NEW YORK CITY — Former state Sen. Malcolm Smith was found guilty Thursday of a scheme to bribe Republican Party leaders into helping him win the party's nomination for mayor.
Smith, 57, a Democrat first elected to represent the 14th Senatorial District in Queens in 2000, bribed the Republican Party leaders so he could run on the GOP line in a New York City mayoral race.
TIMELINE: See all of the NY politicians who have gotten into trouble
SIGN UP FOR DNAINFO'S NEIGHBORHOOD NEWSLETTERS
Federal prosecutors said Smith planned to bribe City Councilman Dan Halloran, the head of the Bronx Republican party Joseph Savino and the vice chairman of the Queens Republican party, Vincent Tabone, to get the necessary permissions to run for mayor as a Republican.
Smith was accused of giving tens of thousands of dollars to two Republican Party leaders. He and Tabone, 47, were convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud, and bribery.
Smith separately was convicted of extortion and Tabone of witness tampering. Each charge carries a sentence of five to 20 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine.
“As the jury unanimously found, the give-and-take of the political process should not be the giving and taking of bribes, which is what Malcolm Smith and Vincent Tabone tried to make it," said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
"Smith gave, and Tabone took, a $25,000 cash bribe to permit Smith to run for New York City Mayor as a Republican. Smith and Tabone were not alone in this scheme – Smith also bribed Daniel Halloran, another Republican Party official," he continued.
Smith was the former chairman of the Senate's Democrats after they took control in Albany for the first time in four decades in 2008. He then broke off to caucus with a group called the Independent Democratic Conference, who were aligned with Republicans.
He is the most recent legislator to be convicted of corruption charges.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was arrested on a series of corruption charges a few weeks ago. Check our timeline of New York politician behaving badly.
"And sadly, this was just one of many pockets of corruption this office has uncovered in New York, which has become the ‘show me the money’ state," said Bharara.
"It should not be asking too much to expect public officials at least to obey the law," he added.
