’VETTE ME THE GOV
Car show got Cuo to 125G $$ event
Gov. Cuomo’s love of vintage Corvettes helped draw him to a fundraiser where he was slated to receive $125,000 in campaign cash from a Syracuse developer now on trial for corruption, according to court testimony Tuesday.
COR Development Co. president Steven Aiello — a co-defendant in a Manhattan federal trial along with former top Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco — planned to deliver the hefty contribution at the 2013 fundraiser, star prosecution witness Todd Howe testified.
The dough was to be divvied up into five checks of $25,000 each from different companies that Aiello controlled — all without the name “COR” in them, Howe said.
Both Howe and Percoco knew it wouldn’t be good if the media got wind of the large donation, said Howe, a former lobbyist who has pleaded guilty in the case and is cooperating with the feds.
Judge Valerie Caproni made a point of telling jurors that there’s “no suggestion those campaign contributions were unlawful.”
The fundraiser was held in COR exec Jeffrey Aiello’s customized garage, which at the time held six gleaming Corvettes, according to a photo shown to the jury.
Cuomo — the proud owner of a blue 1975 Corvette Stingray — had previously bonded with Jeffrey, Steven’s cousin, who is not on trial, when they spent 35 minutes discussing their shared appreciation for American muscle cars at a 2011 fundraiser in a New York City hotel, Howe said.
“If I mention Corvettes to the governor, he will park for an hour,” Howe recalled telling Jeffrey.
Jurors also saw a photo of Cuomo shaking hands with Steven Aiello at that 2011 event.
Percoco is accused of pocketing $300,000 in “pay-to-play” bribes from Steven Aiello and two other co-defendants in exchange for doing them favors.
E-mails introduced by prosecutors Tuesday allegedly show just how desperate Percoco was for the money, which the feds say he needed to pay the mortgage on his sprawling, $815,000 home.
“C’mon herb we need to get stuff flowing here! and cant go another month!” Percoco wrote to Howe on Nov. 12, 2012, using a nickname the men called each other.
In another e-mail, dated June 7, 2014, Percoco told Howe: “Oh herb cut the s--t! I’m broke herb. Close it down!”
“He was upset I hadn’t been able to get him paid yet,” Howe testified.
Several e-mails showed Percoco and Howe saying “Did you send the ziti?” in what Howe has said was a coded reference to cash that Percoco lifted from “The Sopranos.”