Edward Mangano arrives at federal court in Central Islip on...

Edward Mangano arrives at federal court in Central Islip on Tuesday. Credit: James Carbone

Thanks, but no thanks

John Maguire, former manager of Nassau's emergency operations center, said he saw restaurateur Harendra Singh bring special food to officials in one office in the days after superstorm Sandy. He said the food for the higher-ups was different from that served to rescue workers.

But Maguire testified Tuesday at the trial of former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and his wife, Linda Mangano, that he never partook of the filet mignon, shrimp and other higher-end food.

“Singh says, 'Please have some,’ ” Maguire testified under questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Caffarone. “I didn’t feel comfortable about it, so I said, 'Thank you, no thank you.’ ”

A few minutes later, Maguire added, “Mr. Singh was extremely nice and welcoming and I said, 'No thank you.’ ”

But it wasn’t until cross-examination by Edward Mangano’s attorney, Kevin Keating, that Maguire explained his refusals.

He said that as a young firefighter, he often went to events where food was served, and where a separate “Gold Room” was set up for muckety mucks. Back then, he said, he was counseled to avoid the Gold Room, should he ever end up being promoted.

“I don’t mean to be sexist, but you eat with the men,” he said.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Keating, at one point, asked Maguire to describe a chef who — on behalf of the Dover Group, a catering agency that did not get a contract to provide food to emergency workers — visited OEM in the days after Sandy.

In response, Maguire went on at length about the chef, Chris Seidl, and his beard.

“I mean, he was a hairy guy,” Maguire said, eliciting a few laughs.

Seidl, who testified Monday, did indeed sport a beard.

But later Tuesday, in cross-examining another witness, former Dover business manager Janet Santoro-Kelly, Keating offered into evidence a photograph of Seidl.

He asked Santoro-Kelly if the photograph showed Seidl as he appeared in 2012, the year of Sandy.

In that photo at least, Seidl was clean-shaven.

The defense rallies

Keating, in cross-examining Santoro-Kelly — who did not testify at the first Mangano trial — managed to get a few muffled ‘yeahs’ and other exclamations of victory out of Mangano supporters in the courtroom when he tied one of Maguire’s brothers, Raymond, to business he did with the Dover Group and its owner, Butch Yamali.

A few hours earlier, Keating had grilled John Maguire on whether he knew, and when he found out, that his brother was handling insurance-related business for Yamali’s business.

Maguire said — and repeated under questioning from Caffarone — that he did not know that his brother was working with Yamali’s business.

He also said he did not get Yamali’s cellphone number from his brother, but that he got it from someone, whose name he could not remember, at OEM instead.

Budget buster

Heather Senti McNeill, another former OEM employee, went a bit deeper than she did during testimony at the first Mangano trial about the bill Singh sent Nassau for 16 days of feeding emergency center employees.

It totaled $233,000, she testified.

At some point, she took up the tally with then-OEM commissioner, Craig Craft, who died in 2017.

“I asked him, ‘Is this normal?’ ” she testified. “I said, 'This is almost a quarter of a million dollars, do you understand that?’ ”

In response, Craft, according to her testimony, said, “Just process it, this is what The Boss wants.”

“The Boss” — she and other former OEM officials testified this week — is what Craft called Edward Mangano.

None taken

Once cross-examination commenced after lunch break, Keating — as he has with almost every witness — asked McNeill whether she had met with “the government” in the summer of 2013.

“That’s definitely possible,” she replied.

“I’ve met with them, unfortunately, several times,” she said, adding “no offense” as she looked toward the prosecution table.

The exchange drew the largest — and longest sustained — laughter of the day, from jurors to prosecutors to spectators.

Where’s Waldo

Brittany Musto, who is executive assistant to Yamali, was on the stand Tuesday. She did not testify during the last Mangano trial.

Yamali did.

Thus far, however, Yamali has been missing from the witness box in the retrial.

Keating, during cross-examination of Musto, attempted to make something of that fact — before hammering away at her failure to recall post-Sandy damage to Dover facilities and other matters.

“Where is he?” Keating asked.

Musto, saying her telephone had been turned off since she entered the courthouse, answered, “I’m not really sure.”

“Now you are here,” Keating said.

“He is around, right?” Keating pressed, returning to Yamali’s absence.

“He’s around,” Musto replied.

Will Grayson Meak faceoff against Devin Downes in counties? Meanwhile North Babylon’s Jasmine McKay hoops it up and there's history on the mat in Nassau County in Episode 2 of "Sarra Sounds Off."  Credit: Mario Gonzalez

 SARRA SOUNDS OFF: Wrestling, North Babylon hoops and more! Will Grayson Meak faceoff against Devin Downes in counties? Meanwhile North Babylon's Jasmine McKay hoops it up and there's history on the mat in Nassau County in Episode 2 of "Sarra Sounds Off." 

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