Dozens Arrested in New Jersey Corruption Probe

Dozens Arrested in New Jersey Corruption Probe

online.wsj.com

Federal agents swept into northern New Jersey towns Thursday morning, arresting about 30 people including several mayors, in a federal investigation into alleged public corruption and a high-volume, international money-laundering conspiracy.

The probe also involves the trafficking of body parts, according to a person familiar with the matter. One of the individuals who was arrested Thursday morning is an alleged organ dealer, this person said.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.google.com

Rabbis, mayors, money laundering and organ selling... Just caught an alert on this on FNC, there is a scheduled news conference later today...

The broadcaster said that police cars were lined up outside with dozens of those who were arrested in this morning's raid...

It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds in the coming weeks.

online.wsj.com
(visit the link for the full news article)


ed:sp

[edit on 7/23/2009 by JacKatMtn]

Great post. Heard about this on NPR this morning in New York, they where vague on the details just said the same basic info as in your post.

Seems very interesting, where there is tax money there is always corruption, the only way to eliminate corruption is by greatly reducing the potential gains by lowering and eliminating most taxes.

Here's the take from the NYTimes..

2 N.J. Mayors Arrested in Broad Inquiry on Corruption

The mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, a state assemblyman and dozens of others were rounded up early Thursday as the F.B.I. swept across four counties in New Jersey as part of a two-year corruption and money-laundering investigation that ranged from the Jersey Shore to Brooklyn and has even reached into the State House in Trenton.

Agents raided the home of Joseph V. Doria Jr., commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs, who also is the former mayor of Bayonne, an official confirmed Thursday morning.

Among the roughly 30 people arrested by mid-morning were Hoboken Mayor Peter J. Cammarano III and Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, both Democrats, and Assemblyman Daniel M. Van Pelt, a Republican from Forked River, in Ocean County. Mr. Cammarano, who turned 32 on Wednesday, was elected mayor June 9 and sworn in July 1, after serving as councilman-at-large since 2005.

The news conference is scheduled for 12PM EST...

This one looks like a made for TV movie.. :shk:

Its abuot damn time! now, IF only we can get this done in other citys across america..

[edit on 23-7-2009 by TreadUpon]

reply to post by TreadUpon


Three were democrats...one republican. Its in the article linked to the OP.

In cases like this I don't think parties are even relevant.

Money trumps any party affiliation.

ALSO...Some Rabbis were among these folks.
I saw this story on Fox this morning.
Dirty politicians....naw I dont trust my government..should I ?

That's not really surprising either.

Politicians will often use non-profits, particularly religious institutions to do their money laundering because it's harder to track and frankly because people are "less likely" to look there.

I still have yet to see a politician I trust. More of the same...

Just goes tos how, no matter your religion or political stance, yuo can be bought! sad to say.

I live in NJ and I can say this is long overdue. NJ politics has to be one of the most corrupt in the country. This all went down in Hudson County which is the worst county in the state as far as corruption goes.

This is probably the result of a very long investigation. "DUH?"

The hush hush is not so much about the corrupt, treasonous US political movers and shakers but the embarrassing practice they were involved in involving finding organs for transplants for cash.

This is a worldwide practice now.

In China they terminate Christians. Muslims, Buddhists as well as any other individual who strays too far from the way they are supposed to think and take the organs from them on a daily basis.

Ailing Americans seek Chinese organs

There are 90,000 people waiting for organs in the United States. Many of them will die before they ever get close to a transplant. Eric DeLeon of San Mateo, California, did not want to be one of them.

Eric was diagnosed with liver cancer last year. Because he had nine tumors, he was taken off the U.S. transplant list. Doctors considered him a poor candidate for survival.

"I just knew that cancer was going to grow and spread throughout my body and I thought I would be another statistic," Eric told me recently.

So Eric and his wife Lori searched the Internet to check out other transplant options. He found a transplant service in China that promised to find him a healthy liver in a matter of weeks. Eric mortgaged his home and paid $110,000 for a new liver. Two weeks later, he arrived in Shanghai. A couple weeks after that, he had his new liver.

Eric is not alone in looking to China for a new organ. We're told that tens of thousands of foreigners are paying for transplant surgery in China. The problem is those organs may be cut from an executed death row prisoner without consent. That's not all. Some organs are said to have been removed before the prisoner took his last breath in order to keep the organs as fresh as possible.

www.cnn.com...



Look at India...www.abovetopsecret.com...

olice in India have broken up what they call a global organ-trafficking scheme and are hunting its alleged mastermind, a doctor identified as Amit Kumar.


An Indian man named Shakil says he was drugged and his kidney removed against his will.

Authorities Tuesday asked for the public's help in tracking down Kumar after a raid last week on a home in Gurgaon, a city near New Delhi.

Police characterized the scheme as an attempt to harvest kidneys from the poor and sell the organs to wealthy patients.

At least one doctor was arrested, police said, and at least two patients -- one from Greece and the other from the United States -- initially were detained before being freed.

Gurgaon Police Commissioner Mahendra Lal said the doctor confessed the ring carried out about 500 transplants over about 10 years in five states across India.

www.cnn.com...



Lots of this going on and a whole lot worse.

Saw only a portion of the presser, it was cut off by the network..

Hope to be able to find a video clip to link here a little later.

I did find this article which lists those who were arrested this morning..

A pretty long list..

kdka.com

LIST OF SUSPECTS CHARGED

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.

Human Organ Trafficking

• Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum, 58, of Brooklyn, NY, charged with conspiracy to transport human organs

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.

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.

reply to post by JacKatMtn


good list

I am a town over from secaucus, and hoboken, it isn't surprising at all. what is surprising is the number of people involved.

if we can catch these people, when will the other corrupt nuts be arrested?

i knew this one was coming.

another thing that was surprising was jersey city's mayor healy wasnt involved. i find that hard to believe, whn i was working at the waterfront, id always hear about the Mayors being corrupt, and stuff.

i wonder what else is going to come from this....

reply to post by ugie1028


With this many in custody... I wouldn't be surprised if some turn informant and others will be rounded up...

Plea deals on the horizon?

In the interest of keeping the discussion in one thread, I am closing this one.

Please join the discussion in this BAN thread...

Mayors, rabbis arrested in U.S. corruption probe


Closed.