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
IS CASTRO BLABBING ABOUT HIS EX-BOSS?
FBI questioning people about Espaillat's community-group fundingBy 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