McLaughlin Pleads Guilty To $2M Crime Spree, Faces 8 To 10 Years
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Standing before a judge in a mostly empty Manhattan courtroom last Friday, former political and labor powerhouse Brian McLaughlin pled guilty to racketeering and perjury charges covering a $2 million crime spree.

After reciting many of the misdeeds encompassing about 20 criminal acts, including stealing from campaign, political club, union funds, and even a Flushing Little League treasury, the onetime New York City mayoral hopeful was told by federal Judge Richard J. Sullivan to return to court September 12 for sentencing.

McLaughlin pled guilty to a 44-count indictment which could have gotten him up to 50 years in prison, the judge told him, but will likely receive about an eight- to 10-year term under the plea deal. He will remain free under $250,000 bail.

His only comment on his actions during the long recitation was his admission: "I take full responsibility…I took the funds illegally…from employees in the electrical industry, campaign funds, union funds."

McLaughlin's crime spree took place from 1995 to 2006, the period when his political career took him into the state Assembly, where he served seven terms, and his labor leader's climb to the presidency of the city's Central :abor Council, made up of hundreds of unions and 1.1 million members. During that period McLaughlin also was president of the Electrical Workers Union, as well as Democratic district leader and head of the William Jefferson Clinton Democratic Club in Flushing.

McLaughlin's world came to a jolting halt in October 2006, when the FBI staged a series of surprise raids on his district office in Flushing and the Central Labor Council offices in Manhattan, carting off hundreds of filing cabinets and launching the investigation leading to his indictment, and disclosure of his secret criminal activities and lavish lifestyle, including affairs with several mistresses.

McLaughlin's crimes, exposed by a two-year FBI investigation, included shaking down electrical contractors in Queens whose employees were members of the union headed by McLaughlin. Their jobs were to maintain the city's street lighting system and traffic lights.

McLaughlin told the judge he raked in $450,000 by becoming a silent partner with one of the street light contractors.

In another instance, he related, he scammed $185,000 from the Central Labor Council by putting someone into a no-show job and then taking kickbacks from the person's salary.

Closer to home in Flushing, where he was regarded as a devoted father and an active community member, he recounted for the judge bilking $95,000 from the Electchester Athletic Association of Flushing, which ran the local Little League Association.

In another kickback scheme he described, he used the funds to pay for an apartment in Flushing, for his son's car and the mortgage on his $760,000 home in Nissequogue, Long Island. The house is now up for sale.

At one point, the judge asked him to estimate how much he took from the campaign contributions he received, and McLaughlin responded, "A considerable amount." He also told of taking money from the Clinton Democratic Club treasury for personal purposes.

While awaiting disposition of his case, McLaughlin held several jobs, including doing electrical work for the union he once headed. He also worked as a cab driver, according to his attorney, Michael Armstrong.

His wife, Eva, and their family now live with her mother on Long Island.