Posted on 07/23/2009 5:56:28 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
"All but one of the officeholders are Democrats."
It took AP all day long for that one line to appear until 8 PM EST.
corruption “a cancer that is destroying the core values of this state.”
Corruption is a core value of politicians in NJ.
NJ has core values ? Who knew ?
QUICK! Someone get a screenshot of that page on that site before they change it!!
And, yes. I am series! This is HUGH!
Oy yoy yoy.
This story reads like a joke: Ok, so three Joisey mayors, two Assemblymen, and several rabbis walk into a bar...
Are any of these Obama friends, like Harvard’s Gates(not a gated community) and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson? ? If yes, it must be a racist persecution..
Hmm, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC, NYTIMES, WASH. POST ... in other words, the usual State Run Media outfits, seemed to have overlooked this affair over the years. (Psst ... too many DEMOCRATS involved.) They wouldn't want to give their favorite political party a bad reputation you know.)
The thing that absolutely amazes me about the corruption in this state is that it is so blatant and, oft times, penny-ante and yet, while the Fed have been racking up conviction after conviction, The New Jersey Attorneys General have not a notch on their gunbelt. When they did get close once, the covered it up and refused to let the feds have access to some wiretaps until they were edited.
Could be the FBI has become WORTHLESS...
Didn't take much fixin'.
I am just waiting on the OAS to insist on the mayors being returned to power because they were democratically elected...and to insist on amnesty for their ´crimes´because after all they were elected...lmao.
I wonder if there is any truth to the idea that 0bama heard that New Jersey was laying claim to the Most Corrupt State in the Union title, so he sent the FBI in to make sure no one muscled in on Illinois’ well earned claim to fame.
Nice capture ;)
Maybe this explains why so many jews voted dim.
Deal used to be one of my hang-outs, sort of a Beverly Hills on the beach.
NJ core values are about the same as Illinois core values. “Screw the people and make as much money as you can.”
I’m very surprised the media let out what political party these scum bags are in. What a surprise, all but one is a democrat. The last person is probably a RINO.
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