Corruption, Mayor | featured news

New York State Sen. Malcolm Smith and five other politicians pleaded not guilty Tuesday to corruption charges in connection with an alleged plot to buy a line on New York City's mayoral ballot. The allegations revived public concerns about a documented culture of exploitation in Albany that has prompted officials to seek legal recourse to induce change.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was found guilty of multiple counts of racketeering and extortion, a jury decided Monday. Kilpatrick was convicted of 24 charges, including racketeering, extortion, attempted extortion, bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and filing false tax returns. Both Kilpatrick and contractor Bobby Ferguson were found guilty on most counts. Kilpatrick's 71-year-old father, Bernard Kilpatrick, was only found guilty of one tax count.

The former city leader is given a 1-year sentence, plus probation, community service and must pay $17,000 in restitution... A former Cudahy mayor was sentenced Monday to a year in federal prison for his part in taking $17,000 in bribes from a man who wanted to open a medical marijuana dispensary in the city in southeast Los Angeles County.

The FBI arrested the mayor of Trenton, N.J., today on corruption charges, The Times of Trenton reports. Trenton Mayor Tony Mack, his brother, Ralphiel, and convicted sex offender Joseph Giorgianni, are accused of conspiring to obstruct, delay and affect interstate commerce by extortion, the Associated Press reports.

The mayor of Alabama's largest city is facing a federal bribery trial that could drive him from office and send him to prison if he's convicted.

A mayor in New Jersey is expected to announce his resignation Friday in connection with a corruption scandal plaguing the state.

The mayors of two New Jersey cities and a state legislator are under arrest today as part of a major corruption and international money laundering conspiracy probe.

Federal forces detained 10 mayors and 18 other officials Tuesday for allegedly protecting one of Mexico's most violent drug cartels in an unprecedented anti-corruption sweep in the Pacific coast state of Michoacan.

Soldiers and federal agents fanned out across President Felipe Calderon's native state to carry out the operation, which an expert called a blow to politicians tied to traffickers in Michoacan.

A Venezuelan mayor who says President Hugo Chavez is persecuting him on trumped-up corruption charges has gone to Peru, that nation's foreign minister said Tuesday.