| Current Poll |
Are you for armed guards at schools?
View Results
|
|
Story Archives: Eddie the rat
- 2013 - 290 articles
- 2012 - 856 articles
- 2011 - 635 articles
- 2010 - 1276 articles
- 2009 - 1591 articles
- 2008 - 1763 articles
|
Eddie the rat
 What do Salvatore "Sammy The Bull" Gravano and Monroe businessman Eddie Hakim have in common?
They both turned on so-called "friends" and became government witnesses in high-profile racketeering and corruption cases, properly known as RICO, or Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
The Congress approved the RICO Act in 1970 to give U.S. attorneys a tougher tool to prosecute organized crime figures. In time, prosecutors discovered they could employ RICO to nab public officials who ran afoul of the law.
It's really unfair to compare Hakim to Gravano. After all, Gravano was a trusted sidekick to organized crime boss John Gotti. Gravano turned on Gotti some 20 years ago and testified for the government once Gravano was informed he faced life in prison, or worse, for carrying out "hits," or murders, for Gotti, who was the boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City.
Based largely on Gravano's testimony, Gotti was convicted and received a life sentence. He died in prison. Gravano went to prison, too, but for a short stay.
According to testimony in U.S. District Court in Monroe over the past couple of weeks, Hakim bribed Monroe City Councilmen Arthur Gilmore and Red Stevens from 2006-2009. Hakim bribed them to receive favorable treatment for economic development projects advocated, or owned, by Hakim. The bribes totaled less than $8,000. In other words, Gilmore and Stevens sold out on the cheap.
Apparently, Hakim began bribing Gilmore and Stevens through John Maroney, an engineer who worked for the City of Monroe and Hakim as well. Maroney wasn't around to dispute anything Hakim or the defendants said during trial. He died a couple of years ago. How convenient.
FOR FULL STORY SUBSCRIBE TO THE SENTINEL'S E-EDITION! |
|
| Frank Morris Murder Series |
|
|
E-mail Story
Print Story
