Does The Mafia Get Its Own Member Of Congress Again?

If the DCCC gets its way and Blue Dog Max Rose captures the Democratic nomination to run against Michael Grimm in November in the Staten Island/south Brooklyn district (NY-11) that is widely considered the most Mafia-friendly congressional district in America, Rose will have an immediate head start-- a website, The Grimm Reality. The site was put up over the weekend by Grimm's opponent, incumbent Congressman Dan Donovan (R). Donovan doesn't pull any punches, making Grimm sound a lot like Señor Trumpanzee:

Michael Grimm is a serial liar and con man who will do or say anything to get what he wants. He’s even gone so far as to lie under oath, which got him convicted of felony perjury charges. But his lies and excuses go way beyond his criminal convictions.

Since voters can’t trust a word Michael Grimm says, this website will set the record straight about his disturbing record as one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress and the numerous ethics scandals he’s embroiled in. We just can’t trust Michael Grimm.

The NY Post had a good ole time with it on Monday: "'It’s tax day in America, and while everyone has filed their taxes and paid their hard-earned money to the government, Michael Grimm still thinks he’s above the law,' the anti-Grimm website says. 'Even after serving prison time for hiding nearly $1 million in income from the IRS, Michael Grimm still owes approximately $900,000 in back taxes to New York State. 'He owes huge debts to the tax department, his campaign, and the people who paid off his criminal legal bills, but that hasn’t stopped him from driving around in a Lexus sports car. For Michael Grimm, the rules apply to everyone except him.'" Most of the website is devoted to 9 urls putting Grimm in a bad light. A DCCC contact laughed and told me they have "10 times more-- and much more damaging"-- oppo on Grimm than Donovan is using.



The Post was just as happy to publish Grimm's response: "Not surprising that Desperate Dan resorts to slander to distract from his own failed stint in Congress. Everyone knows I hired a few delivery boys off the books and was politically prosecuted by the Obama Justice Department for a violation other business owners get fined for, but that doesn’t change the fact that I was a much more effective member of Congress. I’ll be happy to release my tax returns when Dan has his first substantive bill signed into law or starts supporting our President when it actually matters."

NY-11 was the only New York City congressional district Trump won. Although Obama beat Romney there, Trump thrashed Hillary 53.6% to 43.8%. The PVI is R+3. Staten Island is filled with Italians and the Brooklyn part of the district is filled with Trump-loving Russians. June 25 in primary day. Donovan has been endorsed by the Staten Island GOP, the Staten Island Independence Party, the New York state Conservative Party, the New York state Reform Party and the entire Republican Beltway establishment. Grimm has been endorsed by... Steve Bannon.

Although Grimm-- as well as Donovan-- try painting themselves as a Trump fanatics now, both have virtually identical voting records: mainstream Republican. As of the March 31 FEC filing deadline, Donovan had raised $1,171,589 and had $739,476 cash on hand. Grimm had raised $366,460 and had $359,607 in cash.

Romney Returned Michael Grimm's Shady Cash-- Other Republicans, Like Charlie Bass And Richard Tisei Are Happy To Have It

The Romney-Ryan campaign has made it very clear-- even publicly clear-- that they don't want the two Mafia-connected Republican congressmen, Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm (Staten Island) and David "The Gangster" Rivera (Miami), both under FBI criminal investigation, anywhere near the campaign. Romney returned the $2,500 check Grimm sent his campaign. The only Mob money Romney is allowing this year has to be funneled through Las Vegas and Macau crime boss Sheldon Adelson.

Grimm's shady political action committee, the Grass Roots Initiative To Maintain Our Majority PAC (AKA- the GrimmPAC) has raised $97,680 so far this cycle, the biggest contributors being the American Resort Development Association, same day lenders and a couple of shady right-wing unions that support anti-working family conservatives. Aside from $5,000 to Romney (of which $2,500 was returned), the 10 biggest recipients of Grimm's shady cash have been:

• Charlie Bass (R-NH)- $2,000
• Maggie Brooks (R-NY)- $2,000
• Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY)- $2,000
• Matt Doheny (R-NY)- $2,000
• Chris Gibson (R-NY)- $2,000
• Ricky Gill (R-CA)- $2,000
• Adam Kinzinger (R-IL)- $2,000
• Danny Tarkanian (R-NV)- $2,000
• Richard Tisei (R-MA)- $2,000
• David Valadao (R-CA)- $2,000

Mitt Romney returned a $2,500 contribution from scandal-scarred Rep. Michael Grimm’s leadership PAC, Grassroots Initiative to Retain Our Majority, just four days after he received it, FEC records show... Grimm was once one of Romney’s most outspoken New York supporters, even traveling to New Hampshire during the GOP primary in January to act as a surrogate on the former governor’s behalf.

Politico reported yesterday that Grimm had every intention of going to the debate, even though the Romney camp has asked him to stay away from their public events. A Grimm spokesperson told them, kind of defiantly, that "Tonight, Rep. Michael G. Grimm (R-NYC) will attend the presidential debate at Hofstra University. He was the first Member of Congress in NY State to endorse Governor Romney and the second in the northeast (after Senator Scott Brown)." Politico reports that the Romney camp didn't respond about the threat on a Grimm incident.

Grimm's Democratic opponent, Mark Murphy, is making the most he can from Grimm's misfortune (oh-- and Grimm's criminal activities). An e-mail to his supporters starts with an amusing paragraph: "Yesterday, Congressman Grimm held a press conference closed to the public. He whined to three reporters that the liberal media is lying about his scandals. According to Grimm, FOX News and the New York Post are the 'liberal media.' He went on to cry foul about us talking about his record, but only a few days ago another one of Grimm's associates was arrested."


And speaking of last night's debate-- whether Grimm was able to sneak in or not-- here's President Obama's closing statement:

UPDATE: Wanda Rohl (IL-16) Responds

Republicans taking shady Mob money from Grimm are being held accountable by Democrats running against them. Below you'll find part of a press release that Wanda Rohl sent out this morning. Guidance to media was "Democratic Congressional Candidate Wanda Rohl (IL-16) responds to new campaign donation investigations and alleged mafia ties.

Follow the Money: Congressman Kinzinger lines his $1.7 million bankroll with mob money even Mitt Romney wouldn't touch

In addition to Big Oil, energy companies, secretive PAC's and shady corporations, we've now learned that Congressman Adam Kinzinger is also having his strings pulled by notorious corrupt New York congressman Mike Grimm (R-NY).

This new revelation comes on the heels of the federal investigation of a $25,000 donation from Congressional leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) to Congressman Kinzinger that was orchestrated by Kinzinger's Washington ally and close friend, Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL), who was recently named one of the most corrupt legislators in the U.S. Congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Congressman Grimm set up a shadow PAC named after himself (GrimmPAC) to funnel at least $2,000 in campaign cash to Congressman Kinzinger. A week ago Federal prosecutors revealed that Grimm's partner in a New York restaurant, Bennett Orfaly, is tied to the New York Gambino family. Grimm's largest campaign contributor was indicted last month for immigration fraud.

The Romney-Ryan campaign has returned Grimm's $2,500 campaign donation, publicly dismissed Grimm’s support of their campaign, and asked him not to attend their campaign events including the Presidential debate at Hofstra University on Tuesday.

If Steve Israel Can't Even Beat A Thuggish Republican With 20 Criminal Indictments....

The Staten Island Advance is a lot like Staten Island-- and far more conservative and parochial than NY-11 as a whole, which also includes some relatively enlightened parts of Brooklyn (as well as some equally backward Mafia-oriented neighborhoods, particularly in Bay Ridge). And the district as a whole has been changing demographically as more immigrants move in. In 2008 McCain beat Obama in NY-11, 51-48%. Four years later, NY-11 went the other way, giving Obama a 52-47% win over Romney-- an identical margin the district gave their Mafia congressman, Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm, over a pathetic Democratic opponent, Mark Murphy, son of a former congressman who was sent to prison for 3 years in the Abscam scandal, after being taped taking a $50,000 bribe. This cycle, Steve Israel managed to find an even worse candidate, Domenic Recchia, thinking it wouldn't matter because of Grimm's myriad legal problems-- like 20 felony indictments.

Recchia is such a terrible canddiate-- another wretched mini-me of Israel-- that he's actually losing against a serial criminal likely to go to prison during the next term. Yesterday the Advance actually endorsed Grimm! They admit Grimm is a horrible choice-- but say Recchia is even worse!

There are, on occasion, electoral races in which both candidates are of high quality and high integrity and conduct a tough but fair campaign about the issues.

Fair-minded voters have a difficult choice, but they can know that, no matter who is elected, they'll be well represented by someone who won't embarrass their community.

The election for the House of Representatives seat in the 11th New York Congressional District is nothing like that.

A difficult choice

On one side is the sometimes hot-headed Republican incumbent who is facing a 20-count federal indictment. On the other is a career Brooklyn Democratic pol, who, term-limited out of his high-ranking post in the City Council, thought about other city offices before he settled on the idea of the job representing in Congress a borough he knows  little about, his claims of deep ties here notwithstanding.

That's the choice voters have. And that's the choice we have in making an endorsement in a race that could not be much uglier.

That choice for us is Michael Grimm. Surprisingly, if a choice is to be made, Mr. Grimm should be that choice, even under these circumstances.

Command of the issues

For one thing, he has command of the issues affecting the district, as well as those concerning foreign policy and national affairs.

Most people could do without his incessant parroting of lurid GOP attacks on the administration, but no one can say he doesn't know what he's talking about.

The same cannot be said for Mr. Recchia, whose campaign has consisted almost entirely of attacks on Mr. Grimm.

That's undoubtedly because he doesn't bring much else to the table. His campaign strength, it would seem, is to say he's not Michael Grimm.

When asked specific questions, Mr. Recchia offers canned catch-phrases on which he does not elaborate. He says merely that he believes in "working together" with other officials to "get things done," but never explains how.

Apologists say he is "down to earth," "not as slick as Mr. Grimm" but a "fierce negotiator passionate about who he represents."

At some point, however, it's fair to ask if these claims of his supposed "simplicity" are not just a cover. No one's asking for slick, just knowledgeable.

Exclusive focus on Grimm's troubles

We're not alone in suspecting that his grasp of the issues is uncertain, at best, which is why his campaign handlers have focused almost entirely on Mr. Grimm's legal troubles.

That's good enough for Democratic partisans, some still seething that Mr. Grimm "stole" the House seat from the party's rising star, Michael McMahon, in 2010. But it's not enough for most Staten Islanders. Mr. Grimm may not be as genial as the challenger, but his record in terms of constituent service-- most notably after Hurricane Sandy but in other respects as well-- has been good.

In tune with Staten Island voters

What's more, there's no question that he is in tune with the needs of his district, and while we may not always agree with his positions, especially the kind that light up the cable news networks, his mostly moderate conservative views well represent those of a majority of Staten Islanders.

Witness his forthright statement that the Republican presidential primaries produce nominees who come out of the process too much in political debt to far-right forces to be electable.

We are not overlooking Mr. Grimm's considerable legal woes, of course. To have Staten Island's congressman under federal indictment has been a black mark on this borough and has made it the laughingstock of the nation. Unfortunately, his opponent's astonishing incoherence in public statements only adds to the ridiculousness.

Mr. Grimm has indeed been indicted, but contrary to the definitive condemnations of partisan critics, he has not been convicted of anything; in this country, that matters.

Indicted five years later?

In addition, rumors had it that Mr. Grimm's fundraising tactics were under investigation. But his indictment is for counts including tax evasion, obstruction and perjury, all in connection with his operation of a Manhattan health-food restaurant, before he ran for Congress.

Frankly, the long lag time between the alleged commission of these crimes and the indictment for them makes the indictment suspect in our eyes, especially given the highly charged political atmosphere and the degree to which his seat is coveted by the Democrats.

That said, however, Mr. Grimm has been far too cute about what will happen if he is convicted, saying only, "If I wasn't able to serve, of course I'll step down."

If Mr. Grimm is convicted, he must step down.

But who decides if he is "able to serve"? Mr. Grimm himself?

He has to go one better. If Mr. Grimm is reelected, and then convicted of any crime, even if he's not sentenced to prison as his detractors insist he will be, he must step down. And the people of Staten Island must hold him to that.

Stories about Mr. Grimm's extra-curricaular activities are numerous.

We learned that he spent considerable time in the ladies' room of a Brooklyn tavern with a female friend, who he claimed to be counseling.  We heard he pulled a gun during a melee in a dance club in Manhattan. We heard him threaten to throw a reporter off a balcony because he didn't like a question posed.

We know a female friend, said to have had a relationship with Mr. Grimm, pleaded guilty of channeling illegal campaign contributions to Mr. Grimm's campaign-- something Mr. Grimm denies all knowledge of.

We have said several times in this space that Staten deserves better than this.

As distasteful as this contest may be on a number of levels, we have a choice to make, as do the voters.

On Tuesday, Mr. Grimm is still the best practical choice for Staten Island.

Our system of justice calls for us to wait until February, when he faces trial, to discover the rightness or wrongness of that decision.

Unlike the crackpot editors of The Advance, even the national Republican Party is too embarrassed to back Grimm, a Gambino crime family stalwart. The NRCC has spent exactly zero in this race. The DCCC and the House Majority PAC put in another $1,961,599 just this week, bringing their total for the cycle to an astronomical $3,641,465. And for what? Another corrupt sack of shit who will be too scared to vote with Democrats most of the time and will probably lose his seat in 2016 anyway. Have we mentioned that Steve Israel is the worst DCCC chairman since 1866?

UPDATE: Grimm Will Beat Recchia-- By A Lot

As anyone could have predicted-- and many Outside the Beltway did-- Israel's pathetic recruit, Domenic Recchia is falling flat on his face. A few minutes ago, Siena posted their last poll of the district and it shows Grimm with a stupendous 19-point lead over Recchia! Only SteveIsrael could have ever come up with this kind of a scenario. It's beyond belief.

Incumbent Republican Representative Michael Grimm has opened a wide, 19-point lead over Democratic challenger Domenic Recchia. Grimm leads Recchia 53-34 percent, up significantly from a narrow 44-40 percent lead seven weeks ago, according to a NY 1 News/Capital New York/Siena College Research Institute poll of likely 11th C.D. voters. Green Party candidate Henry Bardel has the support of five percent of voters. Grimm has gained this lead by solidifying his Republican base and turning a 14-point lead with independents into a 37-point lead.

“Early on, this race looked like it was going to be one of the closest in the state-- a former Democratic City Council member taking on an embattled incumbent Republican under Federal indictment in a district that is-- at least by enrollment-- dominated by Democrats,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg. “That no longer seems to be the case, as Grimm has taken a commanding 19-point lead into the final days of the campaign.

“Recchia’s seven-point September lead in Brooklyn has been cut to a narrow three-point lead, while Grimm has extended his lead in Staten Island, which accounts for more than two-thirds of voters, from nine to 28 points. Grimm has the support of 83 percent of Republicans, up from 73 percent. He also has the support of 31 percent of Democrats and has a better than five-to-two lead with independents,” Greenberg said.

“Last month, Grimm led by 11 points with men, even as the candidates were virtually tied with women,” Greenberg said. “Today, Grimm leads by 19 points with men and women.”

“In mid-September, Grimm had a negative 39-49 percent favorability rating. In a complete reversal, today he had a positive 48-43 percent favorability rating. Recchia has gone in the opposite direction, as the percentage of voters viewing him unfavorably has doubled.  He now has a negative 31-46 percent favorability rating,” Greenberg said.

“Grimm’s favorability rating is essentially unchanged with Democrats, however, his positive rating from Republicans has jumped from two-to-one to better than three-to-one.  And independents, who had previously viewed Grimm unfavorably by an 11-point margin, now view him favorably by a 13-point margin,” Greenberg said. “Recchia’s favorability rating tanked with Republicans and independents.”

Republican Party Has Cut Off Funding For Mikey Suits Grimm's Reelection Efforts

Classic sociopath, Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm

God sent a freak rain storm to tell Staten Island die-hard Republicans that, "no, Mafia congressman Mikey Suits Grimm is not getting a raw deal; he's getting his just desserts." Another force-- the Beltway GOP Establishment-- is sending a signal of their own: they are drying up Grimm's funding.

Already in financial trouble because he's diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds into a high dollar law firm keeping him out of prison, Grimm now faces an NRCC that doesn't want to waste more money on his. The GOP version of the DCCC's Frontline Program-- the "Patriots Program"-- has basically dumped Grimm in all but name. He's still on their website but he was asked to stay away from a recent fundraiser. Republican Party officials would rather use the money on a longshot race against Dan Maffei on behalf of a fourth tier candidate, John Katco, with virtually no chance to win. NRCC chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) has written Grimm off, something he would never have done without the explicit approval of John Boehner.

House Republican leaders are pulling the plug on Rep. Michael Grimm’s reelection campaign, cutting off cash infusions from the national party’s main campaign committee to the embattled Staten Island lawmaker.

Without the campaign cash from DC, Grimm is effectively on his own as he works to win reelection in a competitive district while under federal indictment for tax fraud, obstruction, and perjury.

“As long as these legal issues are playing out there we’re going to hold off,” National Republican Campaign Committee chair Greg Walden (R-Ore.) told the Post.

“That’s our analysis this day and time. We have to look where we can go win seats.”

…Boehner isn’t offering Grimm much public support, although Grimm told reporters the speaker hasn’t asked him to resign.

“I think all members should be held to the highest ethical standards,” Boehner said Tuesday.

“Mr. Grimm is under indictment. He resigned from his committee assignment and I think he made the right decision,” he said.

Boehner hasn't ever had a warm relationship with Grimm, going back to their very first meeting when Grimm sat down in the Speaker's office and asked him to change the rules to allow Members to pack heat on the floor of the House. Boehner was mortified and instructed his staff to make sure Grimm was never alone with him again. DC Republicans would now like to replace Grimm on their line but it's too late (unless they nominate him for a judgeship, which could be embarrassing… even for Republicans).

Grimm keeps calling his 20-count criminal indictment a witch hunt and has endeavored to paint himself as a victim. "There are people that don’t like Michael Grimm because Michael Grimm is outspoken," Grimm said. "I speak my mind. I speak plainly, and it’s always gonna be that way. Listen, at the end of the day, you know. I’m a Marine. I don’t relent." In her new book, A Fighting Chance, Elizabeth Warren singled Grimm out for a teaching moment-- on deranged Republican hypocrisy. It was at a time when she was still a Harvard professor but was running around Capitol Hill meeting with as many congressmembers show could about establishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She was so optimistic because it was such a simple idea-- protecting banking customers from criminal behavior the same way federal agencies protect consumers in other areas. Mikey Grimm didn't get it. “He told me all about himself," she wrote. "He’d joined the U.S. Marines when he was 19, and he had been decorated for his service in Desert Storm. He got a degree from Baruch College, a public university in New York, went to law school, and joined the FBI, where among other things, he was part of the Financial Fraud Squad. He talked in animated terms about the great work he’d done with the FBI and the terrific training he’d received. Then he launched a small business before running for office… I didn’t care about his Tea Party ties. He’d been in law enforcement and dealt with Wall Street corruption. I was sure that someone like him would really appreciate the importance of having a watchdog like the consumer agency."

He told her he didn't believe in government. She didn't think she heard him correctly. "I don't believe in government." She was sitting in a congressman's office. "I asked him about the FBI, and he amended his statement to say yes, he believed in the FBI, but not other forms of ‘big government’ and certainly not a consumer protection agency." She contemplated what he had told her about himself-- "A tour of duty in the military. A degree from a public university. Eleven years working in a federal government agency. Government training. And now a seat in the House of Representatives. Heck, he had even been quoted as saying that he wanted the government-paid health insurance when he joined the Congress, because ‘God forbid I get into an accident and I can’t afford the operation. That could happen to anyone.’ It seemed to me that he ought to be the poster boy for someone who understood all the good things that government can do.”

Before he was indicted for cheating the government-- and the taxpayers-- out of millions of dollars, a classic Al Capone indictment-- she wrote that she would like to ask him, "Would you rather fly in an airplane without the Federal Aviation Administration checking air traffic control? Would you rather swallow a pill without the Food and Drug Administration testing drug safety? Would you rather defend our nation without a military and fight fires without our firefighters?"

Wouldn't It Be Ironic If Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm Were Reunited With "Fat Tony" Morelli In Prison?

Most Americans never heard of Michael Grimm until the infamous "I'll break you in half like a boy" incident on the balcony of the Congress. If you're a DWT reader, you've been reading about Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm, Gambino Crime Family mobster turned Staten Island GOP congressman, since 2005 when he had a tangential role in a hushed up case of New York mobster/real estate developer Tom "Gus" Kontogiannis giving Randy "Duke" Cunningham $400,000 to try to buy a pardon from then President George W. Bush. Kontogiannis, a Long Island Republican real estate developer, could have his picture in a dictionary next to the definition of "sleaze." And he knew just where to turn for a presidential pardon after pleading guilty in a serious bribery, kickback and contract-rigging scandal that cheated Queens school students out of $5 million dollars worth of computers: Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Kontogiannis' partner in crime-- who also plead guilty, was the District School Superintendent and a failed Republican candidate for Congress (financed, of course, by Kontogiannis), Celestine Miller who wound up with 4 houses (worth approximately $1 million) + $80,000 in campaign contributions for her participation in the felony. Kontogiannis bought a boat, now abandoned and worthless, from ole "Duke," the "Kelly C." for at least $400,000 more than it was worth, to obtain Duke's help in getting Bush to pardon him.

Grimm later tried getting Kontogiannis off the hook for a life that was basically, like his own, an unending crime spree.

Staten Island  Rep. Michael Grimm urged a federal judge to spare a New York-based developer with three bribery-related convictions from serving a day in prison, the Daily News has learned.

Grimm sought leniency for Thomas Kontogiannis in 2008, before Grimm entered Congress as a Republican and after he had left a career as an FBI agent. Kontogiannis then faced sentencing on his third conviction-- for helping funnel $1 million in bribe money to former Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham (R-Calif).

In a three-page letter, Grimm asked California Federal Judge Lawrence Burns to “be as lenient as the law will allow and your conscience accepts, granting him a noncustodial sentence.” Burns sentenced Kontogiannis to eight years [a sentence that has grown over the years].

Grimm had been kicked out of the FBI for extracurricular activities, working with the Mob, taking payoffs from Kontogiannis, as well as for shady dealings with Florida real estate and a Texas-based biofuel company. He later went into business serving fake organic food at an unhygienic "health food" restaurant, Healthalicious, a front for Gambino crime family boss Anthony (Fat Tony) Morelli, where he got into trouble with the law for cheating his employees. This is long before he financed his congressional campaign almost entirely with illegal foreign contributions-- and for urging Boehner to allow Members of Congress to pack heat. NY Times ace reporters Alison Cowan and William Rashbaum have been on Grimm's tail for a long time and reported on his unsavory "business dealings" for years, including the Healthalicious scandal that is reportedly part of the current indictment.

Twelve years later, Mr. Grimm was back in business in New York, where he formed a company called Granny Sayz, L.L.C., which operated Healthalicious, a restaurant on Second Avenue near 83rd Street in Manhattan. The company was affiliated with a company now connected to Mr. Biton, the Grimm fund-raiser who is under investigation.

The New York State Workers’ Compensation Board last month ordered Healthalicious to pay $88,000 for not carrying workers’ compensation insurance. And in 2011, two former deliverymen retained a lawyer, Dan Knauth, asserting that the restaurant had paid them less than minimum wage, did not pay for work beyond 40 hours per week and paid cash to evade scrutiny.

Mr. Knauth said he contacted Mr. Grimm’s office about the complaints. Shortly afterward, Mr. Grimm filed papers with the state to dissolve his company, Granny Sayz.

On Dec. 1, the deliverymen sued the restaurant, Mr. Grimm and others.

The defendants have not responded in court. But the restaurant has engaged in maneuvers that make it more difficult to sue.

The restaurant’s legal name originally contained the word Healthalicious, with a C. Then in 2010, it was changed to Healthalitious NYC (with a T).

Finally, right after the lawsuit was filed, the restaurant changed its legal name again, to Healthalicious Upper East Side-- with a C.

He became more famous for campaign finance fraud that included organized crime in Cyprus and Israel and for shocking public escapades like incidents in nightclubs involving guns and sex in toilets.

The indictments that have been filed could involve any of criminal activities that have defined Michael Grimm's life. Maddow got that right in the opening segment of her show last night (above). She did forget to mention that Grimm, who has already paid shady DC law firm/political entrepreneurs Patton Boggs around a quarter million dollars to keep him out of prison, owes them another $417,478. Rashbaum reported in the Times last night that the U.S. Attorney's case was "expected to include mail fraud and wire fraud, and to focus largely on his conduct in connection with a health food restaurant he owned on the Upper East Side of Manhattan after he left the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2006, two of the people said. He was also expected to be charged with obstruction of justice, for allegedly lying under oath in a federal lawsuit."

The investigation of the second-term congressman, by the F.B.I. and the United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn, began more than two years ago with an examination of Mr. Grimm’s fund-raising for his 2010 race and expanded. Two of his fund-raisers have already been charged. One, Diana Durand of Houston, was charged with illegally funneling more than $10,000 into his campaign. The other, Ofer Biton, pleaded guilty to visa fraud charges.

But on Friday, it did not appear that the indictment would include any campaign finance charges or accusations that the congressman had misused his office, although several of the people noted that the investigation was continuing. They all spoke on the condition of anonymity as the charges had not been formally announced and they were not authorized to discuss the case.

Sad, tiny postscript: the two conservative Democrats running for Grimm's seat, Domenic Recchia (a corrupt Steve Israel "mystery meat" pick) and religio-sociopath Erick Salgado, are both so unsavory that even Grimm could beat either of them... campaigning from a prison cell! Recchia's only hope is that the rumors of Grimm be willing to resign as part of a plea bargain are true. Reportedly, it's now too late for the Republicans to get his name off the November ballot.

When Mikey Suits was arrested Monday an FBI spokesman said “As a former FBI agent, Representative Grimm should understand the motto: fidelity, bravery, and integrity."

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.

Is Benjamin Netanyahu Covering Up For Mafioso Congressman Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm?

Pinto and Grimm-- two crooks

Back in March of 2012 the NY Times looked into Staten Island Mafia congressman Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm's connection with Panicos "Pete" Papanicolaou and Cypriot crime syndicates. A former FBI agent who went over to the Gambino Crime Family (and then the GOP), Grimes is in more trouble with the Feds than any other Member of Congress in our lifetimes and investigations of him just keep leading deeper and deeper into a maze of corruption and criminality. And Cyprus isn't the only other country with a Grimm-connection. This week, the Staten Island Advance reported that Israeli officials are trying to shield Grimm from the FBI.

Top Israelis leaned on multimillionaire celebrity Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto in an attempt to discourage the rabbi from cooperating in an FBI investigation of GOP Rep. Michael Grimm's 2010 fundraising, multiple reports out of Israel said.

…The FBI has been investigating whether Grimm, with the help of former Pinto aide Ofer Biton, collected illegal contributions from Pinto's congregation.

Grimm, a former FBI agent, has denied the allegations and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Biton later pleaded guilty to visa fraud.

But Pinto is also the subject of a high-profile investigation in Israel, where he is accused of bribing police officials, including Maj. Gen. Menashe Arviv, who heads an elite national police unit known as the "Israeli FBI," which investigates crime and corruption.

Arviv was also Israeli police liaison to the U.S.

In the midst of revelations about the bribery case, Israeli media on Thursday reported that a former senior Israeli government minister and police officials tried to discourage Pinto from cooperating in the FBI investigation of Grimm.

It was not made clear why officials would look to protect Grimm, and the congressman is not accused of any wrongdoing in the matter.

…Pinto is one of Israel's top 10 wealthiest rabbis, and also has a congregation on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

He is also under investigation for allegedly embezzling from a charity he controlled, and the FBI has also investigated Biton and Ronn Torossian on charges they embezzled millions from Pinto's congregation.

Pinto's case is very big in Israel and involves him bribing Brigadier General Ephraim Bracha, head of the anti corruption police. He also faces obstruction of justice charges from the FBI, but claims he hasn't bribed anyone and that he's no longer a rabbi. "The FBI is reportedly angry with Israel Police, accusing it of compromising its investigation against Grimm by exposing Pinto as was done. A former cabinet minister was involved too according to reports, and that former minister instructed Pinto to back off his testimony against Grimm. This may lead to an additional story and point to more corruption in Israel." Last night, the New York Daily News reported that the Israeli investigation is completely throwing off the timing of their Grimm prosecution-- and keep in mind, the FBI has asked the House Ethics Committee to back off on Grimm until they could complete their own investigation. The move to protect Grimm may go right to the very top of the right-wing Israeli government.

[A]longside the allegations and suspicions against senior officials in the Israel Police, the affair involves even greater involvement among of senior government officials. This involvement includes, among other things, protecting the interests of Congressman Michael Grimm, a Republican with close ties to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is known for his staunch support of Israeli government interests in Congress.

This is the background for the involvement of an Israeli minister, according to the information handed to the FBI; involvement that was perceived by the US investigative authorities as an attempt to obstruct their investigation.

Grimm is one of the only Republicans defending fellow-crook, Chris Christie. They really are two of a kind.

Aaron Schock: "Hey, Michael Grimm Is A Great Guy"

Other than whining to Jay Leno about how Members are always getting into trouble, Boehner hasn't done anything about disciplining several of his own most blatantly corrupt Members, particularly Staten Island Mafioso Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm and Peoria bad boy Aaron Schock. Both are under investigation by the House Ethics Committee and Grimm is also under intense investigation on multiple charges by the FBI. And now it has come out that the two have been gaming the system and working around campaign finance laws to enrich their respective campaigns, Grimm to hang onto his blue-leaning seat, and Schock to buy his way up the House leadership ladder. Apparently Schock didn't ask another eager beaver closet case, former-Rep David Dreier, what the glass ceiling is like for a closeted gay man inside the House Republican Caucus before donating a cool one point one million dollars to the NRCC. Even though the money was obtained, at least in part, through Schock's criminal activities with Grimm, the desperate, cash-strapped NRCC has no intention of rejecting it.

Maybe Schock taught his criminal buddy Grimm to be nice to the gays. I haven't seen the NRCC send this one around yet, but Jared Polis sent sent out a press release today welcoming Grimm on as the 200th cosponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act:

“I am happy to welcome Rep. Grimm as the 200th cosponsor of the bipartisan Employment Non-Discrimination Act. This is common sense legislation that is supported by a majority of Americans and was passed overwhelmingly by the United States Senate. I look forward to working with Rep. Grimm and all of the co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle to pass this bill and protect all Americans from discrimination in the work place.”

Grimm is the sixth Republican to sign on as a cosponsor, following Charlie Dent (R-PA), Richard Hanna (R-NY), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chris Gibson (R-NY) and John Runyan (R-NJ). None of the Republican closet cases-- like Aaron Schock-- have had the guts to sign on. But the folks back in Peoria who are looking at Schock queerly these days aren't worried about his sexual hypocrisy but about his propensity to involve himself incorruption.

Just because something is unusual or appears shady doesn't mean it's against the law.

That's something critics of U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock-- and for that matter, every other member of Congress-- should keep in mind, and perhaps work to change, if "donor swapping" is that objectionable to the public.

Schock was among congressmen named last week in newspapers from New York to Peoria in stories about the practice. It appears to take advantage of a loophole in campaign finance law.

In 2010, the maximum legal donation an individual can give to a congressional candidate per election was $2,400. (Now, it's $2,600.) Including the general election and the primary, that amounted to $4,800. In donor swapping, a contributor who gave the maximum to Candidate A donates to Candidate B. Then, the Candidate B donor contributes an identical sum to Candidate A.

Apparently, this scenario took place with donors to Schock of Peoria and Michael Grimm of New York, a fellow Republican congressman. Neither representative has been accused of illegalities. But the FBI arrested a Houston woman who is alleged to have paid a donor $4,800.

"What you can't do is say, 'Hey, I'm going to give you five grand, now you make the donation,'" Schock said. "You can't give people money.

"If you want to make a donation, I can say, 'Hey, Michael Grimm is a great guy, Aaron Schock is a great guy.' That's what I do, and that's what many members of Congress do, many people in the political field."

Schock makes no secret of that tactic because it's legal. Both major political parties sponsor programs that foster it. The Democrats call it "Red to Blue." The Republicans call it "Young Guns."

Some people might call it a violation of the spirit of campaign finance law. That case can be made.

But donor swapping isn't going away unless a significant number of people are vexed enough about it to protest to their federal representatives. Given the level of apathy and low-information voting that seems to permeate our society, we're not holding our breath.

Yeah. Mikey Suits is a "great guy"… but he's no Adam Kinzinger, is he Aaron? It doesn't matter to Schock anyway. Even Republicans know gays throw the best parties and this morning Aaron was named chair the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual March dinner, the committee's biggest fundraising event of the year.

UPDATE: Grimm's Mobster Instinct Comes Out

Michael Scotto is a reporter for NY1. After the State of the Union last night, Grimm threatened to throw him off a balcony, hissing menacingly  "Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I'll throw you off this fucking balcony… you're not a man. I could break you in half. Like a boy," I bet Boehner was happy he had turned down Grimm's request that he allow Members of Congress to pack heat on the floor! Bob Hardt, NY1 political director released a statement saying, "It is extremely disturbing when anyone threatens one of our reporters-- let alone a U.S. Congressman. The NY1 family is certainly alarmed and disappointed by the behavior of Representative Grimm and demands a full apology from him. This behavior is unacceptable."

"Great guy," right Aaron?

Will Aaron Schock Be Collateral Damage As The Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm Scandal Unfolds?

Aaron has always been a sucker for psychotic blue eyes on tough guys

Yesterday, just as the news was breaking that Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm, the Mafia-connected (Gambino Crime Family) Staten Island Republican was in federal custody and had been indicted on twenty counts, one of his colleagues in the House of Representatives, a prominent attorney who knows how to read indictments, e-mailed me:

Tax fraud-- just like Al Capone

The New York papers are, predictably, having a field day. But the Times, which has been on the Grimm case for as many years as the FBI, is reporting calmly and without frenzy

Representative Michael G. Grimm, a second-term congressman from Staten Island, was indicted on Monday on federal fraud charges for underreporting the wages and payroll while running an Upper East Side restaurant, concealing the actual payroll in a separate set of computer records.

The charges, unsealed on Monday, detail how Mr. Grimm concealed more than $1 million in gross receipts for the restaurant, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in employee wages, thus getting around federal and New York State law. He also lied under oath in January 2013, while he was a member of Congress, during a deposition, the indictment says.

The indictment charges Mr. Grimm with, among other things, perjury, wire fraud, mail fraud, obstruction of justice, employment of illegal immigrants, obstructing and impeding tax laws, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

In case you were wondering who has been legally underwriting Grimm's seedy political career-- so not the illegal Mob and foreign money but the legalistic bribes, here's the list of his top donors. Do you think the shady right-wing building trades unions are proud of the company they're in?

The plea bargain and trial will work out on their own and we'll report back, of course. Politically, though, there are some interesting tangents. Steve Israel has some corrupt "mystery meat" hack, Domenic Recchia, as the DCCC-backed candidate. The other guy trying to run as a Democrat, Erick Salgado, is even worse-- worse than Recchia, probably worse than than Grimm! I'd vote for the Green Party candidate, Hank Bardel. Yesterday, Bardel, who chose not to comment on any of the corruption charges or on Recchia's reputation, told me "I don't think the election of Domenic Recchia is going to change much for the people in the 11th Congressional District of NY State or the United States, in my opinion, because there is not much difference in their political policies. Democratic and Republican policies have brought the United States to the point where the 1% own 35% to 40% of the wealth in the U.S. This is what is causing a bad economy in our country and it hasn't been this bad since 1929."

There's another aspect of this case that will have people wondering how many other Republicans will be tainted by Grimm's corruption. Forget about his pal Chris Christie for now and let's look all the way across the prairies towards Peoria. That fun-lovin', flamboyantly-dressed (or shirtless) closet case you see is Grimm-crony Aaron Schock.

When the Republican Party recruited Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm to run for a House seat on Staten Island and the Mafia-domninated Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, they knew exactly what they were doing. The former FBI agent who crossed over the line and became a Gambino Crime Family operative was perfect for the pathetic shell of the New York Republican Party. And with the kinds of weak and sleazy conservative Democrats who always run in that part of town… well Grimm would have a better than even chance for a career-- as long as he could stay out of prison. Which, it turns out, doesn't look like it will be a terribly long time. His short political career has been marred by one corruption scandal after another, enough to have had him booted out of Congress by voters in almost any district in America. Ever been to Staten Island? Bay Ridge?

Back in January we looked at more ties between Grimm and the crooked Israeli rabbi, Yoshiyahu Pinto. But the campaign finance violations kept piling up and, by then the New York media was used to reporting it routinely. The ex-FBI agent was looking for more ways to get another campaign finance laws and regulations that make political bribery just a tiny bit tough on dumb politicians. Grimm, whose first meeting with Boehner after he was elected, was to demand that Members be allowed to "pack heat" on the floor of Congress, is as dumb a politician as you're likely to find outside of the Deep South. NY Daily News:

As the campaign for control of Congress gained steam in 2010, D.C. lawyer Bazil Facchina pulled out his checkbook.

On March 31, 2010, Facchina donated the legal maximum, $4,800, to Michael Grimm, a Republican running for Congress on Staten Island. Facchina was no stranger to financing campaigns-- he already had given the maximum to Bert Mizusawa, a Republican running for Congress in Virginia.

Facchina’s $4,800 donation to Grimm would have been unremarkable but for one thing: On the same day, two Grimm donors-- one of them, his girlfriend, Diana Durand-- gave a total of $4,800 to Mizusawa.

The parallel transactions raise questions whether Grimm-- who went on to win a House seat in 2010-- engaged in “donor swapping,” a controversial practice that allows candidates to sidestep fundraising limits.

The swapping works like this: A donor who gives the maximum to Candidate A then donates to Candidate B. In return, a donor or friend of Candidate B gives an identical amount to Candidate A.

A Daily News review of 2010 fundraising records found more than 20 transactions suggesting supporters of Grimm and candidates in California, South Dakota, Illinois and Virginia swapped donations totaling more than $75,000.

One set of transactions involved Grimm himself:

On March 31, 2010, Grimm and Durand each gave $2,400 to Michael Curb, a Republican making a longshot bid for Congress in South Dakota. On the same day, Allison Bolger, an accountant in a Sioux Falls, S.D., firm headed by Curb, donated $4,800 to Grimm.

“Why would someone in South Dakota be interested in Grimm?” said Melanie Sloan, who heads Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics and examined the transactions at the request of The News. “They certainly are suspicious.”

A thread through the apparent swaps is Durand, 47, of Houston, who was arrested last week on charges she reimbursed donors to mask more than $10,000 in illegal contributions to Grimm.

There was no mention of donor swaps in the charges.

However, the pattern of apparent swaps discovered by The News suggests that Durand was more involved with Grimm’s fundraising than previously reported. And Grimm’s role in one of the apparent swaps ties him for the first time to questionable conduct.

The federal complaint accuses Durand of giving an unnamed couple a check for $4,800 on Oct. 20, 2010, after asking the donor to contribute to a congressional campaign identified as “Committee B.”

According to records examined by The News, on Oct. 28, 2010, Tina and Ruben Sanchez, a Houston couple who had given the maximum to Grimm, contributed $4,800 to Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.). On the same day, Darren and Rebecca Frye, a Peoria, Ill., couple who had given the maximum to Schock, gave $4,800 to Grimm.

Donor swaps exist in a gray area. Illegality is hard to prove, but a lage-scale swap of donations led to the 2010 conviction, later overturned, of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) on money-laundering charges.

None of the donors involved in the apparent swaps responded to requests for comment. Lawyers for Grimm and Durand declined comment. Grimm has denied wrongdoing.

A two-year federal investigation of Grimm’s fundraising has been reported, but not the apparent donor swapping.

Darren Frye was Aaron Schock's guest at the 2012 State of the Union speech. His wife Rebecca gave $25,000 to Schock in a 2010 fundraiser in order to meet with Laura Bush.

Schock is already under investigation for campaign violations involving getting shady funds to Adam Kinzinger, the fellow Illinois GOP congressman he is known to have a major crush on. Being tainted by a connection to the Mob and to Mafia money and tactics won't go over in Peoria as well as it does on Staten Island.

Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm Shits On Andrew McCabe For Trump

In case you missed Chris Hayes' jaw-dropping interview with double (or triple) agent Felix Sater Friday night, MSNBC has actually posted it in embeddable form. That's it above. Sater is the kind of instinctual career criminal who will work for the Mob one day, the FBI or CIA the next day and the Russians the day after-- at the time, of course-- working for no one but Felix Sater. They don't come lower. But they do come as low. Remember Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm? Like Sater, he likes to immunize himself from criticism by screaming how he served in the military. But, like Sater, Grimm has flitted from one thuggish outfit after another, betraying each in turn and always looking out for Number One.

And, like Sater, Grimm is currently out of prison and trying to rehabilitate his image-- except he's going about it by running for his old Staten Island/South Brooklyn congressional seat-- the most Mafia-oriented House seat in the country. Staten Island is the last redoubt of the Italian Mafia and south Brooklyn is America's top Russian Mafia territory. Both areas voted for Trump in 2016. The district as a whole gave Trump 53.6% of the vote to Hillary's 43.8%. The current congressman, Dan Donovan is a conventional mainstream conservative, a Republican whose voting record is pretty much identical to what Grimm's was like before he got hauled away to prison. He's a former district attorney, fighting for his political life in a district that is evenly split between the cops and robbers.

Grimm was Steve Bannon's first House recruit, just before Bannon was unceremoniously banished from Trumpville-- his project to destroy the Republican Party establishment shelved. Grimm, who spent a couple months with his head up Bannon's ass, now routinely denounces him. Long before Grimm ever imagined he would run for Congress, he was an undercover agent for the FBI. And an undercover agent for the Mafia-- a double agent. I started following Mikey Suits before he got into politics, when he was just the lowlife bag man who took the Duke Cunningham long-disappeared and unaccounted for $400,000 bribe from Thomas Kontogiannis to George W. Bush. Funny how Grimm, Cunningham and Kontogiannis all went to prison but the "missing" $400K has never been recovered. So much water under the bridge in the last decade and a half!

And last night, while many of us were watching slime bucket Felix Sater spinning his lies on MSNBC, Grimm-- remember, an ex-FBI agent-- released a statement about Andrew McCabe's firing.

"The firing of Andrew McCabe is the first time I've seen true justice on the federal level since the corrupt witch hunt I personally endured. Don't be shocked when Peter Strzok, Loretta Lynch and James Comey are the next to be revealed for the corrupt partisans that they are. As a former FBI agent that was investigated and fully exonerated by Office of Professional Responsibility and the Office of the Inspector General, I can attest to the integrity of that team of watchdogs. The FBI and DOJ's highest echelon of political appointees needs to be cleaned out and this was a necessary step in preserving the faith we all have in the nation's premier law enforcement agency and its brave rank and file."

Interesting perspective from the former Gambino Crime family operative! During the Romney campaign, when Grimm was already in Congress, enough Mikey Suits dirty laundry started leaking out that Romney staffers made the Staten Island congressman a persona non-grata and removed him from his campaign position and took his name off the official Romney website. The specific impetus was when Grimm snuck off from the the GOP frat party at the Sea of Galilee to visit some organized crime connections in Cyprus. The FBI was in hot pursuit and one of Grimm's Cyprus connections, Panayiotis "Peter" Papanicolaou, currently in prison. At the time, both the NY Times and the NY Post ran stories they'd been working on for a very long time... about Grimm's connection to the Mafia here at home, specifically he Gambino connection. Ironically, Grimm's first conversation with then Speaker John Boehner was to demand that Members of Congress be allowed to pack heat on the House floor. Instead Boehner had him banned from his office. The Post got excited about Grimm's Gambino connection.

Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm investigated the Gambino crime family as an FBI agent-- before opening a restaurant with a business partner so close to one of the mob clan’s capos, he considers him an “uncle,” according to sources and court documents.

The first-term Republican’s ex-business partner, Bennett Orfaly, regularly travels to the federal lockup in Fort Dix, NJ, to visit his pal Anthony "Fat Tony" Morelli, Brooklyn federal prosecutors said.

Morelli’s mob assignments included overseeing the family’s investments in pornography, labor racketeering and illegal dumping, law-enforcement sources said.

Late Gambino boss John Gotti put him in charge of the family’s Florida rackets, one source said.

Morelli, who is serving time on several convictions, is “like an uncle” to Orfaly, another source said.

Asked about his Gambino connections, Orfaly declined to comment. Grimm is under investigation for alleged fund-raising irregularities in his 2010 campaign.

As an FBI agent, Grimm was responsible for keeping tabs on John Gotti’s brother Peter. He also worked undercover on a case that resulted in the arrest of Gambino soldier Greg DePalma.

...An Israeli named Ofer Biton, who until recently was jailed on an a charge of immigration fraud.

He was released to house arrest on a $1.5 million bond after Orfaly posted his stake in several restaurants co-owned with Biton, according to court papers.

Biton’s lawyer, John Meringolo, says the feds are threatening his client with more serious charges unless he testifies against Grimm in the fund-raising probe.

...Before his election to Congress in 2010, Grimm and Orfaly had been partners in an Upper East Side eatery, Healthalicious.

McGinley [Grimm's lawyer] says that prior to making his run, Grimm sold his share of that business to Orfaly.

But three sources familiar with the ongoing probe, told The Post the purchaser was Biton. Either way, Biton now owns Healthalicious outright, sources said-- and he is partners with Orfaly in several Manhattan pita restaurants.

As far as Biton goes, prosecutors claim that a decade ago, he was a member of an ecstasy ring in California and was wiretapped talking to a senior Israeli organized-crime associate. Biton was never charged with any drug crime.

In addition to his problems with the feds, Grimm also faces a civil lawsuit by Healthalicious workers, alleging wage violations when he was part-owner.

A lawyer for the workers, Michael Faillace, said they settled with Orfaly, but Grimm asked that an agreement with him be postponed until after the election.

Now keep in mind that before Grimm ran for Congress, he had been kicked out of the FBI, mostly for taking payoffs from Kontogiannis. Kontogiannis' story would be the biggest political blockbuster of our lifetimes. He's been told he'd be found dead in his cell if he ever tries to tell it though-- and it involves Saudis, Greeks, a $400,000 cash bribe to George Bush and... Grimm. In August, 2013, Grimm's fundraiser Ofer Biton plead guilty in a sweet deal that saved Grimm a lot of trouble.

A former fund-raiser for Representative Michael G. Grimm, whose campaign finances are under investigation by federal prosecutors, pleaded guilty on Friday to visa fraud.

The former fund-raiser, Ofer Biton, an Israeli immigrant who helped direct hundreds of thousands of dollars from supporters of a revered rabbi to Mr. Grimm’s campaign before his election to Congress in 2010, was arrested last August and charged with lying on his visa application.

Followers of the rabbi, Yoshiyahu Pinto, have said in interviews that Mr. Grimm or Mr. Biton told them that the campaign would find a way to accept donations that were over the legal limit, were given in cash or were given by foreigners who did not have permanent resident status.

Is it any wonder Grimm hates the FBI today. Too bad they don't talk about what he was up to when he was a double agent. It would make the Bureau look too bad.