Democrat culture of corruption

Kruger's sly game of hide-and-sneak

By DAN MANGAN

Crooked state Sen. Carl Kruger launched a frenzied, paranoid bid to botch the FBI's probe into his bribery shenanigans in the weeks before his bust, authorities say.

Kruger repeatedly warned his alleged cohorts -- including live-in boyfriend Dr. Michael Turano -- to avoid being overheard or spied upon by Manhattan federal investigators, whom the powerful Brooklyn Democrat correctly suspected of targeting him, a criminal complaint says.

During a Jan. 12 phone call -- secretly tapped by the FBI -- Kruger complained to allegedly dirty lobbyist Richard Lipsky about an e-mail that Lipsky had sent to a staffer who worked for the senator, the complaint said.

"The e-mails to [the staffer] . . . I mean . . . no good. I thought we were anti-e-mails," Kruger said, according to the complaint.

Lipsky -- a Manhattan lobbyist accused of funneling $252,000 to Kruger and Turano in exchange for Kruger's official favors for Lipsky clients -- replied, "I thought it was innocuous."

Kruger shot back -- "All e-mails are never innocuous . . . even the weather report."

And Feb. 26, during a breakfast huddle at a Brooklyn restaurant with real-estate developer Aaron Malinsky, Kruger warned him to "be very careful on all levels," the complaint said.

Referring to the people in the Southern District, the formal name of Manhattan federal court's jurisdiction, Kruger said, "They unnerved me."

Kruger, Turano and Lipsky were among eight men busted Thursday on corruption "pay to play" charges filed in Manhattan federal court, where the senator is accused of collecting more than $1 million in bribes.

The criminal complaint details how Kruger and Malinsky -- who allegedly funneled nearly $500,000 to the senator via Turano's shell companies in exchange for Kruger's favors -- went out of their way not to be seen in public together.

In one phone call Dec. 3, Kruger warned Malinsky about their upcoming meeting at the restaurant, saying, "Before you head in, call me, I want to make sure no one else is around . . . You understand?" the complaint said.

Less than two weeks later, Kruger was told by a secretary for Bruce Bender, the government-relations vice president of Forest City Ratner -- the developer of the $4 billion Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn -- that Bender was planning on meeting with Malinsky and asked if Kruger wanted to attend.

Lipsky was working for Forest City Ratner as a lobbyist at the time.

"Oh, no, never. Never. I'd never do that," said Kruger, according to the complaint.

Then, Feb. 25, Kruger talked to Turano about meeting Malinsky the next day at the restaurant, and the pair agreed it was a good idea because "no one else is going to be around there because it's Saturday," the complaint said.

The three men, joined by Turano's brother, met there Feb. 26 -- and were secretly recorded by the FBI and watched by two agents.

Kruger and Malinsky "spoke at length about a number of development projects," and Malinsky "spoke about two new men with whom he was doing business," the complaint said.