Trenton mayor arrested in FBI sting

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 Mack, 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 say Mr. Mack agreed to use his influence in connection with a proposed parking garage project in the city. The garage was made up — a fake project created by investigators to try to capture Mr. Mack, who has financial problems and has attracted legal scrutiny since he took office.

Federal agents began investigating Mr. Mack and the others in September 2010. Mr. Mack had become mayor in July.

The defendants received $54,000 and anticipated 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 complains at one point that Mr. Mack cannot take bribes because he’s being watched so closely, the documents say. “It’s sickening,” he told one of the informants, the court papers say.

“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?”

He also was 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.”

By contrast, when Mr. Mack was recorded, it was mostly just to say he would meet someone or to exchange 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 Mr. 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 Mr. Mack, and that Mr. Mack seemed to know what he was saying.

The complaint also says 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.

Tony Mack was taken to an FBI office in Hamilton for processing and was driven into a secure area of the federal courthouse in Trenton at about 11 a.m. Monday.

His administration has been staggering from one crisis to another from Day One. A housecleaning of staff at City Hall opened the door for Mr. Mack’s own appointees, who quickly turned it into a revolving door.

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