Who Was Protected In Michael Grimm's Sweet Plea Bargain Deal?

The Michael Grimm saga has always been special for me-- not because my sister lives on Staten Island or because his congressional district includes a part of the Brooklyn neighborhood I grew up in-- but because, in 2005-06-- when I was looking into the "disappearance" of a $400,000 that GOP serial criminal Tom Kontogiannis paid Duke Cunningham to get Bush to pardon him-- a reader informed me that an otherwise unknown crooked FBI agent who had gone over to the Gambino Crime Family, Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm, was involved in the "missing" Bush bribe. The media, of course, covered the whole thing up. And then, seemingly out of the blue just a few years later, the Mafia's boy "Suits" beat sad-sack Blue Dog Mike McMahon and was suddenly a Republican serving in Congress.

Yes, in Congress-- with a trail of criminal behavior beyond the ken of most run-of-the-mill bribe-taking congressmen. He also knows where a helluva lot of FBI bodies are buried-- at least metaphorically-- and it was an awkward minuet, that also involved the Israeli government, in making sure he could seem to be held accountable for something without pushing him to go ballistic enough to bring down the FBI-- and God knows who and what else. The plea bargain in Brooklyn Federal Court this morning was sweet. The 20 felony indictments-- for the charges that are relatively minor as part of the career of crime that has defined his entire life-- carry as much as 20 years in prison. 

The judge asked him if anyone had threatened him into taking the plea agreement and he answered, "No, your honor." She followed up with, "Do you understand the criminal charge to which you will be pleading guilty?" He responded, "Yes, your honor." She then reminded him, ominously, that there is "no parole in the federal system." He pled guilty to criminal tax evasion.

We won't know the sentence until June 8 but there was a good deal of media speculation locally that the plea deal didn't force him to give up his House seat.

Rep. Michael Grimm may not spend a day behind bars even if he pleads guilty Tuesday to a federal tax-evasion charge as expected, legal experts said.

Grimm's lack of criminal history, his military service and years of service as an FBI agent should weigh in his favor, said experts.

"When somebody who's never been arrested before comes to the table with Michael Grimm's achievements, it's very likely he'll receive a probationary sentence," said Mario F. Gallucci, a Willowbrook-based criminal defense attorney and former state prosecutor.

"I would not be the least bit shocked if he didn't get sent to prison," said a legal source.

Yeah... tell it to ex-Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., who faced a very different media narrative... and is in prison now.

After a stunning reelection victory last month-- over a typically incompetent and unqualified nebbish Steve Israel recruited-- what Grimm did was plead guilt to just one serious felony charge (tax evasion on over a million dollars in gross receipts from a money laundering operation/"health food" restaurant on the Upper East Side), although, relative to his career in crime-- which the mass media keeps substituting "his record of public service," he plead guilty to the equivalent of an unkempt hang-nail. When he was indicted on the 20 felony counts, he told the media, "I know who I am, and I know what I’ve done for this country… I know I’m a moral man, a man of integrity. We’re going to fight tooth and nail until I am fully exonerated."

Both during the election and since, Grimm had bragged that Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), the crooked chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who has pumped considerable money into Grimm when other GOP leaders were keeping him at arm's length, was reinstating him on the committee he had been forced to resign from. That reinstatement now comes into question, as Bob Costa and Paul Kane pointed out in the Washington Post Monday evening.

If Republican House leadership were to ask Grimm to resign when Congress returns in January, and he stepped down, a special election would be held to fill the seat.

Should Grimm decline to ­resign, House GOP leaders believe the House’s code of conduct could force him to abstain from congressional activities, according to a House Republican aide who requested anonymity to speak freely about internal discussions.

The aide pointed to a clause in Rule 23 as a guide for the leadership as it considers its response. The clause states that a member who has been convicted of a crime “for which a sentence of two or more years’ imprisonment may be imposed should refrain from participation” in committees and from “voting on any question at a meeting of the House,” until the member is “reelected to the House after the date of such conviction.”

During the election, Grimm promised voters that if he was found guilty-- and I guess that admitting guilt is covered in that-- he would resign from Congress. "If things don’t go my way, right? And I had to step down in January," he told a radio interviewer, "then there will be a special election, and at least the people of Staten Island and Brooklyn can then have qualified candidates to choose from." Qualified candidates? That may be a stretch considering what the party machinery is looking at, but at least neither Grimm nor Recchia would be among the choices.

Will Boehner force him to resign? He certainly wants him to but he'll go slow and won't go public unless Grimm balks. It's hard to imagine him ever taking another vote in the House or being on a committee, despite Hensarling.

The House Ethics Committee has deferred its own investigation into Grimm at the request of the FBI who doesn't want anyone looking too closely into any of the related matters involving Grimm's long and complicated criminal career. Presumably, if Grimm decided not to resign, they would stop pussyfooting around and launch a real investigation. The committee's new chairman, Charlie Dent (R-PA, isn't likely to let the matter slide and could a recommendation of expulsion, which would formally require a vote by the full House, would be likely. Last Member expelled was Jim Traficant a conservative Democrat (and crackpot) in 2002.

A poll this morning in the Staten Island Advance indicates a small majority think Grimm should be able to continue on in Congress unless he's actually behind bars. He left the court house on his own recognizance; no bail was asked and no passport was surrendered, even though he has extensive ties to both Cypriot and Israeli organized crime. On his way out he told the media he will NOT resign from Congress.

The DCCC is eagerly recruiting the Blue Dog Grimm originally beat, Mike McMahon, to run-- certain to turn off progressive voters who will, once again, have no choice but to sit on their hands at home. McMahon isn't as awful as Recchia... but he isn't any good and not worth voting for. The DCCC is pressuring him to run but he's telling intimates that Obama is so hated in the district that no Democrat can win and that he won't run. That doesn't stop the Beltway media from reporting that it's a done deal and that he's the candidate. When will the DCCC ever learn? Never. A more likely Democratic nominee is Assemblyman Michael Cusick. The Republicans have two candidates, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotaki and state Senator Andrew Lanza.