Mayor of New Jersey’s capital city arrested
as part of federal corruption probe into bribery
Federal agents arrested Mayor Tony Mack,
along with his brother, Ralphiel, and convic-
ted sex offender Joseph Giorgianni, Monday,
Sept. 10. 2012 as part of an ongoing corrup-
tion investigation. Federal prosecutors allege
Mack agreed to use his influence in connection
with a proposed parking garage project.
TRENTON, N.J. — Federal agents arrested the mayor of New Jersey’s capital city early Monday as part of an ongoing corruption investigation into bribery allegations related to a parking garage project that was concocted as part of an FBI sting operation.
Trenton Mayor Tony Mack, his brother, Ralphiel, and convicted sex offender Joseph Giorgianni, a Mack supporter who owns a Trenton sandwich shop, were accused of conspiring to obstruct, delay and affect interstate commerce by extortion under color of official right.
Federal prosecutors alleged Mack agreed to use his influence in connection with a proposed parking garage project in the city. The garage was made up — just a devise created by investigators to try to capture Mack, who has financial problems and attracted legal scrutiny since he took office.
Federal agents began investigating Mack and the others in September 2010. Mack had become mayor in July.
The defendants received $54,000 and anticipated accepting another $65,000 from a cooperating witness who purported to be a developer, according to court documents that laid out the sting and the alleged wrongdoing.
The criminal complaint portrays Giorgianni as a boastful man who did most of the talking with two FBI informants — one who was cooperating to get a better deal in his own criminal case, another who was paid.
The sting was similar to the massive “Bid Rig” sting that resulted criminal charges against 46 people — many of them local New Jersey officials — in 2009. Then, bribes were attached to fictitious development projects. Prosecutors have had mixed success in winning convictions.
Giorgianni complains at one point that Mack cannot take bribes because he’s being watched so closely. “It’s sickening,” he told one of the informants, according to the court papers.
“I like to make money for my friends,” he said at another point, according to the papers. “I like to do it like the Boss Tweed way. You know Boss Tweed ran Tammany Hall?”
He was also caught on tape telling one of the informants, “One thing about the Mack administration — when I say that, it’s me and Mack — we’re not greedy. We’re corruptible. We want anybody to make a buck,” and “I’m there to buffer the thing where, you know, take the weight... going to jail’s my business. It ain’t his.”
Trenton Mayor Tony Mack, his brother, Ralphiel, and convicted sex offender Joseph Giorgianni, a Mack supporter who owns a Trenton sandwich shop, were accused of conspiring to obstruct, delay and affect interstate commerce by extortion under color of official right.
Federal prosecutors alleged Mack agreed to use his influence in connection with a proposed parking garage project in the city. The garage was made up — just a devise created by investigators to try to capture Mack, who has financial problems and attracted legal scrutiny since he took office.
Federal agents began investigating Mack and the others in September 2010. Mack had become mayor in July.
The defendants received $54,000 and anticipated accepting another $65,000 from a cooperating witness who purported to be a developer, according to court documents that laid out the sting and the alleged wrongdoing.
The criminal complaint portrays Giorgianni as a boastful man who did most of the talking with two FBI informants — one who was cooperating to get a better deal in his own criminal case, another who was paid.
The sting was similar to the massive “Bid Rig” sting that resulted criminal charges against 46 people — many of them local New Jersey officials — in 2009. Then, bribes were attached to fictitious development projects. Prosecutors have had mixed success in winning convictions.
Giorgianni complains at one point that Mack cannot take bribes because he’s being watched so closely. “It’s sickening,” he told one of the informants, according to the court papers.
“I like to make money for my friends,” he said at another point, according to the papers. “I like to do it like the Boss Tweed way. You know Boss Tweed ran Tammany Hall?”
He was also caught on tape telling one of the informants, “One thing about the Mack administration — when I say that, it’s me and Mack — we’re not greedy. We’re corruptible. We want anybody to make a buck,” and “I’m there to buffer the thing where, you know, take the weight... going to jail’s my business. It ain’t his.”
FULL ARTICLE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...f0d012-fb44-11e1-98c6-ec0a0a93f8eb_story.html