Rob Walker, former top Mangano deputy in Nassau, released from federal prison after serving time for obstruction of justice, official says

Former Nassau Chief Deputy County Executive Rob Walker, who admitted an attempted cover-up of a $5,000 cash payment he took from a county contractor, has been released from federal prison.

Walker, 48, spent his final days of incarceration in a New York reentry program facility before being released Jan. 24 after serving nearly one year of his 18-month sentence, Federal Bureau of Prisons records show.

He was released under the First Step Act, which provides a path to early release for inmates who participate in recidivism reduction programs while incarcerated, bureau spokesperson Donald Murphy said.

Walker could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Brian John Griffin of Garden City, declined to comment.

Walker was serving as chief deputy under former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano in 2014 when he accepted the payment from Ridge contractor Anthony Gulino, who was working with the FBI.

A former state Assemblyman, Walker went from accomplished Republican Party fundraiser to felon in a downfall that followed his 2018 indictment for obstruction of justice in connection with a probe of the payment. He pleaded guilty in 2019 and was sentenced in December 2021 following delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. District Judge Joan Azrack called Walker's conduct "business as usual" in the "corrupt culture" of Nassau County government and politics while sentencing him.

Mangano and his wife, Linda, were also awaiting sentencing at the time following their 2019 convictions in a separate corruption case.

Walker called himself "the most humbled person" at his sentencing and apologized to the judge, his family and Nassau County residents for his actions.

At Walker's sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Artie McConnell asked the judge to give the former county official four years in prison, saying such a punishment would be a deterrent in a region "where public corruption remains rampant."

Walker had begun serving his sentence in the minimum-security satellite camp at Fort Dix federal correctional institution in New Jersey on Feb. 7, 2022.

Walker admitted during his 2019 guilty plea that he had met with an informant who was working with the government and asked him not to disclose the $5,000 he gave him.

Walker later spoke to Gulino numerous times to try to convince him to conceal the payment’s existence from a grand jury after Walker learned in 2017 about a probe that included the circumstances surrounding the payment, officials said.

Federal prosecutors said Walker urged Gulino to tell investigators he had borrowed the money to pay for his mother-in-law’s cancer treatment. Then Walker met Gulino in a Hicksville parking lot and gave him $5,000 in an envelope during a meeting that the FBI was monitoring.

Walker explained to Gulino that he hadn’t told anyone about the money and that it didn’t exist before agreeing Gulino shouldn’t say a word to the grand jury, authorities said previously.

As chief deputy to Mangano, Walker oversaw millions of dollars in procurement, hiring and other municipal undertakings that included labor negotiations, Nassau Coliseum renovations and repairs after Superstorm Sandy.

Gulino also was a witness in the government’s case against the Manganos, when he testified under a cooperation agreement while trying to win leniency after pleading guilty to tax evasion.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.