He’ll have what Joe’s having.
Crooked ex-pol Efrain Gonzalez Jr. is seeking the same sort of break that former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno got after his fraud conviction.
In court papers filed today, Gonzalez’s lawyer cited the “significantly reduced” two-year prison term imposed earlier this month on Bruno, who had faced more than a decade in the slammer under sentencing guidelines.
The Manhattan federal court filing calls Bruno a “similarly situated defendant” to Gonzalez, noting that the once-powerful Republican was convicted of mail fraud in Albany under “the same statute to which Mr. Gonzalez pled guilty” for scamming $200,000 in pork-barrel funds.
Defense lawyer Lance Croffoot-Suede asked that Gonzalez, a former state senator from The Bronx, be sentenced to just three years and be spared any fine.
A spokeswoman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office, which says Gonzalez deserves up to 14 years behind bars, declined to comment.