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Friday, November 24, 2017
Vol. 66, No. 47
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DANCING TWEENS
Evidence is strong: Mangano prosecutors File 103-page court paper citing bribe solicitation BY JA N E LL E C L AUS E N
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AMERICAN DANCE AWARDS
Ellie Chang, a 10-year-old dancer with MOBA Dance Academy, at the 2017 American Dance Award Nationals competition. See story on page 2.
Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and former Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto were involved in a “conspiracy to solicit and receive bribes and kickbacksâ€? from an unnamed co-conspirator, federal prosecutors argued in court documents ďŹ led last week. In the papers, prosecutors argued that the conspiracy lasted from January 2010, when Mangano ďŹ rst took oďŹƒce, through February 2015. A businessman asked Mangano to help secure millions of dollars worth of loans for his restaurants, prosecutors wrote, from the Town of Oyster Bay. Mangano went on to pressure Venditto to back four loans to the alleged co-conspirator, prosecutors said, and secure contracts for him. “This case concerns the corrupt abuse of power by Mangano and Venditto – two elected oďŹƒcials in Nassau County, where the TOB is located – and the willingness of Co-Conspirator #1, a local businessman and restaurateur, to pay bribes in order to obtain oďŹƒcial action
from these oďŹƒcials for Co-Conspirator #1’s beneďŹ ts,â€? prosecutors wrote in the court papers. Newsday, citing sources close to the investigation, identiďŹ ed the restaurateur and alleged co-conspirator as Harendra Singh. Anthony La Pinta, Singh’s attorney, was not available for comment on the case. Prosecutors also said that Venditto and his family received limousine services, discounts for the businesses’ events, free private oďŹƒce space and meals. The co-conspirator, meanwhile, provided the Mangano family free vacations, ooring and other items of material value, prosecutors said. Mangano’s wife, Linda, prosecutors said, received “shamâ€? employment in one of the alleged co-conspirator’s restaurants, for which she was paid over $450,000. She has been charged with making false statements in the case. The court paper, totaling more than 100 pages, was ďŹ led in opposition to a string of Continued on Page 68
Red-light cameras won’t help traffic: N. Hills board day to a county plan to install red-light cameras at an intersection in the village, saying they North Hills oďŹƒcials ex- were intended to raise county pressed opposition last Wednes- revenues and would not make
BY A M E L I A C A M U R AT I
the roadway safer. “The county is doing this as a revenue source, and that’s the only reason,â€? Mayor Marvin Natiss said of the cameras. “It’s not going to help the traďŹƒc patterns; it’s not going to help the traďŹƒc ow. It’s going to bring in moneyâ€? for Nassau County. Natiss reported at
a Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday that Greenman Pederson, an engineering ďŹ rm in Babylon contracted by the county to design red-light cameras, had contacted the village asking if permits would be required to install two red-light cameras at the Shelter Rock Road and North Service Road intersection: one northbound on Shelter Rock
Road and one westbound on North Service Road. Natiss said the intersection is a hot spot, with an average of ďŹ ve wrecks per month according to Nassau County police reports issued monthly. Natiss, however, along with Trustees Phyllis Lentini, Dennis Sgambati and Gail Cohen, said Continued on Page 68
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