Cafaro sentence prompts the question: What gives?

The idea that J.J. Cafaro, scion of one of the most successful shopping center developers in the country, will be spending Christmas at home with his family is offensive for a couple of reasons. First, it suggests that justice is not blind; second, it lends credence to the contention that for federal prosecutors, the end does justify the means.
For pleading guilty to conspiring to provide an "unlawful gratuity" to former Congressman James A. Traficant Jr., Cafaro, executive vice president of the Cafaro Co., received 15 months' probation. He also was fined $150,000 and is required to testify in the trial of Richard E. Detore.
Detore, an engineer from Virginia, once held an executive position in Cafaro's now defunct US Aerospace Group, based in Manassas, Va. He is charged with taking part in a scheme to bribe Traficant.
Federal prosecutors recommended leniency because they said that Cafaro's cooperation in the government's criminal case against Traficant was unprecedented. The former Democratic representative from Poland was convicted of 10 charges, including racketeering, bribery and tax evasion and is now serving an eight-year sentence in a federal correctional institution in Pennsylvania.
Personal gain
The government's case against Traficant could be summed up thus: He used his public position for personal gain and demanded things of value from individuals who had sought his help.
As we've argued many times throughout the five-year federal crackdown on government corruption and organized crime in Mahoning County, if there weren't individuals in the community willing to bribe public officials, the crime of bribery would not exist.
It is all the more egregious when the person seeking to influence an officeholder has great wealth, has standing in the community, and has a long history of involvement in politics. J.J. Cafaro is no Johnny-come-lately to the political scene in the Mahoning Valley.
Indeed, Cafaro was one of the leading supporters of former Mahoning County Sheriff Phil Chance and admitted that he had perjured himself in Chance's racketeering trial when he denied giving him any cash for his campaign.
Perjury is a serious crime, yet federal prosecutors turned a blind eye on it because of the information the developer was providing in the Traficant case. The congressman was the big fish and the government was willing to let smaller fry swim free in order to land him.
The problem is that every time federal prosecutors urge a judge to go easy on some crook, the criminal justice system's credibility suffers that much more.
Because of the information he has been providing to FBI, long-time Valley Mafia boss Lenine Strollo, who pleaded guilty to racketeering, has still not been sentenced. He faces 12 years in prison, but since January 1997 he has been in "custody" while he spills his guts.
Kid gloves
Strollo is just one of a long list of individuals who participated in the destruction of our community, yet have been treated with kid gloves. Once caught, they offer to finger their partners in crime in exchange for leniency. Thus, Jack Campbell, who admitted that he was part of former Mahoning County Prosecutor James A. Philomena's justice-for-sale enterprise, didn't serve one day behind bars. Likewise, Stuart Banks, whose practice of law also was based on bribing prosecutors and judges, spent a mere eight months in a half-way house. James Sabatine, a contractor who testified against Traficant, was sentenced to five months in a community based facility.
But Cafaro's punishment, if it can be called that, takes the cake. He is back in our midst, hardly a shrinking violet. And his lawyer has the gall to scold the press for what he says is a mischaracterization of his client's crime. Giving $13,000 in cash to a congressman who is helping your company, US Aerospace, secure a federal contract is an "unlawful gratuity," you see, not a bribe -- even though it is part of the federal bribery statute.
Federal prosecutors have done the Mahoning Valley a disservice by letting a prominent businessman walk away relatively unscathed. It sends a message that justice is not blind and that the end does justify the means. That isn't our understanding of crime and punishment.