NIAGARA FALLS — Vince Anello is once again a free man.

And now that he is, the former mayor — who spent most of last year in a federal prison camp for illegally “double-dipping” from his union’s pension fund -— hopes Niagara Falls voters and residents will judge him on the good he did while in office, not the headlines that dogged him during his administration.

As for “Citizen” Anello, he’s going to focus on being a father and grandfather but is not ruling out the possibility of getting more involved in the community and perhaps even government projects at some point.

“I believe I’m still the best cheerleader the city of Niagara Falls has,” he said. “I haven’t lost my enthusiasm for our city.”

Chief U.S. District Court Judge William Skretny sentenced Anello to a 13-month prison term in December of 2010 after the former mayor pleaded guilty to “wrongfully” receiving more than $47,000 in pension benefits from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local No. 237. Prosecutors claimed Anello submitted invoices for work and reports to the union pension fund that showed him working “far in excess” of 40 hours a month. As a union retiree, the former mayor was limited to working no more than 40 hours a month in order to continue receiving his pension payments.

“What happened with me and the union, I have no excuses for it,” said the 66-year-old Anello, who returned to his home in Niagara Falls last December following his stint inside the Cumberland Correctional Institute. “I did something wrong. I didn’t feel that it would rise to corruption, to the level of a criminal act because I had taken steps to repay the union.”

“My understanding of the law doesn’t change anything,” Anello continued. “The U.S. attorney felt it was a crime and they did what they had to do and the judge did what he had to do. When it was all over I did what I had to do. But that doesn’t change the four years that I spent being mayor protecting the interests of the taxpayers in the city of Niagara Falls.”

His problems with federal prosecutors started years earlier with an investigation into loans totaling $40,000 he received from Tuscarora businessman and developer Joseph Anderson. A 2008 grand jury indictment accused Anello of failing to disclose the loans before Anderson received a no-bid lease from the city for the use of the East Pedestrian Mall downtown.

Federal prosecutors later dismissed the public corruption case before Anello’s plea to the single pension fraud count. In a 13-page plea agreement, signed by prosecutors and Anello, the former mayor admitted to taking the loans from Anderson, not publicly disclosing the loans and recommending the East Mall Lease for him. Anello did not, however, admit that the lease recommendation was influenced by Anderson’s loans.

On Tuesday, during his first sit-down interview since his release, Anello still contends he had no direct hand in the pedestrian mall deal with Anderson. He also views the federal government’s decision to drop the theft of public services case against him as evidence that he wasn’t guilty of any theft of services from the public.

“The fact is, not only do I believe that I was hard-working honest mayor, but now I have the papers to prove it,” Anello said. “The justice department after five, six years of investigating, dropped the case. You won’t find an analysis of it in the press, but the fact is that my honest services charges were dropped. The press can spin it anyway they want, but I did something wrong with my union. If I was guilty of two crimes, why are they dropping one? To do me a favor after destroying my reputation, destroying my business? So now you are dropping the charges to do Vince Anello a favor? Are your readers expected to believe that?”

“I never felt they had a case because I wasn’t guilty of anything,” Anello added. “What was the crime? I did not negotiate the contract that they were all upset about. I did not negotiate it and that’s the story that nobody wanted to write.”

Anello’s legal standing was impacted by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made it harder for federal prosecutors to prove denial of honest services charges against public officials. The ruling was a contributing factor in the federal government’s decision to drop a theft of services charge against Anello which could have landed him in prison for a much longer term.

The Gazette and other local media outlets covered the Anello corruption case extensively. During Tuesday’s interview, Anello made it clear that he did not think all of those outlets covered the developments fairly or even accurately. He also said he was disappointed that his administration’s efforts — including its handling of city finances and its work in negotiating new union deals and a cost-saving health insurance program — were overshadowed by all the coverage of his legal woes.

Anello spent his last evening before going to prison with his youngest daughter and a family friend. They had dinner at an Olive Garden in Maryland. The next day — Feb. 8 — they drove up to the prison camp so Anello could begin what he described as his “obligation” to the justice system.

“I felt that I made my peace,” Anello said, recalling the evening before his incarceration. “I made my peace with myself and my family and now it was time for me to make my peace with the justice system and my God.”

Once inside, Anello said he stayed busy, getting involved in U.S. government classes and in the prison chapel. He said he also organized a group for Catholic inmates. Anello also slimmed down. He dropped 18 pounds since being in prison, primarily through a regular regimen of daily exercise that included four miles of walking per day.

“At no time do I want to glamorize it, but at the same time I’d be foolish not to say that it’s nothing like they show on television,” he said. “I made myself very productive while I was there.”

Anello said he also never wondered “why me?” He said he has no issues with either Anderson or Lewiston attorney Paul Grenga who was identified by federal prosecutors as an “unindicted co-conspirator” for his part in arranging Anello’s loan from the Tuscarora businessman.

“Everything that happened was my own decision,” Anello said. “I made a mistake. I was serving my time and was eager to get back to the community.”