James Traficant, Convicted Ex-congressman, Dies

CLEVELAND (AP) — A former Ohio congressman who lost his political career after being convicted of taking bribes and kickbacks has died. James Traficant was 73.

Traficant was injured Tuesday when a vintage tractor flipped over on him as he tried to park it inside a barn on the family farm near Youngstown.

Dave Betras, the Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman, says Traficant died Saturday in the hospital. Betras says he was notified by the Traficant family attorney.

Betras calls Traficant "a larger than life character who will long be remembered."

The colorful Democrat became the second person to be expelled from Congress since the Civil War when the House voted him out in 2002 after his conviction by a federal jury. The former sheriff spent seven years in prison.

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