G.N. MIller
State Senator Malcolm Smith was arrested at his home in Queens today.
State Sen. Malcolm Smith and city Councilman Dan Halloran were arrested this morning on charges they were plotting to rig this year's mayoral election through fraud and bribes.
The pols allegedly formed an alliance built on cash payments and fraud to get Smith — one of the state's top Democrats — placed on the GOP mayoral ballot, sources said.
FBI agents arrested them both at their Queens homes shortly after 6 a.m.
"I have no idea," Halloran, in handcuffs, told a Post reporter when asked if he knew why he was being arrested.
Riyad Hasan
Dem state Sen. Malcolm Smith is to be charged by the feds today in an alleged plot to get Smith on the GOP mayoral ballot.
Spencer Burnett
Councilman Dan Halloran, a Republican is also part of looming fed rap
"I'm sure the truth will come out once I have an opportunity to find out what's going on."
Smith would not say anything as he was hauled off. FBI officials confirmed the arrests.
"Elected officials are called public servants because they are supposed to serve the people. Public service is not supposed to be a shortcut to self-enrichment," FBI Assistant Director George Venizelos said in a written statement today.
"People in New York, in Spring Valley -- in any city or town in this country -- rightly expect their elected or appointed representatives to hold themselves to a higher standard. At the very least, public officials should obey the law.
"As alleged, these defendants did not obey the law; they broke the law and the public trust. There is a price to pay for that kind of betrayal."
Prosecutors are planning to lay out the whole sordid scheme during a news conference later today.
"Today's charges demonstrate, once again, that a show-me-the-money culture seems to pervade every level of New York government. The complaint describes an unappetizing smorgasbord of graft and greed involving six officials who together built a corridor of corruption stretching from Queens and the Bronx to Rockland County and all the way up to Albany itself, "US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
"As alleged, Senator Malcolm Smith tried to bribe his way to a shot at Gracie Mansion – Smith drew up the game plan and Councilman Halloran essentially quarterbacked that drive by finding party chairmen who were wide open to receiving bribes. After the string of public corruption scandals that we have brought to light, many may rightly resign themselves to the sad truth that perhaps the most powerful special interest in politics is self-interest.
"We will continue pursuing and punishing every corrupt official we find, but the public corruption crisis in New York is more than a prosecutor's problem."
As agents took Smith and Halloran into custody, the feds raided the homes of Bronx Republican Chairman Joseph Savino and Queens GOP Vice Chairman Vincent Tabone, who were arrested on charges of wire fraud and bribery. They allegedly agreed to take bribes to get Smith on the ballot.
Also hauled in this morning were Noramie Jasmin, the mayor of Spring Valley in Rockland County, and her deputy mayor, Joseph Desmaret.
All six are going to appear in White Plains federal court today.
At Smith's home, two FBI agents led the grim-faced senator – in a business suit -- from a back door to an unmarked car.
Three FBI agents spent more than 30 minutes inside the home before arresting the powerful pol. A woman inside the home refused to open the door for a reporter.
After the agents took off, a Smith neighbor said "I'm glad he's arrested."
Ten miles away at Halloran's home in northern Queens, agents drove up in four unmarked cars and spread out to cover front and back entrances before raiding the councilman's place. Halloran's dog could be heard barking throughout the episode.
After less than a half hour, Halloran emerged in custody, wearing blue jeans, a blue sweatshirt and a stunned look on his face.
Smith was trying to buy off Republican leaders because he needed the party's support in at least three boroughs in order to run as a GOP candidate without even changing his own party affiliation, the sources said.
"It's incredible," a source said of the alleged plot.
To get on the GOP ballot, Smith allegedly enlisted Halloran, a Republican, to set up meetings with party leaders and negotiate thousands of dollars in bribes. The money was masked as payments for legal and accounting services, sources said.
Halloran allegedly collected thousands in bribes for himself along the way, the sources said.
He is separately charged with taking bribes from a consultant in return for up to $80,000 in City Council discretionary funding.
The feds were already investigating Halloran when they got wind of the alleged ballot-manipulating plan in November, the sources said. Smith met with his alleged co-conspirators as recently as February.
FBI spokesman Martin Feely, reached late last night, declined to comment.
Noramie Jasmin, the mayor of Spring Valley in Rockland County, and her deputy mayor, Joseph Desmaret, are also expected to be taken into custody today as part of the probe — although it was unclear how it relates to Smith.
The Rockland pair is accused of taking bribes in return for approving the sale of village land to a private concern. In addition to cash bribes, Jasmin is accused by the feds of demanding a secret ownership stake in the company that bought the property from her community.
That scheme dates to August 2011, the feds charge.
The four elected officials — and others being rounded up today — are expected to appear in White Plains federal court.
Smith's arrest is a remarkable turn in what was once viewed as an ascendant bid to succeed Mayor Bloomberg.
Smith, 56, spent much of the summer trying to drum up support for a campaign, which was first reported by The Post. To bolster his effort, he met with officials around the state, including New York GOP chief Ed Cox.
At the time, he appeared to have more of a chance than the liberal group of candidates seeking the Democratic nomination.
Both Smith and Halloran are controversial figures.
Smith is facing heat for his ties to a shady Queens nonprofit, the New Direction Local Development Corp., which The Post found misused charitable funds intended for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Smith, representing much of southeastern Queens, was also involved in an embarrassing Aqueduct casino bid-rigging scandal, which remains under investigation by the FBI.
Never missing a chance to make headlines, Smith last year stunned the state's political establishment by joining forces with Republicans to form a first-of-its-kind coalition to run the fractured state Senate.
By joining the Independent Democratic Caucus — along with four other Democratic renegades — Smith allowed the state Republican Party to keep control of the Legislature's upper house.
Smith also once served as the majority leader of the state Senate, after Democrats captured control of the chamber in 2008.
Chaos reigned during Smith's tenure and, by June 2009, two members of his conference had joined with GOP senators to oust Smith and trigger another crisis at the Capitol.
His brief period of leadership was considered a flop, and his Democratic Party subsequently lost control of the chamber to the Republicans.
Halloran, too, is no stranger to controversy.
During the Christmas blizzard of 2010, the first-term councilman from Bayside claimed he had evidence that Sanitation Department plow drivers were intentionally slowing down the cleanup as part of a wildcat job action.
But he refused to assist in the feds' probe, citing attorney-client privilege.
The city's Department of Investigation later released a report that found "no actual evidence about a possible slowdown."
Halloran, a 42-year-old lawyer and former city cop, ran for Congress last year.
During that campaign, The Post reported the state Board of Elections had referred his campaign to the Albany DA for investigation and possible prosecution because he had not filed state campaign-finance reports for more than two years.
Halloran later filed the appropriate forms, but lost to then-Assemblywoman Grace Meng.
josh.margolin@nypost.com
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