Ouch for NJ!

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New Jersey Mayors Arrested in Corruption, Money Laundering Sting

Thursday, July 23, 2009

NEWARK, N.J. — The mayors of two major New Jersey cities and an assemblyman are under arrest Thursday as part of a major corruption and international money laundering conspiracy probe.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says approximately 30 arrests have occurred in the two-track investigation.

They include Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt, Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano III and Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell.

The federal prosecutor says arrests that are part of the money-laundering investigation include several rabbis in New York and New Jersey.

A news conference is scheduled for noon at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark.
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New Jersey Mayors Arrested in Corruption, Money Laundering Sting - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

I'm watching the live news conference now. It's even worse.
 
not surprising. hence a nickname for NJ - The Sopranos State
 
More:

2 NJ mayors, lawmaker arrested in corruption case

By DAVID PORTER, Associated Press Writer David Porter, Associated Press Writer – 51 mins ago

NEWARK, N.J. – The mayors of two New Jersey cities and a current and former state legislator were among more than two dozen people arrested Thursday in a sweeping corruption investigation.

Among about 30 people arrested Thursday were Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano III, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, former Jersey City Council President L. Harvey Smith and state Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt.

Van Pelt is accused of accepting $10,000 from a cooperating government witness posing as a developer who sought help in getting permits for a project in Ocean County.

Smith, a former state Assemblyman and Jersey City mayoral candidate who served four years as the city's council president, and several other current and former Jersey City public officials also are accused of accepting money to help the fake developer gain permits and approvals.

In separate money laundering complaints, several individuals from Brooklyn and New Jersey were charged with offenses ranging from the trafficking of kidneys from Israeli donors to laundering proceeds from selling fake Gucci and Prada bags. It was not immediately clear how the money laundering arrests were connected to the corruption arrests.

Mike Winnick of the Elberon section of Long Branch was praying inside the Deal Synagogue when it was raided by FBI, IRS and Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office agents.

"Everyone was looking at each other, like, `What's going on here?' " he said.

Winnick said four FBI agents escorted a rabbi from the synagogue into his office and blocked the doorway.

Winnick said he left shortly afterward.

Nearby, FBI and IRS agents removed several boxes from the Deal Yeshiva, a school that educates the children of Sephardic Jews.

More than two dozen people were brought to the FBI's Newark field office Thursday morning. One agent slowly walked an elderly rabbi into the building as another covered his face with a felt hat.
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2 NJ mayors, lawmaker arrested in corruption case - Yahoo! News
 
Just read that all but one are Democrats. Interesting how they don't tell you they're Democrats til much later but if it's Republicans, they'll note it in first paragraph!

I am shocked that rabbis were also involved.
 
ah... right in my backyard.... those towns.... it's not surprising to me and many though. We already knew NJ & NY has a very long history of deep corruptions. I mean - Madoff!

that's why I joked in my profile that I'm a "Corrupted Union Delegate" for a living in NJ. :lol:
 
source

NEWARK -- Here's a closer look at the public officials arrested Thursday as part of a major corruption and international money laundering conspiracy probe:

# Peter Cammarano, 32, the newly elected mayor of Hoboken and an election law attorney; accused of accepting $25,000 in cash bribes.
# L. Harvey Smith, 60, a New Jersey Assemblyman and recent mayoral candidate in Jersey City; accused of taking $15,000 in bribes to help get approvals from high-level state agency officials for building projects.
# Daniel Van Pelt, 44, a New Jersey Assemblyman, Ocean Township mayor and Lumberton Township administrator; accused of accepting a $10,000 bribe.
# Dennis Elwell, 64, Secaucus mayor; accused of taking a $10,000 cash bribe.
# Anthony Suarez, 42, Ridgefield mayor and an attorney; accused of agreeing to accept a $10,000 corrupt cash payment for his legal defense fund.
# Louis Manzo, 54, former state Assemblyman and recent unsuccessful Jersey City mayoral candidate; he and his brother, Robert Manzo, are accused of taking $27,500 in corrupt cash payments for use in Louis Manzo's campaign.
# Leona Beldini, 74, Jersey City deputy mayor, real estate agent, and campaign treasurer for an unnamed Jersey City official's re-election campaign; accused of taking $20,000 in campaign contributions, which officials say she divided between donors, who would return the money to the campaign in increments of $2,600 - the maximum individual donation allowed under law.
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source

NEWARK (WABC) -- Three mayors and two assemblymen were among at least 44 arrested Thursday morning in a major federal corruption sweep in New Jersey.

Hoboken's newly-elected mayor, Peter Cammarano, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell and Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez were arrested, as was Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini. Assemblymen Daniel Van Pelt and L. Harvey Smith were also taken into custody. An aide to Smith, Richard Greene, was also arrested.

Gov. Corzine announced Community Affairs Commissioner Joseph Doria resigned amid the corruption probe, although Doria had not been arrested.

Corzine said he asked Doria to step down, and Doria agreed to leave office. When asked why he made the request, Corzine said "Simple: can he be effective in the office that he holds under the conditions that there is a serious investigation going on in the context of this deep vein of corruption that was unveiled today - and the answer is no."

The number of arrests was noteworthy even for New Jersey, a state that has seen more than 130 public officials plead guilty or be convicted of corruption since 2001.

"New Jersey's corruption problem is one of the worst, if not the worst, in the nation," said Ed Kahrer, who heads the FBI's white collar and public corruption investigation division. "Corruption is a cancer that is destroying the core values of this state."

Corzine reacted to the corruption probe by saying, "any corruption is unacceptable - anywhere, anytime, by anybody. The scale of corruption we're seeing as this unfolds is simply outrageous and cannot be tolerated."

The 32-year-old Cammarano, a Democrat who won a runoff election last month, is accused of accepting $25,000 in cash bribes, including $10,000 just last Thursday from a government witness posing as a real estate developer. Elwell is charged with taking $10,000.

Joseph Hayden, an attorney representing Cammarano, said his client "is innocent of these charges. He intends to fight them with all his strength until he proves his innocence."

Suarez, who is also an attorney, is charged with agreeing to accept an illegal $10,000 cash payment for his legal defense fund.

Van Pelt is accused of accepting $10,000 from a cooperating government witness posing as a developer who sought help in getting permits for a project in Ocean County.

Smith, a former Jersey City mayoral candidate who served four years as the city's council president, and several other current and former Jersey City public officials also are accused of accepting money to help the fake developer gain permits and approvals.

The Jersey City officials include:
# Beldini
# Jersey City Council President Mario Vega
# Jersey City Council candidate La Vern Webb-Washington
# John Guarini, Jersey City Republican, also chairman of the Jersey City 9/11 Committee
# Guy Catrillo, Jersey City Republican
# Joseph Castagna, Jersey City Health Officer
# Louis Manzo, a former Assemblyman and Jersey City mayor candidate
# Michael Manzo, Jersey City fire arson investigator

Beldini, 74, is charged with conspiracy to commit extortion by taking $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions. Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy said Thursday the charges were "a little shocking."

"I have full faith in Leona," Healy said. "She's a good friend of mine - was and will be."

In secretly recorded conversations outlined in the complaint against Cammarano, the candidate made it clear to prospective campaign donors that he was a friend of developers.

When the cooperating witness posing as a developer, who was donating $5,000 to the campaign, told Cammarano just days before the mayoral election that he wanted to make sure he had his support with "some properties we're working on," Cammarano is quoted as saying, "I'll be there."

Authorities also raided several synagogues, arresting rabbis from New York and New Jersey who are accused of money laundering. The rabbis were charged with offenses ranging from the trafficking of kidneys from Israeli donors to laundering proceeds from selling fake Gucci and Prada bags. One of the suspects, Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum, is accused of enticing people to give up a kidney for $10,000 and reselling for $160,000.

The suspects were brought to FBI Headquarters in Downtown Newark. Officials say the arrests were made by agents with the FBI and IRS.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who has fought corruption in New Jersey's largest city, says it was "an unbelievable morning."

Full list of those arrested and charges:

Political Corruption
# Moshe Altman, 39, of Monsey, NY, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right & money laundering
# Charlie Ammon, 33, of Lakewood, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Leona Beldini, 74, of Jersey City, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Peter Cammarano III, 32, of Hoboken, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Joseph Cardwell, 68, of Jersey City, NJ, charged with agreeing to offer bribe to public official
# Joseph Castagna, 53, of Jersey City, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Guy Catrillo, 54, of Jersey City, NJ, charged with attempted extortion under color of official right
# Edward Cheatam, 61, of Jersey City, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right & attempted extortion
# Dennis Elwell, 64, of Secaucus, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Itzak Friedlander, 41, of Union City, NJ, charged with money laundering conspiracy
# Richard Greene, 45, of Jersey City, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# John Guarini, 59, of Bayonne, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Shimon Haber, 34, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with money laundering conspiracy
# Denis Jaslow, 46, of Wall, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Maher A. Khalil, 39, of Jersey City, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right & attempted extortion
# James P. "Jimmy" King, 67, of Jersey City, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Louis Manzo, 54, of Jersey City, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Michael Manzo, 53, of Jersey City, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Ronald Manzo, 65, of Bayonne, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Michael Schaffer, 58, of Hoboken, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Lori Serrano, 37, of Jersey City, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Jack Shaw, 61, of Jersey City, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# L. Harvey Smith, 60, of Jersey City, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Anthony R. Suarez, 42, of Ridgefield, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Vincent Tabbachino, 68, of Fairview, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right & money laundering
# Daniel M. Van Pelt, 44, of Waretown, NJ, charged with attempted extortion under color of official right
# Mariano Vega, 59, of Jersey City, NJ, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Lavern Webb-Washington, 60, of Jersey City, charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right
# Jeffrey Williamson, 57, of Lakewood, NJ, charged with attempted extortion under color of official right

For the charge of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right and/or attempted extortion under color of official right, the maximum statutory penalties are 20 years in federal prison and a maximum statutory fine of $250,000. For the charge of agreeing to offer a bribe payment to a public official, the maximum statutory penalties are 10 years in Federal prison and a maximum statutory fine of $250,000.

Money Laundering/Illegal Money Remitting
# Eliahu Ben Haim, 58, of Long Branch, NJ, charged with money laundering.
# Schmulik Cohen, 35, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with money laundering and illegal money transmitting.
# Levi Deutsch, 37, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with money laundering.
# Yeshayahu Ehrental, 65, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with money laundering and illegal money transmitting.
# Mordchai Fish, 56, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with money laundering.
# Yolie Gertner, 30, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with money laundering.
# David S. Goldhirsh, 30, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with money laundering.
# Saul Kassin, 87, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with money laundering.
# Edmund Nahum, 56, of Deal, NJ, charged with money laundering.
# Abe Pollack, 40, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with money laundering.
# Lavel Schwartz, 57, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with money laundering.
# Binyomin Spira, 28, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with money laundering.
# Naftoly Weber, 40, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with money laundering.
# Arye Weiss, 34, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with money laundering and illegal money transmitting.

For the charge of conspiring to commit money laundering, the maximum statutory penalties are 20 years in Federal prison and a maximum statutory fine of $250,000. For the charge of conspiring to conduct an illegal money transmitting business, the maximum statutory penalties are 5 years in Federal prison and a maximum statutory fine of $250,000.

Human Organ Trafficking
# Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum, 58, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with conspiracy to transport human organs

For the charge of conspiring to transport human organs, the maximum statutory penalties are 5 years in Federal prison and a maximum statutory fine of $250,000.
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Thanks Jiro for the details.

This wording was a little confusing:

...The arrested include Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez, state Assemblymen Peter Van Pelt and Harvey Smith, Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Baldini, Jersey City Republicans John Guarini and Guy Catrillo, La Vern Webb-Washington, a Jersey City council candidate, Joseph Castagna, Jersey City's health officer, and Michael Manzo, a long-time veteran of the Jersey City fire department....
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FBI AGENTS ARREST RABBIS AND MAYORS OF HOBOKEN AND SECAUCUS FOR MONEY LAUNDERING - New York Post

Does that mean all the names from Jersey City are Republicans?
 
just did some digging

John Guarini - Republican
Guy Catrillo - Republican
La Vern Webb-Washington - Independent
 
What’s Up With New Jersey?
The arrest of 44 people last Thursday in New Jersey — including three mayors, two state assemblymen and other public officials — on corruption charges seemed only to confirm the stereotype of New Jersey as one of the most corrupt states in the nation. It didn’t help that Wayne Bryant, former chairman of the New Jersey State Senate’s powerful Budget Committee, was sentenced on Friday to 4 years in prison on 12 counts of bribery and fraud.

Why does the political culture in New Jersey seem so susceptible to corruption? Or is it not much better in other states?

* Richard Benfield, former reporter and editorial writer
* Helene Stapinski, author, “Five-Finger Discount”
* Brigid Callahan Harrison, Montclair State University
* Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure, authors, “The Soprano State”
* Peter G. Verniero, former New Jersey Supreme Court justice
* Ingrid W. Reed, Rutgers University
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No One Is Paying Attention

Richard Benfield has written about New Jersey politics and government for more than 40 years. Until early this year he was a member of The Times’ editorial board and wrote editorials about New Jersey.

There are three reasons why New Jersey is a hotbed of corruption: 1.) it has a history that is less than pure, 2.) it has more municipalities (566) and other governing bodies than your average state, and 3.) people tend to ignore what goes on in a state sandwiched between two powerful cities: New York and Philadelphia.

Going back at least to the early 1900s and the days of Frank (“I am the boss”) Hague of Jersey City, the state has been known as a place where government officials could enrich themselves at the public’s expense. When this kind of reputation lives on for so long, many in government start thinking that taking a bribe is acceptable. Even the public begins to buy in to this thinking.
Maybe the proliferation of local blogs will get New Jerseyans to pay attention to their state.

Compounding this is the sheer number of governing boards — counties, towns, school committees, autonomous agencies, zoning boards — all of which have a say over whether vendors get contracts or builders get permits. No news outlet or prosecutor can possibly keep watch over all these agencies and their officials. Gov. Jon Corzine and others have tried to reduce the number of municipalities in New Jersey, but efforts to do so have run head on into the state’s long and hallowed tradition of home rule.

Finally, too many New Jersey residents pay more attention to what’s going on New York and Philadelphia than to what’s happening in their home town. At least part of this is because the news media, especially television, focuses on the two cities.

Perhaps, today’s proliferation of local blogs and Web sites may get more New Jerseyans to turn their attention to the place where they live. On the other hand, as New Jersey and New York’s newspapers reduce their staffs and cutback or eliminate coverage of the Garden State, many New Jerseyans will probably become even less aware of what their local officials are up to.
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Ah, Welcome to Hudson County

Helene Stapinski is the author of “Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History.”

Hudson County, where many of the arrests in New Jersey were made, has a small town feel and mentality. Everybody knows everybody. Lots of people are related to each other. It’s an isolated place, in many ways, so that the politicians who live there really don’t feel connected to the larger world. They feel they operate in a sort of vacuum, where no one will really notice what they do.
Small town politics and big city money is a recipe for corruption.

On the other hand, Hudson County has the problems and financial possibilities of a big city. If you lived in a truly small town in America, people wouldn’t be building huge skyscrapers and proposing major developments. So the problems that would come with that — the greed, the corruption, the bribes — would never be an issue for you.

But because of Hudson County’s proximity to New York, it’s always been a hot spot, first for industry and now for development, so the potential for making the big bucks exists. There’s the money, without the sophistication. In places like New York City, bribes are made every day as well, but people know how to cover their tracks.

Couple the small town ignorance and arrogance of “I can do what I want. Nobody’s watching” with the big town cash possibilities, and you have one of the most politically corrupt places on earth.

Welcome to Hudson County.

Add to the mix that “everyone does it and has always done it” — the long history of corruption dating back to Frank Hague, who was mayor of Jersey City from 1917 to 1947 — and you have a catastrophe on your hands like last week’s F.B.I. sweep.

I know several of the people arrested. I’m even distantly related to one of them. I once covered some of them as a reporter at The Jersey Journal, the local paper. And most of these people were the good guys when I was there. But if you exist in a place where “everyone’s doing it,” you’re eventually going to buckle and do it, too.
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Well-Oiled Politics

Brigid Callahan Harrison is professor of political science and law at Montclair State University. She is the author, most recently, of “American Democracy Now.”

New Jersey’s political culture has made it more susceptible to public corruption than most other states. Entrenched party machines, which fell by the wayside in many states when professional civil service bureaucracies became the norm, were never fully eliminated as a source of power in many important cities and counties in New Jersey.
Cynics recognize that one result of the mass arrest is a power vacuum, with others ready to fill the void.

These party machines passed their modus operandi down so that corruption in some areas of the state is the standard operating procedure. Voters, meanwhile, have taken corruption in stride — at times even flaunting it as a badge of honor.

Part of this problem may stem from the absolute intractability of the situation: elected officials of all stripes, but particularly Democrats, if not directly on the take, rely on the well-oiled-get-out-the-vote-machines to deliver solid majorities in state legislative, congressional and state-wide elections.

These same elected officials are then charged with creating “ethics reform” statutes, or are charged with appointing the enforcers of these laws at the state level. The nature of this symbiotic relationship provides little incentive to root out corruption.

The U.S. Attorney’s indictments on Thursday provide a glimmer of hope for those who believe that honest government means less expensive and more efficient government. But cynics also recognize that another result of the mass arrest is a power vacuum. There is now room for other corrupt organizations to fill that void. And if the multiple indictments are any indication, there will probably be plenty of takers, still swayed by hubris or naiveté that they will not be caught.
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Arrogance Beyond Belief

Bob Ingle, Trenton bureau chief for Gannett New Jersey newspapers, and Sandy McClure, a veteran political reporter and investigative journalist, are co-authors of “The Soprano State: New Jersey’s Culture of Corruption.”

Corruption flourishes in New Jersey because there’s too much government, a tendency to ignore political wrongdoing by state law enforcement agencies, a sense of entitlement by those in public office to goodies beyond their salaries, arrogance beyond belief and an ill-informed electorate.

With 566 municipalities in New Jersey (California has only 480), 603 school districts (more than the states of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia combined), 187 fire districts, 486 local authorities, 92 special taxing districts, and 21 county governments, which tend to be units controlled by entrenched political bosses, there’s a lot of opportunity to cheat, steal and corrupt the system.
What is legal in New Jersey, like dual office holding, is often illegal in other states.

Over the past decade, New Jersey’s Office of Attorney General has become a laughing stock. When the roundups of big name politicians come down, it is federal law enforcement, the F.B.I. usually, which gets the job done. The Attorney General’s Office, where the governor appoints the attorney general, goes for the low-hanging fruit usually not involving anyone well connected.

Too many Jersey politicians see their election as a right to take what they can get for themselves, their backers, friends and family — the spoils of victory like some gang of marauding invaders. It’s the opportunities to work the system from the inside that provide the payback (a golden retirement package and lifetime health care for the retiree and the family, not bad for part-time work).
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Don’t Jump to Conclusions

Peter G. Verniero is a former justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court and state attorney general. He practices law at Sills Cummis & Gross P.C. in Newark.

Last Thursday’s arrests represent one of the broadest law enforcement sweeps in modern New Jersey history. That does not mean, however, that New Jersey has cornered the market on political corruption. Many other states have problems in this area.
We must demand that public officials act lawfully and prosecute those who don’t, but we also have to treat the accused fairly.

Nor does it mean that every person charged is guilty. Indeed, as every prosecutor knows, there is a difference between announcement of charges and criminal conviction. No amount of publicity changes the presumption of innocence. We haven’t heard from defense counsel or seen how the government will respond to the various defenses that might be asserted.

Regardless of how these cases conclude, the public understandably is alarmed about both the perception and reality of corruption in New Jersey. Perhaps we have too many layers or divisions of local, county and state government, with each level offering a criminal temptation. Perhaps we need additional laws curbing the influence of money and politics.

We must demand that public officials act lawfully and prosecute those who don’t. We also have to treat the accused fairly. Thursday’s dramatic arrests will no doubt lead some to conclude that New Jersey is saturated with corrupt officials. As history has shown, we have our share. But many more perform their duties honestly. While policing government diligently, we must avoid a cynical conclusion that it is hopelessly dishonest.

Very Little Outrage

Ingrid W. Reed is a policy analyst and director of the New Jersey Project at the Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University. She recently conducted a study of local government ethics administration in New Jersey.

Does New Jersey have a culture of corruption? What is the opposite of a culture of corruption? A culture of respect for ethical behavior? A culture of a shared value that public officials act in the public’s interest not their self-interest?

Most public officials live by that shared value, but, alas, it does not get affirmed publicly. Two more examples occurred in last week, in addition to the 44 arrests on Thursday.

A powerful former State Senator, Wayne Bryant, was sentenced for a having no-show job at a university where he also arranged for awarding significant state grants. His defense asserted it is a common arrangement. Who ever pointed out that this conflict of interest is counter to the legislative code of ethics? Who was outraged before it became a criminal matter?

A Passaic County election official in the midst of controversy about voting equipment was accused of hiring her relatives to work in her office. The newspaper article recently quoted her as saying that every one hires their relatives at the county. For a state official, nepotism is prohibited, but there is no such rule at the local level. Rules aside, where is the outrage? If there is any, it has yet to surface in the media.

Maybe a culture of corruption is a culture without outrage — by citizens or public officials. That’s New Jersey.
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UPDATE!

N.J. Man Facing Bribe Charge Is Found Dead
A veteran New Jersey political consultant who was among dozens arrested in a huge corruption sweep last week was found dead in his Jersey City apartment on Tuesday, the same day that one of three mayors charged in the case resigned.

The circumstances surrounding the death of the consultant, Jack M. Shaw, are “suspicious,” said Edward J. DeFazio, the Hudson County prosecutor. He said it did not appear to be a homicide. “It could be natural, it could be accidental, it could be suicide,” he said, refusing to elaborate. An autopsy is set for Wednesday.

His death, reported by a companion to the authorities at 5:17 p.m., came hours after Dennis Elwell, the mayor of Secaucus, stepped down, becoming the first elected official to quit after being charged in the sprawling political corruption case.

Mr. Shaw, 61, once an adviser to some of New Jersey’s most influential Democrats, more recently worked mainly for developers doing business in Hudson County. A top client was Metrovest Equities, developer of the Beacon, a 10-building apartment complex on the site of the former Jersey City Medical Center.

But that type of work appears to have led him into the cross hairs of federal prosecutors.

He was charged on Thursday with accepting $10,000 cash from Solomon Dwek, the federal informant at the center of the corruption scandal, who was posing as a real estate developer seeking political help for his projects.

Prosecutors said Mr. Shaw proposed that Mr. Dwek make $10,000 in donations to the re-election campaign of the Jersey City mayor, Jerramiah T. Healy, in exchange for approvals.

According to a federal complaint, Mr. Shaw later told Mr. Dwek that he had given the money to Mr. Healy.

Aides to Mr. Healy, who has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing, did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday night.

Prosecutors say that Mr. Shaw also introduced Mr. Dwek to several other officials who were eventually charged.

Mr. Shaw was a longtime Democratic operative who cut his teeth working for Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago and later was a campaign aide to Gov. Jim Florio.

He also worked on Robert G. Torricelli’s 1996 Senate race, Robert E. Andrews’s 1997 bid for the Democratic nomination for governor, and Jon S. Corzine’s election to the Senate in 2000.

Over time, he became a fixture in Hudson County Democratic circles. He was an adviser to Robert C. Janiszewski, the former county executive later convicted of corruption.

Lawyers for Mr. Elwell, of Secaucus, announced his resignation on Tuesday afternoon. He is accused of taking $10,000 cash from Mr. Dwek, the F.B.I. informant, who in his case said he was looking for help building a hotel on Route 3 in Secaucus.

Mr. Elwell, a Democrat, quit so he could focus on his defense, one of the lawyers, Jeffrey G. Garrigan, said. “He didn’t want to have his problems interfere with the business of Secaucus,” Mr. Garrigan said. “He doesn’t want to be a distraction.”

Mr. Corzine has repeatedly called for the resignations of the mayors, Assembly members and other elected officials charged by federal prosecutors on Thursday. But Mr. Elwell was “under no pressure,” Mr. Garrigan said. “He just determined it was in the best interests of his family and the people of Secaucus.”

Another of Mr. Elwell’s lawyers, Thomas Cammarata, said Mr. Elwell had “absolutely no intention” of pleading guilty.

Mr. Elwell, 64, had been mayor of Secaucus since 1999. He had been expected to face a stiff re-election campaign in the fall against Councilman Michael Gonnelli.

Mr. Garrigan said Mr. Elwell earned around $25,000 as mayor, a part-time job. Most of Mr. Elwell’s income is from a family-owned trucking business, the lawyer said.

Mayors Peter J. Cammarano III of Hoboken and Anthony R. Suarez of Ridgefield, Assemblymen L. Harvey Smith of Jersey City and Daniel M. Van Pelt of Ocean County and nearly a dozen officials in Jersey City were also arrested last week but have not resigned.

In Jersey City, Mayor Healy said on Monday that he was suspending without pay those city employees who were charged last week.

Mr. Healy himself has said he was referred to in several criminal complaints as an unnamed recipient of campaign donations from Mr. Dwek in exchange for anticipated help on real estate projects, but he has denied wrongdoing.
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I bet they'll make a movie out of this.
 
I guess its time for a hurricane to go thru Joisey, the Toxic State to make her clean, lol...
 
Tousi said:
I guess its time for a hurricane to go thru Joisey, the Toxic State to make her clean, lol...
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:lol: hope it's strong enough to uproot our deeply-rooted corruption!
 
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