Democrat culture of corruption

Sen. Carl Kruger to plead guilty to corruption charges

By BRUCE GOLDING

Embattled state Sen. Carl Kruger is expected to plead guilty to a raft of corruption charges tomorrow after cutting a deal with the feds, The Post has learned.

A source close to the negotiations said Kruger’s partner and co-defendant, gynecologist Dr. Michael Turano, has also struck a plea bargain and is likewise expected to plead guilty in Manhattan federal court.

It wasn’t clear how much time in the slammer either man would face under terms of the pending agreements.

But a guilty plea from Kruger — who’s expected to admit committing four felonies — would result in the Brooklyn Democrat’s automatic expulsion from the state Senate, where he’s served since 1994.

A spokeswoman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment, as did lawyers for Kruger and Turano.

Kruger, 62, was busted earlier this year in a five-year, “pay-to-play” scheme in which he allegedly pocketed more than $1 million in payoffs for peddling his influence in Albany.

Court papers say he sponsored legislation, attempted to allocate millions in pork-barrel funds and even wrote a letter to a federal judge in Buffalo in exchange for a “stream of bribes” from real-estate, hospital and beverage-industry interests.

Turano allegedly helped launder the money through two shell companies and used it to finance a lavish lifestyle that included a Bentley luxury sedan and the mansion that Kruger and Turano share with the doctor’s brother and mother, Brooklyn Community Board 18 District Manager Dorothy Turano.

The garish, four-story home in Mill Basin was originally built for former Lucchese crime-family boss Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso.

According to The Post’s source, Kruger is expected to plead guilty to four counts conspiracy to commit fraud and take bribes.

Turano is expected to plead guilty to one count of bribery conspiracy.

Money-laundering charges against both men would apparently be dropped under the deals.

Kruger and Turano were among eight people busted in March for what the feds called a “broad-based bribery racket” that also involved the late Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio (D-Queens), who by then had died in prison after pleading guilty to a corruption charge.

In September, former hospital exec David Rosen was convicted following a non-jury trial at which the prosecution said Kruger “was not subtle about the quid pro quo” he provided in exchange for payoffs.

In November, Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. (D-Brooklyn) was acquitted of charges involving an alleged no-show job at one of Rosen’s hospitals, but he was indicted by Brooklyn federal prosecutors less than three weeks later for allegedly soliciting more than $250,000 in payoffs while awaiting trial.

Also in November, the feds agreed to drop their case against Brooklyn real-estate developer Aaron Malinsky, who had been accused of funneling more than $470,000 to Kruger.

Charges remain pending against lobbyist Richard Lipsky and former hospital exec Dr. Robert Aquino -- who face trial next month -- and health-care consultant Solomon Kalish, whose trial was postponed pending his recovery from open-heart surgery.

Read more:http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/sen_carl_kruger_to_plead_guilty_dultPbJmbYwNyfW6ucpR1I#ixzz1h2tmPynY