Ex-Cuomo aide Percoco gets delay in starting 6 yrs. in jail

Gov. Cuomo’s former top aide has won a delay of his six-year prison sentence.

Joseph Percoco was to report to prison on March 1 for accepting over $300,000 in bribes, which he notoriously referred to as “ziti.”

But the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrote in a one-page decision made public Monday that Percoco (photo) did not have to report to prison as it considered whether to grant him bail pending appeal.

“A stay of surrender is granted only until the matter is considered and decided by a three-judge panel in the regular course, and subject to further orders of that panel,” the court wrote.

The court did not provide a basis for its decision. The ruling also applied to Syracuse developer Steve Aiello, who was found guilty alongside Percoco, 61.

Aiello was sentenced to three years in prison for funneling $35,000 in bribes to Percoco.

Judge Valerie Caproni had ruled earlier this month that both men’s convictions would likely be upheld and that they should begin serving their sentences while pursuing appeals.

Percoco, who once wielded considerable power behind the scenes in Albany, argues in his appeal that the evidence against him was legally insufficient.

Percoco’s attorney says that the government had to prove Aiello and an exec from a Hudson Valley energy firm, Competitive Power Ventures, bribed him in exchange for specific official acts.

The government won its case on a theory that Percoco accepted the bribes and then made official acts favorable to the companies “as opportunities arose.”

The government said the bribes kept Percoco “on retainer.”