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. |