Joe Percoco, the former close aide and confidant to one governor and a “third son” to another, was sentenced to six years in prison on Thursday after he was found guilty of accepting kickbacks earlier this year.

Percoco was found guilty earlier in the year in his fraud trial of receiving bribes in exchange for using his influence to aid the development of the facility for Competitive Power Ventures.

Percoco and a range of prominent figures in New York politics had sought leniency for him during sentencing, but ultimately Judge Valerie Caproni determined the former top aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo had sought to enrich himself through bribes and a “low-show” job for his wife.

The corruption trial for Percoco was just one of several this year highlighting the unseemly ways of doing business in state government. In a parallel case, prominent upstate developers and the former president of SUNY Polytechnic were found guilty of bid rigging for contracts in the Buffalo Billion economic development program which has been backed by Cuomo as a way of reviving the western New York economy. And the former top legislative leaders in the Assembly and Senate, Democrat Sheldon Silver and Republican Dean Skelos, were both found guilty in their separate corruption cases that had been retried after the Supreme Court altered its theft of honest services definition.

Percoco had played a key and public role for Cuomo over the decades, working with him in the attorney general’s office and the governor’s office as well as a super-advance man on his campaigns. Percoco, while seen as an enforcer for Cuomo, was also a listener, serving as the eyes and ears for the governor with the Legislature. He was often spotted on the third floor of the Capitol speaking with lawmakers during budget or end-of-session negotiations.

In a 2014 memoir, Cuomo referred to Percoco as “my father’s third son” who also served as a sympathetic ear during his divorce from Kerry Kennedy following a disastrous run for governor in 2002.

Cuomo has expressed sadness at case of his former close aid, but has also insisted he was unaware of the outside work being done by Percoco at the time and that he should face punishment. Cuomo himself has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

“I was an Assistant District Attorney and Attorney General, and the rule of law is paramount,” Cuomo said in a statement. “Joe Percoco is paying the price for violating the public trust. And it should serve as a warning to anyone who fails to uphold his or her oath as a public servant. On a personal level, the human tragedy for Joe’s young children and family is a very sad consequence.”

Republican candidate for governor Marc Molinaro nevertheless has sought to link Cuomo to the scandals in the halls of the Capitol.

“Andrew Cuomo was sentenced today — he just doesn’t have to do the time,” Molinaro said. “He came into office promising reform and ended up turning New York State government into a corrupt, taxpayer-paid enterprise that works only to further his presidential ambitions”

Earlier in the day, Cuomo’s re-election campaign released a TV ad that sought to tie Molinaro to his own ethics issues and a contractor in Dutchess County who employed the GOP candidate’s wife and has received county contracts.

Cuomo on Thursday afternoon released the following statement:

"I was an Assistant District Attorney and Attorney General, and the rule of law is paramount. Joe Percoco is paying the price for violating the public trust. And it should serve as a warning to anyone who fails to uphold his or her oath as a public servant. On a personal level, the human tragedy for Joe's young children and family is a very sad consequence."