Nicholas Mavroules


Nicholas James Mavroules was an American politician from Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 until 1993. He pleaded guilty to 15 counts of racketeering and extortion in 1993 and served 15 months in prison.

Early life and career

Mavroules was born in Peabody, Massachusetts, November 1, 1929; and graduated from Peabody High School. Nicholas was employed by GTE-Sylvania now OSRAM Sylvania, from 1949 to 1967, and served as supervisor of personnel.
He was elected a city councilor in Peabody, Massachusetts, serving from 1958 to 1965. He was elected mayor of Peabody in 1966 and served from 1967 to 1978. He was a delegate to the 1976 Democratic National Convention.

Congress

In 1978, he won the election to take over the seat of retiring Rep. Michael J. Harrington. After his election, an FBI informant testified that he had offered Mavroules a $25,000 bribe when he was the mayor of Peabody in connection with liquor licensing. Mavroules denied the accusations and the FBI did not charge him in the matter.
In Congress, he was a longtime member of the House Armed Services Committee and was the chairman of the Subcommittee on Investigations where he led the House investigation into the Navy’s findings in the deadly 1989 explosion aboard the USS Iowa. He also helped expose cost overruns in the Navy’s aircraft programs. He was also instrumental in making certain that the crew of obtained prisoner of war status.
During the 1980s Marvoules was a leading supporter in the House for a Nuclear freeze and an opponent of the MX missile.
In August 1992, a federal grand jury indicted Mavroules on 17 charges of bribery, racketeering and extortion. The allegations against him included extortion, accepting illegal gifts and failing to report them on congressional disclosure and income tax forms. He survived a Democratic primary election the following month, but was defeated by Republican Peter G. Torkildsen.

Conviction

In April 1993 after his departure from Congress, he pleaded guilty to 15 of the 17 counts and was sentenced to a fifteen-month prison term. He served his prison term at the Federal penitentiary at Bedford, Pennsylvania.
At his sentencing, he apologized to his family "who have endured enormous, enormous pain" and to supporters and friends "for any hurt I have brought upon them".

Death

He died on December 25, 2003, in Salem, Massachusetts after gastric surgery. He was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery, Peabody, Massachusetts. Over 6,000 people attended his wake and funeral which was held at St. Vasilios Church Greek Orthodox church in Peabody. Several members of Congress attended the services. The eulogy at the funeral mass was offered by Rudy de Leon a former staffer who later became deputy defense secretary and vice president of Boeing. At the graveside service, another eulogy was made by local reporter and talk show host Dan Rea.