Westchester Guardian Article/Zehy Jereis/Anthony Mangone/Sandy Annabi.

THE FEDS ARE HERE!!

And They’ve Only Just Begun

Annabi, Mangone, Jereis Indicted United States Attorney Charges Former Democratic Majority Leader Of Yonkers City Council, Former Republican Party Chief, And Attorney With Public Corruption Crimes

Former Yonkers City Councilwoman Sandy Annabi Allegedly Received More Than $160,000 In Secret Payments; Defendants Charged With Conspiracy, Bribery, Extortion, False Statements, and Tax Crimes

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, JOSEPH M. DEMAREST, JR., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and PATRICIA J.HAYNES, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), Criminal Investigation Division, announced the unsealing of an Indictment against SANDY ANNABI, the former Democratic Majority Leader of the Yonkers City Council, charging her with conspiracy, bribery, extortion, false statements, and tax crimes. The Indictment also charges ZEHY JEREIS, the former head of the Yonkers Republican Party, and ANTHONY MANGONE, a Westchester County attorney, with conspiracy, bribery, and extortion in connection with two real estate development projects within the City of Yonkers which were pending before ANNABI.

MANGONE was arrested early on the morning of January 6 in Purchase, New York. ANNABI and JEREIS surrendered to federal authorities on the same day. All three defendants are expected to be presented before United States Magistrate Judge LISA MARGARET SMITH in White Plains Federal Court.

According to the Indictment filed in White Plains Federal Court:

On November 6, 2001, SANDY ANNABI was elected to serve as a Councilwoman to represent the Second District of the City of Yonkers. ANNABI was reelected two subsequent times, in 2003 and2005, and served as the Democratic Majority Leader of the Yonkers City Council. The Yonkers City Council’s primary function is to consider and vote on the City’s budget, zoning changes, and other legislation.

From the fall of 2003 through the fall of 2007, ZEHY JEREIS was the Chairman of the Yonkers Republican Party. As the Party Chairman, JEREIS’s duties were to promote the Republican Party in Yonkers and to advance the interests of Republican elected officials and candidates. ANTHONY MANGONE is an attorney whose office was located in Hawthorne, New York.

The Longfellow Project:
In 2003, a developer (“Developer No. 1”) proposed to develop a tract of land located partially within the Yonkers City Council District represented by ANNABI by renovating and transforming two vacant and dilapidated schools into market-rate housing (the “Longfellow Project”). ANNABI initially opposed the Longfellow Project. During a City Council meeting on June 14, 2005, ANNABI proclaimed her strong opposition to the project, stating: “Even if the entire community supported [it], I would be opposed.” She also said that the project was “outrageous” and a “slap in the face to the taxpayers of Yonkers.” Despite considerable effort, Developer No. 1 was unable to move the project forward in the face of ANNABI’s opposition.

In April 2006, however, Developer No. 1 hired MANGONE to assist in persuading ANNABI to support the Longfellow Project. Shortly thereafter, MANGONE arranged a meeting between a representative of Developer No. 1 and JEREIS, who advised that he could help persuade ANNABI to support the project. Later, MANGONE told Developer No. 1 that, in order for the project to proceed, Developer No. 1 would have to pay ANNABI $30,000 in exchange for her support. Developer No. 1 gave MANGONE the $30,000 in cash for ANNABI and paid MANGONE a $10,000 cash fee for his services.

Shortly after receiving the $30,000 in cash, ANNABI made several substantial cash and credit card purchases –including airline ticket upgrades, a Rolex watch, and a diamond cross necklace. Then, at a City Council meeting in September2006, ANNABI reversed her long-held opposition to the Longfellow Project and voted in favor of awarding the project to Developer No. 1.

The Ridge Hill Development Project:
The “Ridge Hill Development Project” was a project proposed by a large developer (“Developer No. 2”) to develop an 81-acre tract of land to establish retail shopping, restaurants, office space, hundreds of residential housing units, and a hotel and conference center. ANNABI was an outspoken critic of the proposed Ridge Hill Project and voted against both the project and legislation that would allow the project to move forward despite her opposition. ANNABI, with two other City Council members and others, also filed a civil lawsuit to effectively block the Ridge Hill Project. As the City Council was considering the Ridge Hill Project, Developer No. 2 made repeated and unsuccessful efforts to convince ANNABI to vote in favor of the project.

On June 2, 2006, JEREIS was introduced to representatives of Developer No. 2, after which JEREIS told representatives of Developer No. 2 that he could arrange a meeting between them, ANNABI, and JEREIS to discuss the Ridge Hill Project. JEREIS and representatives of Developer No. 2 also had an agreement in which Developer No. 2 would give JEREIS a consulting job sometime after ANNABI formally voted in favor of the Ridge Hill Project. After two meetings held in less than two weeks, ANNABI reversed her opposition to the Ridge Hill Project and issued a press release -- drafted by JEREIS and representatives of Developer No. 2 – informing the public of her support for the project.

Specifically, at a City Council meeting on July 11, 2006, ANNABI voted I favor of the zoning change necessary for the Ridge Hill Project. Shortly after ANNABI changed her vote on the Ridge Hill Project, JEREIS received the promised consulting contract from Developer No. 2 worth $60,000 over one year.

Secret Payments To ANNABI And Efforts To Conceal The Crimes: Since at least 2004, ANNABI has received from JEREIS, MANGONE, and others more than $160,000 worth of secret payments designed to influence and reward her for favorable official action or inaction on matters pending before the City Council as specific opportunities arose. ANNABI, JEREIS, and MANGONE also took various steps to conceal their scheme, by making false statements and/or omitting required information in various reporting documents.

For example, JEREIS secretly gave ANNABI money and purported loans to finance the purchase of two residential properties located outside of ANNABI’s Council District. To obtain favorable financing, ANNABI contemporaneously submitted applications to two different banks, advising both that she intended to occupy the house for which she was seeking financing and concealing that she was seeking to borrow money from the other bank for a second house. The closings for the two loans occurred only three days apart.
Furthermore, despite being required as a Council member, by state and local law, to live within her Council District, ANNABI in fact lived in one of these houses outside of her Council District. In order to meet the residential requirement to maintain her position, JEREIS purchased a cooperative apartment for ANNABI within her Council District. JEREIS had paid for the down payment and made the monthly mortgage payments, at times with postal money orders he had obtained.

The Indictment further charges that in her loan applications for one of the houses and for the apartment she purchased, ANNABI falsely inflated her income. ANNABI’s applications also included fake pay stubs, W-2’s, and bank statements.

According to the Indictment, ANNABI affirmatively concealed the illegal benefits she received from JEREIS and MANGONE by filing annual financial disclosure statements, from2004 through 2007, that intentionally omitted the illegal payments. ANNABI also failed to report in federal income tax returns the illegal payments that she received from JEREIS, MANGONE, and others.

In a further effort to conceal the criminal conduct, during the federal grand jury investigation into ANNABI’s corrupt relationship with JEREIS, MANGONE instructed Developer No. 1 not to tell an attorney representing Developer No. 1 that representatives of Developer No. 1 had given MANGONE the $30,000 in cash for ANNABI. MANGONE also failed to report, as required, the $30,000 cash bribe and an additional $10,000 fee that he received from Developer No. 1 to the IRS.

A chart setting forth the charges contained in the Indictment against ANNABI, JEREIS, and MANGONE and the maximum potential penalties for each offense is attached. The Indictment also seeks forfeiture of the proceeds of the crimes set forth above.

Mr. BHARARA praised the work of the FBI and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. He added that the investigation is ongoing.

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York,

“Today’s indictment describes what was essentially a bipartisan corruption pact between Sandy Annabi, Zehy Jereis, and Anthony Mangone. When the people of Yonkers elected Annabi to the City Council, she swore an oath to faithfully discharge the duties of her office. But rather than keep her word, she betrayed Yonkers’ residents by selling the most important assets any elected official has: her integrity and her independence. 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,” said United States Attorney PREET BHARARA.

“The conduct charged in the indictment is an assault on democracy. The people of Yonkers were betrayed by Sandy Annabi, someone elected – and sworn -- to serve them. In publicly opposing one of the projects for which she later sold her vote, she called it ‘a slap in the face to the taxpayers of Yonkers. ‘She willfully conspired to redefine her job from Councilmember to Councilmember-for-sale. That was the real slap in the face for the people of Yonkers,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge JOSEPH M. DEMAREST, JR.

“Public officials are no different from you or I in their responsibility to follow tax law. When this trust is violated it deteriorates confidence in the fairness of the application of tax law,” IRS Special Agent-in-Charge PATRICIA J.HAYNES.

Assistant United States Attorneys JASON P.W. HALPERIN and PERRY A. CARBONE are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Sandy, Say It Isn’t So, Sandy Annabi Facing The Fight Of Her Life

It was disappointing, to say the least, to be present last Wednesday in the Offices of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York at the Federal District Courthouse in White Plains for a press conference at which it was disclosed that Sandy Annabi, former Democratic Majority Leader of the Yonkers City Council, had been indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with Conspiracy, Bribery, Extortion, False Statements, and Tax Crimes.

However, the last time we checked, indictment was still not the same as conviction. The charges stem from Annabi’s official action with respect to two proposed real estate developments in Yonkers which she initially opposed and then supported: The Longfellow Project, and the Ridge Hill Development Project.

This case has Nick Spano, his brother Mikey, Al Pirro, Phil Amicone, and Ken Jenkins written all over it, in that order; and the Government knows that. Named in the same indictment were Zehy Jereis and Anthony Mangone, two Nick Spano operatives, each with a long history of Election Fraud and manipulation as well as criminal political operations on behalf of Spano. Jereis, former Chairman of the Yonkers Republican Committee, and a former official of the Yonkers Chamber of Commerce, has a criminal record that includes Possession and Sale of A Controlled Substance.

Zehy Jereis: Like Cavallo, A Nick Spano Operative and Poster-boy For Political Corruption.

What more does one need to say about the utter stench of politics in Westchester, particularly in it’s largest municipality, Yonkers, than to state that the Chairman of the Yonkers Republican Committee is Zehy Jereis, convicted drug dealer, and election fraudster?

The shear unmitigated gall of this individual, born on November 22, 1971, the eighth anniversary of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, to think that he could continue to get away with the unlawful and underhanded activities he has engaged in for years, all the while feeding off the public breast. The pattern is a nauseatingly repetitious one, involving former State Senator Nicholas Spano, a politician who enjoys surrounding himself with slimy offensive criminals, Anthony Mangone, James Surdoval,and Jereis, to name a few.
His arrogance, and air of immunity from the legal consequences of his anti-social behavior and criminal conduct were encouraged by Big Nick, and reinforced by Jeanine Pirro, and a corrupt judiciary all too willing to follow suit. He walks about as though he is “someone special.” He must be. After all, he’s only 35 years old, and he is the Chairman of The Yonkers Republican Committee. And, that after selling drugs at 23, and forging election ballots at 25.

By age 26 Nicky saw that he was rewarded with a job in the Westchester Department of Mental Health, quickly moving on to become, not just any assistant, but a Senior Assistant to former Republican County Executive Andrew O’Rourke, the man who thought he deserved to be a federal judge but had to settle for the New York Court of Claims. Who knows, perhaps Jereis’ forgery of Conservative Party ballots, a few months earlier, earned him that coveted position in O’Rourke’s Administration? Anyway, he managed to cop a plea to a mere misdemeanor, getting off with a “pocket-change” fine.

Of course, with the coming of a Democratic Administration to the County Executive’s Office in 1998, and their need to make room for their own criminal hacks, Jereis moved in with Senator Nick’s daddy, County Clerk Leonard Spano. After doing all the behind-the-scenes mischief he could do while there, he was finally duly rewarded for his Election Fraud activities and hired in 2000 as the Republican Administrator for the Westchester County Board of Elections.

Naturally, after obtaining all that experience working hard for several different County agencies, in 2003 Big Nick “hired” him as his Executive Assistant, and made him Chairman of the Yonkers Republican Committee. What an American success story: Drug Dealer-Election Fraudster, Becomes Chairman of Republican Committee, truly an inspiration to us all. And, his meteoric rise to power, wasn’t a moment too soon as Nicky would certainly need him to help with the theft of the 35th District State Senatorial Election from Andrea Stewart-Cousins, something Anthony Mangone could never accomplish for Nicky by himself in 2004. Zehy still had his sister Susan Salem working at the Board of Elections. How does the expression go? “Blood is thicker than water.”

Never a dull moment in the world of a corrupt political operative, Jereis was accused the following year, 2005, by a federal gangster/informant in an Organized Crime investigation, with having taken $5,000 from him to gather information from Al Pirro about a possible investigation ongoing in his wife, DA Jeanine Pirro’s Office.
Most recently he was subpoenaed by the FBI for copies of Financial Disclosure Forms he was supposed to have filed with the City of Yonkers, as Chairman of the Yonkers Republican Committee. Jereis is denying any knowledge of the need to make such filings. Denials are something he’s quite used to. Sadly, all the years he was getting away with breaking the law, protected by his mentor Nick Spano, and Spano’s ally, corrupt former District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, nobody ever told him he might be answerable to a higher authority, the United States Attorney’s Office.

Federal Indictment!

FBI And Federal Prosecutors Having A Field Day In Westchester Election Fraud, Misappropriation Of Funds, And, Everywhere Arrogance.

If one had to identify a signature characteristic of Jeanine Pirro’s public persona it would certainly be arrogance. Everything she will be remembered for, mostly evil, and unlawful, will be tinged with that unmistakable arrogance. It was arrogance that prevented her from making a joke about herself when she lost ‘page ten’ and it was arrogance that allowed her to publicly vilify United States Attorney Mary Jo White during her husband Albert’s tax fraud trial, despite having been left out of the indictment involving ten years of fraudulent joint tax returns. In the end it will be that same arrogance that helped bring her down.

Clearly, throughout her twelve-year reign as Westchester DA she was the undisputed center, the de facto leader, by virtue of her power to prosecute, of the cabal, the corrupt mob that continues in its unlawful enterprise without her. Sleazy creatures all, including the likes of Larry Schwartz, Deputy County Executive, Nick Spano, former State Senator, Giulio Cavallo, embattled Chairman of the Westchester Independence Party, and Zehy Jereis, Convicted Drug Dealing Felon, and Chairman of the Yonkers Republican Committee, to name but a few; every one as arrogant as Pirro.

Imagine, the arrogance of Guilio Cavallo involved in a life-anddeath struggle with Nader Sayegh, and the decent law-abiding faction of the Independence Party, for control, and under a restraining order, and an order to appear, from State Supreme Court Justice Donovan, nevertheless going around and boasting to everyone that he has been assured that, “the fix is in with the Appellate Division,” and that Donovan’s ruling will be overturned. Imagine too, that this same creature who purports to represent more than 15,000 registered Independence Party members is still soliciting to get pistol permits for $5,000, through his connections with Larry Schwartz and Tom Belfiore.

To decent, honest, citizens the blatant criminal activities that Cavallo, Larry Schwartz, Nick Spano, Zehy Jereis, andassociates, continue to routinely engage in, despite the fact that the United States Attorney’s Office is diligently pursuing their Presidential mandate to clean up the corruption in “the suburbs north of New York City,” might seem unfathomable. But, again, it’s all about arrogance, with a generous helping of denial thrown in for good measure.

Simply stated, these players, common criminals all, have gotten away with so much, for so long, it simply doesn’t enter their minds that the ‘gig is up.’ After all, consider Nick Spano, former State Senator from the 35th District, who for years surrounded himself with the likes, not only of Zehy Jereis, convicted drug dealer, and accused election fraudster, but also Anthony Mangone, admitted forger of 166 ballots in the Green Party and IndependenceParty primaries of 2000. Anthony was Nick’s campaign manager, as well as hislegal advisor. As legal advisor he was paid $125,000 of taxpayers’ money.

Of course, after his admission of massive ballot forgery, under cross-examination at the Dennis Wedra trial in 2002, Mangone dropped back to part-time employment for Senator Nick, at $50,000. But, not to worry, then-DA Jeanine Pirro, got him a full-time position in her husband Albert’s former law firm. And, of course, Mangone continued to work on Nick’s following election bids, most helpful in the the_ of the 2004 election from Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a stunt they were thwarted from repeating last year because of the presence of federal monitors.

Speaking about the contest for the 35th State Senatorial District in 2004, the the_ - and the_ is the right word - could never have been pulled o_ , over those three months of manipulation and fraud, had it not begun with the bogus ruling of Judge Robert Spolzino, of the Appellate Division, Second Department, who less than two years earlier had been Senator Spano’s personal attorney. Conflict of interest you say? How did the Democratic Election Commissioner, who just happened to also be the Chairman of the Westchester Democratic Committee, allow that to happen, you ask? Go ask Larry Schwartz, who orchestrated the whole thing, much as he had a hand in fixing every other major election in Westchester for the better part of two decades.

Perhaps, not so incidentally, Cavallo’s boast that “the fix is in” at the Appellate Division might just have something to do with Judge Spolzino, and/or Judge Joseph Covello, and a number of other Pataki-appointed “ Whores Who Became Madams.”

Difficult as it may be to fathom the shear gall with which these political imposters, these influence peddlers, operate in our faces the way they do, once again, it must be remembered that they have been getting away with it for so long, protected from prosecution by a corrupt District Attorney’s Office, and from exposure by a very cooperative,bought-off, media and press. Nearly seven years ago, News12, Cablevision, through their Lightpath division, received a $23.5 million, five year, no-bid, contract from the County of Westchester, Office of the County Executive. that kind of money buys a lot of news management. Larry Schwartz knows that, and so does Janine Rose, News12 news director. Add to that the fact that the Journal News president and publisher, until a little while ago, was Gary Sherlock, business partner of Albert Pirro, and the cabal has had little to fear from the press.

No, it wasn’t really about a failed costume jewelry business, nor even attempts to tape her husband on his boat with another woman, that attracted the United States Attorney’s Office to Jeanine Pirro. It was about election fraud, abuse of public office, misappropriation of public funds, tax evasion, and crimes of that weight, the same offenses that will soon bring down every other arrogant member of the cabal. As the expression goes, what we send in to the lives of others eventually comes back into our own.