ALBANY – They’re the state prison system’s high profile Odd Couple: Disgraced ex-Controller Alan Hevesi is serving his time with shamed Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski.
The scammers mingle together with 20 other inmates from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. in the protective custody unit at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Oneida County.
Hevesi, 71, landed at the prison late last week to start his one- to four-year stint on a felony corruption charge.
He pleaded guilty to pocketing $1 million in gifts for himself and cronies in a massive pay-to-play pension fund scam.
Kozlowski, 64, is serving up to 25 years in the slammer for his 2005 conviction on grand larceny and securities fraud – ripping off $100 million from his company to support his lavish, jet-set lifestyle.
Hevesi used his ill-gotten gains to fly himself and family to Israel and Italy, while Kozlowski used his to fund a booze-fueled birthday bash in Sardinia for his wife – complete with a replica of Michelangelo’s statue of David urinating vodka.
There’s no more high flying for these two.
Inmates jointly eat, exercise, attend recreation and education programs and perform prison job assignments all within the boundaries of the protective custody unit.
That likely leaves plenty of time for Hevesi and Kozlowski to kibitz about high finance.
Hevesi, who served as controller from 2003 to 2006, grew New York‘s investment in Tyco, topping out at 8.3 million shares right before Kozlowski’s conviction, state records show.
Hevesi began divesting the state’s holdings after that, with the state owning 6.7 million shares of Tyco International his last year in office. The state now holds just 61,000 shares.
Hevesi, known as inmate 11-R-1334, was placed in protective custody due to “safety and security reasons, the notoriety of the crime and his previous government position,” prison officials said.
Hevesi’s political guru – and pension fund scam ringleader – Hank Morris is serving up to four years in protective custody 10 miles down the road at the Oneida Correctional Facility.
Morris, 57, mixes with former Giants receiver Plaxico Burress and ex-“Sopranos” actor Lillo Brancato in the protected ward.
