Mayor Of Trenton, New Jersey And 2 Others Arrested In Corruption Probe
By Molly Daly and Robin Rieger
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) — Trenton Mayor Tony Mack and his brother Ralphiel had no comment while leaving federal court after being released on $150,000 unsecured bail on Monday.
The mayor, his brother and a supporter were all arrested early Monday morning in connection with an ongoing corruption and bribery investigation in New Jersey's capital city.
Mayor Tony Mack, his brother Ralphiel, and convicted sex offender Joseph Giorgianni, who owns a Trenton sandwich shop, were arrested early this morning.
US attorney Paul Fishman made the announcement:
"We have charged Mayor Mack, his brother, and Giorgianni with conspiring to solicit and accept more than $100 thousand in bribes, in exchange for the assistance of Mayor Mack and another Trenton city official in facilitating and promoting a parking garage project."
The garage project didn't exist — it was concocted as part of the FBI sting operation.
Fishman says Giorgianni, who is also charged in a separate complaint with conspiring to distribute the painkiller oxycodone, described himself as a middleman or "buffer" between Mack and the two FBI informants posing as developers, starting in the fall of 2010.
Fishman says Giorgianni made a telling declaration:
"It was quite clear from the conversation what the point was. As he said, quote, 'One thing about the Mack administration — when I say that, it's me and Tony — we're not greedy. We're corruptible.'"
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 accusations of 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 complained at one point that Mack cannot take bribes because he's being watched so closely, the documents said. "It's sickening," he told one of the informants, according to the court papers.
"I like to make money for my friends," he said, according to the papers, and went on to reference infamously corrupt political boss William M. Tweed. "I like to do it like the Boss Tweed way. You know Boss Tweed ran Tammany Hall?"
By contrast, when Mack was recorded, it was mostly just to say he'd meet someone or exchanging pleasantries. But in April, he was recorded at a meeting with Giorgianni and one of the informants saying, "I really appreciate what you guys have done for us. I appreciate your support and, like before, I support you and I'll keep on supporting you."
Authorities say, though, that Mack, whom Giorgianni referred to as "Napoleon," was involved in the scheme. One piece of evidence they offer is that Giorgianni referred to money by code — calling it "Uncle Remus" — when he spoke with Mack, and that Mack seemed to know what he was saying.
The complaint also said that $2,500 in $100 bills with the serial numbers of those given to Giorgianni were found in a search of Ralphiel Mack's home in July.
"I don't have anything to say about the charges at this time," said Mayor Mack's attorney, Mark Davis, while leaving the courthouse.
Some in the community are calling for the mayor step down.
"He was not a competent mayor before all this. Certainly with this hanging over his head, he's not going to be able to function," said community activist Jim Carlucci.
The city council president says that if the mayor steps down, the city's business administrator would be in charge until the city council appoints someone else. Council members haven't met yet to discuss the charges.
Tony Mack was taken to an FBI office in Hamilton, NJ for processing, and was driven into a secure area of the federal courthouse in Trenton at around 11am.
Mack's administration has been in turmoil from day one, staggering from one crisis to another. A housecleaning of staff at City Hall opened the door for Mack's own appointees, who quickly turned it into a revolving door.
Under an agreement reached last year, the Democrat can hire department heads only from a pool of applicants the state offers or he risks losing $6 million in state aid.
One of his early backers was Giorgianni. The businessman went to prison in the 1980s on charges of carnally abusing and debauching the morals of a 14-year-old girl in the back of his sandwich shop. The case gained notoriety because of weight-related health problems that got Giorgianni, a steakhouse owner who once claimed to tip the scale at over 500 pounds, released and led a prosecutor to charge he "ate his way out of jail."
