s tricks for gaining power, court papers obtained by The NY Post show.

Castro schemed to illegally register dozens of latino voters in his district ahead of the election that sent him to Albany: Castro forged signatures on petitions to earlier seek office as a district leader.

Those revelations are spelled out in a deal Castro signed April 2 in which federal prosecutors agreed not to prosecute those crimes in return for wearing a wire in a probe of his political colleagues.

It’s the same document in which Castro agreed to resign from the state Assembly, and in which Bronx prosecutors agreed to drop state perjury charges for lying about the number of people registered to vote from his one-bedroom apartment. Castro’s cooperation is critical to the case against Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, who was charged last week with promising to introduce legislation for a quartet of shady businessmen who wanted to open adult day care centers. Castro, who was first elected to the Assembly in 2008, could not be reached for comment.

SOURCE http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/castro_forged_papers_Q72rDsVm97OW5upEcRXm0K

[muir_redwoods]

I believe there is ample precedent for sealed indictments. If those are legal, and I believe they are, the issue is whether he pled guilty or was convicted; an indictment alone wouldn’t disqualify him under the presumption of innocence. But then again, what do I know?

[Liz]

IS CASTRO BLABBING ABOUT HIS EX-BOSS?
FBI questioning people about Espaillat's community-group funding
By CARL CAMPANILE, DAVID SEIFMAN and DAN MANGAN; w/ Erik Kriss and Josh Margolin, NY POST

HEAT’S ON: Dominican Republic native, NY state Sen. Adriano Espaillat of Washington Heights has come under scrutiny for his funding of local community groups.

PIC by Dan Brinzac

EXCERPT The FBI has been questioning people about state Sen. Adriano Espaillat (NY DEMOCRAT) and his funding of community groups in upper Manhattan, sources told The NY Post.

Agents were in his Washington Heights district talking to local leaders about the use of public funds by the Democrat, who last year nearly unseated longtime US Rep. Charles Rangel in a primary.

“FBI agents were asking about member items that Espaillat provided to community organizations,” a source said, referring to lawmakers’ practice of directing money to their districts---often derided as “pork-barrel spending.” Espaillat sponsored or co-sponsored almost 100 member items as an assemblyman in the four years before his Senate election in 2010, records show. Most were for $5,000 or less, but a nonprofit, the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Economic Development, got nearly $500,000 in increments of primarily $70,000 or $80,000, as first reported by The Post.

DOMINIAN REPUBLIC US CENTRAL The development group has employed Espaillat’s sister-in-law, a Domincan Republic native, his latino Democratic district leader and several campaign consultants.

The Esopillat scrutiny comes as state Sen. Malcolm Smith of Queens and Assemblyman Eric Stevenson of The Bronx, were arrested in federal bribery cases this week.

Espaillat’s former chief of staff, Assemblyman Nelson Castro, also a Dominican Republic native, is a key witness against Stevenson and revealed Thursday that he’s also an informant in other criminal investigations involving New York politicians.

WERE TAX DOLLARS FINANCING VOTINO FRAUD?---Espaillat’s coalition for economic development closed down in 2011 when member items became harder to get. The n/p's executive director, Dominican Republic native Nurys de Oleo, landed a $50,000-a-year job as Sen Espaillat’s special assistant.

SOURCE http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/feds_put_senator_pork_on_the_grill_kDKevEOI2MGBkyoBqBixoM

[Dutchboy88]

Now there is a situation where I had hoped that the AZ posse could have found the smoking gun and sting this fraud out of office.