Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has reported to a federal prison in Texarkana, Texas, to begin serving a 10-year sentence for corruption during the years when the city was struggling to recover from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Nagin arrived at the facility shortly before noon Monday. New Orleans television stations showed images of Nagin hugging family members in a parking lot before he entered the lockup. Nagin, a Democrat, was thrust into the national spotlight in 2005, when Katrina overwhelmed levees and flooded 80 percent of New Orleans, killing 1,500 people and causing some $80 billion in damage.
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Ray Nagin, 58, is serving a 10-year sentence for bribery, money laundering and other corruption
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The crimes spanned his two terms, including the chaotic years following Katrina
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The bribes came in the form of money, free vacations and truckloads of free granite for his family business
He also drew notoriety for impolitic remarks, such as the racially charged ‘@placeholder will be chocolate again’ and his comment that a growing violent crime problem ‘keeps the New Orleans brand out there.’