Ex-Macomb Township Supervisor Pleads Not Guilty To 18-Counts Of Corruption

DETROIT (WWJ) - The man some have called the "puppet master" of pay to play politics in Macomb Township -- was arraigned on an 18-count corruption indictment Thursday in U.S. District Court.

Dino Bucci, 58, pleaded not guilty to an array of bribery, theft, money laundering, fraud and extortion charges.

Former Macomb Township Supervisor Mark Graybow says Bucci's run of corruption will take years to recover from:

"It's going to take a long time to repair," said Graybow. "The township's lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I don't think he'll be able to prove all the money he actually took ... this man has stolen from the community, he's stolen from the residents ... this man is just nothing short of the new Al Capone."

Released on a $10,000 personal bond, Bucci left U.S. District Court today without comment.

"You don't walk away from this stuff," said Graybow, who served with Bucci from 2008-2012. "Probably one of the happiest groups will be the employees of the township -- no longer will they be in fear of being bullied, threatened with their jobs or be able to come to work and do the job that they were hired to do. That man threatened them, day in and day out."

If found guilty on the charges he could faces more than 20 years in federal prison.

Bucci becomes the eighteenth person charged within the federal investigation into corruption in Macomb County.