Power on Trial: Mei wears a wire, Singh’s phone is tapped

The wire

“Best lunch spot on Long Island,” Oyster Bay town’s former deputy town attorney Frederick Mei could be heard saying, accompanied by sounds that happy restaurant crowds make.

A laugh here, the clink of cutlery — or was that glassware? — there, with The Beatles’ “Love Me Do” providing the musical background.

And then, the sound of — soft steps? — as those sounds fall back and are replaced by the strong sound of Mei’s voice, and the softer — and to those straining to hear in the courtroom barely intelligible — voice of restaurateur Harendra Singh, the man prosecutors had wired Mei to talk to.

Jurors in the trial of former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano could hear every word of the conversation, which was recorded on March 26, 2015, because they were wearing headphones.

And they had copies of a 42-page transcript, too.

The judge, defendants, prosecutors and defense attorneys — who listened tothe recorded conversation via the court’s sound system — had transcripts as well.

But the rest of us could hear Mei best.

Mei says he’s been ordered to stay away from town hall.

He orders salmon, no vegetables.

And a cup of lentil soup with hot sauce.

Mei seems content to sit and talk with Singh in the basement conference room at H.R. Singletons in Bethpage, even as Singh at one point angrily raises his voice to spout expletives about someone who was calling while he was at lunch with Mei.

Mei — several times — tells Singh that he’s worried about him.

But Mei’s also worried about himself.

“I think they are going to make me retire,” he says, going on to say that he really needs to work until November. “If I don’t get 30 years — if I retire today, I get a 27 percent decrease in my pension . . . which is huge,” he says. “Just for not making 30 years because I’m younger than 62.”

Singh’s response, on a transcript of the conversation, was, “Wow.”

Mei, who is expected to be a prosecution witness, retired in August 2015. He also secretly pleaded guilty to corruption-related charges three days later.

Loud and clear

The jury was still in the room when the celebration seemed to begin — which is why a prosecutor at one point turned to shush the Mangano family and other supporters in the courtroom.

“We had a good day,” Kevin Keating, Mangano’s defense attorney, later would tell the scrum of reporters gathered outside and across the courthouse plaza, “and we expect good days to follow.”

The source of that ebullience?

The recording jurors, for a second time, had donned headphones to hear a telephone conversation between Singh and a friend.

In the June 23, 2015, call, Singh — who does not know his phone is being tapped — details concerns about the federal government’s investigation into his affairs to a man he later would tell Keating was a 20-year friend.

He tells Roger Paganuzzi, a retired Nassau County police detective, “They are going to scare me, I got this I got this.”

He also says: “I think they are still hoping that, you know, I know something about some politicians. I don’t know anything about any politicians.”

And: “I could make . . . [expletive] up, but it would be all lies.”

Keating asked Singh about his words.

Singh tried to explain them by saying that Paganuzzi didn’t know all of his business. And that whatever he told Paganuzzi was done in an “attempt to protect myself and to protect the Manganos.”

Stand by me

For the fourth straight day, Keating is standing by his man — literally, at a lectern, as his cross-examination of Singh continued Thursday.

Often, he’ll pull a stack of materials onto the stand with him, removing what he needs to add as exhibits before lobbing questions Singh’s way.

Three defendants — Mangano, his wife, Linda, and former Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto — plus six defense attorneys — two for each — plus piles of paperwork and computers make for a tight squeeze near the defendants’ table.

Which doesn’t leave a lot of room for Keating, sitting or standing, to wander. But he seems to make the best of it, reaching, when necessary, from lectern to computer to the Elmo — no, not him — document camera, which projects an image onto screens.

Even as testimony entered Day Eight, jurors generally remained attentive, even though a parade of exhibits that remained small even when projected onto large screens — with U.S. District Court Judge Joan M. Azrack early on joking about “eyestrain in the morning.”

Keating, after asking Singh to take a look at Defense Exhibit 120, asked to move it into evidence. And then he said, “No objection” — which is what the prosecution is supposed to say.

Some of the lawyers in the spectators seats laughed — until the judge asked what was funny.

“I said no objection,” Keating said, smiling.

“I think that means it’s time for the midmorning break,” the judge said as the courtroom erupted into laughter once more.

At day’s end, the judge asked Keating whether he would complete cross examination when court resumes Monday.

Keating said he would finish by lunch break.

“I’ve heard that before,” she joked, as prosecutors and defense attorneys — who’d made similar assertions during direct examination of Singh, which also went days longer than predicted — laughed.

Friendship ring

Keating repeatedly on Thursday, as he has since beginning cross-examination, asked Singh about his friendship with the Mangano family.

A pair of exhibits entered into evidence led Linda Mangano to break into tears and dab her face with a tissue — just after Edward Mangano, who also appeared to be on the edge of tears — turned toward his wife and patted her on the back.

Defense Exhibit 129 was a series of text messages:

From Linda Mangano to Singh, reading in part, “I just want to tell you that your friendship is the most important thing to me and Ed. I’ll love you forever.”

To which Singh replied, “I love you all, it was my honor.”

“Love you more,” Linda Mangano responded.

Name game, continued

Kathleen Rice, Nassau’s former district attorney, turned up in a copy of Singh’s calendar projected across courtroom screens on Thursday.

Singh said he remembered meeting Rice for lunch at his Poco Loco Restaurant in Roslyn on March 26, 2014, but did not recall what office she was running for. “We met, but I couldn’t tell you what she was seeking,” he said. “She was talking about election.”

Rice was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2014.

She was the third of three members of Long Island’s Washington delegation to make an appearance — via calendar or photograph — as a defense exhibit in two days, in addition to former Rep. Steve Israel.

On Wednesday, Keating asked Singh about a visit Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) made to Long Island. And he showed photographs of Nassau’s emergency operations center that included shots of Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) and Israel.

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