Investigators have previously said that "everyone's hand was out" for bribes at SLA, and now two women have been caught planning to bribe liquor authority officials to help speed up a booze license approval. A court ordered wiretap allegedly found that Annie Guerrero, the owner of El Nido Del Aguila, in Inwood, and Maria Elena Nunez, the owner of an expediting company that represents businesses applying for liquor licenses, colluded to bribe an SLA official with $5,000, in hopes of avoiding a full SLA review.
Nunez took the money from her client, but prosecutors say she kept it for herself once she learned that a full review was inevitable. She's charged with attempted grand larceny, a felony, on top of the felony bribery charge. "This goes to show you, be careful who you pick to bribe someone with," DA Morgenthau told reporters yesterday. "They might pocket the money."
