04-16-2014, 07:26 PM
Greasy Rizzo finally gets his due...
![[Image: article-1314597-0B4FE22C000005DC-872_468x523.jpg]](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/23/article-1314597-0B4FE22C000005DC-872_468x523.jpg)
Former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo ^ was sentenced this morning to 12 years in state prison for his role in the Bell, California corruption scandal.
Rizzo, who was also ordered to pay $8.8 million in restitution, pleaded no contest in October to 69 counts, including misappropriation of public funds and perjury.
It was revealed in 2010 that Rizzo was giving himself an annual salary and benefits package of $1.5 million in the city where a quarter of the population lives below the federal poverty line. His $800,000 in wages alone was double that of the president of the United States.
For the first time since the scandal erupted four years ago, Rizzo made a public apology. “I breached the public’s confidence by starting to look at the position more towards myself than the community. I am very, very sorry for that.”
The 60-year-old is the accused ring leader of the Bell scandal, which inflated salaries of city administrators, ultimately costing taxpayers $15 million.
“He really let this economy, this commercial tax base, crumble over his 20 years in office and businesses moved out,” said city manager Doug Willmore, who added it could take five to eight years to recover.
Rizzo remains free on a $2.2 million bond and was ordered to surrender on May 30 to begin serving a 33-month federal prison term for tax evasion. He must also pay nearly $256,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in that case.
Rizzo was ordered by a judge Monday to serve his sentence for tax evasion separately from his time in the corruption case.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/04/1...tion-case/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-c...on-scheme/
Former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo ^ was sentenced this morning to 12 years in state prison for his role in the Bell, California corruption scandal.
Rizzo, who was also ordered to pay $8.8 million in restitution, pleaded no contest in October to 69 counts, including misappropriation of public funds and perjury.
It was revealed in 2010 that Rizzo was giving himself an annual salary and benefits package of $1.5 million in the city where a quarter of the population lives below the federal poverty line. His $800,000 in wages alone was double that of the president of the United States.
For the first time since the scandal erupted four years ago, Rizzo made a public apology. “I breached the public’s confidence by starting to look at the position more towards myself than the community. I am very, very sorry for that.”
The 60-year-old is the accused ring leader of the Bell scandal, which inflated salaries of city administrators, ultimately costing taxpayers $15 million.
“He really let this economy, this commercial tax base, crumble over his 20 years in office and businesses moved out,” said city manager Doug Willmore, who added it could take five to eight years to recover.
Rizzo remains free on a $2.2 million bond and was ordered to surrender on May 30 to begin serving a 33-month federal prison term for tax evasion. He must also pay nearly $256,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in that case.
Rizzo was ordered by a judge Monday to serve his sentence for tax evasion separately from his time in the corruption case.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/04/1...tion-case/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-c...on-scheme/