State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. is finding himself the target of another

probe, government sources said, one by federal prosecutors also looking at his Senate counsel:

G. Steven Pigeon.

Investigators are trying to unravel payments that a Town of Niagara company made to a Bronx

entity that might have ties to Espada, the embattled Bronx Democrat whose private health care

agency State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo already is investigating.

On Saturday, government investigative officials confirmed a report by television station

WCBS in New York City that the U.S. attorney&#8217s office there is conducting a tax and money

laundering probe of Espada. The report and government sources said the investigation includes

Pigeon, the former chairman of the Erie County Democratic Party and now the $150,000-a-year

counsel to Espada on his Senate payroll.

Federal prosecutors in New York City are looking at payments made to a Bronx company by GDP

Consulting, a limited liability company that state records show was formed last July 23.

State Department of State records list the address of GDP as 7305 Porter Road, Niagara

Falls.

The address, actually located in the Town of Niagara, also is the home of the Parenti

Accounting Group. Jerry Parenti, chairman of the accounting business, is the father of Gary D.

Parenti, a longtime political associate of Pigeon.

State election board donation reports show the Parenti Accounting Group has made campaign

contributions, mostly to Democrats, over the years.

But what ties, if any, Gary Parenti might have to GDP remains unclear.

&#8220Talk to Gary about that,&#8221 Jerry Parenti said Saturday. A telephone number he

provided for his son was not working, and Gary Parenti did not return a message left with his

father.

Although WCBS said Pigeon &#8220reportedly&#8221 has ties to GDP, just what any connection

might be also was unclear. Pigeon did not return a message left on his cell phone or repeated

calls Saturday to the number.

Espada also did not return calls seeking comment.

According to the WCBS report, investigators are seeking information about &#8220tens of

thousands&#8221 of dollars of consulting payments made by GDP Consulting to A-1 Multi Service

LLC, which lists a cigar store in the Bronx as its address an address, the station said,

that appears to be phony.

The report quoted an unidentified GDP &#8220spokesman&#8221 as saying the company has

contracts with A-1 for everything from health care to an effort to bring a national lottery to

Puerto Rico.

A government source with knowledge of the investigation confirmed the probe of Espada and

Pigeon.

But federal law enforcement officials in Buffalo said they were not aware of any search

warrants served locally in connection with a probe of Espada.

William J. Hochul Jr., U.S. attorney in Western New York, and Maureen Dempsey, an FBI

spokeswoman in Buffalo, declined to comment.

Saturday afternoon, no one was in the one-story, brick and cinder block building at the

Porter Road address. While nothing indicated the presence of GDP Consulting, a sign in front

said &#8220Parenti Accounting and Tax Service.&#8221 Pigeon and Gary Parenti, longtime

friends, have worked on numerous local campaign contests, including Parenti&#8217s

unsuccessful 2006 race against Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte of Lewiston.

Espada has hit back at revelation of investigations, which have ranged from pork barrel

funding to a health care agency he founded in the Bronx. Federal prosecutors also recently

subpoenaed documents from Espada and other State Senate leaders as part of a probe into a

since-scuttled deal for a downstate racetrack casino contract.

An ongoing Cuomo investigation is examining potential fraud, tax and election law issues

involving Espada and his leadership of Soundview HealthCare Network, a group of health

clinics.

Espada, who holds the highest position of any Latino in the State Legislature, has

dismissed the Cuomo probe as &#8220a witch hunt&#8221 and said that the attorney general is

trying to use him as a &#8220political pinata.&#8221

A year ago, with the help of Pigeon and former Rochester businessman B. Thomas Golisano,

Espada helped to orchestrate a coup that briefly returned Republicans to control of the State

Senate &#8212 a move that shut down the legislative body for a month.