"Butch gets enough"

                                                                            

Hempstead Town officials celebrate Easter at Camp Anchor event sponsored by Butch Yamali

U.S. District Court judge Joan Azrack last week cited testimony from the corruption trial of former  County Executive Ed Mangano when explaining why she believed the Republican elected official  steered emergency food orders after Hurricane Sandy to his friend Harendra Singh -- even though Mangano was aquitted of that charge.

"Butch gets enough," she quoted a Mangano aide as saying when asked why Singh was providing meals instead of the county's longtime concessionaire Butch Yamali.

Like Singh, who provided food service and concessions in the Town of Oyster Bay for years, Yamali, owner and operator of Dover Gourmet Corp,  had provided food service and concessions in Nassau parks for decades.

Yamali also runs numerous other businesses including Peter's Clam Bar in Island Park, the Coral House in Baldwin, the Milleridge Inn in Jericho and Hempstead Town's Malibu Beach Club.

Unlike Singh, Yamali has never been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for bribery, fraud and obstruction nor pleaded guilty to those charges. Singh, who was the chief witness in the federal trial that convicted both Mangano and his wife of participating in a broad kick-back scheme, has yet to be sentenced for his crimes.

Though Yamali had worked under both Republicans and Democrats over the years, then Democratic County Executive Laura Curran in 2019 -- after holding fundraisers at the Coral House -- attempted to end Dover's contract with Nassau because of complaints that he had not paid required fees at the county's community college and public hospital.

Then Democratic Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen also called for Yamali's ouster from the town in 2019 after she learned that he hadn't paid rent for seven months at the Malibu club.

Yamali denied all allegations and countered that the town and the county owed him money for improvements he made to the public facilities.

Nothing ever came of Gillen's call for investigations of Yamali's operations.

Meanwhile, Yamali fought his expulsions in court.

Now he's back, as much in favor as ever. 

County legislative committees on Monday approved a settlement with Dover  proposed by Republican county Executive Bruce Blakeman, that would give back Yamali nearly all of the concessions Curran had terminated. The Republican-controlled legislature on April 25 is expected to vote on the new five-year deal.

Republican-controlled Hempstead Town already had settled with Yamail in 2020, after Gillen lost her bid for re-election, and gave him a 15-year extension on his Malibu operating license.

Hempstead Town officials continue to feature Yamali and his restaurants on all sorts of occasions.

In just the last two months, town officials, joined by local bar owners,  protested Russia's invasion of Ukraine by pouring out vodka in the parking lot of Yamali's popular Clam Bar.

                                                                          

Hempstead Town officials and others dump vodka in Peter Clam House parking lot

Five Nassau Republican elected officials cooked corned beef in front of cameras for a St. Patrick's Day cook-off to benefit Ukrainian invasion victims at another Yamali venue, the Milleridge Inn.

And this past Wednesday, Hempstead Town officials greeted the Easter Bunny at the town's Camp Anchor in Lido Beach for an Easter egg hunt sponsored by  --  Butch Yamali and Peter's Clam Bar.

Yamali sponsored an Easter egg hunt last year at Camp Anchor, a town program that serves special needs children and adults.

Participants undoubtedly looked forward to this year's event. 

But Yamali was lauded for his good deed seven times during the five-minute ceremony at Lido Beach.

That's alot of publicity for a private vendor by public officials.

So when does Butch get enough?