Spano's paternal grandfather, also named Nicholas, emigrated with two brothers from the Italian province of Bari to the United States in 1918.
[2] Spano's father Leonard ran for public office in 1967, employing his son Nicholas in door-to-door campaigning.
[citation needed] In 2004, Spano won re-election by only 18 votes after facing a serious challenge by Westchester County Legislator Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
Spano subsequently become involved in commercial real estate[4][5] as well as lobbying state and local governments in New York through Empire Strategic Planning, a firm he established after his defeat.
Calls for investigation around nepotism and corruption were centered around Empire Strategic Planning’s business before the city.