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VICTORY FOR APOLLO: Vacco suit thrown out; Rangel, Sutton vindicated
Cong. Charles B. Rangel, who heads the Apollo Theatre Foundation, said Tuesday he felt vindicated after a Manhattan judge ruled against a lawsuit filed by former state Attorney General Dennis Vacco to put the facility into a receivership.
Vacco, who was defeated in last November's election by Eliot Spitzer, alleged in court papers that Rangel and his 11-member board of directors virtually ran the famed theater into the ground through wholesale financial mismanagement.
Rangel said he knew from the "get go" that Vacco's lawsuit, seeking to strip him and members of the board of their authority to operate the theater, was "politically motivated" and he was delighted that state Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman immediately recognized the scheme.
"It is clear to me that the suit was a political move by Vacco, who was in the middle of an election campaign, and was desperate to appear tough on Harlem's Black leadership," said Rangel in a written statement following Gammerman's ruling on Monday.
Rangel also called the lawsuit a clear case of "politics by persecution" used by the power of Vacco's office to "smear the good names" of people who have done the most for the internationally acclaimed Apollo Theatre and the Harlem community in particular.
But while praising Gammerman's decision, Rangel said he did not understand the reason behind Spitzer's request to...