Cuomo’s got this guy’s vote.
An alleged Bronx drug pusher facing nearly 100 years behind bars gave Gov. Andrew Cuomo a glowing endorsement Thursday when he walked free as courts tried to get a jump on a state bail reform law set to take effect Jan. 1.
“Cuomo for president!” José “Catano” Jorge crowed in Spanish as he left Manhattan Supreme Court without plunking down a penny in bail.
Jorge, 47, had been held without bail while facing up to 96 years on charges of selling a controlled substance and conspiracy.
But he can now walk the street for the duration of his trial.
Jorge had been highlighted in a recent front-page Post story as one of nearly 900 inmates set to score release in late 2019 to help courts avoid a logjam when bail reform formally kicks in with the new year.
Authorities have accused Jorge of having peddled the drugs tied to the fatal overdose of a 28-year-old man at a York Avenue diner on the Upper East Side in January 2018.
Jorge was busted in a sting that authorities set up after allegedly linking him to fentanyl-laced heroin found at the scene. Police set up a wiretap and had an undercover agent buy drugs from Jorge, authorities said.
Citing the amount of evidence against the defendant and the severity of the charges, the prosecutor in the case has pleaded with the judge to keep Jorge behind bars, according to a letter obtained by The Post.
“His sales are recorded on video. The conversations the defendant had during those sales are chilling,” Assistant District Attorney Nancy Frigo wrote to Judge Abraham Clott.
“He described in detail how he likes to mix fentanyl into the heroin. Laughed off an accusation of causing someone’s death, and explained that overdoses are actually good for business because then everyone wants what he is selling.”
In addition to Jorge, three of his co-defendants also walked free Thursday despite previously being considered worthy of remand.
Co-defendant, Jose Feliciano, was released today pending sentencing after taking a plea deal, but had he refused, he too would have walked free under the new bail-reform terms.
A woman accompanying Feliciano as he left court gave the finger to a Post reporter, and snarled, “Outside, I beat bitches up like you.”
