All hail jail for Espada the Horrible

A jury finally wiped the smug smile off the face of one of the most loathsome criminals to occupy political office in the state of New York, which is saying something. Pedro Espada, Jr., was indicted by outgoing state attorney general (now governor) Andrew Cuomo for systematically looting the publicly-funded Soundview primary health clinics serving poor people in the Bronx—for which he deserves much worse than the dozen years of prison he is likely to get on the four counts of embezzlement he was found guilty of Monday.

I took the trouble of reading the entire complaint when it was filed and recommend the experience to anyone wishing to experience the joy of seeing a real scumbag get his just desserts. Espada not only paid himself an obscene salary to preside over the clinics, he also padded the place with his relatives, used the clinic credit card like a lottery jackpot and palmed the theft off as ‘reimbursement’ for his unused 14 annual weeks of vacation leave.

However, the state Democratic Party should be put into the next cell for permitting Espada to reach the presidency of the state senate, no less, to stave off his deal with the Republican bench. This was how they rewarded a guy who thought nothing of going to a high-end tailoring shop on the East Side and then stiffing its workers for the bill. (He looked natty outside the courtroom—no doubt in the stolen threads.)

The jury remains in deliberations on similar charges brought against Espada’s son [bringing up the rear in the photo]. Let’s hope they get on with it, and if there’s a deadlock, that
prosecutors retry the whole thing. Justice--yum!