Rapper Ja Rule is serving a two-year sentence for attempted criminal possession of a firearm (a loaded .40 was found in his car in 2007)—plus another four months for tax evasion—and he seems pretty upbeat. At least, that what this exclusive interview and video from the Daily News suggest: "The Queens-raised rap star says disgraced pol Alan Hevesi and corporate greed poster-boy Dennis Kozlowski took him under their wings. From Kozlowski, he got stock tips. From Hevesi, he heard about the perennial impasse in Albany. They watched Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert together." Ja Rule said, "Outside, you don’t meet guys like this every day. This place is amazing." more ›

Governor Cuomo is proposing a bill that would strip state officials of their pensions if they're convicted of a crime. Naturally, it's nicknamed, by Albany insiders, "Hevesi's Law," since it was inspired by former state comptroller Alan Hevesi who pleaded guilty to accepting $1 million in bribes to direct $250 million in state pension fund money to certain investment banks. But the law, if passed, won't be retroactive and Hevesi, now serving one to four years, will still get his $105,000/year pension. more ›

Former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi was just sentenced to one to four years in prison for his role in the state pension fund pay-to-play scandal on Friday and, now, it's reported that 71-year-old inmate 11-R-1334 at Ulster Correctional is in the hospital infirmary. Prison officials won't disclose why he's there. more ›

Former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi, 71, was sentenced to one to four years in prison for his role in the pay-to-play scam with the $125 billion state pension system. Hevesi, who accepted money in from firms that wanted a piece of NY State pension's pie, said in court, "I have publicly disgraced myself. I have only myself to blame. I will live with this for the rest of my life," and apologized, "I am truly sorry for my illegal conduct. First and foremost I want to apologize to the people of New York State who put their faith and confidence in me to serve them honorably. I violated their trust." more ›

Today former state comptroller Alan Hevesi was supposed to be sentenced for "official misconduct," which in his case refers to the time he gave investment firms a chance to manage the billions in NY's pension fund in return for favors for his family, friends and associates. Hevesi faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison, and the judge who was to sentence him gave that maximum sentence last month to Hank Morris, Hevesi’s former political aide. But Hevesi could not be sentenced today, in part because his insides are bleeding. more ›

Hank Morris, the top aide to former state comptroller Alan Hevesi, pleaded guilty to securities fraud yesterday. It is the final guilty plea in the massive state pension fraud scandal which saw Hevesi, Morris and six others steer business to investment firms who would give them fees or favors in return. Morris said in court, "I intentionally engaged in fraud, deception, concealment, suppression, false pretense and fictitious and pretended purchase and sale and made material false representations and statements with intent to deceive and defraud." more ›

Andrew Cuomo enjoyed the afterglow of his successful investigation of former NY State Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who pleaded guilty to a felony charge related to his part in a pay-to-play kickback scheme this week. But guess who wasn't too impressed? Carl Paladino, who instead criticized the "failed" Attorney General for not going after more politicians, calling him a "selective prosecutor:" "Andrew Cuomo has shown a disturbing pattern of letting Democratic bigwigs like [Carl] McCall and [Steve] Rattner off the hook." more ›

Former NY State Comptroller Alan Hevesi pleaded guilty to the felony charge related to his part in a pay-to-play kickback scheme where he gave investment firms a chance to manage the billions in NY's pension fund in return for favors for his family, friends and associates. He may face jail time, but guess what: He still gets his tax-free comptroller pension of $106,000/year, plus a tax-free $62,000/year pension for being a former CUNY professor. more ›

Former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who resigned in 2007 because he was using state workers to chauffeur his sick wife around, is expected to plead guilty to a pay-to-play scheme involving the state pension fund. The NY Times reports, "Mr. Hevesi has been a subject of a lengthy investigation focusing on allegations that his friends, family and associates sold access to the state’s $125 billion pension fund, one of the world’s largest, to reward allies, pay back political favors and reap millions of dollars for themselves." more ›

After all the talk that ex-State Comptroller Alan Hevesi would plead guilty to charges related to the "pay-to-play" state pension fund scandal, there was nothing! Now the Daily News reports, "A source familiar with the investigation said Hevesi plans to plead guilty to felony corruption - but won't cop to it until his lawyer Bradley Simon returns next week from an overseas trip. 'It's going to happen,' the source insisted." Attorney General Andrew Cuomo would only say, "This is an ongoing investigation and we have no agreement with Mr. Hevesi pertaining to that investigation." Fine—we'll just watch the video of Paladino and Dicker over and over and over and over again to get our fill of Albany insanity. more ›

Former NY State Comptroller Alan Hevesi resigned in 2007 because it was discovered he used state vehicles to chauffeur his sick wife around. Now he's expected to plead guilty to charges that his office gave state pension business to investment firms that would give his team, family and friends kickbacks and fees. Albany—forever stinky! more ›

What do former politicians Alan Hevesi, Joe Bruno, Guy Velella and Clarence Norman have in common, besides convictions of criminal charges? They're all still receiving taxpayer-funded pensions worth tens of thousands of dollars a year! more ›

According to Daily News sports columnist and political writer Mike Lupica, Attorney General and probable gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo hasn't become the state's top Democrat because of his hard work, but because he's "the last man standing." Since 2006, former Comptroller Alan Hevesi resigned after pleading guilty to fraud, Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned after being outed in a prostitution scandal, and Gov. David Paterson has become embroiled in a ballooning ethics investigation. That leaves Cuomo at the top of the pile, which could turn out being enough to get him into higher office. "[N]obody is looking for white knights. Sometimes just being in the room 10 minutes longer than anybody else is enough." more ›

The Attorney General's office, already investigating the state pension fund, is now looking at the NYC pension fund. The NY Times reports, "Investigators have long been examining why a tiny firm operated by Daniel Hevesi, a former state senator and the son of a former state comptroller, Alan G. Hevesi, was paid more than $1 million in fees for his role as an intermediary in deals with pension funds in New York City and for deals in New Mexico." (Two of Hevesi's cronies have already been indicted in the state pension fund corruption probe.) NYC Comptroller William Thompson already announced his office was investigating the use of placement agents (aka the middlemen who collect fees to match funds with investment firms) but the AG's investigation would reportedly be broader. On the state side, the Daily News says that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver arranged meetings between investors—such as former Rangers goalie Mike Richter— and the state comptroller's office. While none of those investors were selected, watchdog group Common Cause says, "It's very inappropriate because it looks as if the speaker is using his office as the most powerful elected official in the Assembly to try and influence the controller." more ›

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced charges against former Liberal Party boss Raymond Harding; NY1 reports that Harding allegedly "received $800,000 in illegal fees on state pension deals as a reward for opening an Assembly seat for former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi's son, Andrew." more ›

there. more ›

Even though he's serving a jail sentence, cleaning prison bathrooms, for stealing millions from the Roslyn schools district, it's certainly nice to be Frank Tassone, knowing that he still gets his $173,495 annual NY State pension. Newsday reports that he and other former Roslyn officials still get their considerable pensions, even while serving jail time. more ›

For the past few years, the officials have been warning that NYC's Off-Track Betting, or OTB, has been on the verge of going broke, whether it's former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi or City Comptroller William Thompson. OTB doesn't give the city any revenues and recently pinned its hopes on attracting more customers by making over OTB parlors and allowing bets to be placed online and by cell phone or Blackberry. more ›

State Ethics Commission, long time no see! It's been about eight months since you found State Comptroller Alan Hevesi had violated state law, and now you're back on the radar with an investigation into Governor Spitzer's administration's conduct regarding use of the state police to track State Senate Majority Joseph Bruno. more ›

Alan Hevesi recently hired a new lawyer and adopted an aggressive stance to battle accusations that he misused his position as New York State Comptroller, who oversees the state's $157 billion pension fund, for personal financial benefit. Last week, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said he was investigating whether Hevesi used his tenure as Comptroller to financially benefit from the many financial firms that vie to profitably manage a slice of the enormous pension fund. more ›

The fight between Governor Eliot Spitzer and Senate Majority Joseph Bruno gets more and more unbelievable. Yesterday, Bruno claimed that the Times Union, the Albany newspaper, tried to shake him down for money and today the Post says Spitzer had Bruno tailed by the state police! Hopefully the next news will be that the Legislature is selling tickets to a fight in the boxing ring. more ›

New York magazine has a great examination of the Greenpoint pollution problem lurking beneath the neighborhood's surface, and floating along the surface of Newtown Creek. It describes a ten million gallon reservoir of industrial pollution that includes, fuel oil, naptha, gasoline, parrafin wax and likely many more materials that were used along the industrial area of the waterway that separates Brooklyn and Queens. more ›

Hours ago, former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi was fined $5,000 and sentenced to probation for "unlawful use of a state vehicle and driver" when he used his employees to drive his ill wife. The Times Union has an 18-minute video of the sentencing; reporter Rick Karlin noted that Albany County Court Judge Stephen Herrick said to the Queens Democrat, "Your fall from grace has been total and from a very great height…You are now the symbol, the icon, used by local and state reformers... Hopefully, your failure will serve as a deterrent." (See mugshot here) more ›

Yesterday, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that the State will sue ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Keyspan and Phelps Dodge over a 17-million-gallon oil spill in Newtown Creek that has spread underneath Greenpoint over 100 acres. The spill was detected in 1978, when a Coast Guard pilot noticed an oil plume; oil seeped underground from ExxonMobil refinery and storage operations since the 1950s. Attorney General Cuomo said:

This is one of the worst environmental disasters in the nation, larger than the Exxon Valdez and slower in the cleanup. ExxonMobil must and will be held accountable. The toxic footprint of ExxonMobil is found all over this area. It is ExxonMobil’s oil that remains under the homes and businesses. And it is ExxonMobil that has dragged its feet and done as little as possible to address the dangers that it created.”

There's nothing like a State Comptroller -using- state- employees- to- chauffeur- his- wife scandal to make our own Police Commissioner stop having the po-po drive his wife around. Oh, yes: NYPD Confidential spoke with a few detectives about "Driving Mrs. Kelly", a practice that ended right when State Comptroller Alan Hevesi came under fire:

One detective said the detail drove Mrs. Kelly as many as three or four times a week. more ›

We couldn't even get through Governor Spitzer's first month before a "showdown with Assembly Speaker Silver." State Democrats have been saying they feel betrayed - or, in the words of Manhattan Assemblyman Keith Wright to NY1, "totally, totally disrespected" - because the panel formed by Spitzer to select State Comptroller candidates didn't select any of their choices. State Democrats claim the panel was supposed to pick five candidates, including a Democratic Assemblyman interested in the job, but when the panel recommended three non-lawmaker candidates, all hell has broken loose. Spitzer claims the panel would choose up to five candidates, but now it looks like the Democrats will reject those Spitzer-approved candidates. We bet Alan Hevesi is smiling somewhere over this. more ›

Here is part two of our semi-chronological look back at the top stories this past year (here is part one): more ›

NYC from the ESB Looking North, by SupremeKnight1. more ›

Freedom Tunnel 10, from Pro-Zak's amazing set. more ›