Albany, Bronx, Mesmerized at Assemblyman’s Double Life

The indictment for Assemblyman Nelson Castro prepared four years ago was unveiled on Wednesday, a week after its contents resulted in the upending of state politics on a scale not seen in decades.

Castro, a Bronx Democrat, was paraded into federal court in handcuffs, but charges are expected to be dismissed if his four-year long cooperation as a mole continues. He was released on his own recognizance after a brief arraignment and ordered to return for a Sept. 18 hearing. He had faced a maximum sentence of 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison if convicted.

Castro resigned on Monday, days after being identified as an informant for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara against his colleagues and corrupt lobbyists prowling the halls of the Capitol.

The indictment revealed details for the first time about how Castro lied under oath during a 2008 city Board of Elections hearing and fraudulently obtained signatures for a petition to get on the Assembly election ballot.

At the time, the U.S. attorney promised him leniency if he agreed to spy on his fellow legislators as part of the battle against corruption. Castro assented, and shortly afterward began his double life, providing constituent services, tabling bills, running for, and winning, reelection — twice — and hanging out with other legislators in Albany’s bars.

What nobody knew was that he was wired with audio and video recorders that captured every crooked offer by a lobbyist, every bribery attempt by a developer.

That resulted in the arrest last Wednesday of fellow Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson on a bribery accusation. And Castro revealed that he had also cooperated in other investigations of corrupt politicians, a revelation sure to send shivers down a few spines in the Capitol.

The charges against Stevenson were “one result of this cooperation,” Castro said in a statement. “I continue to cooperate with state and federal authorities in this prosecution and in other investigations.”

Castro’s role in the arrest was exposed at the end of last week, riveting his constituents and alarming his colleagues.

“He was always very friendly,” Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, a Bronx Democrat, said of Castro. “Now I know why.”

Michael Farkas, Castro’s attorney, said his client decided to cooperate with the government because he thought “he could do some good and make some amends.”

But Farkas claimed that all Castro’s activities on behalf of the government were focused on “specific missions,” and that no prosecutor had any influence on his legitimate activities as an assemblyman.

“I’m sure that no one is going to have much sympathy for Nelson Castro, but you better believe that the last few years have been very stressful for him,” Farkas said. “It was the ever-present sword of Damocles.”

Castro submitted bills like every other assemblyman. He helped pass the Nutcracker Bill, increasing penalties for barbershops and bodegas selling sweet homemade cocktails to minors. Like other legislators, he occasionally got on the wrong side of the media, such as when the Daly News wrote a series of articles on the thousands of dollars in unpaid parking fines he accumulated.

But the charges laid bare several instances in which his double life converged. In January of last year, for example, he joined his colleagues for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State address. Back in the Bronx two days later, he recorded two businessmen who wanted to open an adult day care center promising him “special treatment” if he could eliminate competition.

One of the men handed Castro three manila envelopes stuffed with $12,000 in cash and said, “Consider this a contribution.”

Those same businessmen also approached Stevenson, who accepted the cash and submitted a bill barring any new adult care centers from opening in the Bronx. That resulting in his arrest last week, along with four other businessmen. And Castro was the spy who delivered them into the hands of the authorities.

Lawmakers are gripped by the situation that seems to read out of a spy novel. But Bharara suggested that Castro might not be the only one.

“If you are a corrupt official in New York,” he said, “you have to worry that one of your colleagues is working with us.”

This article appeared in print on page 4 of the April 11th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.