Who are the “others?”
That is the looming question raised by the recent federal indictment that shook Yonkers political circles and drew widespread and unwanted publicity for the developer of the $630-million Ridge Hill project under construction in the city.
The indictment and ensuing storm of media coverage should not deter other developers from pursuing projects in Yonkers when the economic climate improves, said Mayor Philip Amicone.
Following a roughly three-year investigation, federal officials this month indicted former Yonkers City Council Democratic Majority Leader Sandy Annabi on charges of conspiracy, bribery, extortion, false statements and tax crimes. The indictment, filed Jan. 6 in U.S. Southern District Court in White Plains, alleged that Annabi, who served eight years on the council starting in 2002, received secret payments worth more than $160,000 to reverse her opposition and vote in favor of two proposed development projects.
One, Forest City Ratner Cos.”™ mixed-use Ridge Hill development, is set to open in early 2011. The other, the Longfellow project, a proposal first floated in 2003 by Yonkers-based Milio Management Inc. to redevelop two vacant and rundown city schools for retail use and market-rate housing, has not proceeded.
The indictment alleges that Annabi in 2006 received $30,000 in cash from Anthony Mangone, a Hawthorne attorney and former Republican political aide, to drop her vocal opposition to the Longfellow project. Mangone allegedly received the bribe money from representatives of the Longfellow developer, who also paid Mangone a $10,000 fee for his services.
The indictment also alleges that former Yonkers Republican Party Chairman Zehy Jereis secretly gave Annabi money and purported loans to finance her purchase of two residences in Yonkers outside her council district. Jereis also allegedly made a down payment and monthly mortgage payments, at times with postal money orders, for a co-op apartment whose address Annabi used to maintain her residency requirement in the district she represented.
Jereis allegedly arranged meetings between Annabi, who had been a staunch opponent of Ridge Hill, and Forest City Ratner representatives to persuade her to support the project. Jereis received a consulting contract from the developer worth $60,000 over one year shortly after Annabi changed her vote on Ridge Hill.
Jereis and Mangone were indicted on counts of conspiracy, bribery and extortion. Both Republican Party insiders formerly served as aides to former state Sen. Nicholas Spano, now an Albany lobbyist as president of Empire Strategic Planning.
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U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara when announcing the indictment described the alleged collusion of the three accused as “a bipartisan corruption pact.” Saying Annabi had betrayed Yonkers residents by selling her integrity and independence, he added: “In our down economy, there are too many buildings with ”˜For Sale”™ signs hanging in the window; City Hall shouldn”™t be one of them.”
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Left unnamed in the indictment were the “others” from whom Annabi also allegedly received secret payments for her pro-development votes. Bharara said the federal probe, conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, is continuing.
Ridge Hill”™s Brooklyn developer quickly distanced itself from the alleged criminal enterprise in Yonkers. “Forest City Ratner Cos. has cooperated fully with the U.S. Attorney’s office during the course of its investigation and will continue to do so,” a company spokesman said in a Jan. 6 statement. “In addition, Forest City has been advised by the U.S. Attorney’s Office that neither the company nor any of its employees is a target of the investigation.”
At City Hall, Mayor Amicone pointed out that his administration, which has worked closely with Forest City Ratner and other private developers to spark an economic renaissance in Yonkers, had not been tainted by the corruption probe and indictment.
“We”™ve got one person, one council member, who apparently did things very wrong and took the right vote (in favor of Ridge Hill) for the wrong reason,” he said. “What happened is bad”¦assuming guilt, she (Annabi) and the other two will be punished, and they should be.”
But Ridge Hill”™s eventual benefits to Yonkers in the form of employment, permanent recurring revenues for the city and shopping opportunities for consumers will overshadow this episode of alleged political corruption, Amicone said. “I think this project, as it goes on, all this nonsense will fall in the past,” he said.
Asked whether the federal charges and cloud of public corruption over Yonkers might deter other developers from doing business there, Amicone said, “I think it casts a pall over those who might consider or are already committed to doing projects here in the amount of press and the amount of negative press.” Yet developers, when favorable economic conditions return, “They”™ll be here,” he said.
“Developers know this happens occasionally,” he said of the alleged bribes and extortion. “They protect themselves against this. They don”™t participate in it.”
