Stanley M. Friedman
{{Short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Stanley M. Friedman
| image =
| image_size =
| image_upright =
| alt =
| caption =
| office = Deputy Mayor of New York City for Intergovernmental Affairs
| term_start = 1975
| term_end = 1977
| office2 = Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Bronx County Democratic Committee
| term_start2 = 1978
| term_end2 = 1987
| predecessor2 = Patrick J. Cunningham
| successor2 = George Friedman
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1936|03|18}}
| party = Democratic
| alma_mater = City College of New York and Brooklyn Law School
| occupation = Politician, hotelier
}}
Stanley Melvin Friedman (born March 18, 1936) is a former head of the Bronx County Democratic Committee (known colloquially as the Bronx Democratic Party), a former Deputy Mayor of New York City, and later hotelier.{{cite news |last1=Feuer |first1=Alan |title=Up From Politics, Almost |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/01/nyregion/up-from-politics-almost.html |accessdate=June 9, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=October 1, 2004}}
Early life
Friedman was born in the Bronx on March 18, 1936,{{cite news |last1=Darnton |first1=John |title=Good Man to Know |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/24/archives/good-man-to-know-stanley-melvin-friedman-man-in-the-news.html |accessdate=June 10, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=December 24, 1974}} and grew up in the Hunts Point district, where he was nicknamed "Bugsy." He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1953, the City College of New York in 1958 and Brooklyn Law School in 1961.
Political career
Friedman was a lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission before serving as an assistant district attorney in the Bronx. He was an associate counsel to longtime New York City Council Majority Leader Thomas J. Cuite when he became the Deputy Mayor of New York City for Intergovernmental Affairs on January 2, 1975, reporting to Mayor Abe Beame. Friedman remained in the role until the end of Beame's term in December 1977,{{cite news |title=Stanley M. Friedman Sworn By Beame as Deputy Mayor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/01/03/archives/stanley-m-friedman-sworn-by-beame-as-deputy-mayor.html |accessdate=June 10, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=January 3, 1975}}{{cite news |title=Deputy Mayor Friedman's Party: A Water Supply and Then Some |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/28/archives/deputy-mayor-friedmans-party-a-water-supply-and-then-some.html |accessdate=June 10, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=December 28, 1977}} when Beame gave Friedman a lifetime appointment to the Board of Water Supply, a part-time job that came with a salary of $25,000 (equal to $107,509 in 2021 dollars{{Cite web|title=CPI Inflation Calculator|url=https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm|access-date=2021-05-19|website=www.bls.gov|language=en-us}}), a limousine, and a secretary.
Mayor Ed Koch pressed Friedman to resign the position in May 1978, as Friedman received Koch's support to take control of the Democratic Party in the Bronx; however, Koch denied a connection between the resignation and his endorsement.{{Cite news|date=May 19, 1978|title=Friedman Resigns His Patronage Job On City Water Unit|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/19/archives/friedman-resigns-his-patronage-job-on-city-water-unit-impression.html|access-date=May 19, 2021}}
In 1978 Friedman became the leader of the Bronx chapter of the New York State Democratic Party ("Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Bronx County Democratic Committee").{{cite news |last1=Lentz |first1=Philip |title=Democrats Turn Bronx Into Political Zoo |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-06-26-8801100531-story.html |accessdate=10 June 2020 |work=chicagotribune.com |publisher=Chicago Tribune |date=June 26, 1988}} He was succeeded in 1987 by New York State Assemblyman George Friedman, who was unrelated to his predecessor.{{cite news |last1=Lynn |first1=Frank |title=Prosecutor Race in the Bronx Could Foreshadow City Politics of the 1990's |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/28/nyregion/prosecutor-race-in-the-bronx-could-foreshadow-city-politics-of-the-1990-s.html |accessdate=10 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=28 June 1988}} Also, in 1978, he became a law partner to Roy Cohn at the firm of Saxe, Bacon & Bolan.{{cite news |last1=Brenner |first1=Marie |title=After the Gold Rush |url=https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/share/e515a2cd-a51b-4f83-8d61-6ebb9a104e0a |accessdate=13 June 2020 |work=Vanity Fair - The Complete Archive |publisher=Vanity Fair |date=September 1990}}{{cite book |last1=Kaiser |first1=Charles |title=The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America |date=2007 |publisher=Grove Press |isbn=978-0-8021-4317-4 |page=76 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HO7IKU79zgAC&dq=%22Stanley+M.+Friedman%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA78 |accessdate=13 June 2020 |language=en}}
He was indicted on civil charges involving the New York City Parking Violations Bureau on March 27, 1986.{{cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Kirk |title=Prosecutors Seek to Tie $400,000 in Retirement Funds to Citisource |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/09/nyregion/prosecutors-seek-to-tie-400000-in-retirement-funds-to-citisource.html |accessdate=11 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=9 April 1986}} He was defended in that case by Thomas P. Puccio.{{cite book |last1=Kohn |first1=George C. |title=The New Encyclopedia of American Scandal |date=2001 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-3022-4 |page=147 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uzdWTBytwAIC&dq=%22Stanley+M.+Friedman%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA147 |accessdate=13 June 2020 |language=en}} Friedman was later convicted on federal corruption charges in that case, which was presided over by Whitman Knapp and prosecuted by Rudy Giuliani.{{cite news |last1=Meislin |first1=Richard J. |last2=Times |first2=Special To the New York |title=Friedman Is Guilty with 3 in Scandal |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/26/world/friedman-is-guilty-with-3-in-scandal.html |accessdate=11 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=26 November 1986}}{{cite news |last1=Lynn |first1=Frank |title=Bronx Chief Quits and Friedman Gets 12-Year Sentence |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/12/nyregion/bronx-chief-quits-and-friedman-gets-12-year-sentence.html |accessdate=10 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=12 March 1987}} He was removed as the Bronx Democratic Party leader when he was sentenced to a 12-year prison term on March 12, 1987; concurrently, longtime protégé/factotum Stanley Simon resigned from the Bronx borough presidency amid pending criminal charges related to the contemporaneous Wedtech scandal. In this subordinate role, Simon had served as the principal executor of Friedman's political capital as a statutory voting member of the now-defunct New York City Board of Estimate since 1979. Friedman served four years in prison before his release in 1992.{{Cite news|last=Feuer|first=Alan|date=October 1, 2004|title=Up From Politics, Almost|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/01/nyregion/up-from-politics-almost.html|access-date=May 19, 2021}}
Post-political career
Having been barred for life from participating in politics and practicing law upon his conviction, Friedman became a hotelier following his release from prison. He managed facilities in Staten Island.
References
{{reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef | before = Patrick J. Cunningham }}
{{s-ttl | title = Chairman of the Executive Committee of
the Bronx County Democratic Committee| years = 1978 – 1987}}
{{s-aft | after = George Friedman}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef | before = Judah Gribetz }}
{{s-ttl | title = Deputy Mayor of New York City
for Intergovernmental Affairs | years = 1975 – 1978}}
{{s-aft | after = ?}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Stanley M.}}
Category:New York (state) Democrats
Category:Politicians from the Bronx
Category:City College of New York alumni
Category:Deputy mayors of New York City