More news of crooks from the hometown...

Yesterday I posted on a waste of sperm from Kenna (that's how the locals pronounce Kenner), s suburb of New Orleans. Well, here is another one...only a little more white collar.

Feds looking at 2 more alleged shakedowns involving former Mayor Ray Nagin

Having already convicted one businessman of bribing former Mayor Ray Nagin, federal authorities are trying to prove two other corrupt deals involving the former mayor before the five-year statute of limitations on some of his alleged crimes expires. One of those deals centers on a payment Nagin allegedly received from Rodney Williams, a former co-owner of the politically active New Orleans engineering firm Three Fold Consultants, according to sources with knowledge of the case.

Ray Nagin, seen here with his sons, Jeremy and Jarin. The Times-Picayune archive
The other focuses on whether Nagin applied pressure on corporate leaders at Home Depot to steer work to Stone Age LLC, the now-defunct granite-countertop company Nagin ran with his wife and two sons.

The pressure came at a time when Home Depot was building a new store in Central City and was haggling with the city over various items, including the price it would have to pay for nearby city streets and whether it would have to sign a "community benefits agreement" requiring it to hire a certain number of neighborhood residents at certain pay levels.

Three Fold Consultants, founded in 2000, has been a regular recipient of city contracts, particularly in the years after Hurricane Katrina. According to a source with knowledge of the case, authorities are examining a $50,000 payment by Williams to Nagin or Stone Age that was made in late 2007 or early 2008.

The theory of the case is that the payment greased the skids for additional city engineering contracts for Three Fold. The company has had numerous no-bid city jobs: Among nine jobs featured on its website, five involve work for the city or related entities such as the Sewerage & Water Board. The jobs include help overseeing $250 million in street repair and supervising the construction of improvements along Canal Street...

When Nagin started as mayor he started some cleaning up at the city vehicle inspection stations and it looked like New Orleans may have finally elected someone decent. Oh well, Katrina showed what he was made of. This is no Rudy Giulian. Hopefully the US Attorney nails his ass like they nailed Edwards.