March 5, 2010
Ex-Mayor Gets 15 Years for Bribery; City Pays Price
By ROBBIE BROWN, NY TIMES

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Residents here were not terribly surprised on Friday when Larry Langford, the former mayor, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $360,000 by a federal judge, ending a long-running bribery case that shook local government and state Democratic politics.

But Mr. Langford provided one last jolt to the city just before his sentencing. In an unrelated lawsuit this week, it was revealed that he had somehow won hundreds of jackpots at a bingo casino owned by a supporter, adding $1.5 million to his income, according to his tax returns.

The back-to-back stories spread quickly across Birmingham, generating ridicule, disbelief and disgust, on blogs and at office water coolers.

“Every time news like this breaks, it’s just another little stab in the city’s back,” said Ben Yother, 33, a marketer eating lunch at a cafe downtown. “Nobody’s ever surprised. This has just become the status quo of Birmingham politics.”

Ford Waters, who works for a commercial furniture business, also found himself shaking his head over the latest scandals.

“He was the mayor of the largest city in Alabama, and he threw it all away,” he said. “You have a guy with his energy, but he’s going to prison for stupid mistakes.”

Mr. Langford was convicted in October of multiple counts of bribery after a federal jury found that he had accepted more than $230,000 in cash, expensive clothing and jewelry as chairman of the Jefferson County Commission in exchange for steering $7.1 million in county bond business to a prominent investment banker.

The investment banker who pleaded guilty to bribing him, Bill Blount, and a lobbyist, Al LaPierre, were sentenced to 52 months and 48 months in prison, respectively, in earlier trials.

Mr. Langford, who will begin his prison term in 30 days, made few comments after the sentence was imposed Friday by Judge L. Scott Coogler, but said, “I am sorry all of this has occurred.”

For all the cynicism engendered by the bribery case, the accusations regarding the bingo jackpots still left many residents slack-jawed this week. According to Mr. Langford’s tax returns, made public on Wednesday in a civil lawsuit filed by plaintiffs who accused the casinos of being rigged, he won 555 jackpots from 2006 to 2008 at a casino owned by a longtime friend and political donor, Milton E. McGregor.

Public interest in the case has been heightened because Alabama is debating the legality of electronic bingo machines. The game is not currently considered “gambling,” which is illegal under the state Constitution, even though bingo machines flash images of 7s and cherries and are played for large sums of money in casinos.

Mr. Langford’s lawyers say the lawsuits overlook critical facts and were raised by opponents of electronic bingo to generate negative publicity. Yes, they say, Mr. Langford frequented casinos. And yes, he won $1.5 million at VictoryLand, the casino owned by Mr. McGregor.

“But Larry Langford lost more money than he won,” said Mark White, a lawyer for VictoryLand. The tax returns, subpoenaed as part of the lawsuit, show that Mr. Langford claimed enough bingo losses to offset his winnings.

The casino owners insist they could not rig the machines, which are owned and managed by outside companies that control their formulas, as Mr. White said, “more carefully than Fort Knox.”

For many years, Mr. Langford has been a flamboyant, controversial figure. He was elected mayor in 2007, promising change under the slogan “Let’s Do Something.” He proposed bidding for the 2012 Olympic Games and building a $500 million domed stadium and a $65 million law enforcement complex shaped like a pentagon.

When the city’s murder rate rose, he hosted a prayer service in Old Testament garb, wearing a burlap sack and ashes on his forehead, declaring that “Satan is at work in this town.” Meanwhile, Jefferson County, which surrounds Birmingham, teetered on the verge of the largest municipal bankruptcy in history, after an exotic bond deal went sour.

Some residents expressed sympathy on Friday for the former mayor’s predicament. At a barbershop in a predominantly black neighborhood where the owner had hung a sign in the window reading, “We Support Our Mayor,” Charles Hicks said he was disappointed by Mr. Langford’s recent behavior but believed the former mayor was well-intentioned and was corrupted by wealthy businessmen.

“I’m just disappointed in the system,” Mr. Hicks said. “Larry had great ideas, but he got caught up in the trap.”

Mr. Langford’s penchant for casinos was well known, even before the lawsuits. Friends and former colleagues say he would arrive early and leave late, in a Cadillac Escalade, spending hours betting on dog races and horse races and playing bingo.

One of his lawyers, Glennon Threatt, said the former mayor’s fiscal irresponsibility grew so costly that his credit score fell to 435 and he qualified as indigent.

“When the mayor has money in his hands,” Mr. Threatt said, “it’s like most people having sand in their hands.”

Larry Paul Langford (born March 17, 1948) is a former mayor of the city of Birmingham, Alabama. He previously served on the Jefferson County, Alabama, Commission, including a stint as commission president. He also acted as mayor of Fairfield, Alabama, and served one term on the Birmingham City Council.

Langford raised money and generated public interest and support for Visionland Theme Park (now known as Alabama Adventure Theme Park), located near Bessemer. The park was built largely by bond issues backed by a consortium of municipalities in the western part of the county, as well as the city of Birmingham and the county government. The park later declared bankruptcy, and was sold to Southland Entertainment Group for just over $5 million at auction.

In 2007, Langford was investigated by the SEC on corruption charges. In 2008, a lawsuit was filed against him for illegally accepting $156,000 in cash and benefits.

On December 1, 2008, Langford, along with William B. Blount and Al LaPierre, was arrested by the FBI on a 101-count indictment alleging conspiracy, bribery, fraud, money laundering, and filing false tax returns in connection with a long-running bribery scheme. His public corruption trial ended on October 28, 2009 with convictions on 60 counts, and resulted in his automatic removal from office.

On March 5, 2010, Langford was sentenced to 15 years in prison by a federal judge in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He was also fined more than $119,000.