Skelos corruption trial set to start, with father-son relationship at its core

Wiretapped exchanges are expected to play a central role when the former State Senate leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam, go on trial in federal court in Manhattan starting Monday.

Dean Skelos, the charges say, used his clout on state issues as wide-ranging as rent regulation, fracking and malpractice insurance to squeeze AbTech and two other companies to give his son work, and then corruptly pushed to fund contracts in Nassau County and elsewhere to help him succeed, while Adam Skelos bullied and bragged about what access to his powerful patron could do.

But legal and political experts alike expect the Skelos lawyers to try to turn the family narrative to their advantage, recasting the ugly allegations as a more sympathetic story of parental love for a child who needed help that may resonate, and arguing that any quid pro quos were imagined by people who wanted to curry favor with the GOP leader.

"The jurors are going to be parents," predicted Joe Conway, a former federal prosecutor. "The defense will focus on a father doing what he could for his son."

Dean Skelos, 67, and Adam Skelos, 32, face charges of conspiracy, extortion and bribery for allegedly using the state senator's power to get New Hyde Park developer Glenwood Management, Roslyn malpractice firm Physicians Reciprocal Insurers, and AbTech, an Arizona company, to pay Adam more than $300,000 in fees, salary and benefits.

On Friday, Dean Skelos spoke about the case publicly for the first time, calling the charges a "prosecution that should never have been brought" and predicting the jury "will find my son and myself innocent."