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.

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."

Mafia's Rep In Congress-- Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm-- Is Still Not In Prison

Ken used to be an opera critic for the NY Times but, that aside, neither of us get many calls from ace Times reporters working on explosive investigative pieces about criminal congressmen. A couple years ago, though, several Times reporters called me because, it turns out, DWT was the first to report anything at all about a rogue FBI agent named "Mikey Suits" who went over to the Dark Side-- first to the Mob and then to the GOP for the Mob. It was 2005 and there was a frantic scramble to coverup a $400,000 payoff from Tom Kontogiannis to George W. Bush via bribe-happy San Diego Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham. Kontogiannis needed a presidential pardon and gave Randy "Duke livin' large free of charge" Cunningham the cash for Bush. No one has ever traced that biggish bundle of dough. But the Gambino Crime Family opertaive, "Mikey Suits" was involved with various "business" dealings with Kontogiannis (now in prison).

During the Romney campaign, enough Grimm 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 in the Sea of Galilee to visit some organized crime connections in Cyprus. The FBI was in hot pursuit and one of Rep. Grimm's Cyprus connections, Panayiotis “Peter” Papanicolaou, is in jail now.

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 Boehner was to demand that Members of Congress be allowed to pack heat on the House floor. Wisely, Boehner has avoided him ever since. 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.

That's what Staten Island elected to Congress in the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse of 2010. The NY Times piece, where, unlike The Post, they reject sensationalistic reporting, sounds at least as tawdry as The Post's! Investigative powerhouse Alison Cowan asserts that the role of Healthalicious in the Grimm story was to "burnish his image as an entrepreneur" in his political biography.

It could not be determined whether Mr. Grimm ever had dealings with Mr. ["Fat Tony"] Morelli before or after he resigned from the F.B.I. in 2006.

New York City records indicate that Mr. Grimm’s ties to Mr. Orfaly begin as early as 2006, when Mr. Grimm began laying the legal framework for the restaurant that the two men would jointly operate at Second Avenue and 83rd Street.

Their work together continued for at least three years. In June 2009, both men signed a city health department application to renew a license for the restaurant, documents show.

A few months later, the accountant for the restaurant, Wayne Muratore, was listed in campaign finance documents as the first treasurer of Mr. Grimm’s 2010 campaign for the House. Mr. Muratore did not respond to phone calls or e-mails.

Mr. Grimm has said that he sold his interest in Healthalicious before taking office in January 2011, although he has given varying accounts of how and when the deal transpired.

Pictured below is Grimm's partner, Orfaly, leaving the U.S. Courthouse with Grimm fundraiser, Ofer Biton. Not sure who's daughter is being used as a shield.

Now keep in mind that before Grimm ran for Congress in Staten Island, 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... the freshman crook who represents Staten Island in Congress today. This past Friday, Biton plead guilty in a sweet deal that saves 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.

Congressional campaigns are not allowed to accept cash donations of more than $100 and foreigners without resident status are barred by law from donating to political campaigns. At the time of Mr. Biton’s arrest, lawyers not involved in the case said that the charges appeared to have been meant to persuade him to cooperate with the authorities in the investigation of Mr. Grimm, a Staten Island Republican, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

There are rumors, completely unconfirmed, that Biton has promised to cooperate with DOJ prosecutors in the probe of Grimm. I'll believe it when I see it. The New York Daily News is reporting that the plea agreement does not mention cooperation as a condition, but the government and the judge agreed to spring him from house arrest, which he's been serving for the past 10 months. "After Biton was arrested a year ago, the feds said he was refusing to cooperate with their probe into whether Grimm received illegal campaign contributions."

Grimm has refused to take questions related to his Mafia connections and right now he's too busy picking fights with Rand Paul anyway. Grimm is tight with another Mafia-related Republican politician, New Jersey's corrupt governor, Chris Christie.

No, that's not Fat Tony; it's another Grimm Mafia pal

Why Did The Beltway Media Completely Miss The Entire Michael Grimm Career In Crime Story?

It boggled my mind that the Beltway media adamantly refused to give Michael Grimm's criminal career any serious coverage for years, even while one of the most respected investigative journalists in the country, the NYTimes' William Rashbaum, was already blowing the whistle on him. It wasn't until he threatened to throw a reporter off a balcony that reporters started imagining Grimm might actually be a criminal type. God forbid they actually look into his past. The guy was a member of the Gambino Crime Family who has been involved with not just criminal, but grotesquely thuggish activities for many years. Did they think "Fat Tony" Morelli was the name of his neighborhood baker? Is that too hard for Beltway journalists to grapple with? Well, the answer is "yes."

Grimm's criminal activities-- from New York to Florida and Texas and out to Cyprus and Israel-- are beyond the ken of DC wanna-be reporter kids whose idea of covering a crime is Aaron Schock's office paint and belt color. It didn't seem to matter inside the Beltway that long before he was a sleazy congressman from Staten Island, Grimm was a Mafia thug who got tangentially involved 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. More recently, Grimm tried getting Kontogiannis off the hook for a life that was basically, like his own, an unending crime spree.

And none of this seemed to the Beltway media like it was worth investigating? Something this outside the DC box is just too unfathomable to this sad crew of unserious, self-congratulating novices. Thursday, reporting for the New York Daily News, Dan Friedman, an actual reporter, broke the news that Grimm had received $100,000 in under-the-table payments from a secret ownership stake he maintained in Healthalicious after his election to Congress, an election that was largely paid for with a combination of foreign and Organized Crime money. When Grimm, cornered and offered a sweet deal that lets him off the hook by 95% of his criminal behavior, pled guilty to filing false tax returns, he swore that all his illegal conduct occurred before he was elected to Congress in 2010.

But in the December 2013 affidavit unsealed by a Brooklyn federal judge, an FBI agent claimed Grimm had maintained a secret stake in Healthalicious during his 2010 campaign and after his election.

Grimm received payments into 2011, after he joined Congress, the FBI asserted.

Stuart Kaplan, a lawyer for Grimm, called the claims "completely false." Kaplan said prosecutors had been confused by the eatery's complicated accounting.

In the affidavit, part of a request for a warrant to access Grimm's emails, FBI Special Agent Geoffrey Ford wrote that Grimm pocketed undeclared payments that started at $10,000 a month through the secret deal.

The payments came from a business partner recruited to act as the public face of the eatery. Sources said that person was Bennett Orfaly, an Israeli with close ties to reputed Gambino crime family Capo Anthony "Fat Tony" Morelli.

Ford wrote that Grimm hid his involvement in the business, removing his name from legal documents, because of the "illegal business practices" he engaged in there.

A cooperating witness told investigators Grimm received approximately $100,000 in cash from 2010-2011 through this arrangement, the affidavit states.

Grimm did not disclose those payments in financial disclosure forms covering that period that he filed as a congressman.

Meanwhile, the DCCC can't even recruit a plausible candidate to run for the open seat. The former congressman Grimm first beat, Michael McMahon, has told friends that a Democrat can't win the seat while Obama is president. Then Assemblyman Michael Cusick dropped out. The DCCC is likely to wind up with Brooklyn Councilman and ex-state Senator Vincent Gentile (Bay Ridge). No one thinks he can beat Republican Dan Donovan.

“Vinnie Gentile couldn’t raise enough money to buy all of the four-leaf clovers and lucky rabbits feet to help him win this race,” one Staten Island Democratic operative told the Observer.  “I don’t know what messaging Vinnie Gentile is going to use to run against Dan Donovan, and Vinnie Gentile doesn’t have an accomplished legislative record for somebody who has been in office for more than 20 years.”

The operative said it was telling that Mr. Cusick presumably saw he did not have a path to victory, particularly after seeing a DCCC poll on the race. But the run could be a way for Mr. Gentile, who is term-limited, to raise his profile for a judgeship in the future.

Some suggested running Mr. Gentile would be a sign that the Staten Island Democratic establishment have given up on winning the seat this year.

“If the Democrats run a Brooklyn candidate in the congressional special, it signals that they aren’t serious about the race. At that point, the Democratic nomination is a fire sale: no offer will be refused. Fog a mirror, and we’ll run you,” said Gerry O’Brien, a Brooklyn-based political consultant who recently worked on the campaign of Republican Joseph Tirone, Mr. Cusick’s opponent for his Assembly seat.

Who Would Have a More Bizarre Foreign Policy, Mitt Romney Or GOP Staten Island Organzied Crime Figure Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm?

Rachel explained Romney's foreign policy adventure pretty thoroughly Monday night (above). Tuesday we talked about why we found it reckless and amateurish and Reuters is still wondering what Romney's foreign policy is.

In a speech filled with rhetoric rather than substance, and with repeated and false accusations about President Barack Obama’s national security record, Romney once again talked about how he would “strengthen our partnerships”-- and once again failed to explain how he would manage relations with our friends in Europe, with whom we work closely on every major global challenge.

One central thesis in Romney’s speech, and in his criticism of the administration overall, has been that under Obama the U.S. has abandoned its allies. In addition to providing no evidence to support this claim, Romney barely mentioned the closest U.S. allies: our North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners. In fact, this neglect has been a consistent theme throughout Romney’s campaign.

...Also largely absent from Romney’s speech was Russia, the country he described as America’s number one geopolitical foe. Continuing disagreements with Russia, however, cannot hide the fact that Obama’s clear-eyed, pragmatic reset in relations with that nation has led to real progress in reducing Cold War-era nuclear arsenals, tangible benefits in opening supply routes to Afghanistan, and new cooperation on issues ranging from Iran to counterterrorism.

Romney’s three attempts to outline a foreign policy strategy, however, have not offered any policy prescriptions, guidelines or principles about how he would handle relations with Russia.

Our European partners are now being treated with trust and respect-- and they have responded in kind, in renewed and strengthened partnership addressing crises across the globe. So what kind of partner would our European allies get in Romney? Ask our friends the British: They had the most recent experience during the Summer Olympics.

And over in the U.K., our British friends are reading about how Romney's fantasy of American power is revealing a fragile grasp of global realities. "Rather than lay out a vision for American power, or even an alternative to the national security stewardship of Barack Obama, Romney has been content to simply say why he thinks the president has done a lousy job, without offering voters any sense of what he would do differently as commander-in-chief."

So what about Mafia Congressman Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm? Romney has ordered him to get nowhere near the presidential campaign and removed him from all positions connected to it after his criminal activities started leaking out. He has his own foreign policy, which had him sneaking off from the GOP frat party in the Sea of Galilee to visit some organized crime connections in Cyprus. The FBI was in hot pursuit and one of Rep. Grimm's Cyprus connections, Panayiotis “Peter” Papanicolaou, is in jail now.

This week both the NY Times and the NY Post ran stories they've been working on for a very long time... about Grimm's connection to the Mafia here at home, specifically he Gambino Crime Family. (DWT started following Grimm in 2006 when he was a dirty FBI agent--soon fired-- with Mob connections and a role in the Duke Cunningham case. He went from that to being a Republican congressman. Hey, why not? Ironically, his first conversation with Boehner was to demand that Members of Congress be allowed to pack heat on the House floor. Wisely, Boehner has avoided him ever since. 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.

not Fat Tony, Fat Tom (R-NY)

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.

ewwwwww... Republicans

That's what Staten Island elected to Congress in the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse of 2010. The NY Times piece, where, unlike The Post, they reject sensationalistic reporting, sounds at least as tawdry as The Post's! Investigative powerhouse Alison Cowan asserts that the role of Healthalicious in the Grimm story was to "burnish his image as an entrepreneur" in his political biography.

It could not be determined whether Mr. Grimm ever had dealings with Mr. ["Fat Tony"] Morelli before or after he resigned from the F.B.I. in 2006.

New York City records indicate that Mr. Grimm’s ties to Mr. Orfaly begin as early as 2006, when Mr. Grimm began laying the legal framework for the restaurant that the two men would jointly operate at Second Avenue and 83rd Street.

Their work together continued for at least three years. In June 2009, both men signed a city health department application to renew a license for the restaurant, documents show.

A few months later, the accountant for the restaurant, Wayne Muratore, was listed in campaign finance documents as the first treasurer of Mr. Grimm’s 2010 campaign for the House. Mr. Muratore did not respond to phone calls or e-mails.

Mr. Grimm has said that he sold his interest in Healthalicious before taking office in January 2011, although he has given varying accounts of how and when the deal transpired.

Pictured below is Grimm's partner, Orfaly, leaving the U.S. Courthouse with Grimm fundraiser, Ofer Biton. Not sure who's daughter is being used as a shield.

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.

Carpenters Union, Under Fire For Mob Connections, Endorsed And Funded Gambino Crime Family Congressman, Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm

Grimm with the Carpenters Union bosses

Obama won yesterday for many reasons. One of them was the overwhelming support he had from unions-- although let me mention that my sister's union, the American Federation of Teachers endorsed Obama and worked hard for him on a national level, while her Staten Island local never tired of urging the members to vote for Romney. We've been talking about unions that back Republicans and we've concentrated on the AFL-CIO's building trades unions, the worst of the lot. One of the most corrupt (and right-wing) of the unions is the Carpenters and Joiners Union. They spent close to $8 million on this election cycle and only 4 candidates running for Congress got over $10,000:

• Janice Hahn, a mainstream Democrat they backed to keep a liberal from winning the primary ($20,000)
• Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm, Staten Island's Mafia clown who we'll discuss below
• Kathleen Hochul, one of the most conservative New Dems in the House
• David McKinley, a corrupt right-wing multimillionaire the DCCC wanted to see win

The Carpenters and Joiners also backed John Boehner, always the champion of the working man, to the tune of 10,000 smackeroos. But let's get back to all this carpenter/joiner love for Grimm, a fervently anti-working family fanatic. What's the story? Well, it turns out the Carpenters and Joiners Union is involved with the same fraternal organization as Grimm, the Mafia.

The former FBI agent who infiltrated the New York Mafia and helped convict more than 200 gangsters told Quebec's Charbonneau commission on Monday that the Mob would manipulate the construction industry and rake in large payoffs by infiltrating unions and controlling the supply of raw materials.

Joseph Pistone, who spent five years undercover as a Mafia henchman and whose story was made famous in the movie Donnie Brasco, testified at the inquiry about his experience in "deep cover," mostly inside New York's Bonanno crime family in the late 1970s and early '80s.

"Organized crime cannot operate without corrupting someone," Pistone said in response to questions about how New York's five Mafia families insinuated themselves into business and government.

And in the construction sector, that meant gaining control of labour unions-- generally by having a Mafia man get elected president or business manager of a local, Pistone said.

"They'll start their own union, or there will be an existing union where they'll have their man, a Mafia guy within the union, become the representative of the union, become the president of the union," he testified.

Since most big construction projects use unionized workers, a Mafia family could then use its control of the labour force to extort the construction company's bosses.

"They would tell their members to slow down the job so the company's losing money every day," Pistone said. "If a legitimate company did get a contract and didn't play ball with the Mafia, that's what they would do until they finally gave in."

Construction companies could be hit up for millions in payments this way. It might happen subtly: Sometimes the Mob would dictate that 20 workers be hired for a particular construction project, when only 10 were really needed, Pistone said. Or Mafia-run construction companies would submit claims for more expensive unionized labour while actually paying cheaper non-union rates.

Organized crime also had a stake in raw-materials companies like cement or steel suppliers, and could squeeze a piece of the profit that way, even when public contracts went to a business not controlled by dons.

The ultimate consequence of these Mafia rake-offs is to drive up costs, the FBI veteran said.

"The government, taxpayers are paying more when the Mafia is involved in any particular business, if the government or taxpayers have to use that business."

Early in September the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Locals 926 and 20, officially endorsed Grimm, in the midst of several scandals and an FBI investigation. Here's their press release:

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- Two Carpenters Union locals endorsed Rep. Michael Grimm Thursday, saying the freshman lawmaker understands working-class voters.

"We strongly support the congressman for re-election," said Salvatore Tagliaferro, president of Local 926 outside the Bulls Head construction site of the new 121 Precinct. "His voting record is one of standing up for the working class. We hope everyone comes out and supports him."

Grimm called the backing of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Union Brooklyn Local 926 and Staten Island Local 20 "special because they represent hard-working families."

"You hear the sound bites about how Republicans don't care about the working-class, the middle-class," said Grimm (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn). "That shows how little they know about me. Here is more proof, added to the other union support I have gotten and will get. They know I have stood up for them and fought for their families. I do my homework on the issues. I won't be swayed. I have broken with the Republican Party 70 times to stand up for our labor force."

One time was on project labor agreement legislation, to guarantee skilled union labor at the prevailing wage on job sites, said Grimm and Tagliaferro.

"Some people think the congressman is a shoe-in," added Tagliaferro. "But you never take your opponent lightly. You have to fight the fight. He fights the fight for us every day. He rides the wave; we ride it with him."

Tagliaferro also noted that Grimm grew up in a union household. The congressman's father was a roofer.

The Carpenters Union is one of the largest building trades unions in North America.

Despite Grimm's Mob connections he defeated hapless Democrat Mark Murphy yesterday, 53.4 -45.7%. Grimm raised $2,120,030 to Murphy's $824,424 (both figures as of October 17). Neither the DCCC nor the NRCC spent any money in the race, although right-wing groups spent slightly over $150,000 bolstering Grimm. And it appears there was some ticket-splitting on Staten Island yesterday. Obama beat Romney 67,524 (50%) to 66,420 (49%) but Grimm triumphed over Murphy 72,102 (55%) to 58,193 (44%).

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.

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.