Five Political Scandals To (Sorta) Shake Brooklyn
- Gothamist
Vito Fossella Jr.’s Secret Family – 2008
Fossella, a former Congressman whose constituencies encompassed both Staten Island and Bay Ridge, had long been looked at suspiciously for what many believed to be lavish, undocumented use of campaign funds for personal expenditures.
However, things only came to a head for the local five-term Republican after a 2008 DUI arrest in Virginia (he clocked in at 0.17 blood alcohol level), the investigation of which quickly unraveled to reveal a mistress and 3-year-old daughter in addition to his wife and three other children. It was pretty embarrassing.
In the midst of flogging by both his fellow politicians and the press, Fossella at one point started crying on the floor of the House of Representatives, and soon after announced that following the end of his current term, he would not seek re-election.