Sen. Velella, Sentenced to a Year in Jail,
Released After Three Months by L.C.R.C.
If You Never Heard of It, Neither Did We.

By Henry J. Stern
September 29, 2004

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...   (Jaws II)
 
Just when you thought you had seen everything in local government, we learned this morning that former State Senator Guy Velella (Republican of Bronx-Westchester), who was sentenced June 21 to one year in jail as part of a plea bargain with New York County District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, has been released after just three months by a virtually unknown city agency, the Local Conditional Release Commission. That was a long sentence.

Also released, in his case from a nine-month sentence, was co-conspirator Hector Del Toro, former vice president of the New York State Housing Finance Agency. He is from East Harlem, where his late brother, Angelo Del Toro, was an influential Democratic assemblymember.

There is probably much more to this story than has been reported, and it will take time to explore. For today, we simply want to send you all five dailies' accounts of the unusual early release. Detailed stories were published in Newsday, the Post and the News. The Sun and the Times carried briefer Associated Press dispatches.

• Newsday: "Corruption Case: Velella gets a pass; Obscure board of mayoral appointees grants convicted  former state senator parole after 3 months," by Dan Janison, ppA1, A3

• News: "Secretive city board frees Guy," by Nicole Bode and Russ Buettner, p6

• Post: "'Secret' panel lets Velella out of jail," by Tom Topousis, Kenneth Lovett and Lorena Mongelli, p8

• Times: "Velella is Released from Jail," by Associated Press, pB9

• Sun: "Velella Released from Jail," by Associated Press, p10

The Post published the following additional information in a box, p8. It does not appear on their website because it is in graphic form.

About Guy Velella
Who: 18-year GOP state senator from Bronx
His crime: Taking $137,000 from contractors and bridge painters to steer state contracts their way.
His sentence: One year in jail, beginning June 22
Time served: three months; was let go by city's little-known Local Conditional Release Commission

About the Commission
What: Four-member panel appointed by mayor
Chairman: Raul Russi, former city probation commissioner
Other members: Amy Ianora, Irene Prager, Jeanne Hancock
Early releases granted by the commission:
2000: 2    2001: 1    2002: 3    2003: 4    2004: 5 so far

In today's article, we have not made a judgment on the events described. There is clearly more to the situation than that has been reported. A release so early, by a commission which acts so rarely, is a most unusual event, particularly since the inmate is a prominent public figure. The case warrants more public attention and closer scrutiny than it received today.

It is important that the facts and the law be examined, preferably by experts, in order for reasonable people to be able to conclude whether or not justice was done in the Velella release.
 
If anyone has any information about the Local Conditional Release Commission, established by state law in 1989, whose sunset has been postponed biennially by several legislatures, please let us know.  If anyone has knowledge or a reflection on this particular case which they want to share, we would like to be aware of that. You can use e-mail or the telephone to reach us.