Sheldon Silver, one of New York's most powerful politicians, was excited to take legal fees from a real estate developer-but the attorney with whom he'd split the money worried. "Is this all right, Shelly?" he asked.

Silver answered: "Of course ... I'm a lawyer." His friend took those words as assurance that "it was OK to refer cases to a lawyer no matter what position he held."

But it was not OK. Silver's agreement with his lawyer friend began a scheme to use his powerful office to rake in nearly $4 million in illicit legal fees-including millions from people dying of cancer.

In Do For Me, veteran New York City journalist Bill Sanderson uses research, interviews and original reporting to unravel New York's biggest political scandal in decades.

Do For Me is the story of New York politics over the 21 years Sheldon Silver led New York's state Legislature: relentlessly corrupt, and benefitting special interests over ordinary citizens.