Wow! Change is really happening in America

[TeeKee]

US corruption probe nets dozens
More than 40 people, including politicians, officials and several rabbis have been arrested in a major FBI operation the US.

Three mayors from the state of New Jersey and two members of the state legislature were among those held.

One man is accused of alleged kidney trafficking involving Israeli donors.

Three hundred FBI agents raided dozens of locations in New Jersey and New York as part of a 10-year probe into corruption and money laundering.

Prosecutors say the arrests were part of a "dual-tracked" investigation.

Acting US Attorney Ralph Marra told reporters there were 29 suspects on what he termed the "public corruption" side of the investigation, including the politicians.

On the other side, he said, there were 15 suspects in connection with alleged international money-laundering, including the rabbis and their "associates".

'Vulnerable people'

Prosecutors accuse one man of dealing in human kidneys from Israeli donors for transplant for a decade.

It's alleged that "vulnerable people" would give up a kidney for $10,000 (£6,000) and these would then be sold on for $160,000 (£97,000).

Law enforcement officials say investigations originally focused on a network they allege laundered tens of millions of dollars through charities controlled by rabbis in New Jersey and neighbouring New York.

It widened to include alleged official corruption with links to a New Jersey construction boom.

Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini and Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez were among those arrested.

State legislators Harvey Smith and Daniel Van Pelt were also arrested.

Mr Marra said: "It seemed that everyone wanted a piece of the action. The corruption was widespread and pervasive. Corruption was a way of life for the accused."

He said politicians had "willingly put themselves up for sale" and clergymen had "cloaked their extensive criminal activity behind a facade of rectitude".

The BBC's Jane O'Brien says the money laundering ring reportedly spanned the US, Israel and Switzerland.

ARRESTED
Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano
Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell
Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez
Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim, Deal, NJ
Rabbi Saul Kassin, Brooklyn, NY
Rabbi Edmund Nahum, Deal, NJ
Rabbi Mordechai Fish, Brooklyn, NY
Jon Corzine, the Governor of New Jersey, said: "The scale of corruption we're seeing as this unfolds is simply outrageous and cannot be tolerated."

Ed Kahrer, an FBI agent who has worked on the investigation from the start, said: "New Jersey's corruption problem is one of the worst, if not the worst, in the nation.

"It has become ingrained in New Jersey's political culture," he said.

Another FBI agent said: "The list of people we arrested sounds like it should be the roster for a meeting of community leaders, but sadly they weren't meeting in a boardroom this morning, they were in the FBI booking room."

Correspondents say the number of people arrested is large even by New Jersey standards, where more than 130 public officials have either admitted to corruption or been found guilty of it since 2001.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/8165607.stm

Published: 2009/07/23 23:04:22 GMT

© BBC MMIX

 

[ScarFace]

Accused man in NJ probe dies; cause not yet known
Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:29pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - One of 44 people arrested last week in a sweeping federal probe of political corruption and money laundering in New Jersey has been found dead in suspicious circumstances, authorities said.

Jack Shaw, 61, a longtime Democratic political consultant, was discovered dead at his Jersey City home on Tuesday afternoon in circumstances Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio called "suspicious," local media reported.

An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday. The prosecutor told The New York Times that the death did not appear to be murder but could be natural, accidental or a suicide.

Shaw was accused of accepting a $10,000 cash bribe from a government informant posing as a real estate developer hoping to win project approval and public contracts, according to documents in the case.

He had been working for developers in northern New Jersey, the Times said. Shaw previously worked for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and former New Jersey Governor Jim Florio and helped with New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine's race for the U.S. Senate in 2000.

Prosecutors said Shaw asked the informant to donate the cash to the re-election campaign of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who was not charged.

Shaw also introduced the informant to other officials who were charged in the massive investigation of corruption, human organ sales and money laundering involving several mayors and rabbis, they said.

NETWORK OF CORRUPTION

The 10-year investigation exposed influence-peddling and bribe-taking among a network of public officials. A separate multimillion dollar money-laundering ring funneled funds through charities operated by local rabbis, said the U.S. Attorney's office in Newark, New Jersey.

Among those arrested were the mayors of Hoboken, Secaucus and Ridgefield, state lawmakers, city council members, zoning officials, building inspectors and political candidates.

The mayor of Secaucus, Dennis Elwell, resigned on Tuesday, the first of the accused political officials to do so.

The Democratic governor has said all officials swept up in the probe should resign. One of his appointees, Community Affairs Commissioner and former Bayonne mayor Joe Doria, last week tendered his resignation after his home was searched.

Charles Richman is serving as acting commissioner, an agency spokesman said by e-mail.

The agency helps cities and towns with their finances, including bond sales, and the spokesman said he was not aware of any delays in their bringing debt to market.

The money-laundering network by rabbis operated between Brooklyn and Deal, New Jersey, and Israel, authorities said. They laundered some $3 million for the undercover witness between June 2007 and July 2009, authorities said.

The probe also exposed a Brooklyn man accused of conspiring to broker the sale of a human kidney for a transplant.

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