Indicted Assemblyman Eric Stevenson was so leery about being caught in a bribery scheme that he once boasted to a former political ally-turned-government-witness that he’d send anyone who dared to record him breaking the law “to the cemetery,” a federal prosecutor said Tuesday.
“He warned [Sigfredo] Gonzalez not to create a paper trail with Mr. Stevenson’s name on it,” Assistant US Attorney Brian Jacobs told jurors during opening statements of the Bronx Democrat’s public corruption trial in Manhattan federal court. “And he warned Mr. Gonzalez that if someone tried to bring him down by recording him, that person would go to the cemetery.
“Again, Stevenson’s own words, `to the cemetery!’”
Despite his concerns, Stevenson was caught accepting alleged bribes on audio and video recordings made by the feds and Gonzalez, a longtime political hack who agreed to cooperate with the government only after being busted paying bribes to former Assemblyman Nelson Castro [D-Bronx]. Castro is cooperating with authorities to avoid prosecution for perjury.
Prosecutors played some of the recordings, including a few involving a hand-off of an envelope the feds allege contained $10,000 in cash which Stevenson pocketed in September 2012 in front of Jake’s Steakhouse in the Bronx.
When asked afterwards about the alleged “cemetery threat,” Stevenson told The Post he was only joking to Gonzalez by using “street slang” they were used to.
“We’d say, ‘I’m going to pop you,’ but we don’t mean that,” Stevenson said. “I am an honest guy. I am not in this business to hurt people.”
Jacobs told jurors that Stevenson “made a decision to serve his own interests, rather than his constituents,” when he allegedly took more than $22,000 in bribes in exchange for helping four businessmen open adult day-care centers in the Bronx and also propose legislation to protect them from competition.
“When he lined his pockets with this money, he betrayed the people of New York, he betrayed the people he was elected to serve,” said Jacobs.
However, Stevenson’s lawyer, Muhammad Ibn Bashir claimed the feds’ case is weak because it heavily relies on the testimony of Gonzalez, whom he described as a convicted felon with an ax to grind against Stevenson.
“You’ll find in this particular case … that at the time he targets Eric Stevenson … he is in fact a political foe,” Bashir said.
Gonzalez later testified that he and Stevenson have known each other a decade and once ran together on the same Democratic political ticket in 2008. Gonzalez then lost a bid for the Bronx Assembly seat Stevenson now holds while Stevenson captured a smaller district-leader post. But when Stevenson ran for Assembly two years later, Gonzalez admitted being miffed after being passed over to run for local district leader on Stevenson’s successful ticket.
Last week, prosecutors revealed that Stevenson put $2,900 in cash down on a 2003 Jaguar — only days after he allegedly took a $10,000 cash bribe on September 7, 2012.
Jurors were shown photos of the vehicle, and they also heard audio of various sit-downs Stevenson had with Gonzalez and four Bronx businessmen who sought help opening the adult day-care centers: David Binman Rostislav Belyansky, Igor Belyansky and Igor Tsimerman.
Gonzalez is repeatedly heard telling Stevenson that the Russian businessman – all of whom have copped pleas in the case – would “bless” him with cash. Some of the alleged bribes helped pay for Stevenson’s 2012 re-election victory party, which was attended by more than 100 people, Jacobs said.
During the 2012 meeting at Jake’s, Gonzalez and the businessmen suggested paying Stevenson more than just cash. In exchange for his support, they even promised to help him look like anything but a jive turkey with his constituents — by offering him plenty of turkeys to give out at Thanksgiving to local seniors.
Stevenson in May pleaded not guilty to five counts of conspiracy and bribery in the alleged scheme.
He faces up to 55 years behind bars.