In Manhattan federal court yesterday, a judge sentenced former Queens Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin to ten years in prison for taking in over $3 million in embezzlement, bribes from taxpayers and other illegal means. McLaughlin even stole $95,000 from a Queens Little League, promising voters that their donations meant that "A Child in Sports Stays Out of the Courts." Judge Richard Sullivan said that McLaughlin harkened back to the era of Boss Tweed and accused the former president of the nation’s largest municipal labor council of validating “the harshest critics of organized labor who accuse the leadership of corruption, and point to you as an example of that corruption.” Prosecutors had asked the judge for leniency, in part because of McLaughlin's cooperation in the recent indictment of another pol, Queens Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio. At the sentencing, McLaughlin, who has entered into Alcoholics Anonymous in recent years, said, "I'd like to say I make no excuses for it. But over the past three, 3-1/2 years I've had the opportunity to live the way I'd like to live my life." more ›

Two years after the FBI raided his offices, a former State Assemblyman and labor leader pleaded guilty to racketeering. Brian McLaughlin was charged with over 40 crimes, using his power as a seven-term Assemblyman, division head of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and head of the NYC Central Labor Council to bribe and steal. more ›