From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Fri Jul 24 2009 - 22:26:00 EDT
3 NJ mayors, lawmakers arrested in corruption case
By DAVID PORTER, Associated Press Writer David Porter,
Thu Jul 23, 7:57 pm ET
NEWARK, N.J. – An investigation into the sale of black-market kidneys and
fake Gucci handbags evolved into a sweeping probe of political corruption
in New Jersey, ensnaring more than 40 people Thursday, including three
mayors, two state lawmakers and several rabbis.
Even for a state with a rich history of graft, the scale of wrongdoing
alleged was breathtaking. An FBI official called corruption "a cancer that
is destroying the core values of this state."
Federal prosecutors said the investigation initially focused on a money
laundering network that operated between Brooklyn, N.Y.; Deal, N.J.; and
Israel. The network is alleged to have laundered tens of millions of
dollars through Jewish charities controlled by rabbis in New York and New
Jersey.
Prosecutors then used an informant in that investigation to help them go
after corrupt politicians. The informant — a real estate developer
charged with bank fraud three years ago — posed as a crooked businessman
and paid a string of public officials tens of thousands of dollars in
bribes to get approvals for buildings and other projects in New Jersey,
authorities said.
Among the 44 people arrested were the mayors of Hoboken, Ridgefield and
Secaucus, Jersey City's deputy mayor, and two state assemblymen. A member
of the governor's cabinet resigned after agents searched his home, though
he was not arrested. All but one of the officeholders are Democrats.
Also, five rabbis from New York and New Jersey — two of whom lead
congregations in Deal — were accused of laundering millions of dollars,
some of it from the sale of counterfeit goods and bankruptcy fraud,
authorities said.
In rounding up the defendants, FBI and IRS agents raided a synagogue
Thursday morning in Deal, a wealthy oceanfront city of Mediterranean-style
mansions, with a large population of Syrian Jews.
Those arrested included Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn, who was charged
with conspiring to arrange the sale of an Israeli citizen's kidney for
$160,000 for a transplant for the informant's fictitious uncle. Rosenbaum
was quoted as saying he had been arranging the sale of kidneys for 10
years.
The politicians arrested were not accused of any involvement in the money
laundering or the trafficking in human organs and counterfeit handbags.
The number of arrests was remarkable even for New Jersey, where more than
130 public officials have pleaded guilty or have been 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 division. "Corruption is a cancer that is destroying the core
values of this state."
Gov. Jon Corzine said: "The scale of corruption we're seeing as this
unfolds is simply outrageous and cannot be tolerated."
Hours after FBI agents seized documents from his home and office, New
Jersey Community Affairs Commissioner Joseph Doria resigned. Federal
officials would not say whether he would be charged. Doria did not return
calls for comment.
The informant, whose name was not released, was the hinge between the two
investigations. He gave prosecutors information about the money laundering
operation, and later, at the direction of the FBI, drew on his background
to go after politicians.
He found a particularly receptive ally in Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano
III, according to prosecutors. The 32-year-old Cammarano, who won a runoff
election last month, was accused of accepting money from the developer at a
Hoboken diner.
"There's the people who were with us, and that's you guys," the complaint
quotes Cammarano saying. "There's the people who climbed on board in the
runoff. They can get in line. ... And then there are the people who were
against us the whole way. ... They get ground into powder."
Cammarano attorney Joseph Hayden said his client is "innocent of these
charges. He intends to fight them with all his strength until he proves his
innocence."
Cammarano was accused of accepting $25,000 in cash bribes. Secaucus Mayor
Dennis Elwell was charged with taking $10,000. Ridgefield Mayor Anthony
Suarez was charged with agreeing to accept an illegal $10,000.
Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini was charged with conspiracy to
commit extortion by taking $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions. State
Assemblymen Daniel Van Pelt and L. Harvey Smith were also accused of taking
payoffs.
Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy said 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."
Mike Winnick was praying inside the Deal Synagogue when it was raided. He
said four FBI agents escorted a rabbi into his office and blocked the
doorway. "Everyone was looking at each other, like, `What's going on
here?'" Winnick said.
Busloads carrying those arrested were brought to the FBI's Newark office.
One agent slowly walked an elderly rabbi into the building as another
covered his face with a felt hat.
___
Angela Delli Santi and Beth DeFalco in Trenton, Wayne Parry in Deal,
Samantha Henry and Victor Epstein in Newark and Larry Neumeister in New
York contributed to this story.
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