The state worker at the heart of the Alan Hevesi scandal is a mystery man who never talked politics or let on what he did, according to neighbors.
Nicholas Acquafredda, the $61,000-a-year driver for the state comptroller’s wife, kept to himself in a one-bedroom Lower East Side apartment cluttered with old magazines and newspaper clippings.
“He’s very quiet, a very nice person,” said Robert Cruz, superintendent of the Allen Street building.
Cruz added, “I always thought he was a cop.”
So did Acquafredda’s upstairs neighbor as well as a worker at the neighborhood deli where he came in for tea every day. But Acquafredda never talked about what he did for a living.
According to a damning state Ethics Commission report, Acquafredda was a state-paid “companion of Mrs. Hevesi” who regularly attended to her needs.
He spent so much time taking care of Carol Hevesi that Acquafredda’s boss signed his time sheets for him, the report disclosed.
Acquafredda refused to speak about the case when asked by reporter Monday night.