Linda Mangano wants new trial, court papers say
Linda Mangano arrives at federal court in Central Islip in January 2019. Credit: James Carbone
Linda Mangano has joined her husband, former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, in asking a federal judge for a new trial based on allegations that a key government witness gave contradictory testimony at their trial and an unrelated civil case, according to court papers.
John Carman of Garden City, the attorney for the wife of the former county executive, filed a brief statement Thursday asking Linda Mangano, 56, of Bethpage, to be added to a lengthy motion filed earlier in the week by Edward Mangano’s attorney, asking for a new trial on the corruption-related charges.
That previous 54-page motion by Edward Mangano’s attorney, Kevin Keating, of Garden City, argued that the government’s star witness at the Mangano trial, former restaurateur Harendra Singh, had “perjured himself,” Carman noted.
Keating said Singh has said in the separate civil case that Edward Mangano, 57, also of Bethpage, was not part of a bribery scheme to obtain $20 million in indirect loan guarantees from the Town of Oyster Bay, the main illegal action for which the former supervisor was convicted.
Edward Mangano was acquitted of two other charges involving accepting bribes from Singh in order to obtain Nassau County contracts to provide bread and rolls to the county jail and to supply food to workers during superstorm Sandy. The alleged bribes included a $450,000 no-show job for Linda Mangano.
In the separate civil case Keating cites, Singh testified in August that his bribes to Mangano had “nothing to do with the Town of Oyster Bay,” according to a transcript. In the civil trial, Singh is suing two people for allegedly not paying him $1.2 million for a share in his concession to operate the Oyster Bay Town-owned Woodlands restaurant.
At the criminal trial, government prosecutors bolstered Singh’s testimony with that by others and written material that they said showed that Singh was instrumental in getting Edward Mangano to help get Oyster Bay to approve the indirect loan guarantees.
At one point in the government’s case, a legal consultant for the town testified that he was at a meeting on the attempt to get the loan guarantees in April 2010, when Mangano put a hand on Singh’s shoulder and said “Let’s get this thing done.”
A jury in March found Edward Mangano guilty of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery, federal program bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, honest services wire fraud and conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice
The jurors found Linda Mangano guilty of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, and two counts of making false statements to the FBI.
In court papers, Keating also argued that a recent ruling by a federal appeals court, which threw out several charges against former state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on statute-of-limitations grounds, directly paralleled many charges in Edward Mangano’s case, and those charges should be thrown out. The Silver decision, however, does not affect the charges against Linda Mangano, nor the obstruction charge on which the former county executive was convicted.
A spokesman for Eastern District federal prosecutors, John Marzulli, declined to comment Friday.
Singh’s attorney, Anthony La Pinta, said he had not seen the newly filed Mangano motions. “I will obtain all the transcripts in question and will review them myself to confirm that Mr. Singh's deposition testimony was consistent with his testimony in the Mangano trial," La Pinta said in a statement.
Bob Kessler covers federal law, including law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, DEA, IRS and ATF, as well as the federal courts.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
