for leniency was reportedly based on the fact that McLaughlin had aided in the investigation of other public officials who had committed crimes, such as fellow Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio, but Sullivan said McLaughlin's betrayal of public trust "outweighed any assistance he had given." Noting his receipt of dozens of letters supporting McLaughlin, including one from AFL-CIO president John Sweeney citing McLaughlin's "long record of service to the working men and women of New York City," Sullivan said that the portrait of McLaughlin painted by Sweeney and others did not jibe with the picture that emerged from courtroom evidence of "a man who so abused the trust of institutions and people who depended on him that it sort of staggers the mind." Sullivan added that McLaughlin's actions confirmed "the harshest critics of organized labor who accuse the leadership of corruption, and point to you as an example of that corruption." Sullivan ordered McLaughlin, who remained free on bond, to surrender on July 21. Post-trial In July 2009, electrical contractor Santo Petrocelli, Sr., of the Petrocelli Electric Company, pleaded guilty to making thousands of dollars in illegal payments to McLaughlin at the latter's request. Petrocelli said he had made the payments to avoid a worker slowdown. McLaughlin "controlled all the labor," Petrocelli said. "We certainly didn't want any problems with the local." The relationship between McLaughlin and Petrocelli, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan, had lasted from the mid-1990s through 2006, and had involved hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash payments, in return for which McLaughlin had used his position to benefit Petrocelli's business. As of August 2011, it was reported that McLaughlin "promised to pay back everybody he stole from... Yet none of his victims - who are owed more than $845,000 - have been repaid." The sum included $90,085 owed to the Electchester Athletic Association's Little League team. He also owed $276,383 to the electrical workers' union, $268,821 to the NY Central Labor Council, $32,274 to the state Assembly, $19,475 to a Queens political club and $153,939 to Welsbach Electric of College Point. He had sold his Nissequogue, L.I. home for $652,000 and sold his $80,000 Mercedes, and in March 2010 had delivered a "$457,253 check to prosecutors with the expenditure marked 'preliminary order of forfeiture'"; yet as of August 2011 still had "more than $285,000 in the campaign war chest - sitting in a tax-free bond