NEW ORLEANS -- A confidant of former Mayor Marc Morial was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday for his role in a conspiracy to skim money from a New Orleans City Hall contract.

The sentence was two years longer than prosecutors had recommended for Stan "Pampy" Barre, who had been cooperating in the longstanding investigation of city government. Although the probe dealt largely with Morial's administration, the former mayor was never accused of wrongdoing.

Construction company owner Reginald Walker was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in prison for his participation in the scheme. Barre is scheduled to report to prison on Oct. 7. Walker is to report to prison Sept. 9.

The charges against Barre and Walker stem from a scheme to skim more than $1 million from an energy management contract awarded during Morial's administration.

Prosecutors said Barre used his connections to Morial to convince a contractor to pay him kickbacks for help in getting the contracts signed.

Morial, now the president of the National Urban League, served as mayor from 1994 until 2002.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said he believed Barre was the "most culpable" of all the defendants charged in the case.

"You were sort of orchestrating a lot of what happened here," Barbier said.

"Your Honor, I certainly made a mess of things across the board," said Barre who addressed the court before he was sentenced.

He said that he had financially ruined his family, left his reputation in tatters and betrayed the trust of friends, relatives and colleagues.

"This city trusted me and I stabbed her in the back in the dark of night," he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Mann said her office had recommended a three-year sentence. "The cooperation in this case was certainly significant and substantial," she said. "He really did break through a wall for us."

Former city councilman Oliver Thomas pleaded guilty last year to taking $15,000 in bribes from Barre, who wanted to keep a parking lot contract he had held under Morial's administration.

Thomas is serving a 37-month prison term.

Mann said the City Hall probe doesn't end with Wednesday's sentencing hearing. "The evidence is still being looked at," she told Barbier.

The judge said the sentence was roughly half of what Barre would have faced under federal sentencing guidelines. Barre pleaded guilty to three charges: conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud and obstruction of justice.

Barbier also ordered Barre, Walker and a third figure in the case, Kerry De Cay, to pay about $1 million in restitution. Barre said he planned to pay an initial installment of $110,000 on Wednesday.

De Cay, who was the city's property manager during the Morial administration, was sentenced last year to nine years after he pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and obstruction of justice.

Barbier said he sentenced Barre to a more lenient sentence than what the guidelines called for because he had cooperated with investigators and showed remorse. He also described Barre as the "go-to person" in the Morial administration for anyone who wanted a city contract -- even though he wasn't a city official.

"The crime you committed just strikes at the heart of our social structure here," he said.

Barbier said Walker faced between 78 and 97 months in prison under the sentencing guidelines. Walker's defense attorney asked for probation. Prosecutors asked for leniency but didn't recommend a specific sentence for Walker.

Walker, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, apologized before he was sentenced. "I did a wrong. It went against everything I believe in," he said.

The judge also chided Barre for falsely accusing prosecutors of going after him because he was a prosperous minority businessman.

"Unfortunately, through your greed, you've thrown all that away," Barbier said.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)