Linda and Edward Mangano arrive at federal court in Central...

Linda and Edward Mangano arrive at federal court in Central Islip on Wednesday. Credit: James Carbone

This story was reported by Nicole Fuller, Bart Jones, Robert E. Kessler and Andrew Smith.  It was written by Jones.

The prosecution in the corruption retrial of former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and his wife sharpened its attack on Linda Mangano Wednesday, with the investigation’s lead agent testifying about what she said were the 11 false statements the former politician’s wife made about a “no-show job” with restaurateur Harendra Singh.

FBI Special Agent Laura Spence, who testified in the Manganos’ first trial, this time came armed with visual aids put up on a large screen for the jury that made clear what she said were lies told by Linda Mangano in those interviews.

At one point, there was a powerful fast-paced back-and-forth between Spence and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Caffarone as the prosecution sought to establish how the agent knew each statement was false.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys also got into a battle of highlighters, marking and remarking projected copies of the statements at issue as both sides sought to parse how the government had taken down what Linda Mangano had said to agents. She is charged with lying to federal authorities.

Prosecutors have claimed Linda Mangano did little to earn the $450,000 job Singh gave her. The government contends Singh gave her a “no-show” job in exchange for Edward Mangano’s influence in awarding Singh county contracts and getting him $20 million in Town of Oyster Bay indirect loan guarantees.

Spence testified that during three interviews with Linda Mangano — at the Mangano home in Bethpage and at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Central Islip — she made 11 false statements, including saying she had handled invitation lists for food tastings, designed menus for various restaurants and spoke with Singh three or five times a week at her home about her menu ideas.

“She stated that she would never admit it was a no-show job,” said Spence, describing a statement she said Linda Mangano made during her final interview with the government on May 22, 2015.

Spence, who conducted the first FBI interview with FBI Special Agent Greg Hagarty at Linda Mangano’s kitchen table, said: “She had indicated that she was at his beck and call,” referring to Singh.

But in cross-examination, Linda Mangano’s defense attorney John Carman sought to undermine Spence’s testimony, noting that she did not record the interviews with Linda Mangano, and suggesting that the agent essentially created the statements attributed to her. Spence said the FBI does not routinely record interviews, except for those making a statement after arrest.

Spence also acknowledged that the Mangano case was her first major white-collar crime investigation. She agreed that the statements did not represent a transcript of what Linda Mangano said, but insisted they accurately reflected the substance of what she said were her false statements.

In interviews with Newsday after the first trial ended in a mistrial, some jurors said they were inclined not to convict Linda Mangano, saying they wanted to know what questions she was asked and wanted to see documents known as 302 forms or the agent’s written account of the meeting with a witness. Neither those forms nor handwritten notes were entered into evidence in the first trial because they are inadmissible as hearsay.

Spence, on the stand Wednesday under direct examination by Caffarone for about an hour and 40 minutes, was presented with a list of the 11 falsehoods that federal prosecutors say Linda Mangano told federal agents.

After Caffarone read each one aloud, he asked Spence: “Who made that statement?”

Spence answered: “Linda Mangano.”

Caffarone then asked, “When?”

Spence provided dates corresponding with each of the three interviews.

Caffarone then asked: “How do you know?”

And Spence answered each time: “Because I was there.”

At the first trial that ended in a mistrial, Spence held in her lap the typed list of purported lies that Linda Mangano told and referred to the list while answering questions. Carman referred to it then as a “cheat sheet.”

This time, the jury got to see the list of alleged false statements on screens throughout the courtroom.

Spence testified that after the first, approximately hourlong FBI interview concluded, Spence and another agent quickly realized they had forgotten to tell Linda Mangano that lying to federal agents is a crime and anything she said could be used against her. She said they knocked on the door again and said that to Linda Mangano, telling her if she wanted to change anything she had said “now is the time.” Spence said she declined.

Spence said when the Jan. 13, 2015 interview was done, she felt right away that Linda Mangano was lying, explaining that was the reason she and her partner returned to warn Linda Mangano that lying to a federal agent was a crime.

“Did you tell Linda Mangano what her lies were?” Carman asked.

“No,” Spence said.

Edward Mangano, 56, is standing trial again on felony charges of federal program bribery, honest services wire fraud, extortion and conspiracy. Linda Mangano, 55, is charged with five felony counts that include making false statements to the FBI about her job with Singh’s company.

Neither of two subsequent interviews were recorded and there was no stenographer present, Spence said. And neither Linda Mangano nor her attorney asked for a recording or stenographer, she said. Spence also added that Linda Mangano’s attorney had electronics with recording capabilities but didn’t record the interviews. Spence also said neither Linda Mangano nor her attorney objected to Spence’s note-taking.

Under cross examination by Carman, Spence said she did not record Linda Mangano at any of the three interviews because Linda Mangano was being treated then as a witness in an investigation and wasn’t considered to be a target.

Carman read a Department of Justice policy to her, in which the department “also encourages agents and prosecutors to consider electronic recording” of witnesses. Spence said she understood the policy.

In response, Spence said she did not ask Linda Mangano to write her own statement and did not type a written statement for Linda Mangano to review and sign. Instead, Spence said she relied on handwritten notes from those interviews and the reports she wrote based on those notes. Carman invited her to use those notes and reports to refresh her recollection on details during her testimony if necessary, and occasionally she did.

She agreed with Carman that the handwritten notes were not a word-for-word transcript of what Linda Mangano said, and said that agents’ questions were not included in the notes. She said it was possible from some of the answers to figure out what the questions likely were.

She said none of the claimed 11 false statements are quotations of Linda Mangano’s words, and they include words the defendant did not use. “But the substance within the statements are Linda Mangano’s words,” Spence said. “If she didn’t say the word ‘handled,’ it could have been another word – did, worked on, managed.”

Carman then went through the statements word by word and had Spence identify which words were not in the notes of the conversations, starting with “handled.” With each phrase, Carman had his co-counsel, Sara Pervez, highlight it in pink on the list of statements. Eventually, they identified 30 such words and phrases, leaving much of the document covered in pink highlighter.

On re-direct, Caffarone countered with his own highlighter. With an assist from Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Treinis Gatz, who wielded a yellow highlighter, Caffarone went through the statements with Spence. Caffarone asked Spence to read Linda Mangano’s statements from the 302 forms and Treinis Gatz highlighted each word that Spence recited that was also in the list of alleged falsehoods. Eventually the government’s list of false statements was nearly completely highlighted in yellow.

From Love Lane in Mattituck, NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to celebrate Valentine's Day this year. Credit: Randee Daddona, Gary Licker; Newsday / A.J. Singh

Put a little love in your heart with the NewsdayTV Valentine's Day Special! From Love Lane in Mattituck, NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to celebrate Valentine's Day this year.

From Love Lane in Mattituck, NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to celebrate Valentine's Day this year. Credit: Randee Daddona, Gary Licker; Newsday / A.J. Singh

Put a little love in your heart with the NewsdayTV Valentine's Day Special! From Love Lane in Mattituck, NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to celebrate Valentine's Day this year.

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