CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) - The wife of former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano was railroaded by the FBI and betrayed by a family friend, her defense attorney argued in closing summations at the couple’s federal corruption retrial.
Mangano is accused of helping Long Island businessman Harendra Singh obtain guaranteed loans in exchange for lavish gifts, including a $7,000 watch for Mangano’s son, a $3,600 massage chair, and a $100,000-a-year, no-show job for his wife at one of Singh’s restaurants.
On Wednesday, Linda Mangano’s attorney described Singh as a “treacherous person” and a liar. Defense attorney John Carman told jurors that it would have been strange for Linda not to have taken a job with Singh, “someone she believed to be a close friend.”
“It was not a secret arrangement,” the attorney said.
Carman suggested the FBI “set a trap” for the GOP official’s wife after she agreed to cooperate. He also attacked the government, saying it “failed miserably, miserably to make a case against her.”
“Don’t think for a minute that it’s your responsibility to bail them out,” Carman said in his summation.
The Manganos said they had a two-decade personal friendship with Singh, long before the Republican was elected, and that any gifts or favors between the families had nothing to do with his office.
In its closing arguments, prosecutors accused the Manganos of breaking the public’s trust by accepting bribes from Singh and then trying to cover it up by lying to authorities.
“For Ed Mangano, public service was self-service. From the moment he took office, he cashed in the power to benefit himself and his wife,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Mirabile, adding that Mangano and Singh were “tied by corruption, power and greed.”
The couple’s first trial ended in a mistrial in May when a jury in Central Islip failed to reach a verdict after nine days of deliberations.
The judge is expected to instruct the jury on the law Thursday morning before they begin their deliberations.
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Information from: Newsday, http://www.newsday.com
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