In wiretapped call, Dean Skelos told son Adam he might run for governor after Cuomo adopted anti-fracking rules
Sen. Dean Skelos was so furious at Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's adoption of anti-fracking rules last Dec. 17 that kept his son, Adam, from cashing in that the two discussed a Skelos run for governor to "kick" Cuomo's behind, according to a wiretap played at their federal corruption trial Wednesday.
The cellphone exchange began with a long, anguished howl resembling a wounded animal -- "Aaaaagh!" in the transcript -- from Adam at the fracking news, followed by "This day sucks!"
"I'm going to run against him," said Dean Skelos, then the Republican Senate majority leader, in an X-rated rant using several anatomical words and functions to describe the governor. "No more, you know, buddy-buddy and all that stuff."
"I wish you would, I wish you would Dad," Adam said. "I would be so proud if you kicked his" rear end.
"Yup, I'm going to do it . . . because this is stupid," Dean said.
"I love you," Adam said.
The exchange was one of several wiretapped calls played on the first full day of testimony at the trial in federal court in Manhattan of Dean Skelos, 67, and Adam Skelos, 33, both of Rockville Centre, on charges they conspired to extort companies to hire Adam and used Dean's legislative power to help him succeed.
The two allegedly used Dean's power to squeeze New Hyde Park developer Glenwood Management, Arizona environmental technology company AbTech Industries and Physicians Reciprocal Insurers of Roslyn into paying Adam Skelos $300,000, and push legislation and Nassau County contracts to line his pockets. The defense contends the government is conflating a normal father-son dynamic with a crime.
The FBI tapped the Skeloses' phones for four months. The first highlights -- filled with backroom political gossiping -- were played during testimony by state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Whitestone), who described Skelos' power and explained how his own legislative behavior on issues such as rent control and fracking might have been different if he knew about the behind-the-scenes interests of Skelos.
Fracking would have created business opportunities for AbTech that Adam Skelos hoped would have earned him lucrative commissions.
But he didn't seem surprised it failed. "Who's going to be out there supporting fracking, Dad," he said.
As he left court Wednesday, Dean Skelos smiled broadly but declined to comment when he was asked how seriously he considered running for governor. Cuomo's office declined to comment.
In a second tape played Wednesday, Dean Skelos bragged expansively about how he would control "everything" under a December deal he cut with independent Democratic Sen. Jeff Klein for running the Senate, while Adam acted like an adviser, criticizing his father for giving too much to Klein.
Dean said he needed Democrats because his fragile Republican majority had members with heart and cancer issues -- "I have old members" and it was good to keep Klein's independent group and other Democrats divided.
"The whole idea is you've got to keep them separated, fighting and hating each other," the senator said. "That's what's worked for us for six years, keeping them at each other's throats."
But Adam complained that his father hadn't read a copy of "The Art of War" that Adam gave him, and hadn't learned the lesson that when you have your "enemy" over a barrel "you destroy him."
In a third tape, the FBI recorded a conversation between Skelos and another Long Island legislator, Sen. Jack Martins, about supporting water quality projects. Prosecutors contend Skelos secretly wanted funding to help AbTech.
In the conversation, Martins told Skelos that if the Senate GOP took a strong stance, they could "take credit" for projects Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano was pushing. Skelos said he agreed because "developers like it but the environmental nuts would like it too."
Earlier Wednesday, Adam's former supervisor at Physicians Reciprocal, Chris Curcio, testified that Adam Skelos was a no-show at work with an "arrogant" attitude who eventually threatened Curcio when he insisted that Skelos come in to the office.
"Let's stop pretending we're getting along," Curcio, 45, of Floral Park, quoted Adam as saying. "Guys like you couldn't shine my shoes. You'll never amount to anything. . . . And if you talk to me like that again, I'll smash your [expletive] head in."
Prosecutors contend Dean Skelos used his power over critical malpractice insurance legislation to make the company's boss, Anthony Bonomo, hire Adam, and argue that the fact Adam's behavior didn't get him fired was evidence the company feared the senator.
Curcio said Skelos was hired by CEO Bonomo, Curcio's uncle, in December 2013. When asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tatiana Martins whether Bonomo had told Curcio why he hired Adam Skelos, Curcio said: "He was helping a friend."
The friend, Curcio said, was "Sen. Skelos."
Curcio told jurors that on Adam Skelos' first day of work on Jan. 2, 2013, he told his new boss: "You know who I am. I'm Adam Skelos."
When Curcio complained to his boss, vice president Carl Bonomo, about Adam, Curcio testified, he was told to "cut him some slack" because he had a sick child. But after the threat, officials at the company said they would deal with Adam, and transferred him to a different position, Curcio testified.
On cross-examination, Christopher Conniff, Adam's attorney, questioned Curcio about whether he tilted his testimony against the younger Skelos because the two got off to a bad start and Curcio became "a little resentful" at the way Skelos spoke to him on the first day. "No," Curcio replied. "I was taken aback."
But Curcio conceded that Anthony Bonomo had never said his hiring of Adam Skelos was linked to "needing anything from the senate."
Curcio said: "Nothing like that at all."
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
