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Percoco trial: 5 revealing moments in the case against Cuomo's ex-top aide

The corruption trial of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's former top aide Joseph Percoco has been four weeks long and counting, and it has revealed some of the inner workings of state government.
Todd Howe, left, and Joseph Percoco went on a fishing trip with Competitive Power Ventures executive Peter Galbraith Kelly in 2010. (Photo: Government exhibit)

ALBANY -- The corruption trial of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's former top aide Joseph Percoco has been four weeks long and counting, and it has revealed some of the inner workings of state government.

There are the constant references to "ziti" — the term alleged co-conspirator Todd Howe says he and Percoco used for payments to Percoco and his wife.

And Howe, who already has pleaded guilty in the alleged scams, wrapped up a remarkable 40 hours on the stand Thursday — punctuated by his arrest a week ago for a violation of his cooperation agreement with prosecutors.

Add in the hundreds of emails that showed how Percoco and Howe tried to use their influence to impact upstate economic development projects in Orange County and Syracuse, and the trial has been remarkable in showing the shady underbelly of New York government and politics.

"The testimony and evidence that have been presented so far presents a disturbing picture of how government operates," said Blair Horner, legislative director for the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Two upstate developers, Steven Aiello and Joseph Gerardi of Cor Development, are accused of paying Percoco $35,000 for help with their work at Syracuse's Inner Harbor.

And Peter Galbraith Kelly is accused of steering nearly $290,000 to Percoco to help his former company, Competitive Power Ventures, with building power plants in Orange County and New Jersey.

Percoco has pleaded not guilty, and Cuomo was not charged in the case.

Here are five revelations from the trial so far:

Percoco's dual roles

One of the issues is whether Percoco could accept outside income from the developers because he had officially left public office in 2014 to run Cuomo's re-election campaign.

Percoco's lawyers have contended he left government service and received approval from the executive chamber to do consulting work, which included payments to his wife.

But early in the trial, prosecutors said 837 phone calls were made from Percoco's state office desk during the eight months he was supposed to be solely on the campaign in 2014.

And Linda Lacewell, Cuomo's chief of staff, testified she saw Percoco intermittently in the governor's New York City offices during that time.

The state Republican Committee on Thursday filed a complaint with the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics charging that Percoco and Cuomo would be in violation of the Public Officers Law by using state resources while he was on the campaign.

"The information revealed in the corruption trial was that Cuomo's closest confidante Joe Percoco was simultaneously acting as a lobbyist representing private clients with business before the state, serving as the governor's campaign manager and still acting as a public official on official state matters," state GOP chairman Ed Cox said in a statement.

Campaign contributions and LLCs

The case also revealed how campaign cash can flow to politicians, in this case Cuomo's re-election in 2014.

Howe has pleaded guilty to eight felonies in the case, and emails showed how he helped steer campaign money from the developers to Cuomo's re-election bid. Howe worked as the companies' consultant.

The emails showed Aiello wanted to give $125,000 to the governor's re-election and was encouraged by Howe to use various limited-liability corporations.

"He will do $25,000 each from 5 of his LLC's," Howe wrote in one email, saying he should use ones that didn't include the Cor name.

The LLC loophole — which allows companies to skirt campaign-finance limits by setting up various LLCs to contribute — has long been ripped by good-government groups as a gaping hole in New York's porous campaign-finance laws.

Attempts to close the LLC loophole have faltered in the state Legislature, even as Cuomo has called for the reform.

Horner said the trial has exposed New York's pay-to-play culture, showing again the need for stronger campaign-finance laws and a tough ethics watchdog group to oversee state government.

"If this all holds up, of course, it offers a road map for what should be done, which is there needs to be independent oversight," Horner said.

Powerful Influence

Percoco was Cuomo's top aide and confidante for decades, and Cuomo even called him his brother and the late Mario Cuomo's "third son."

But defense lawyers have suggested Percoco did not do anything out of the ordinary for Howe’s clients, saying the executives had ties to other influential people in the Cuomo administration.

Prosecutors, though, said Percoco in 2012 confided in Howe he was having financial troubles after moving from Staten Island to South Salem in Westchester into an $800,000 house.

The couple needed an income for his wife Lisa Percoco, but she had been unable to get a teaching job in Westchester, Howe testified.

So Howe allegedly helped facilitate payments to Percoco, and emails showed the interactions — including a low-show education job for his wife.

In one email in November 2012, Percoco pressed Howe: "Need to pull the trigger here. things getting bad."

Percoco and Howe called each other "Herb," an odd reference that perhaps goes back to former gubernatorial candidate Herb London.

They allegedly called the payments "ziti," a reference to what money was referred to in the HBO show The Sopranos.

After the charges were brought against Percoco in September 2016, Cuomo's office contended the governor knew nothing about the allegations.

Since the trial started, Cuomo has refused to comment on the case, saying as a former prosecutor himself, it would be inappropriate to do so.

On MSNBC on Thursday, Cuomo was asked what if the bribery charges are proven in court.

"Well obviously, if proven, bribery is unacceptable," he responded.

He added, "We’re in the middle of a trial right now, and I respect that process and respect the integrity of the jury and the prosecutors and the judge. So I don’t want to comment on it while it is going on, but if proven, then obviously."

Cuomo's name

If Cuomo is trying to stay clear of the trial, he is still a central character in the case — because of Percoco's closeness to him.

Prosecutors contend that Percoco and Howe sought to tout their connections to Cuomo — for Percoco to get bribes and for Howe to help his clients.

The interactions were perhaps most prominent in testimony Thursday.

Emails between Percoco and Howe on Jan. 15, 2015, showed how they tried to get Cuomo to meet with Aiello as his company's plan for a new stadium in Syracuse was falling apart.

Howe urged Percoco to "lay it on thick, Herb," and told him to tell Aiello that the governor loves him.

"Lay it on heAvy Herbie! Zitti herb! Zitti!! Howe wrote.

But the meeting wasn't a success, Howe testified.

Percoco left the meeting, and Cuomo vented his anger at Howe over the failed stadium project.

"That's a day that will be forever etched in my head," Howe said.

Asked on the stand if Cuomo's criticism was fair, Howe responded:

"I know the governor well enough to know what's fair and unfair doesn't really matter."

Cuomo has maintained he knew Percoco might take private consulting work when he left the governor's office, but he did not know the details of what Percoco was doing.

Howe's role

Howe first worked for Mario Cuomo, then with Andrew Cuomo when the younger Cuomo worked at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Then he became a lobbyist and remained close with Percoco in particular.

But he was a flawed person, which he readily admitted on the stand. He said he has told the truth on the stand and in interviews with prosecutors as part of guilty plea.

The first question from Percoco’s lawyer, Barry Bohrer, to Howe was this:

"Mr. Howe, are you an honest man?"

"I am today," Howe responded.

He had a troubled past. In 2008, Howe secretly set up a bank account that only he had access to.

He allegedly spent the next seven years taking payments checks from his lobbying firm’s clients, depositing them into the account and using the money for his own personal use.

He was also bilking numerous contractors, lending companies and even friends and relatives who were lending him money. In 2010, he was caught in an unrelated $45,000 fraud and pleaded guilty.

So Howe is cooperating with prosecutors as part of his guilty plea to eight felonies, involving not just the bribery scheme but also unrelated embezzlement and tax-evasion charges.

Despite his past, though, he remained close to Percoco, with emails showing he was working to help Percoco with payments and also trying to help his clients.

On the stand, Howe called Percoco “the closest thing to a brother that I ever had," according to the New York Times.

He added of Percoco: “I wanted to be helpful because I wanted him to continue to help my clients as he had been in the past.”

At the end of his seven days of testimony, even U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni sounded exasperated.

“Mr. Howe, go back to Idaho,” Caproni said as she dismissed Howe, now a groundskeeper there, from the stand.

Then she remembered he is still in in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.

“No, go back to the MCC,” she said.

Includes reporting by Journal News staff writer Jon Bandler.

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