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Brooklyn Gothic: State Senator Carl Kruger And His Surrogate Family
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 20, 2011
Modified Mar 20, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 20, 2011
Modified Mar 20, 2011
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State Senator Carl Kruger is facing federal corruption charges accusing him of taking over $1 million in bribes and even though he's back to work (if that's what they do in Albany), there are questions about his relationship with the Turano family. The 61-year-old Democrat lists his sister's home as his residence, but he lives with divorcée Dorothy Turano, 73, and her two unmarried physician sons, Michael, 49, and Gerard, 47. The NY Times has a long, rather gothic feature about the Turanos, the bachelor lawmaker and the huge Mill Basin mansion once owned by a mobster.
The FBI's complaint against Kruger implied that his most intimate associate was Michael Turano, noting how they spoke to each other "in a manner that revealed that they relied on and supported one another" and how Kruger "sometimes picked [Turano] up from work; and individuals called [Kruger's] Phone, to reach [Turano]." The NY Post declared that Kruger and Turano were gay lovers. In the Times' feature today, Dororthy Turano's first husband Michael says, "Until [Kruger] came into the picture, we were a very happy family." (Dorothy Turano, who is now the district manager for Community Board 18, became involved in local politics, and Kruger was an up-and comer at the time.) But also: "In political circles, Ms. Turano referred to Mr. Kruger as her partner, but the pair remained something of a riddle to those around them. Ms. Turano’s ex-husband described the relationship as 'motherly' rather than romantic."
Kruger lived at the Turanos' childhood home in Canarsie since the 1990s and now lives in the Turanos' current home on Bassett Avenue, a "7,000-square-foot home, whose aesthetic is cruise-ship-meets-mob-mansion" with five terraces, a curved-glass elevator and an arcade room outfitted with gumball machines," plus a second floor ice cream room, "a special snow-melting device for the driveway, steam systems in the bathrooms on the second and third floors, and custom-decorated walls with Baltic birch plywood." The home was first built by mobster Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso. Oh, and "Next to the house, they seized a stretch of city-owned waterfront and walled it off as a patio, with two Samurai sculptures flanking a multitiered fountain."
The Times has some documents related to the Kruger, the Turanos and their homes and the disputes along the way.
Tagged
brooklyn
carl kruger
corruption
Dorothy Turano
michael turano
mill basin
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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