Jail for gov’s ‘brother’
Percoco, former top aide to Andy, gets 6 years in bribe scandal
Fortunately for Joseph Percoco, they serve ziti in federal prison.
A former top aide to Gov. Cuomo was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison for accepting over $300,000 in bribes — which he referred to as “ziti” — from two businesses seeking favorable action from state government.
The sentence capped the downfall of the man Cuomo had described as a “brother.” The governor once said that his dad, Gov. Mario Cuomo, thought of Percoco, 49, as a “third son.”
To Manhattan Federal Court Judge Valerie Caproni, Percoco was “a bully” motivated by “greed and arrogance.”
“I hope this sentence will be heard in Albany. You are serving the public,” she said.
“If you can’t live with a public sector salary, get out of government.”
If a public official accept bribes, she added, “this court will show you no mercy.”
Percoco served as executive deputy secretary until 2016 — a title that did not convey his degree of influence in Albany. He was Cuomo’s sharp-elbowed lieutenant who implemented his agenda and oversaw logistics of critical initiatives. He also ran Cuomo’s 2014 reelection campaign.
“Unlike an elected official whose work happens in the public eye...Joe Percoco wielded immense power and he wielded it behind closed doors,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Janis Echenberg said.
Percoco, the father of two girls, sat grim-faced throughout the proceeding. In brief remarks to the court he said he was sorry and that he would live with the consequences of his actions the rest of his life.
His eight-week trial revealed that despite his influence, Percoco was in debt. By 2014 he faced around $1 million in mortgage and credit card bills. So he took money from a Syracuse-based developer, Cor, and a Hudson Valley energy firm, Competitive Power Ventures.
CPV gave Percoco’s wife, Lisa, a “low-show” job to teach schoolkids about energy from 2012 to 2016 that paid $7,500-per-month.
Percoco bribes through the wildly corrupt Albany lobbyist Todd Howe, who has pleaded guilty to eight felonies and cooperated with prosecutors. Howe and Percoco referred to the bribes as “ziti” — a reference to “The Sopranos.”
“I have no wrote in 2014.
“Got to keep the ziti flowing,” Howe once wrote to Percoco.
As it turns out, ziti is served at federal prisons, according to a 2017 national menu from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Howe’s lying ways resulted in the trial’s most dramatic moment. While on the stand, Howe was confronted with evidence that he’d tried to scam his way out of a $600 hotel bill — a violation of his cooperation agreement that required he commit no additional crimes. ziti,” Percoco