Posted on 06/08/2011 1:48:39 PM PDT by Mr. K
Kathy Hochul accepted thousands of dollars in cash towards her campaign from law firms and or lawyers concurrent with those same firms presenting cases on behalf of the four leaders from a Western New York region violent drug ring with cases before Mr. Hochul’s US Attorney office.
The violent drug ring involved was described by the FBI as being extremely violent and presenting a clear and present danger to the public and Buffalo-Niagara community. Mrs. Hochul’s husband’s office, in close proximity to these contributions, acted very favorably to the law firms and their associated defendants on several of these observed occaisions creating the appearance of impropriety and apparently breaching ethical boundaries.
Kathy Hochul’s husband is the United States Attorney for the Western District of New York. Mr. Hochul has held this position since March 2010 and was previously the assistant US Attorney from 1991 through 2010. Mr. Hochul oversees the prosecution of any federal criminal case brought within the seventeen counties of Western New York including the Buffalo Niagara region. The US Attorney’s office represents the United States in all civil matters brought within this territory.
The FBI Safe Streets Task force in July 2009 made one of the region’s and state’s largest drug ring busts of what the FBI Safe Streets Division described as an extremely violent drug ring that operated in the region for over 10 years. The task force indictment suggested this drug ring posed an imminent threat to the public.
Four of the primary leaders of this violent drug ring were: Keith Simmons, who was one of the main suppliers of the drugs and the master mind of the ring: Anthony Lamarand who was characterized by the FBI as a violent enforcer: recruiter and drug distributor within the ring, Joseph Tomasino owner and operator of JT Wheatfields Restaurant and the admitted primary drug drop off, storage and distributor for the violent drug ring, and Stephan Catone owner and operator of Papa Joe’s pizza and an admitted second primary drug drop off point, storage and distributor for the violent drug ring.
The drug ring, as per the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, was involved in major cocaine and other drug distribution, fire bombings, kidnapping, violent beatings and related violent acts within the Wheatfield and Buffalo-Niagara community region over an extended period of time. This drug ring was not only involved in violent crimes it compromised the safety and security of the community and targeted the regions youth for recruitment and corruption for over a 10 year period as per the FBI indictment.
Mr. Hochul is a very powerful person as US Attorney for the region who has great influence over the prosecutions of such defendants involved in federal cases. Mr. Hochul must maintain complete independence from any conflicts of interest and or the appearance of such conflicts either directly or indirectly for legal and ethical purposes.
Mr. Hochul’s wife Kathy accepted many thousands of dollars in campaign cash from the above listed top four defendants lawyers and or their law firms multiple times throughout and frequently in close time proximity of her husband’s office acting favorably on these law firm defendant cases. Her husband’s office favorable actions towards these defendants in relationship to cases that the FBI Safe Streets Division characterized as an extremely dangerous drug ring that posed a clear and present danger to the community creates serious questions when these favorable actions occurred concurrently with cash contributions to Kathy Hochul’s campaign.
Examples of favorable actions include Anthony Lamarand the dangerous and violent enforcer, as per the FBI, remarkably had two of the three felony counts dropped by the US Attorney’s office and his sentencing has been delayed for several months by Mr. Hochul’s office. Niagara region Successful Businessmen Catone and Tomasino, who had overwhelming evidence against them collected by law enforcement and who admitted storing, and being the major drug distribution centers as part of the violent drug ring from their businesses and faced up to 20 years in prison and $500,000 in fines each both received probation and small fines in a shocking sentencing by Judge Arcura as part of Mr. Hochul’s office agreement with the defendants and their lawyers. Keith Simmons as well has been permitted to have his sentencing delayed by Mr. Hochul’s US Attorney’s office.
The following are several examples of the payments to Kathy Hochul’s campaign fund that appear to have clear conflicts of interest associated with cases before Mr. Hochul’s office: :
January 13th 2010 Kathy Hochul received $750 from Dennis C, Gaughan the lawyer of Anthony Lamarand. This payment was received 1 day prior to Mrs. Hochul’s husband’s office acting on Grand Jury indictments of Catone and Tomasino who were part of the same drug ring case that Lamarand was charged in. Catone and Tomasino are key witnesses in the Lamarand indictment
January 13th 2010 Kathy Hochul received $500 from the law firm of Lipsitz Green Scime Cambia LLP the law firm representing Joseph Tomasino. Tomasino’s indictment was handed down from the Grand Jury and Mr. Hochul’s office the following day. Additionally Mr. Hochul’s office would initiate making the case of forfeiture for Tomasino’s Restaurant the following day, a business that has since been allowed to re-open and has not been forfeited.
June 16 2010 Connors Vilardo LLP paid Hochul’s campaign $250. Stephan Catone’s lawyer Amy Martoche worked for this law firm and Catone’s case was being processed by MR. Hochul’s US Attorney’s office at the time of this contribution.
June 25 2010 Kathy Hochul received $500 from Gaughan the day after Lamarand pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiring to distribute cocaine. Hochul’s husband’s office had shockingly agreed to drop two other major felony counts against this allegedly violent criminal, as reported by the Buffalo News.
July 10 2010 Kathy Hochul received $2500 from the law firm of Thomas H. Burton the firm representing Keith Simmons, the man characterized by the FBI as the ring leader of the violent drug ring. Mr. Hochul office granted Simmons 6 month adjournment in sentencing in May 2010 and was processing Keith Simmons case at the time of this contribution.
March 04-2011 Kathy Hochul accepted $5000 from Lawyer Dennis C. Gaughan on the same day that her husband’s office petitioned to delay sentencing related to the guilty plea of Anthony Lamarand’s felony federal charge of conspiring to distribute cocaine, a case represented by Gaughan. This was reported by The Buffalo News.
March 14, 2011 Kathy Hochul’s campaign accepts $2500 from the law firm of Thomas H. Burton the firm that represented Keith Simmons, the man characterized by the FBI as the ring leader of the violent drug ring. Mr. Hochul’s office has continuing cases in process associated with this violent drug ring’s prosecutions of which Simmons is a key member.
April 01 2011 Kathy Hochul again accepted $500 from the law firm Connors Vilardo LLP the law firm that had just completed the case of Stephan Catone before Mrs. Hochul’s Husbands office. The successful businessman Catone shockingly received only a reprimand from the judge and probation for his significant involvement in the violent drug ring.
It should be noted that these are the only defendants and their lawyers which have been reviewed associated with this article and that additional review is progressing currently for the other greater than 20 additional defendants involved in this violent drug ring. It should also be noted that The Buffalo News reporter Jerry Zremski was notified on Saturday May 21st of this article investigation based on an article he published in the News on May 9th associated with the same concerns.
While Zremski reported on two of these contributions after performing what he described as a complete review of the Hochul donors he chose not to fully report on this story for unknown reasons. I specifically asked him about the Catone and Tomasino cases and asked why he did not report on those cases. Zremski stated he had other priorities and he felt he had sufficiently reported on these conflicts. I told him I was disappointed and felt that this had to be fully reported and asked him where was his journalistic passions to fully report a story that clearly has serious implications and that has the appearance of breaching serious ethical boundaries. I questioned if the reason was related to Hochul’s politics and Zremski claimed it was not related and sited a article he released the same day, 21st of May, that he claimed challenged Hochul’s advertising accuracy.-
New York State has a history of powerful people believing they are untouchable and able to breach ethical boundaries and or the law with no consequences. All too frequently the institutions such as the media in New York enable such corruption to continue by not properly or fully investigating or failing to properly report such activities. Charlie Rangel and Sheldon Silver are prime examples of this.
The possible ethical breach by Kathy Hochul and her Husband, in this case, may go farther on a moral basis relative to the Silver and Rangel cases. While Silver and Rangel either breached ethical boundaries and or broke the law they both only involved selfish self indulging behaviors. This case involves an allegedly very large and violent drug operation that impacted very seriously the Niagara and Buffalo area community and in particular the young people who are targeted by such drug dealers.
It should be noted as well that other less serious questionable contributions have been accepted by Kathy Hochul with similar associations to her husband’s office and its influence over legal issues represented by the lawyers giving those contributions. One such case is a $5000 contribution this year from William C. Bernhardi, a Buffalo Lawyer who specializes in Social Security disability claims. Hochul’s husband’s office is characterized by Bernhardi as being typically a fierce adversary against these cases when they are presented in Federal court, as per The Buffalo News. Bernhardi would benefit financially from any case that he won.
The acceptance of these contributions by Mrs. Hochul clearly has the appearance of impropriety and the fact that the cases involve directly the safety and security of the community and our children puts into question the judgment of Kathy Hochul and her husband and warrants full review as part of any responsible reporting of this matter by the Buffalo News regardless of the politics involved.
Kathy Hochul must these contributions along with any others received involving similarconflicts of interest. An ethics review to determine if ethical boundaries have been breached and if decisions were influenced in these cases would seem to be warranted by the US Justice Department. A full and complete review of all of the Contributions to Mrs. Hochul must be performed in the context of legal cases before Mr. Hochul’s office as part of a review of these concerns.
This is the witch who took the R seat after stupid Chris Lee sent shirtless images to women on Craigslist
I hope Boehner gets on this one quick ~ he cannot afford this sleezy broad to slime up Congress.
Let’s HOPE she gets a criminal record
This demonstrates the purpose of frequent elections. She’ll be gone next November. Lee was no better. The people replaced a sicko with a crook. Next November, they’ll choose again. Hopefully they’ll make a wiser choice.
Our Government is rapidly become as corrupt as Mexico’s. There will be no justice and no protection as the drug cartels buy off our politicians and government workers.
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