Birmingham AL Mayor sentenced to 805 years in jail!!

Birmingham AL Mayor sentenced to 805 years in jail!!

www.nytimes.com

Larry Langford, the controversial and flamboyant mayor of Birmingham, Ala., was convicted of multiple counts of bribery in a federal corruption trial in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday.

A jury took less than two hours to determine that as president of the Jefferson County Commission, Mr. Langford accepted more than $230,000 in cash, expensive clothing and jewelry in exchange for steering $7.1 million in county bond business to a prominent investment banker.

(visit the link for the full news article)

LMAO!! This, to me, is awesome. That ass hat has been running this city into the ground, we barely have money for police, but he decided to put a plan to build a DOMED STADIUM into motion this year. Yeah that's what we need. Not to mention the failure of "Vision Land," his tax evasion, no money for court houses, the list goes on... and on.

What bothers me is that he and his wife are trying to play the race card in a place where racial tensions already tend to run high from time to time (on the news tonight his wife was saying "a black man can't get a fair trial.." I say he got just as good as Scrushy...lol).

Anyhow, here's hoping this is a step in the right direction for this southern city. Cheers!!

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by ganja


Typical Alabama politics... he can share a cell with Seigleman (sp).

Maybe they can finish the work on I-65 now...

[edit on 28-10-2009 by redoubt]

Originally posted by ganja
What bothers me is that he and his wife are trying to play the race card in a place where racial tensions already tend to run high from time to time

For good reason, I would say.

I was in Alabama not too long ago (in Birmingham, actually), and the race thing really is still a sore spot there. It was pretty surreal to me. I know Virginia is still considered "the South," but damn. Not that kind of South. I went into a pancake house and it was like I stepped into a stereotyping 1940's cartoon..


When I first saw the title of this thread, before I even knew Larry was a black man, I thought, "Really? 805 years? Not just a few months at a minimum security resort?"

Honestly, an 805-year sentence is more like something Cheney should get for being complicit in the 9/11 attacks. Not for a mayor accepting a bribe.

I really hope the guy at least gets a chance to get out and not serve the rest of his life for something so ridiculous in the political world. Bribery is bread and butter. I would wager every politician who's been in Washington for more than 4 or 6 years has done the same.



Btw, 805 years isn't "jail." 805 years is prison time.

[edit on 28-10-2009 by bsbray11]

awesome. its good to see people get what they deserve.

on a side note, he will be old when he gets out of prison.

I knew this day was coming. During the two years I spent living in Birmingham I've heard so much about the things that he did. One of my college professors at the time even said that it was only a matter of time before Langford gets put in jail.

reply to post by bsbray11


Oh? What about the illegal occupational tax he enacted? That's a bit worse than bribery in my book. Look it up if ya need to, I'm not just saying it was illegal, it was taken to court and found to be illegal. Has anyone gotten back the taxes that were illegally taken from the sweat of their brows and pain in their backs? No. I say he got what he deserved, screw him like he screwed every person that works here.

reply to post by bsbray11


He's going to spend the rest of his life in jail. He's done more things over the years. When I was living in Birmingham from the years 2007-09 of May, Langford was always on the local news because of something. However, some of the reasons he was on the news was because of my formar college when we had programs going on. He deserves to go to jail, he knew what he was doing.

As for the racism in Birmingham, before I moved down there for college one of my friends that lives there told me that Jefferson County (Birmingham for those who don't know it by it's proper name) is the most racially divided county in Alabama. I been to different places in Jefferson County and could say that I disagree, I don't see it being that way. However, this friend has been living there since birth and knows how things really are there.

[edit on 28-10-2009 by Rocketgirl]

reply to post by ganja


I didn't say he didn't break the law. I said it's completely ridiculous he would be given an 805-year sentence over something so mundane in the political world.

Just look at Washington DC for an example. Look at the magnitude of the political corruption there, the kinds of cases they've had, and compare the sentences handed down. Hell, look at all the things Bush did and got away with scot-free. Illegal and unconstitutional wiretapping across the whole country, anybody?

It isn't adding up. Until you add the name "Alabama" in there. Then suddenly the issue clicks. And I'm not so sure it's about bribery.

Originally posted by Rocketgirl
He's going to spend the rest of his life in jail.

Prison, you mean.

When I was living in Birmingham from the years 2007-09 of May, Langford was always on the local news because of something.

Somehow that doesn't surprise me, either.

As for the racism in Birmingham, before I moved down there for college one of my friends that lives there told me that Jefferson County (Birmingham for those who don't it by it's proper name) is the most racially divided county in Alabama. I been to different places in Jefferson County and could say that I disagree, I don't see it being that way. However, this friend has been living there since birth and knows how things really are there

I've lived in Virginia, Florida, and North Carolina, and spent an amount of time in Texas, and I've also visited a good number of other states, and I've been in Birmingham Alabama. Like I said, it reminded me of one of those old racist cartoons that they won't air on TV anymore. So you can draw your own conclusions from that.

Originally posted by bsbray11
reply to post by ganja

 

I didn't say he didn't break the law. I said it's completely ridiculous he would be given an 805-year sentence over something so mundane in the political world.

Just look at Washington DC for an example. Look at the magnitude of the political corruption there, the kinds of cases they've had, and compare the sentences handed down. Hell, look at all the things Bush did and got away with scot-free. Illegal and unconstitutional wiretapping across the whole country, anybody?

It isn't adding up. Until you add the name "Alabama" in there. Then suddenly the issue clicks. And I'm not so sure it's about bribery.

I have to say; sounds like fodder for a future appeal to 'reason' and 'forgiveness' about 10-15 years down the road.

People who abuse public trust should be punished far worse than jail. They should have their citizenship revoked and get sent off to find a country that will have them.... it would teach us all a great deal about all the politicians in the country. You can always learn a great deal from noting where a defeated enemy runs to hide.

Well, this is for the folks of Alabama to decide, assuming the justice system lets them.

Lets drop the out dated stereotyping being done mainly by those that dont live in the city and realize this state has been burned by crooked politicians once to often.

This was exclusively about bribery. A greed driven, corrupt and heartless politician got exactly what he deserved. Read the demographics of the city as it is now and leave 1963 in the past where it rightly belongs.

reply to post by ganja



The American justice system is a joke. 800 years? Is that supposed to make a statement or show the every so rapid growth of retardation?

Originally posted by bsbray11
I've lived in Virginia, Florida, and North Carolina, and spent an amount of time in Texas, and I've also visited a good number of other states, and I've been in Birmingham Alabama. Like I said, it reminded me of one of those old racist cartoons that they won't air on TV anymore. So you can draw your own conclusions from that.

I've lived in Alabama all my life, so I'm not saying that you are wrong, I was just saying that while I was living in Birmingham I never ran into rascim there. If you think Birmingham has issues when you come back to Alabama try going to other counties and cites. There is one town in southern Alabama that is suppose to be far worse than Birmingham. I forgot the name of the town and there is no way I could find out the name because the person who lives there doesn't go to the college anymore that I transfer from.

805 years tells me one thing. He is holding out on something that the Feds want to know very, very badly and it's truly upsetting them.

This is a form of pressure the Feds are putting on him to get him to roll over one someone or something he isn't giving up just yet.

They will let him think about it for a while at a Maximum Security Federal Penitentiary. Hard, hard time. No way to qualify for anything less with an 805 year sentence.

Most politicians go to Club Fed a Federal Prison Camp and hang out on a Navy or Airforce Golf Course for 3-5 on this kind of thing. Heck here in Miami that's the retirement plan for all our politicians. I think we might actually get upset if they don't end up in Federal Prison. Different standards of job performance here that's for sure.

It will take him a year or two to file his appeals and in the meantimes the Feds will keep working him to give up who he's protecting.

If he does he will be out in 3 years, if he doesn't look for his sentence to be reduced to 12-15 on appeal.

Enjoy your vengence while it lasts, just remember G-d said Vengence was his! Oh yeah and that the Palestinians water belongs to the Israelis too!

Originally posted by Clark Savage Jr.
Lets drop the out dated stereotyping being done mainly by those that dont live in the city and realize this state has been burned by crooked politicians once to often.

I agree because unless you have actually lived in that county, you don't know everything about what's going on with Langford,you only know what's been reported on news.

reply to post by bsbray11


Im interested by these remarks and more than a little sceptical---with absolutely no offense implied...exactly what part of Birmingham proper did these 1940-style adventures occur in? As a black man in the city almost daily, I certainly don't see the same things to which you refer. Are you certain you aren't confused about to exactly where you were? Birmingham is very black-centric almost exclusively.

Maybe they should do the same thing in Detroit... or Chicago..or Washington DC... I'm sure corruption is WAY WORSE than there... But of course, poking the real scum will get you in trouble...

Originally posted by Rocketgirl

Originally posted by Clark Savage Jr.
Lets drop the out dated stereotyping being done mainly by those that dont live in the city and realize this state has been burned by crooked politicians once to often.

I agree because unless you have actually lived in that county, you don't know everything about what's going on with Langford,you only know what's been reported on news.

Exactly. The man has been bilking the entire county for years and years now---and the extent of his manipulations go much deeper than most are aware of.

[edit on 28-10-2009 by Clark Savage Jr.]

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
805 years tells me one thing. He is holding out on something that the Feds want to know very, very badly and it's truly upsetting them.

I really don't think there is anything of interest to the feds going on politically in Alabama..

Most politicians go to Club Fed a Federal Prison Camp and hang out on a Navy or Airforce Golf Course for 3-5 on this kind of thing.

Exactly.

Even in Illinois governor Blagojevich's case, where he allegedly tried to sell Obama's senate seat, the people that have been convicted so far in the dealings surrounding that case received 3-year sentences.

805 years? ....

And I'm not saying this is everyone from Alabama by any means, as I had a good friend living in Tuscaloosa for a while who was very intelligent and kind-hearted, but some of the stuff I'm reading here makes me feel like someone from a different era in this country's history posted it.