by KYW’s Mike DunnFormer Philadelphia city councilman Rick Mariano, who is four weeks away from starting a 6½-year federal prison term, now says he wishes he tried for a deal with prosecutors rather than go to trial.
Sporting a goatee and tank top, Mariano showed up at the City Hall press room to chew the fat and reflect on his final few weeks of freedom:
“It's here. I’m sentenced, I’m going to go to prison and there’s nothing I can do about it. It feels terrible, it feels terrible. It’s the most horrific thing that ever happened to me in my life That’s where I am now, just trying to get my head together and get ready to be away from my lovely wife for six years, and my three children.”
Mariano (in file photo above) said he wishes he had worked a plea bargain instead of going to trial:
“If I knew what I know now, the day the subpoenas came I would have went to them and said, 'Alright,' because it's not a matter of innocence or guilt. It’s a matter of what they try to prove.”
Mariano insisted that the facts of his bribery and fraud case are still not fully known:
“See, there’s much more to that true story that I would love to give you, but the government’s not interested in the true story. They got what they needed. They got an elected official.”
The former councilman did admit he’d made a mistake:
“A big mistake. But I’m not going to sit here and tell you what that mistake was because it’s not what everybody thinks it was. There’s much more to the Rick Mariano story. They’re just going to have to wait until I write the book, I guess.”
Mariano said he is now able to find some good in his conviction on fraud and bribery charges:
“It’s the worst thing that could happen to me or anyone, but it’s actually the best thing because I didn’t like this life. I didn’t like being a councilman and I know it now. There was always an inner conflict inside of me, and I didn’t know what it was. And now I know what it was. I really don’t like this life.”
The councilman said the public has, for the most part, been sympathetic to him:
“Most people have been nice and kind and good enough to me to walk up to me on the El and say they’re praying for me and wishing me good thoughts.”
As for the next six years in prison, Mariano said he hopes to lose 25 pounds and take up a new career:
“I’m going to work on taking the LSATs and becoming a lawyer. I think it's time for me to enter that arena.”
Mariano is to report to prison August 7th.
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