UPDATE 1-Mayors, rabbis arrested in NJ corruption probe

Thu Jul 23, 2009 1:17pm EDT

By Ellen Wulfhorst

NEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) - Three New Jersey mayors and several rabbis were arrested on Thursday in a sweeping federal investigation into political corruption that also uncovered human kidney sales and money laundering from Brooklyn to Israel, authorities said.

Among the 44 people arrested were Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, who took office 23 days ago.

Cammarano, at 31 the city's youngest mayor, was charged with taking $25,000 in bribes, including $10,000 last Thursday, said the U.S. Attorney's office in Newark, New Jersey.

The case exposed "a corrupt network of public officials who were all too willing to take cash in exchange for promised official action," Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra said in a statement. "It seemed that everyone wanted a piece of the action. The corruption was widespread and pervasive."

Central to the investigation was an informant who was charged with bank fraud in 2006 and posed undercover as a real estate developer and owner of a tile business hoping to build projects and win public contracts in northern New Jersey, according to documents in the case.

The undercover witness helped infiltrate a money-laundering network by rabbis who operated between Brooklyn, Deal, New Jersey, and Israel and laundered millions of dollars through charitable nonprofit entities controlled by rabbis in New York and New Jersey, authorities said.

They laundered some $3 million for the undercover witness between June 2007 and July 2009, authorities said.

Julio La Rosa, acting special agent in charge of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, said while traditional money laundering was once confined to narcotics traffickers and organized crime, "based on the allegations contained in today's complaints, money laundering has no boundaries and impacts every segment of our society."

HUMAN KIDNEY SALES

Rabbis accused of money-laundering were Eliahu Ben Haim, the principal rabbi of a synagogue in Deal; Saul Kassin, chief rabbi of a synagogue in Brooklyn; Edmund Nahum, the principal rabbi of another synagogue in Deal; and Mordchai Fish, a rabbi at a synagogue in Brooklyn.

Most of the defendants were arrested early on Thursday by federal agents.

One of the many criminal complaints filed in the case also accused a Brooklyn man, Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, with conspiring to broker the sale of a human kidney for a transplant, at a cost of $160,000 to the transplant recipient. Continued...

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Comment by guest_blog on March 3, 2013 at 11:54am: "religious leaders"

Comment by Tara on July 24, 2009 at 1:25am: I know, lol....paybacks are a bitch! It's nice to see some justice done!

Comment by truth on July 24, 2009 at 1:21am: I just can not believe I saw God's very own chosen people being perp walked lol.

Comment by Tara on July 24, 2009 at 1:13am: Thanks for the plethora of info James! Kudo's to you!

Boy, this is all really disturbing! It's just the tip of iceberg though. I wish they were doing the same thing in WA DC and bringing all the crooks, liars, cheats, perverts and snakes to justice too and moreover go after those that lurk behind curtains..... the puppet masters who are evil incarnate and feed of those that lust for their power and wealth.

Comment by truth on July 23, 2009 at 11:44pm

Massive New Jersey corruption probe snares officials, rabbis

Posted by The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk July 23, 2009 4:35PM

Federal authorities arrested 44 people in New Jersey and New York in a broad-ranging corruption and international money laundering investigation that led to charges against two N.J. assemblyman and mayors of Hoboken, Secaucus and Ridgefield. The FBI and IRS investigation also ensnared rabbis from the Syrian Jewish communities in Deal and Brooklyn. -- Full list of charged politicians, religious leaders

July 23, 2009:

Massive N.J. corruption sting targets mayors, legislators, rabbis

FBI and IRS agents arrested five rabbis, two New Jersey state legislators, three mayors, political operatives, and many others, as part of a probe that spanned from Hoboken to Israel.

N.J. corruption arrests strike core of Deal's Syrian Jewish community

The arrest today of at least three prominent Syrian Jews as part of a wide-ranging investigation into political corruption and money-laundering brought an unwanted spotlight to the Syrian Jewish community of Deal, which has long tended toward insularity.

Black-market kidneys trafficking charge provides bizarre twist on N... -- Read the complaint filed against Eliahu Ben Haim

U.S. Attorney, FBI hold press conference on corruption arrests

Cooperating witness Solomon Dwek emerges as cornerstone of N.J. cor...

Solomon Dwek, a soft-spoken Deal businessman, has emerged as the cooperating witness who wore a wire for the FBI in one of the largest and most complex corruption stings in New Jersey history.

AARON HOUSTON/FOR THE STAR-LEDGER FBI and IRS agents remove documents from the Trenton office of Joseph Doria, who later resigned as commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs.

Longtime legislator Joseph Doria resigns after feds raid his home, ...

Gov. Jon Corzine said he asked for and got cabinet member and longtime legislature Joseph Doria's resignation hours after federal investigators searched his home and seized records from his Trenton office.

Jersey City deputy mayor, council president among public officials ...

Fifteen Jersey City officials including a deputy mayor and a firefighter, were named today in a sweeping government complaint that alleges widespread violation of the public trust. -- Read the complaint filed against Mariano Vega

N.J. corruption probe inevitably converges with gubernatorial politics

The corruption allegations leveled against several prominent public officials today roiled the landscape of an already contentious governor's race between Corzine and Chris Christie, the former U.S. attorney who built his reputation on sending politicians to jail.

Governor Photos/Tim LarsenGov. Jon Corzine and Attorney General Anne Milgram hold a press conference today to comment on the federal corruption probe at the State Attorney General's office in Newark.

Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano is charged in N.J. corruption sweep

Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, seen by many as a rising star in New Jersey politics, on his 23rd day as mayor of the Hudson County city, is charged with taking three payments of $5,000 each to push through building plans for a high-rise development in Hoboken that was being proposed by a man who turned out to be a cooperating witness for the government. In total, Cammarano is accused of taking $25,000 in bribes.

Healy suspends all city employees caught in corruption probe

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy is suspending all of the city workers -- without pay -- who are charged in the wide-ranging corruption scandal. Hudson County employees involved in the scandal are being suspended with pay.

Following the N.J. corruption money trail: Money laundering splinte...

What began as a federal investigation into money laundering by Syrian Jewish community leaders in New Jersey and New York a decade ago spawned into a broad web of political corruption that enveloped two N.J. assemblymen and three mayors.

N.J. corruption probe: Full list of politicians, religious leaders ...

The U.S. Attorney's Office has divided the 44 people charged in the sweeping N.J. federal probe into two groups -- those accused of public corruption, and those charged in the international money laundering ring.

Ed Murray/The Star-LedgerRepublican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie, at a news conference today in West New York, called for the resignation of all public officials involved in the arrests today, including Republican Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt.

Chris Christie calls for resignations of all N.J. politicians charg...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie called for the resignation all public official involved in today's sweeping corruption and international money laundering investigation, including a fellow Republican, Assemblyman Dennis Van Pelt.

N.J. DCA Commissioner Joe Doria resigns amid corruption probe

Gov. Jon Corzine announced today that Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Joe Doria has resigned from his post after federal officials raided his Bayonne home and Trenton office amid a wide-ranging federal corruption probe.

New Jersey corruption investigation centers on cooperating witness ...

The key cooperating witness in the New Jersey corruption probe that led to federal charges against 44 people including two assemblymen and three mayors is an Ocean Township real estate developer accused two years ago with trying to defraud a bank of more than $50 million.

ROBERT SCIARRINO/THE STAR-LEDGERHoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano III is one of many people brought to FBI Headquarters in Newark after being taken into custody early this morning.

Deal, small N.J. town with large Jewish community, is flooded with ...

This small town was inundated today with FBI agents raiding homes, arresting rabbis and leaving other synagogue members confused and betrayed in today's broad-ranging corruption and international money laundering investigation.

A call for a resignation as elected officials react to N.J. corrupt...

New Jersey politicians offered their opinions on the massive corruption sweep.

New Jersey corruption sweep reveals 'pervasive' web of money launde...

The wide-ranging, 10-year probe of New Jersey corruption that led to charges against 44 people today stems from the "pervasive nature of public corruption in this state," acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra said today during a press conference in Newark.

Feds charge 44 with corruption including two N.J. assemblymen, thre...

The wide-ranging investigation also charged Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, of Brooklyn, with "conspiring to broker the sale of a human kidney for a transplant, at a cost of $160,000 to the transplant recipient," according to federal authorities. The connection of they kidney sale to the other aspects of the investigation, however, has not been made clear.

Feds accuse N.J. mayors, assemblyman of corruption

Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Joseph Doria's home and office were raided this morning by federal officials as part of the sweeping FBI and IRS probe that has resulted in the arrests of 30 people, including Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt and two mayors.

N.J. corruption arrests ensnare Assemblyman, mayors, rabbis

Those arrested were led to the FBI building in Newark in the morning.

N.J. politicians, rabbis arrested in federal money laundering sweep

Breaking Story -- Federal authorities arrested dozens of people today in New York and New Jersey as part of a money laundering and corruption sweep. Those arrested included several New Jersey public officials and rabbis.