American Notes Corruption

The trial involved payoffs in an obscure New York City agency, but the cast of characters and sordid details made for great drama. Here was Donald Manes, borough president of Queens and a powerful Democratic Party boss who killed himself by thrusting a kitchen knife into his chest last March just as the inquiry got under way. Here was Bronx Democratic Leader Stanley Friedman, an equally mighty politico who was accused of bribing Manes to arrange a city contract with a company in which Friedman held stock. The case pitted Manhattan U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani, a prosecutor with political ambitions, against Thomas Puccio, the attorney who won acquittal for Claus von Bulow on charges that he tried to kill his wife. The prosecution's chief witness was a confessed extortionist who had set up a phony clinic where, he admitted, he had sex with several patients. After four days of deliberations, the jury last week found Friedman and three others guilty of racketeering and bribery. Friedman vowed to go on fighting, and he was as good as his word. Shortly after the verdict, Friedman scuffled with a woman photographer and was promptly arrested on assault charges.