Frank James Brasco (October 15, 1932 – October 19, 1998) was an American politician who served four terms as a Democratic member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from New York from 1967 to 1975.

Biography

Brasco was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. He graduated High School and received a B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1955; and an LLB from

Brooklyn Law School Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and a number of adjunct faculty. Brookly ...

in 1957. He was also a member of the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 2020 ...

Political career

After serving as assistant district attorney for Kings County, New York, Brasco was elected to Congress in 1966 and served four terms from January 3, 1967, until January 3, 1975.

Legal issues

Brasco was indicted in 1973, along with his uncle, Joseph Brasco, on federal bribery and conspiracy charges, over payoffs he received from a

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

-owned Bronx trucking company which was seeking mail hauling contracts from the US Post Office. The first trial led to a hung jury. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, with all but three months suspended. He was also fined and disbarred. He did not run for re-election in 1974. As a result of the preceding investigation into corruption allegations by the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

he crossed party lines to vote against allowing the

House Banking Committee The United States House Committee on Financial Services, also referred to as the House Banking Committee and previously known as the Committee on Banking and Currency, is the committee of the United States House of Representatives that oversees t ...

under

Wright Patman John William Wright Patman (August 6, 1893 – March 7, 1976) was an American politician. First elected in 1928, Patman served 24 consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives for Texas's 1st congressional district from 1929 to ...

to subpoena members of the Nixon administration for suspected Federal Election Campaign Act violations. Brasco's vote was considered surprising because of his liberal record and strong opposition to Richard Nixon. Governor Nelson Rockefeller arranged a meeting between Brasco and John N. Mitchell in which he promised to oppose an investigation in exchange for leniency. As a result of the decision the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...

would not be exposed until after the 1972 presidential election.

Death

Brasco died on October 19, 1998 (aged 66 years and 4 days).

References

External links