Analysts have said the cases against the most powerful men in New York’s state government have put Albany on trial.
But the proceedings against Dean Skelos, the former Republican Senate majority leader, and his son, Adam, have brought Nassau County and two firms headquartered here into just as bright a spotlight, according to trial reports
Federal prosecutors, who made their closing arguments in the case this week, allege the Skeloses of Rockville Centre used Dean’s political power to force three companies with business before the state — New Hyde Park’s Glenwood Management, Roslyn’s Physicians’ Reciprocal Insurers and Arizona-based AbTech Industries — into paying Adam a total of more than $300,000.
In testimony last week, Physicians’ Reciprocal CEO Anthony Bonomo, a longtime friend of Dean’s and former head of the New York Racing Authority, said he feared getting on the senator’s bad side for his company’s sake
“The senator is the majority leader and I didn’t want this to be a wedge or a problem between us,” Bonomo testified Dec. 3, according to a Newsday report. “… The threat was if this was going to create a problem, I didn’t want that to get in the way of legislation not passing.”
Dean Skelos started pushing Bonomo to give Adam a job in 2010, saying his son needed the money. He became increasingly insistent, Bonomo said, and Adam eventually got a $78,000-per-year sales job at the medical malpractice insurance company, headquartered at 1800 Northern Blvd.
But the younger Skelos didn’t come to work. When his supervisor, Chris Curcio, called him out, Adam threatened to “smash your (expletive) head in.”
Bonomo, a Manhasset resident, feared retribution because Dean had control over legislation that allowed Physicians’ Reciprocal to stay in business, Newsday reported.
Testimony indicated an executive from AbTech Industries, the environmental technology company that employed Adam as a consultant, had similar fears.
On the stand Nov. 30, AbTech executive Bjornulf White told jurors the company thought it would lose a $12 million Nassau County contract at Dean’s hands if it didn’t raise Adam’s pay.
The Skeloses pressed the county to put out a request for stormwater treatment services crafted around one of AbTech’s products, reports say.
Emails and phone calls presented at the trial indicate they used Dean’s close relationship with county officials, including County Executive Edward Mangano, to push AbTech’s proposal through the county in April 2013.
It was then that Adam first asked AbTech to raise his monthly pay from $4,000 to $10,000 that month, White testified, and the firm gave him the raise after the county Legislature approved the contract in July.
“If Abtech increases his pay and takes care of Adam, his father would take care of AbTech,” White said, as quoted in Newsday.
Adam Skelos apparently the AbTech job through Charles Dorego, the top attorney for Glenwood Management, the luxury real estate firm headquartered at 1200 Union Turnpike in New Hyde Park.
Dean first approached Dorego and Glenwood principal Leonard Litwin, 101, in 2010 about helping Adam, Dorego testified last month in the four-week trial’s early stages.
Similar to his interactions with Physicians’ Reciprocal, Skelos’ requests became more aggressive over time, Dorego said, leading Glenwood to give Adam $20,000 worth of title insurance work and connect him with AbTech.
“We were trying to reconcile in our minds the request … at the same time we were significantly involved with the Senate on legislative business,” Dorego testified in November.
Litwin, Glenwood and its subsidiary limited liability companies have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to election campaigns for both Skelos and Sheldon Silver, the former Democratic Assembly speaker convicted in a separate corruption trial last week.
While the federal investigations of the longtime Albany power brokers were separate, Glenwood and Dorego ultimately provided the link between them, reports have said.
Both Skeloses have maintained their innocence, and they declined to take the stand Monday.
Their defense team has argued Dean was only using his connections to help his son in a time of need, not abusing his power as an elected official. They also argued there is no evidence of an explicit threat by either Skelos.
But in his closing argument Monday, prosecutor Rahul Mukhi told the jury it wasn’t “living in some made-up world where public officials make announcements that they are asking for a bribe.”
Silver’s conviction came despite what his lawyers called a lack of evidence establishing an explicit exchange of money for legislative favors.
