Former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano resentenced to 10 years in prison for corruption

A federal judge resentenced former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano to 10 years in prison Wednesday, denying his request for a 5-year sentence after an appeals court vacated two of his five corruption convictions.

U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, who had originally sentenced him to 12 years in prison, told the defendant he had engaged in "brazen corruption" that "did incalculable harm." She warned: "Other public servants should take heed that this is where greed and corruption lead."

Mangano, 64, of Bethpage, who has served 4 years at Federal Medical Center, Devens in Massachusetts, spoke directly to the judge during the hourlong resentencing hearing via a Zoom video visible inside the Central Islip courtroom.   

"I'm a quite different person than I was before I came to prison," said Mangano, wearing glasses and dark green prison garb and sporting white hair and a full beard and mustache. "I'd like to rejoin my family. I've learned a lot and suffered. ... Four years is devastating. ... I am ready to return. I am a much different person."

But Azrack said despite the court's dismissal of two bribery counts, Mangano's three other convictions associated with wire fraud and obstruction of justice remained.

"The core criminality remains the same. The Second Circuit did not exonerate you," she said. "You committed very serious crimes while you were the Nassau County executive. ... You engaged in blatant corruption and violated the public trust."

"Your crimes ... did incalculable harm," she said.

"The 5-year sentence that you have requested, in my view, is simply insufficient given your crimes and the entire record before me," the judge said, saying his case "laid bare a culture of corruption in Nassau County and the Town of Oyster Bay, and you were part of this culture."

"You also engaged in other conduct, which reflected poorly on your character and is also emblematic of this wider culture of corruption," Azrack said. "When public corruption such as yours is discovered, it should be punished accordingly," she said.

She noted Mangano has been a model prisoner but said his crimes deserved "substantial" punishment that would deter other public officials.

"What a sad fall from grace," Azrack said. "From Nassau County executive, riding high after a surprising election win, to sitting in prison while your grandchild is born and your family mourns your brother's passing without you. "

Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Mirabile had asked that Mangano be resentenced to the same 12 years. The appeals court concurred that Mangano "breached his fiduciary duties" to the public, she said, and its dismissal of the bribery counts "did not change what the defendant did." 

She called his conduct "a profound betrayal of the public trust." 

While acknowledging his good behavior in prison, Mirabile said Mangano is not remorseful and didn't show "any acknowledgment of the conduct that actually brought him here today. ... What about the remorse for what he did to his constituents?"

Defense lawyer Morris J. Fodeman had addressed Azrack earlier, saying: "The man before you is different."

"The crimes for which Ed stands convicted are serious. Public corruption is serious. Obstruction of justice is serious," Fodeman said. "We are not here today to ask the court to forget that. ... We're not asking the court to disregard the 2019 jury verdict on the surviving count, and we are not asking the court to retry this case today. Suffice it to say, serious crimes remain and serious punishment is warranted."

Fodeman, who later said he would appeal the 10-year sentence, had argued that a 5-year prison term "is by no means a nominal sentence" and "by no means a slap on the wrist."

Fodeman pointed out Mangano lost his public career and was disbarred, and his family's finances have been devastated. He missed his son's wedding, much of his grandchildren's lives and his brother's funeral, he said. 

"He feeds other inmates and tutors them," Fodeman said, adding that Mangano, a prison chef, also trained four service dogs, exhibiting "patience, consistency, responsibility, empathy," and prison officials let him leave the grounds unsupervised and drive other inmates, even taking one of the service dogs to the veterinarian.

"When there was no reputation left to protect, he helped other people," Fodeman said, citing letters to the judge from inmates who described him as a father figure who helped other inmates battling sobriety and de-escalated prison conflicts.

"This court now knows something about Edward Mangano that it could not have possibly known in 2022," Fodeman said, referencing the year he was originally sentenced. "What he would do with punishment once punishment became real. And I submit, your honor, he has used it to change."

Fodeman declined to comment after the resentencing. Mangano's parents and one of his sons, Alex Mangano, attended the resentencing with other supporters but declined to comment afterward. Mangano's wife, Linda Mangano, did not attend.

Mangano was convicted in 2019 of using his status as county executive to pressure the Town of Oyster Bay to indirectly back $20 million in loans for town concessionaire Harendra Singh, a restaurateur who was also Mangano's friend. In exchange, Mangano accepted a $454,000 no-show job for his wife, as well as a slew of other bribes, including flooring for the couple's bedroom, free meals at Singh's restaurants and a luxury watch for one of their sons, the jury found.

Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated his conviction on the charges of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery and federal program bribery, finding that Mangano was not an "agent" of the Town of Oyster Bay, a required element for conviction on those counts, but the court upheld other charges. 

Linda Mangano served about 5 months of a 15-month sentence for lying to the FBI and conspiring to commit obstruction of justice.

Singh, who was the star witness at both Mangano trials, pleaded guilty to bribery and wire fraud charges and was sentenced to 4 years in prison, of which he served about 15 months.