June 23, 2004 --
The probe of jailed state Sen. Guy Velella uncovered evidence linking mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer to key players in the influence-peddling scandal, according to bombshell documents obtained by The Post.
In the papers, a cop charges that Ferrer's former aide helped arrange a $500,000 collateral-free loan to a businessman in return for the businessman hosting a fund-raiser for Ferrer, the then-Bronx borough president.
The documents include requests filed in 1999 and 2000 by the Manhattan DA for authorization to tap phones in connection with the Velella investigation.
In the requests, an investigator alleges that Ferrer's then-executive assistant, José Ithier, worked with Manny Gonzalez, a parking-lot owner, to secure the loan for the businessman, Victor Cintron.
Cintron's loan came from the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corp., a semipublic, government-funded organization headed by Ithier.
Cintron needed the money to bid on a contract to build a facility for a methadone program, the papers said.
"On June 20, 1999, Cintron hosted a Fernando Ferrer fund-raiser at his home," says the wiretap request filed by State Police investigator Gustav Talleur.
"In exchange, Cintron and Gonzalez have worked with Fernando Ferrer and José Ithier . . . to obtain for Cintron a small-business construction loan without . . . collateral. "
The wiretaps were OK'd, and Gonzalez was allegedly recorded saying Cintron's soiree for Ferrer raised only $5,000 because it was mistakenly scheduled on Father's Day.
Talleur says Ferrer and Gonzalez had a "close friendship," adding that Gonzalez used that relationship to "assist his clients with political patronage, all in furtherance of [Velella's] criminal scheme."
On Monday, Velella began serving a one-year sentence for accepting money from people seeking state contracts. Gonzalez, described in the papers as the former state senator's "bagman," was sentenced to eight months.
Ferrer denied any wrongdoing. He said that he and Gonzalez had been friends since they were 16, but he doesn't recall ever hearing of Victor Cintron.
"If he held a fund-raiser for me, I'm grateful," Ferrer said. "But not grateful enough to steer a loan to him. That's baloney. Absolutely not.
"As I understand it, every loan from the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corp. had to go through a committee and the entire board. It was intentionally set up that way so no individual could do anything like this."
Ithier did not return calls. Gonzalez couldn't be reached.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/23609.htm