New Jersey is known mostly for the negatives: the pollution, the corruption, the aggressive drivers, the citizens’ arrogance, and so on.  And in an effort to keep the negative reputation going, federal authorities have begun rounding up mayors and other state officials in a massive corruption probe that involves an international money laundering conspiracy–even some rabbis have been fingered as major players in this mess, which could prove to be one of the greatest betrayals of public trust of all time, working to make Bernie Madoff look like a good fellow by comparison.  Oh, New Jersey. 

Here is an excerpt from the Associated Press.  We’ll have more info as the story unfolds so check back for updates.

The mayors of two New Jersey cities and a state legislator are under arrest Thursday as part of a major corruption and international money laundering conspiracy probe.

Federal prosecutors say about 30 people have been arrested. They include Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt, Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano III, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell and Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini. Federal prosecutors say several rabbis in New York and New Jersey are also arrested.

UPDATE: As it stands, it looks like this is just the beginning of a lengthy investigation.  Apparently, bribes were being thrown around like confetti, kidneys were being sold, and money was being funneled to Israel.   44 have been arrested in total, but something tells me many more will be joining the ranks of some of the scumiest scum to ever breathe in that New Jersey/New York air.  To say that power corrupted these men would be a huge understatement.  Power didn’t corrupt these cuncbags, it simply enabled them.

Part of the press conference, which I couldn’t find online, featured the U.S Attorney, Ralph Marra Jr., reading quotes provided by the investigation’s cooperating witness.  After the run-off election between Peter Cammarano III and Dawn Zimmer for Mayor of Hoboken, allegedly it was heard by Cammarano and associates that, “There are 3 kinds of people: Those who were with us during the run-off.  Those who jumped on the bandwagon after the run-off–they’ll have to wait in line.  And those who were against us the whole way.  They get ground into powder.”

Now that’s a paraphrase, and a pretty accurate one at that, but I will keep looking for a full video of the press conference.  If you found one, please post a link in the comments.  This is definitely going to be a lot bigger than it looks right now and we can only hope justice gets served and that the public isn’t kept in the dark about all the details.  So far, it’s looking like there are good people out there driven to make sure lowlives get what they deserve, which is plenty of years in prison.

Below is part of the U.S. Attorney’s press conference:

sources:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/23/new.jersey.arrests/index.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090723/ap_on_re_us/us_nj_corruption_arrests

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2009/07/cammarano_should_resign_as_hob.html