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Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin Sentenced To Decade In Prison For Bribery
Just out from Dow Jones:
- Former New Orleans Mayor Nagin Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Corruption
- New Orleans Mayor During Hurricane Katrina Headed to Federal Prison for 10 Years After Conviction for Trading City Business for Cash, Trips, Other Favors
And from the WSJ:
Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was sentenced to 10 years in prison for bribery, money laundering and other corruption that spanned his two terms as mayor--including the chaotic years after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.
Mr. Nagin was convicted Feb. 12 of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from businessmen who wanted work from the city or Mr. Nagin's support for various projects. The bribes came in the form of money, free vacations and truckloads of free granite for his family business. The 58-year-old Democrat had defiantly denied any wrongdoing after his 2013 indictment and during his February trial.
Finally from the NYT:
C. Ray Nagin, the former mayor of New Orleans who was convicted in February on corruption charges, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday in federal court in New Orleans. Mr. Nagin was found guilty in February on 20 counts, most relating to kickbacks from contractors looking for city work. The sentence was imposed by Judge Ginger Berrigan of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Mr. Nagin, a Democrat, was arrested in January 2013, nearly three years after he left office. He was charged with taking kickbacks in the form of cash, cross-country trips or help with the family-run granite countertop company; the bribes were handed out by men looking for city business ranging from software supplies to sidewalk repair. Many of the schemes, though not all, took place after Hurricane Katrina, when contractors crowded into the city for rebuilding work.
Many of those involved eventually pleaded guilty and testified at length against Mr. Nagin at his trial.
The corruption had been so thoroughly covered in the local news media that few people were surprised by the verdicts. Mr. Nagin had come into office in 2002 as a reformer from the business world and a foe of cronyism. But the city grew frustrated with his stewardship, particularly in his second term when the rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina stalled and Mr. Nagin seemed unengaged. By the time he left office in 2010, many in New Orleans had moved past frustration and were simply ready to see him go.
Throughout the trial the courtroom was half-empty, except for a riveting two days when Mr. Nagin took the stand and denied everything, at times with a glib dismissal. At one point he even refused to recognize his own signature on receipts that federal prosecutors displayed on a large screen.
In a court filing urging a stiff sentence, federal prosecutors described Mr. Nagin’s testimony as “a performance that can only be summed up by his astounding unwillingness to accept any responsibility,” and listed in detail 22 instances in which they said he had lied on the witness stand. As they had at trial, prosecutors also contrasted Mr. Nagin’s attention to detail in some of the kickback schemes with what many came to see as his lackadaisical stewardship in office.
“These repeated violations, at the expense of the citizens of New Orleans in a time when honest leadership was needed most, do not deserve leniency,” wrote Matthew M. Coman, an assistant United States attorney.
And so, following Rod Blagojevich, another prominent Democrat ends up in prison for corruption, a sentence one assumes will be shortened to a few years for good behavior. Which does beg the question: just when will Jon Corzine be released from prison?
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Chocolicious!
Jon Corzine!!! Don't think we have forgotten about you.
Nagin got off light. Corzine got off completely.
Matthew M. Coman, an assistant United States attorney h@+32 black people!
Da Bitch set me up! Oops, sorry, wrong politician.
pods
Nagin was FRAMED!
Nah, just fukkin' with ya.
And how does this differ from lobbyists?
But, but, but... he did it "for the people"!!!
A corrupt black Mayor??? I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked!
When is Obama's trial gonna start...
Oh please... am I suppose to believe in the Injustice System after this??? He obviously fell out of favor with his masters, for whatever reason. I see the gullibility levels are on the rise.
hmmm....let's see....I predict a presidential pardon to occur sometime before the end of ooooohhhh, let's say 2016 or so.
He will see a lot of chocolate.
isnt he the honorable ray niggen...
if corzine is honorable...raycist...
Good news is chocolate ration is increase for population of prison!
(AmeriKa is incarcerate more of citizenry than other country... is make Stalin roll over and blush in grave*.)
* Comrade Stalin is actually entomb in mausoleum.
Is he going to a chocolate prison?
I'd put him more into the disposable "useful idiot" category. Especially since he isn't a member of the "Good Ole Boy" network.
Basically, the only usefulness he had left was to be thrown under the bus in order for the slaves to rah, rah, rah about "justice" being served.
So all those businessmen were first time bribers huh? Right...
toss him in kwames cell.
They can start a band. Call it.......Sexy Chocolate.
More money than they know what to do with down there...but if you want the foreign investors "you've gotta clean it up...and be on the up and up."
Texas has clobbered LA because simply put "they get the Government job done" not just in the sense of "it was completed according to engineering specifications" but because it was value added to the economy as a whole creating a greater prosperity for the greater good.
In short "good for business." That's what you have to think about when you elect your town council dude (or dudette.) a: "is he going steal from me" and b: "will he simply say that's because this is how we do things around here" when he/she does it.
The Feds can't "print their prosperity" (not a very good one it would seem though)...but simply put "at the State and local level hard choices must be made." This is especially true when you got hundreds of billions in oil and natural gas money coming on line.
"More than enough to spread around." Not saying that all that's going on here is stealing...but a Chinese investor who has our debt will not...nor will he ever...invest in "pay to play." They've been doing that in China for 10,000 years. They know the difference. "You'll get a product here."
Gaius - My thoughts exactly. All pols know they are in the midst of a racket, but at some point Nagin saw too much and said "no." That was all it took. Then all the little things that he had let go by (with the knowledge and approval of his overlords) all of a sudden became important. Does anyone really think that corruption is a punishable crime in this country when the transgressors are pols? Can you spell Benghazi? It all depends on the alliance system and who is in control. His only mistake was independant thinking.
Agreed. He must have pissed off one of his masters. I'd bet money they barely scratched the surface of what this scumbag did. For a "Progressive" to actually get time, they must have done something really bad (beyond going against his oath of office ... not that that stops any of them....)
Payback from Bush for making him look worse after Katrina.
I think it's simpler than that. He had served his purpose as a patsy that beta tested a concept for the ruling class, and they had no need for him anymore. He was then relegated back to "the rest of them" class status, and therefore fell under the jurisdiction of the 2nd tier justice system, which is there to a.) punish mouthy non-compliant serfs that get out of hand, b.) establish the illusion of justice, and c.) feed the prison-industrial complex with new commodity to consume in the name of profit.
I don't think he was ever at a high enough level of significance to have "ever fallen out of favor" with the elite in the first place. At best, they gave him a 1 year local-only "kiss my ass status" with some federal immunity for constitutional violations, but's that's it.
When is Obama's trial gonna start...
Datz racism!
Barry's already penning his pardon.....
Barry is runnning as fast as possible in the other direction hoping that no one notices.... #impeach&imprision.
I've wondered about this. Can a president pardon himself? Or can he pardon someone that hasn't been charged or convicted?
Are there any honest black politicians?
Kwame Kilpatrick
"Chocolate City" Mayor Ray Nagin
Charles Rangel
William Jefferson (caught with 90K in freezer after Katrina)
Jesse Jackson Jr.
William Boyland Jr. (Brooklyn Assemblyman convicted of extortion and soliciting bribes by a federal jury)
Barack Obama
Eric Holder
Marion Barry
Sheila Dixon, Baltimore
Eric Brewer, East Cleveland
Harold Washington, Chicago
Quotes by this gubmint opportunist:
"I have been bustin' my butt."
"You know if someone approach me wrong, I'm just gonna cold-cock 'em."
"The election is over. If you supported somebody else, get over it."
"Surely God is mad, at America. He's sending hurricane after hurricane after hurricane."
"It is what it is."
"It's me ... It's Ray Nagin."
"And it just pisses me off. And that's what I'm saying, if he (Tom Benson) wants to leave, God bless him, let him leave. We need a new owner. They can't take our logo, they can't take our name. Now let's go for the Cleveland deal."
"You're gonna see a side of Ray Nagin that you haven't seen."
"I m coming back to the station, and me and your news director are gonna be outside in the parking lot having a good one-on-one."
"This is ridiculous."
"I am sick of this."
"This is just crazy."
"This city will be chocolate at the end of the day."
"It's time for us to rebuild a New Orleans, the one that should be, a chocolate New Orleans."
"Now get off your asses and let's do something, and let's fix the biggest g------ crises in the history of this country."
"Excuse my French everybody in America, but I am pissed."
"This city will be a majority African-American city ... it's the way God wants it to be."
"You got to be kidding me, this is a national disaster, get every doggone Greyhound bus-line in the country, and get their assess moving to New Orleans."
"The city of New Orleans will never be the same."
"So I stand before you a vagina-friendly mayor. I am in."
That last one is too good to check!
You can take da man outta da hood...
...but you can't take da hood outta da man.
dupe
"I'm not a crook."
Ten years disqualifies Nagin for Club Fed. He is going behind the wall.
Doubt it. Non violent offender, will more than likely put in a camp. May do a few years at a low security behind a fence, then its off to the camp. Fed Camps are the sweetest, not even a fence. just walk off anytime, just as long as you're back before stand up count. Don't know about his sentence reduced to a couple years as Tyler states. In the feds you have to do 85% of your time and usually 6 months halfway house.
The only wall he'll ever be behind is going through the US Pen in Atlanta, where they ship everybody out of.
"not even a fence. just walk off anytime, just as long as you're back before stand up count."
I hope that is not true. WTF? Why are we paying to house these folks in the first place, might as well just put a fucking ankle bracelet on them and save the money the fenceless camps costs.
Wait, that would not be bullish, and I heard guards have a club they all belong to, think they call it a racket, or union, or something like that.
Yes, most federal camps do not have fences.
Yes, inmates can go off and get lost for hours on end without anyone knowing. In fact, as long as you are back within 24hrs, they will not charge you with escape, but with a lesser charge. Kinda like being charged for being AWOL rather than deserting.
Of all the government agencies I've come across, the BOP (Bureau of Prisons) is by far the most incestuous and corrupt.
He must be the wrong kind of black.
Hey, it's all Zulu to me....
They should tack on another 20 years for his (in)actions before and after Katrina!
Lol. #toobigtojail (unfortunately)
Another negro in the woodpile. Agh. These people are doing wonders proving their stereotype wrong.
Remember Jesse Jackson, Jr? Fur vests. FUR VESTS on a guy?!
I am actually surprised and impressed. I read this headline here on ZH...and my first thought was..."Just the Onion". Wow....one down.
Meh. It's a give-and-go distraction...you think you got the guy covered until the guy you didn't see sneaks around behind you.
It's a chocolate city according to the ex-mayor. He now gets to find out how chocolate the prisons are.
What took so long?
Somebody gonna get their peanut butter dipped into his "Chocolate City"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEH9u26Vlhk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtmRa67RrFE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6TgG_5IGc0
He won't serve a single day, watch.
A chocolate federal prision!
too bad he wasn't a usa congressman they get a free pass
He should have done his research before deciding what office to run for. He has only himself to blame.
He must have seriously pissed off some bigger fish or else he never would have even been indicted.
Now THAT is a fact. Probably didn't share out the loot.
Exactly. The big fish have to make an example of those who conveniently "forget" to pay the proper percentage of their bribes up the ladder.
Now he'll live in a real Chocolate City.
still doesn't compare with "Your doing a heck of a job brownie..."
You're next Barry........
He was not friends with the Nobel Prize Winner or Holder? You will be surprised at what Presidential cufflinks can do. But, apparently, they will not protect you from throat cancer.
Just remember, it's Boooosh's fault all those monkeys drowned in their welfare slums cause he hates Blacks, the asshole who stole the money allocated to them obviously loved them and proved it by stuffing the tax money of those white bastards in his suit pockets.
Reminds me of another former mayor convicted and serving time... Kwame Kilpatrick
You simply have to assume the worst of an elected official named Kwame.
Especially if he's black.
Wonder what that Bus Company manufacturer paid..???
He can rot in Hell for all I care, just for what he did after Katrina.
Ordering police to confiscate guns of innocent people that were just trying to protect their homes.
I hope he comes out in a body bag before his sentence is served.
who really gives a fuck ABOUT ANOTHER CORRUPT POLITICIAN...
how bout whats happening once again in Silver at the close in London after the take down at the open in New York...
http://www.pmbull.com/silver-price/
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livesilver.html
It's a war Kaiser, plain and simple. I watch these charts every day, and if I had the money I could make a killing day trading these moves, they're so predictable. Daily gold moves are capped around $10; silver around 20 cents. As soon as they get near those levels...pow, they get hammered down.
The democratically elected Hero of New Orleans. After his sentence he can run for City Council.
"At one point he even refused to recognize his own signature on receipts that federal prosecutors displayed.."
Admirable. Another Public Official who has done nothing wrong.
If he runs he'll get in. Just like Marion Barry in DC. Don't matter how much he stole, he not White. Noamsane?
Chocolate city this, bitch.
Everyone knew this cocky negor was bad news!! Crooked as my tee shot yesterday on #6. Hold on to your soap Niggin.....I mean Nagin.
I like to think this is karma for confiscating guns during Katrina.
He didn't confiscate Sean Penn's:
http://goo.gl/vlFwLS
I like to think it's karma for stealing the funds that were allocated for repairing the levees in the first place.
That's because Sean is a true advocate for Socialism.
He's one of the Pigs in Animal Farm.
I'm shocked to hear that he owns guns. What would Castro and Chavez think?
That's because Sean is a true advocate for Socialism.
He's one of the Pigs in Animal Farm.
Ray Nagin, William Jennings Jefferson, Kwame Kilpatrick, Charlie Rangle.... they all have some in commonalities but I just can't put my finger on them.
They are all honest politicians?
Don't forget Jesse Jackson Jr.
And Al Sharpton. They are always looking out for the little guy aren't they?
Marion Barry comes to mind Doc.
No GS/JPM Special Adviser or well maintained activity dossier. No Holder i've got your back bung. Silly boy! Chocolate?? Late Bed Wetters Obviously.
Wake me when the assets obtained from those ill-gotten gains are actually taken back and he actually spends ten years in a real "pound you in the ass" prison.
Makes me nostalgic for public hangings ...
Black, white, yellow or brown, makes no difference when money goes down.
Nagin deserves it for the gun grab in NO after Katrina.
As a N.O. native, I think that sentence was far too light. What's even worse is that POS will resurface to run again for some other office and likely win...see Edwin Edwards.
I lived in New Orleans when this fuckstick was Mayor. He always traveled around town with a contingent og cops like he was some big dignitary.
The corruption in New Orleans is everywhere- it's how they do business. Try getting a building permit. Applications get greased and processed much quicker with a decent sized bribe. Everybody knows that.
So why was he hung out to dry? No longer useful I suppose.
Yeah, but he will likely 'serve his time' surrounded by an 18 hole golf course, nice white golf carts and 3 fresh meals each day.
He's taken the fall, but I'm sure he knows more than others will want him to articulate. It's a small risk they gladly undertake when getting into these corrupted ventures.
It's a good thing Nagin got practice stacking all that free Granite for bribes...He'll be able to put those skills to good use where he's going.
Now there's a shock.
GODD RIDDANCE.
Guy did more to damage to race relations then the KKK.
He should be raped at least once a day.
But, but, but, politicians are only concerned with the PUBLIC INTEREST!!!!
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NAIVE AND STUPID:
Naive cures itself in the school of hard knocks.
Stupid is only half a word, the first half being "Terminally".
there are at least 30 higher ups in washington D.C. doing the same thing . . . . Chris Dodd and Barney Frank did the most damage ... to name a few...
At least 30? Make that, at least, 535.
There is a Civil War, albeit a cold one, currently ongoing in America. Eventually, I expect it to go hot.
If you don't believe race plays a part in it, you're not paying attention.
This is about destroying the foundation of America AND the race that gave birth to it.
Am I being racist? Or factual?
Racist, you cracker.
"A man that would speak truth, should have one foot in the stirrup."
....Old Rusian Adage
Half the whites and 90% of blacks are worthless and have no reason.
You may be correct about the civil war, but it will be between the haves and have nots. And while it may appear to break down along racial lines, once the middle class completely collapses (I believe Obamacare will be that final straw), it will simply be the rich against the poor. The rich will have the firepower, the poor will have the sheer numbers. In the end we will all lose, because it will be a world wide civil war, and I can assure you, it won't be very civil...at all.
When the curtain finally drops and everyone's awake asking "WTF?" they'll just shut off the EBT cards. Like shooting out the lantern in a saloon, the bad guys will attempt to escape in the darkness and confusion. And the cops won't know who to shoot first, but shoot they will. Probably everyone.
Good to see racism is alive and well on ZH. I guess most corruption in this country can legitamtely be attributed to black people, huh?
Sure. Whatever you say.
You may guess that but I don't. Get some perspective. Mayor Nagin (obviously an "outsider") did not have the right friends. EriKKK Holder's Feds did the prosecuting.
Just out of interest, is there a non-corrupt black politician or Mayor in the whole country? If so let me know and I'll send him a medal.
How come nobody talks about Corzine, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Dimon and other corrupt assholes like them and their whiteness? The fact is most people in power in the US are white and they're corrupt. Corruption in the US is mostly a white monopoly. When a black man is caught you racists focus on the color of his skin.
It's all about proportions, old chap. Of course you'll get corruption in every race but blacks, and black pols in particular, seem to be champions. My question was only partly rhetorical. It seems if blacks get their hands on the loot they can't resist pocketing a large proportion.
Your argument is also used about crime. Sure you get White murderers but the ratio for blacks is orders of magnitude higher. And don't start me on inter-racial rape statistics.....
Whites definitely do NOT have a monopoly on corruption. Furthermore, the article itself does not highlight Nagin's race, but does ask why Jon Corzine is not doing prison time.
So what's the real agenda here?
While it's nice to see somebody get punished for corruption and bribery, it makes me wonder why people like Dick Cheney got away with making bribes in Africa or selling oil-related equipment in Iran? Seems to me some people are above the law.
And for standing down the air defenses on September 11, 2001.
What, you just figured that out now? I would make a list of the should-be-in-jail crowd, but the site but not have enough bandwidth to handle the size of the file.
Shoulda used those buses...
Ha!
Demo-rat DNA written all over him!
When is William Jefferson Clinton, that other black guy from Arkansas, going to prison ?
Mena, Waco, OKC, Glass Steagal, just to name a few, that make Nagin look like small fry.
Brought to you by the finger pointing party of the politically correct!
New Orleans -- what a shithole on so many levels.
I'm starting to think this is a clever secret Demorat plan to reform prison incarceration conditions from within! Their lots sharper than most 'cause they told me so!
This goes on all over the country, all the time. Most of them don't get caught. In fact, it is so prevalent I wonder how Nagin got caught. He must have offended one of the bosses They're all corrupted by lobby money. Bribery is an accepted way of life in politics. They don't see it as wrong. They passed laws that made bribery legal, as long as you do it with lobby money. It's all treason.
Snort - Marion Barry, Kwame Kilpatrick, Ray Nagrin, Rob Ford. So who does the Lib media pick on?
The fat white guy not in jail. Snort.
I still have my Willy Nagin the Chocolate City beer pints from Bulldog. A classic for sure
Ummm, we're talkin' Louisiana politics here folks....nothing to see here, nothing at all, just move along.
Some of those Bubbas from Katrina who did not escape are waiting for Ray in the Cell Block Bathroom Shower.
Damn Bush, this was and is all his fault.
Anarchy, consider it.
Obama will pardon him in the 11th hour of his term.
To Ray:
Before surrendering to serve your sentence, buy lube. In industrial quantities.
10 years is a whole lot of ass raping....prepare yourself!
a chocolate jail???
Somehow whitey is to blame.
Nuggins is going to learn the real meaning of "free load of granite."
Are there any demorats not on the take?
I'm very sorry for Nagin and that he got caught up in New Orleans corruption. I lived in New orleans ansdwas actually a prosecutor there for several years in the 80's, but I met Nagin several times at Church after katrina , here in Dallas, when he came to visit his sister and when his kids went to the same parochial school I and my kids went to in Dallas. He had moved them here after Katrina. I always talked to him after church (this was well before the corruption charges) and thought he was a very decent and honorable man. We all make mistakes. He learned the hard way about getting involved in the crooked politics game. I do think it is very unfair that they go after the small fish while the big ones in Washington and Wall Street plunder and steal billions, with no fear at all of procesution.
"a very decent and honorable man" does not accept bribes. PERIOD.
Once again...bankers steal and get away with it so we chould all steal.
Obama didn't prosecute the banksters.
Maybe he could have spared "we're going to make N'oleans a chocolate city again" Ray.
But to make things worse.....banksters steal from EVERYONE. The unwashed massed, the muppets, the sophisticated unsophisticated investors....EVERYONE.
What Ray did was steal from poor people that cannot afford to have a penny stolen. New Orleans is another blue city hanging by a thread, and the poor people most in need were harmed by HIM. And to make matters worse, he probably ran on a "help the people" campaign.
That, in my mind, is worse than what banksters do. He harmed those that could least afford it.
Then again...it's not called the big easy for nothing.
Oh Jesus, the venerable 'we all make mistakes' mantra being trotted out again. Nagin instigated a systematic and prolonged program of graft. That is not a mistake! And how do you know he was a decent and honorable man? Because he went to Church and uttered a few platitudes?
But I fully agree with you that it's very unfair that they go after the small fish while the big ones in Washington and Wall Street plunder and steal billions, with no fear at all of procesution.
I'm really sorry too...Sorry ALL of the corrupt politicians are not currently swingin under lamp posts. Regardless of race or party.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MvGYA5cDa3c
Make him listen to all the Kenyan's speeches 24-7!
club fed most likely
Ah yes....another man of da peeples going off to be with other menz of da peeples in jail.
He shudda went into banking instead of politics.
He could have kept most of his ill-gotten gains and avoided hard time.
You can call me Ray ...or you can call me Jay .....
but I want to call my attorney.
when the offender is black you holla raciest comments. when the offender is white you say?
ill advised
'America, the Land of prismatic`mirror'd Kangaroo Courtship's'
No,... we don't like creole`chocolate, says the cabal to the jackal`lantern... as the boomerang whistles through the air juggling a didgeridoo kinda 'music of the spheres'?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Boesky http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Milken http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Abramoff
and for the young at heart... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_court
cheers to unDemon`hypcracy
Can't he just hop on one of the buses fleeing Katrina?
Rot in jail you racist pig
The man has potential, he might want to consider Investment Banking when he gets out of the big house.
Obama 2.2 is not on the radar therfore not useful to the idiots.