Pedro Espada Jr.

Espada was elected to represent the 32nd Senate District in the Southeast Bronx, which included the neighborhoods of Soundview, Hunts Point, Mott Haven and Parkchester.

Pedro Espada Jr. (born October 20, 1953) is an American convicted felon and former politician.

A Democrat, Espada served in the New York Senate.

Espada was born in Coamo, Puerto Rico in 1953 and moved with his family to New York City at the age of five.

His family settled in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, where he attended the New York City Public Schools.

In the late 1970s, Espada was a community organizer and educator in Harlem and the Lower East Side in Manhattan, and in the South Bronx.

He established and served as president of the Comprehensive Community Development Corporation and was the executive director of the Soundview Health Center.

He attended Fordham University, and graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Espada had become head of the tenant's association at Stevenson Commons and led the effort in 1978 to open what became the Soundview Health Center after the city's economic problems led to a decision to not establish a promised clinic in the complex.

The empty building that was to have been the clinic was leased by the group and $50,000 in federal grants was obtained, with the first patient taken in October 1981.

In 1988, Espada ran in the Democratic primary for the nomination in New York's 18th congressional district, which at the time covered the largely Hispanic and African American heart of the South Bronx, against incumbent Robert García.

Espada, mounting a challenge against what would normally be a safe seat for renomination, made an issue of García's involvement in the Wedtech scandal, which resulted in the loss of 1,500 jobs in the economically challenged district.

In the primary, Espada was endorsed by The New York Times, which called him "articulate, focused and knowledgeable about health and poverty" based on his experience with the Soundview Health Center and encouraged voters to "send a powerful message by supporting candidates who have been neither burned nor singed".

Espada was also endorsed by El Diario and The Amsterdam News, but received few endorsements from political figures.

García won renomination with 60 percent of the vote to Espada's 27 percent.

Espada subsequently took graduate level coursework at the Hunter College School of Social Work, received graduate training certificates from open enrollment programs at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and from the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, and received certification in 1990 from the Real Estate Institute at NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

He had moved to a house overlooking the Long Island Sound, "located on a cul-de-sac in a lushly green and exclusive neighborhood, only 16 miles from the South Bronx," in Mamaroneck, in Westchester County, the year before he ran for the State Senate, in 1991, according to Westchester County real estate records, reported the Manhattan-based weekly.

When a reporter visited the house listed as the address for a car leased by the Medicaid-funded Comprehensive Community Development Corporation for the use of his wife, Connie, "Mr. Espada could be found lounging by the pool, dressed in a white tank-top and baby-blue shorts with a matching baseball cap."

By 1992, Soundview was offering medical and preventive care to 45,000 patients annually, and was also running a computer literacy program, serving lunch to hundreds of seniors daily and distributing surplus food.

The New York Times noted that the health center featured Espada's name and image throughout the facility, describing it as having "elements of a cult of personality"; Espada explained, "the community has to know you" so that "in the end, they will trust you".

He served in office from 1993 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2002, with David Rosado holding office in the intervening years.

In July 1996, the New York Observer reported that Espada did not live in the district when he ran for office and since he had been elected to the state legislature, in violation of New York State residency laws.

Also in 1996, Espada was indicted for using $70,000 from a city-financed HMO to fund his unsuccessful reelection campaign.

When Espada's son, Pedro Gautier Espada, was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1996, the two became the first father and son in the New York State Legislature to represent different districts in the Bronx.

In the 1996 primary, the Bronx Democratic Party ran a candidate against Espada and successfully challenged his petitions in court.

Espada ran on the Liberal Party line, and lost to David Rosado, 78% to 21%.

In their 2000 rematch, Espada wrested the Democratic nomination from Rosado, who was forced to defend his seat in the Senate on the Liberal and Working Families Party lines.

Espada, having the Democratic line, won the election handily.

In 2000, Espada was acquitted on charges of using $200,000 from a Soundview Health Management Organization to pay off campaign debts from 1996.

He was found not guilty by arguing that the HMO was allowed to do as it wished with federal money.

Four employees were found guilty of using taxpayer funds to help the campaigns of Espada and his son.

In 2001, Espada ran for Bronx Borough President, but was defeated by Adolfo Carrion Jr. in the Democratic primary election.

Carrion received 48,913 votes, Espada received 44,124 votes, and June Margolin Eislan received 26,815 votes.

The State of New York pulled funding for some of Espada's nonprofits in 2002 due to "administrative deficiencies and apparent misuse of funds."

Espada was at the center of a June 2009 power struggle in the State Senate.

He was one of two Democratic senators who voted to appoint Republican Dean Skelos as Majority Leader.

After his return to the Democratic caucus on July 9, 2009, Espada was chosen as Senate Majority Leader; he is the first Hispanic to have held that post.

Dogged by scandals, he was defeated by Gustavo Rivera in a September 2010 primary election.

On December 14, 2010, Espada was indicted on six federal counts of embezzlement and theft; he was stripped of his leadership position in the State Senate the same day and left office in January 2011.

Espada was convicted on federal corruption charges in May 2012 and was sentenced to five years in prison.