Ex-New York Assembly Speaker sentenced to seven years in prison for public corruption

Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was sentenced to seven years in prison in federal court on Friday.

US District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan saidcorruption in New York state 'has to stop,' after announcing Silver, one of New York's longtime Democratic power brokers, would spend the better part of the next decade behind bars.

This punishment is five years lighter than the original sentence handed down by Caproni to Silver, after his first conviction on corruption charges was overturned on appeal.

More