Jury selection began Monday in federal court in Manhattan for the public corruption trial for Joseph Percoco, a top aide and longtime friend to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, which is expected to put a microscope to the way state government does business.

Percoco is charged with taking more than $315,000 in kickbacks from an energy company and a real estate developer involved in state-sponsored projects; he allegedly wielded his influence to assist the Massachusetts-based energy company, Competitive Power Ventures, to assist with the construction of a new power plant in Orange County.

Percoco also allegedly helped the real estate developer, COR Development, with labor and budgetary issues.

Percoco was one of eight defendants charged in the case, which also include Buffalo developer Louis Ciminelli and Alain Kaloyeros, the former head of SUNY Polytechnic Institute.

When charges were brought in 2016, then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York said that case would reveal for New Yorkers “in gory detail what their state government is up to.”

The Percoco case is the first major trial for the office under interim Southern District U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, who was appointed to head the office earlier this month.

Voir dire began on Monday at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York with a protest outside the courthouse to oppose the Orange County power plant associated with the case.

But responding to questions from U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni of the Southern District of New York, who is presiding over the trial, many prospective jurors said they didn't think it would affect their judgment.

“We all know protesters have the right to protest but they don't always have the facts right,” Caproni said.

According to court papers, Peter Galbraith Kelly Jr., a former executive with the energy company who is also a defendant in the case, allegedly got Percoco's wife a “low-show” consulting gig and that the compensation she received was intended as a bribe for her husband.

Percoco has pleaded not guilty and his wife is not charged in the case.

According to the complaint against Percoco, Todd Howe, who also has longtime connections with the Cuomo family and who worked with Percoco on the re-election campaign, allegedly set up a shell company and bank accounts to pay Percoco's wife.

In emails between Percoco and Howe, they allegedly used code names for each other and referred to bribes as “ziti” or “zitti,” a reference to “The Sopranos,” an HBO TV show about the Mafia.

Howe has pleaded guilty to extortion, bribery, wire fraud and related conspiracy charges. He is cooperating with the prosecution.

Barry Bohrer, a partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel who represents Percoco, has blasted the charges against his client as an “an overreach of classic proportions,” according to a statement released in September 2016 after charges were filed.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Janis Echenberg, Robert Boone, David Zhou and Matthew Podolsky of the Southern District are prosecuting the case.

Caproni also presided over the corruption trial of former state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose conviction was tossed out by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
In filings by Percoco's defense team, his attorneys argue that there is no evidence of a quid pro quo and that projects moved forward on their own merits, not because of bribery.

The trial is expected to take four to six weeks.

The defendants have been split into two groups, with the second group set to be tried in June.
Cuomo, who is seeking a third term and who has been mentioned as a possible contender for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, is not being accused of wrongdoing, but the complaint against Percoco details the close relationship with the governor's family.

In 1992, he began working as an intern for Cuomo's father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, and the elder Cuomo has publicly referred to Percoco as his “third son.”

In 2011, Percoco took a job with Andrew Cuomo's administration as the executive deputy secretary to the governor, a powerful perch in which Percoco was viewed as the gatekeeper to the governor, prosecutors allege.

Percoco left the state government in 2014 to work on Cuomo's re election campaign. In 2016, Percoco took a vice president position with Madison Square Garden.

Caproni is allowing the prosecution to submit evidence of campaign contributions to Cuomo by the companies involved in the case.

Joseph Tacopina of Tacopina & Seigel, who has defended politicians in political corruption cases but who is not involved with the Percoco case, said that regardless of whether or not Percoco is convicted, he said it is likely that the Percoco case will paint an “unflattering picture” of how politics is done in New York and that there may be political consequences for the governor.

“It's just unfortunately the taint that comes with someone who is so close to Governor Cuomo,” Tacopina said.