What price are Cafaros paying?

Call it the curse of the Cafaros — on others.

From James A. Traficant Jr. to James Tsagaris to Maureen Cronin to three county officeholders and a former officeholder, the relationship with Cafaro siblings, Anthony Sr., John J. and Flora, has been toxic.

Consider:

Traficant, former eight-term congressman, served seven-plus years in federal prison after being found guilty of using his public position for personal gain — including taking a $13,000 cash bribe and other items of value from John J.

Cronin, former Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge, is now serving a 27-month prison sentence for accepting and failing to report an $18,000 no-interest cash “loan” from Flora.

Tsagaris, former Trumbull County commissioner, is now serving a nine-month prison sentence for violating the terms of his 12-month house arrest probation; he was convicted of receiving a $36,551 no-interest cash “loan” from Flora.

Mahoning County Commissioner John A. McNally IV, county Auditor Michael Sciortino, county Treasurer Lisa Antonini and former Treasurer John Reardon, are the supposed targets of a special grand jury investigating an alleged unlawful relationship with Anthony; the grand jury session has been extended to July 31.

And then there’s Robert J. Schuerger of Columbus, who received a $10,000 “loan” from John J. to be funneled into his daughter, Capri’s, campaign for Congress in 2004. Schuerger was her campaign manager.

John J. pleaded guilty to causing his daughter’s campaign to falsely report to the Federal Elections Commission that he had only given a $2,000 contribution, which is an amount permitted by law.

Schuerger, who has cooperated with the government, has not been charged.

It is clear that the victims of the curse have suffered or are suffering, but what of the Cafaro siblings who were involved in the transactions?

Nothing.

Take John J.’s guilty plea four months ago in U.S. District Court to violating federal elections law during his daughter’s 2004 congressional campaign.

He went before federal Judge Kathleen O’Malley on Tuesday and walked out of the court a free man. The three years’ probation, the $250,000 fine and the 150 hours of community service are a breeze for a man who could have gone to prison for six months.

Indeed, in 2002, during the Traficant trial, J.J. pleaded guilty to providing “an unlawful gratuity” to the expelled congressman. This, after he had pleaded guilty to perjury in the trial of former county Sheriff Phil Chance, who also went to prison.

Yet, he received a sentence of probation and a $150,000 fine. Why? Because he gave up Traficant.

No documents

As for Flora, nothing has happened to her, even though the recipients of the “loans” she provided were convicted of felonies. Indeed, it was revealed in federal court during the sentencing of Cronin and Tsagaris that there were no loan documents signed by Flora and the two recipients of the money that spelled out the interest rates, collateral and repayment schedule.

Why was the assistant treasurer of the Cafaro Co. so generous to the two officeholders? The answer isn’t clear, but here’s what came out in court:

Tsagaris was a county commissioner when he took the money — and the Cafaro Co. was doing business with Trumbull County at the time.

Cronin was a common pleas judge when she took the money from Flora Cafaro — and the Cafaro Co. had more than 50 civil lawsuits pending in her court.

Finally, there’s Anthony Sr., the recently retired president of the Cafaro Co. who led the fight to prevent county commissioners David Ludt and Anthony Traficanti from moving the Job and Family Services agency out of the company’s Garland Plaza on the East Side.

Anthony sought to prevent Ludt and Traficanti from purchasing Oakhill Renaissance Place, formerly Southside Medical Center, and, records show, was in regular contact with the county officials being investigated.

And while the four face possible indictment on a charge of conspiracy to commit fraud or something similar, there is no indication that Anthony Sr. is a target.

What price are the Cafaros paying? Not much of one.