Lelling means business – unlike other officials
The mayor should have listened.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling warned Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia a year ago that he would go after him if he continued abusing his office and the public trust.
“If you are an elected official and you commit some kind of fraud we will go after you,” Lelling told the mayor, 26, in 2018 upon his indictment for defrauding people in an investment scheme that bankrolled his lavish lifestyle.
Correia did not listen. So, again he was taken from his house in handcuffs one morning a week ago, whisked to Boston, and this time charged with, among other things, shaking down marijuana vendors for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
According to Lelling, Correia issued necessary nonopposition letters to marijuana vendors in exchange for bribes of $100,000 to $250,000 in cash, campaign contributions and mortgage discharges. Lelling estimated that Correia accumulated some $600,000 in bribe money.
The federal prosecutor, who has built a reputation as a no-nonsense law enforcement officer, alleged that Correia turned his office into his “personal ATM, victimizing not only specific people noted in the indictment, but the residents of the city he is supposed to lead.”
Lelling’s impact on criminal behavior by politicians and others in Massachusetts since he was appointed to the job by President Trump has been huge and refreshing.
And now his sight is apparently set on Boston City Hall, which has made Mayor Marty Walsh, developers and others in his administration quite nervous.
Already two officials — Kenneth Brissette and Timothy Sullivan — were found guilty of federal charges of pressuring Boston Calling officials into hiring unneeded union workers for its concert.
Last week John Lynch, a long-time city worker appointed by the mayor, pleaded guilty to taking a $50,000 bribe for securing a favorable zoning board vote for a developer.
While Walsh has launched his own investigation into the workings of the Zoning Board of Appeals, Craig Galvin, a member of the board and a developer, resigned, and William “Buddy” Christopher, a top adviser to the mayor, took a temporary leave from the administration.
Just recently, Lelling obtained indictments against Dana Pullman, the former head of the State Police union, and Anne Lynch, its lobbyist, for kickbacks related to the misuse of union funds.
These indictments are just part of the string of indictments and convictions of crooked cops in Lelling’s ongoing investigation into the overtime embezzlement scandal that has plagued the State Police and Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration.
It has been noted in political circles that Lelling’s State Police investigation and its results have happened under the nose of Attorney General Maura Healey, the state’s “chief law enforcement officer,” who was endorsed by the State Police union.
If Healey spent as much time investing political corruption as she does in suing President Trump, Massachusetts would be cleaner than Sweden.
Lelling should serve as an example to both Healey and social justice warrior Rachael Rollins, the Suffolk County district attorney, who has a list of crimes she will not prosecute.
For instance, Lelling led a drug raid in Lawrence that netted the arrest of 35 individuals on drug trafficking, firearms and immigration offenses. He also busted an East Boston MS-13 gang, sending Its leader to prison for 20 years.
Lelling’s office broke the national pay for play college entrance exam scandal that not only rocked national colleges and universities, but Hollywood and the entertainment industry as well,
Actress Felicity Huffman pleaded guilty to paying $15,000 to a proctor to correct a college entrance exam for her daughter. She was sentenced last week to 14 days in prison.
While there are shootings and stabbings every night in Boston, Rollins seems more concerned with giving interviews to lapdog WGBH-TV reporters on social justice than she is in fighting crime. She is a social worker with a badge.
It has gotten so that while Lelling sends criminals to prison, Rollins sends them home, as she did with the majority of the masked antifa thugs who assaulted Boston cops at the Straight Pride rally last week.
It is no wonder the Boston cops are upset. Rollins threw them under the bus while the thugs cheered.
Had these antifa goons been prosecuted by Lelling in federal court rather than Rollins in district court, they would have been punished, not praised. They should be in the cell next to Huffman.