Edward Mangano's resentencing for corruption delayed, court filing shows

Former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, who is serving a 12-year-prison term on corruption charges, will have to wait another week to find out if he’ll get any time shaved off his federal prison sentence, according to a new court filing.

Mangano’s often-rescheduled resentencing — after an appeals court threw out part of his conviction — has been rescheduled again. U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack said she had to push back Mangano’s resentencing, which had been scheduled for Sept. 15, to Sept. 23, “due to a conflict in this Court’s calendar.”

The 64-year-old Bethpage native, incarcerated at Federal Medical Center Devens in Massachusetts, is permitted to appear remotely via Zoom for the resentencing that could see his time behind bars remain the same or be reduced, all at the judge's discretion.

Asked for comment on the most recent delay, Mangano’s attorney Morris J. Fodeman, a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, said in an email: "Ed has already paid a steep price, and now that his bribery conviction has been reversed, we look forward to the chance to reunite Ed with his family as soon as possible.”

A spokesman for federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York declined to comment. 

Federal prosecutors, in a presentencing memo filed in July, have said they want Mangano to be resentenced to 12 years, his original sentence, arguing his "corrupt and fraudulent conduct was extensive, harmful and corrosive," and had the effect of "eroding public confidence in local government." 

But his defense team is seeking a sentence reduction, arguing he is a "changed man" and a "model inmate" who has mentored scores of other inmates and should be resentenced to five years in prison.

Mangano was convicted at trial in 2019 of using his status as county executive to pressure the Town of Oyster Bay to indirectly back loans for town concessionaire Harendra Singh, who was also Mangano's friend.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned two bribery charges he was convicted of, ruling that Mangano, as county executive, was not an "agent" of Oyster Bay Town, a required element for the conviction. The court upheld Mangano's conviction on the remaining charges.

Mangano, a Republican who served two terms as county executive, has recently been working as a head chef and raising a future service dog while serving his prison term.

Mangano’s resentencing has been rescheduled on several occasions, including to allow more time for a defense review of the federal probation department’s resentencing report.

Azrack approved Mangano’s request to appear remotely for his resentencing, after his lawyers argued that Mangano could be forced to spend months in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, a federal jail, if he had to be transported to New York to attend his court hearing.

Mangano took several bribes from Singh in exchange for helping him to secure the indirect loan guarantees, including a $454,000 no-show job for his wife, Linda Mangano, free meals and vacations, two luxury chairs, hardwood flooring for the couple's bedroom and a $7,300 wristwatch for one of their sons, prosecutors have said.

Linda Mangano served about 5 months of a 15-month sentence for lying to the FBI and conspiring to commit obstruction of justice.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.