Tag Archives: Pedro Espada

Former NY state Sen. Pedro Espada faces a possible 43 year prison sentence on corruption charges. His lawyer has filed a plea for leniency that includes a claim that Espada was almost molested by a man when he was a child. Via Gothamist: In a 21-page court filing relating to personal hardships that could be factored in to a more …

All that rosary-waving and Catholic voodoo failed former New York state Sen. Pedro Espada today when he finally pleaded guilty to multiple felony counts of tax fraud related to the government-funded health clinics his family operated. He faces over seven years in prison and is free until sentencing is finalized. Espada was at the center of the two most tumultuous …

City & State covers the never-ending scandal of the New York Senate: The Four Amigos – the band of New York State Senate Democrats who were instrumental in handing control of the Senate to Republicans in a wild power grab in 2009 – are now just one. After a string of criminal prosecutions felled former Senators Carl Kruger, Hiram Monserrate …

Waving a rosary to ward off “evil spirits” proved useless for former New York Sen. Pedro Espada, who was today found guilty of embezzling over $500,000 from the Bronx health clinic he managed. Espada sat stone-faced when he was found guilty of ripping off the clinic. His wife, Connie, looked stricken and appeared near tears. Before the verdict was read, …

Former NY Sen. Pedro Espada, currently on trial for embezzling truckloads of money from a Bronx health clinic, appeared outside the courthouse yesterday to brandish a rosary in order to ward off the “evil spirits” that have overtaken the jurors in his case. As jurors in the federal embezzlement trial of former State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. indicated Thursday that …

New York Sen. Pedro Espada, who hijacked the state Senate last year to temporarily join the GOP with three other renegade Democrats, has lost his primary reelection bid to Gustavo Rivera, who obliterated Espada by more than two to one. Espada is under investigation by state and federal authorities for siphoning more than $14M from his Bronx health clinic for …

NY state Sen. Pedro Espada has been charged with embezzling $14M from a nonprofit he created. Last summer Espada upended state politics when he abruptly crossed the aisle and became a Republican in an outrageous bid to seize the Senate leadership post. According to the charges, Espada stole federal Medicaid funding meant to provide health care to the impoverished residents …

NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has filed court papers to force state Sen. Pedro Espada to comply with a five month old subpoena regarding his many, many violations of campaign election laws, non-profit rules, and state labor laws. You may remember Espada as one of last summer’s Gang Of Three that upended the state Senate over a leadership battle peripherally …

Car-owning New Yorkers have been eternally hassled by homeless men who volunteer to “make sure” nothing happens to their parked car. Taking their cue from the mob, this service is offered for a tip, of course, with the thinly veiled threat that non-tippers will return to find their vehicles damaged. But the cops are backing off the issue after courts …

Claiming to have a “handshake deal” to be named NY Senate majority leader, Sen. Pedro Espada told the NY Post today that he is flipping back to the Dem side of the aisle, once again giving the Democrats a 32-30 edge in the deadlocked chamber. How many “majority leaders” does that make for the NY Senate in the last two …

One day after he was installed as Senate Majority Leader in a coup that Democrats attempted to end by turning off the lights in the Senate room, Sen. Dean Skelos is telling the press that he will bring marriage equality to a vote before the current session ends in less than ten days. New Senate President Pedro Espada agrees and …

And here, my friends, is where I fear New York’s quest for marriage equality may have ended for 2009. New York’s state Senators today convened an emergency meeting to name GOP Sen. Dean Skelos (left) as the new majority leader as “Gang Of Four” members and Democratic Senators Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserratte have crossed party lines in a 32-30 …

Gay City News’ Paul Schindler has written a great recap of this tumultuous week in the New York Senate. If you’ve been confused by the alliances, the deals, the un-deals, and where things stand at the moment – read the story. An excerpt: [Sen. Malcolm] Smith has taken a gamble – he and his fellow Democrats may well be consigned …

UPDATE: I’m moving this post back to the top because of a breaking development. NY state Sen. Malcolm Smith now says he’s cut off negotiations with the anti-gay “Gang Of Three” because he’d “rather wait two more years to take charge of the Senate” than kowtow to a trio anti-gay Democrats. Sen. Malcolm Smith said today that he will cease …

In a backroom deal that Democrats are somehow hailing as a breakthrough, anti-gay Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. will become Majority Leader of the New York Senate. One of the “Gang Of Three” dissident Democrats that had threatened to hand the leadership over to the GOP, Espada opposes same-sex marriage and wants to the issue put to voters in a referendum. …

The infighting continues among Democrats over the selection of a new Majority Leader, the critical step to bringing marriage equality to a vote in New York. Things have gotten so bad that state GOP leader Sen. Dean Skelos (left) has declared that they will end up retaining the majority. In some of his most detailed remarks since the Republican Party’s …