Prosecutors accused former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin, who led the city during Hurricane Katrina, of running a graft scheme that netted him cash, vacation trips and granite supplies in exchange for contracts to help rebuild the city after the storm.
Nagin, 57, who was swept into office on promises of good government in 2002 and re-elected in 2006, was indicted a year ago by a federal grand jury on 21 counts of corruption, including bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and filing false tax returns.
“The evidence presented at this trial will show that Ray Nagin was a corrupt mayor – plain and simple,” prosecutor Matthew Coman said in a 45-minute opening statement on Thursday.
Nagin is an incompetent scumbag whose response to the crisis his city suffered was limited to bitching about President Bush when he wasn’t scamming people.
But, hey, free granite.
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