Vincent Dragone

VINCENT DRAGONE, a Brookhaven Town official at the center of a year-long corruption probe, was formally charged yesterday with bribery, contest-rigging and larceny. Suffolk District Attorney Tom Spota called it one of the most significant criminal indictments his administration has ever seen. “The town hall building department, and more specifically, Mr. Dragone’s office, was nothing other than a political clubhouse where moneys were raised and in some instances, extorted, for political purposes,” Spota said. Dragone, the town’s chief building inspector, surrendered yesterday morning to face a 61-count grand jury indictment. It includes charges of bribery, grand larceny and other financial crimes. Dragone is accused of ripping off everyone from the Town of Brookhaven to the Long Island Power Authority to local high school students. He rewired his custom-built Manorville mansion to bypass the LIPA meter and get free electricity, Spota said. And as far back as 1997, Dragone allegedly helped rig contests for the Miller Place High School Booster Club so that he could win golf outings and other prizes. “What I really find particularly disturbing is . . . his schemes to steal money from the Miller Place Booster Club, which is really a scheme to steal money from high school students,” Spota said. Dragone was brought into Acting Supreme Court Justice Michael Mullen’s courtroom by two officers from Spota’s office. He spoke only to answer Mullen’s questions about his children and the length of marriage.