Bribery, Politicians Behaving Badly | featured news

Feds busted a Bronx assemblyman today for allegedly pocketing envelopes of cash to push legislation in Albany — marking the second corruption case against a state lawmaker this week. Assemblyman Eric Stevenson [D-Bronx] got caught in a sting operation in which two co-defendants paid bribes to another, unidentified assemblyman who was cooperating with authorities, according to the Manhattan US Attorney's Office.

Six New York politicians were arrested on Tuesday for their alleged role in a bribery scandal that saw a prominent Democrat pay top Republicans for permission to run on their ticket in the city's upcoming mayoral race, prosecutors said.

More than a decade ago, Ray Nagin was elected mayor of New Orleans on a vow to root out corruption in a city plagued by decades of it. On Friday, the former mayor was indicted on charges he lined his pockets with bribe money, payoffs and gratuities while the chronically poor city struggled to recover from Hurricane Katrina's punishing blow.

Colorful former Gov. Edwin Edwards, 83, on Friday married a 32-year-old who wrote him during his prison sentence for bribery and extortion.