As NewsOne previously reported, former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was convicted on corruption charges Wednesday. A federal jury decided that he was, indeed, guilty of 20 of 21 counts against him for accepted bribes, free trips and other gratuities from contractors in exchange for helping them secure millions of dollars in city work while he was in office, including right after Hurricane Katrina. Nagin isn’t alone, though, in his new distinction as a black politician who ran afoul of the law. Here are 10 others.
1.) A jury convicted Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon in 2009 on one count of embezzlement for stealing gift cards meant for poor residents. Read more.
2.) Former Rep. William Jefferson was convicted in 2009 on 11 criminal counts filed against him, charges that he accepted bribes and engaged in money laundering while serving in Congress. Read more.
3.) Jesse L. Jackson Jr., the former Democratic representative from Illinois, pleaded guilty last year to one felony fraud count in connection with his use of $750,000 in campaign money to pay for living expenses and buy items like stuffed animals, elk heads and fur capes. Read more.
4.) Former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell was sentenced in 2006 to 30 months in prison and fined more than $6,000 for tax evasion. Read more.
5.) In 2009, Mayor Larry Langford of Birmingham, Alabama, was convicted of accepting bribes in exchange for giving $7.1 million in sewer-bond business to a friend of his who was a bond underwriter. Read more.
6.) In 1990, a federal judge ordered Mayor Marion Barry to spend six months in prison and pay a $5,000 fine for cocaine possession. Read more.
7.) Former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill was sentenced in 2010 to 18 years in prison for leading a massive shakedown scheme. His wife, Sheila Farrington Hill, was also sentenced to nine years for her role laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and extortion payments from developers for her husband. Read more.
8.) The mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, Tony F. Mack, was convicted of bribery, fraud and extortion just Friday. A federal jury found that the mayor and his brother, Ralphiel, participated in a scheme to take money in exchange for helping get approvals to develop a downtown parking garage. The deal turned out to actually be a government sting. Read more.
9.) Kwame M. Kilpatrick, who resigned as mayor of Detroit and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in 2008 and sentenced to up to five years in prison. Read more.
10.) Former Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers, the wife of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., pleaded guilty in 2009 to conspiring to commit bribery. Read more.
