Power on Trial: Harendra Singh takes the witness stand

Beware the Ides of March

On Thursday, the Ides of March, Harendra Singh settled in for a long stay as the prosecution’s first witness against three defendants, two of whom — former County Executive Edward Mangano and his wife, Linda — once called him “brother.”

Singh stayed in a side conference room just outside the back of the courtroom until the jury was seated and he was called in.

He looked neither right nor left. And during the morning hours of testimony in the corruption trial of the Manganos and former Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto, he appeared to look directly at Venditto once — when he pointed a finger toward Venditto to identify him.

And while Mangano, from time to time, stared across the room at Singh — who more than once referred to Mangano as “friend” — Singh did not seem to want to meet Mangano’s eye.

Not when Singh singled out Mangano — “with the blue tie” — from the witness stand. Nor as he singled out Linda Mangano — “in the printed dress.”

In testimony, Singh said he’d learned, early on, after his parents’ business — No Bananas Fine Food and Spirits — was singled out for what he said were political reasons, that to play he would have to pay — with time in the Oyster Bay Town political club and with checks to GOP candidates, including Mangano.

Singh detailed the inside information he received from Oyster Bay officials in helping him gain a contract, also revealing that town officials had rigged the process so that he could win.

In addition, Singh detailed how he managed to get the town, Venditto and the town board to approve contract extensions on concessions at the town golf club and Tobay Beach — which granted him exclusive rights to run then for decades with zero competition.

As for Mangano, Singh said — too many times for an accurate accounting — that he gave Mangano reduced rates on office space, on food bills and bought him the expensive chairs — because he expected something in return.

“I expected him to give us a favor whenever we needed it in county government,” he said.

Tomato, tomahto

Singh, asked about Linda Mangano’s work for him — which she told federal officials had included “food taster” — said his restaurants didn’t hold food tastings.

He said they did “dry runs,” which involved inviting employees, friends and family to a restaurant to peruse a menu, place an order, dine and then fill out a comment card.

Invitations, he said, went out by telephone.

Mangano and his family were often guests — and Oheka Castle owner Gary Melius also showed up at least once.

“Obviously, when you are serving free food, everybody wants to come.” Singh observed.

He testified that while Linda Mangano attended a few “dry runs,” she never helped his company with one.

Pay her the money

Singh made it his business to make sure that Linda Mangano got paid. On Thursday, jurors saw multiple emails from Singh employees telling him that her check was ready — and a few from Singh saying that he “had to talk” to employees because Mangano had not received her pay.

Once the check was ready, employees were to place it in an envelope and leave it on Singh’s chair.

From there, Singh would at first-hand deliver the paycheck to the Mangano home. If no one was home, he’d put it in the mailbox — and jurors saw a text message Singh sent to one of Mangano’s sons telling him to give the check “to your Dad.”

“Sure, H.,” came the reply.

The paycheck delivery system changed, he said, after the Manganos began depositing two and three of her paychecks at one time. “It caused me a cash-flow problem,” said Singh — who’d earlier testified with ease about his years-long practice of floating checks.

He said he told Edward Mangano that he would have an employee go to Linda Mangano’s bank to deposit her paycheck into her account.

On a couple of ocassions, employees failed to do that, too.

That troubled Singh, who would then send out one of his missives to employees, saying, “We have to talk.”

Duly noted

In seating jurors on Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Joan M. Azrak carefully detailed what the panel might want to consider when observing witness testimony.

Among them were:

Credibility;

Whether the witness seemed frank, credible or forthright;

Whether the witness was evasive or suspect;

The witness’ ability to remember events;

Whether the witness was consistent or contradictory;

Whether the witness appeared to know what they were talking about;

Whether the witness had some self-interest in testifying.

Almost every juror and alternate appeared to be listening closely, hands folded neatly on laps, with all eyes facing Azrak.

She said they could take notes, if they wished, once testimony began.

And on Thursday, before Singh, the trial’s first witness, took the stand, the jury filed in.

Most of them were holding notebooks.

While most were attentive at the beginning of Singh’s testimony, as the morning and early afternoon wore on with testimony about concession deals and loans prosecutors say were indirectly guaranteed by the town, there were a few yawns, and some rubbing of eyes.

The panel perked up, however, with Singh’s testimony about how he ate $43,000 of a $57,766.20 food and catering bill that Mangano’s campaign staff ran up over six months.

They seemed very-wide-awake as Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Mirabile led Singh through testimony about how he came to give Mangano an ergonomic Recaro chair — which was projected, larger than life, on one screen in the courtroom.

Singh testified that he even kept the computer printout Mangano gave him with information about the chair — a document that ended up larger-than-life on the screen as well.

Does Singh have a Recaro chair for himself? Mirabile asked.

“No,” he replied. “Too expensive.”

Lay of the land

At one point, Singh was asked by Mirabile about municipalities in Nassau County. He responded, quickly and correctly, that there are three towns and two cities.

But when the judge asked about villages, Singh named his home village of Laurel Hollow and didn’t get too far after that.

There’s probably good reason.

Nassau — which, like the rest of Long Island, prides itself on local control — has 64 incorporated villages.

And more than 100 unincorporated areas.

After a break, Mirable, as part of her questioning of Singh, put two maps of Oyster Bay into evidence — one with geographic markings, the other with dots indicating attractions, including the beach and golf course where Singh had town contracts.

“Halleujah,” the judge said before jurors re-entered the courtroom, “we have a map!”

Supporting players

Although most of the attention, thus far, has been focused on the testimony of Singh and upcoming testimony by former Oyster Bay Town employees Leonard Genova and Frederick Mei — all of whom made deals with prosecutors in exchange for their testimony — the names of other potential witnesses dropped during Wednesday’s opening statements as well.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Treinis Gatz said prosecutors expected to call plenty of other witnesses to buttress anticipated testimony from Singh about gifts he gave the Manganos and Venditto.

According to her opening statement, they include:

• The jeweler who sold a $7,300 watch that Singh allegedly gave to Mangano — who, in turn, gave it to a son as a birthday present from him and his wife;
• The man who put down a hardwood floor in the Manganos’ bedroom, paid for by Singh;
• A county purchasing department employee who was told to favor a Singh contract over that of a company with the low bid for a contract to provide bread and rolls to the Nassau jail;
• A limo driver who handled reduced-rate rides for Venditto and Mangano that were paid for by Singh;
• The travel agent who handled trips for the Mangano family paid for by Singh.

Treinis Gatz also mentioned:

Steve Marx, Venditto’s former executive assistant; Richard Betz, the town’s former highway commissioner; and Kevin Conologue — whose photo was among some other current and former Oyster Bay officials displayed on a screen in court Thursday — the deputy town parks commissioner.

And even more names came up during Thursday’s questioning of Singh, including Jonathan Sinnreich, an outside counsel for the town who, in an email, objected to the Singh loan guarantee.

That set off a panic, Singh testified.

“It was a disaster,” he testified — which is why he said he pressed Mangano to help find some alternative.