I found it to be an odd one, not surprised the NJ has corruption though

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=106918289
The mayors of three New Jersey cities, two state legislators and five rabbis were among dozens of people rounded up by federal authorities Thursday morning as part of a decade-long investigation into corruption, bribery and money laundering.

At 6 a.m., more than 300 agents and local law enforcement officials fanned out to 54 different locations in New Jersey and New York to make the arrests and execute search warrants related to the probe.

The list of people charged in the case is pages long and reads like a Who's Who of eastern New Jersey politics. The 44 either arrested or charged Thursday include Democratic mayors Peter Cammarano of Hoboken, Dennis Elwell of Secaucus and Anthony Suarez of Ridgefield; Republican Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt and Democratic Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith, according to the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey.

Jersey City's Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini and City Council President Mariano Vega also were part of the sweep. They are accused, among other charges, of accepting tens of thousands of dollars each in bribes.

"For these defendants, corruption was a way of life," said Ralph J. Marra, Jr., the acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey, at a press conference to announce the charges. "They existed in an ethics-free zone." He added that average citizens "don't have a chance" against the culture of influence peddling that the investigation alleges.

The investigation initially began as a money-laundering probe, officials said. The FBI had infiltrated a network out of New Jersey and New York that had been funneling tens of millions of dollars through charitable, nonprofit entities allegedly controlled by a handful of rabbis in New Jersey and New York City. Officials said the money was typically laundered through contacts in Israel and then, apparently, was returned with between 10 percent to 15 percent taken off the top as a commission. The rabbis are from Brooklyn and the New Jersey cities of Deal and Elberon.

"These defendants laundered about $3 million just through our cooperating witness alone," Marra said.

The U.S. attorney's criminal complaint also charges that a Brooklyn man linked to the investigation was trafficking in human organs. He allegedly enticed people to give up a kidney for $10,000 and then sold the organs for transplant for $160,000 apiece. The complaint says that Levy Izhak Rosenbaum has been brokering the illegal sale of kidneys for a decade.

The laundering investigation morphed into a public corruption probe about two years ago, officials said. That's when a witness working with the FBI pretended to be a building developer and reportedly was able to offer New Jersey officials money in exchange for zoning changes and guarantees of smooth building inspections.

In one such incident, the FBI's cooperating witness allegedly met with Cammarano in a diner. The criminal complaint says the fake developer asked Cammarano, who had not yet become mayor, for some sort of assurance that in exchange for $10,000, his building projects wouldn't get caught up in city bureaucracy, and would be expedited by Hoboken's City Council. Cammarano replied, "I promise you," adding, "You're gonna be, you're gonna be treated like a friend," the complaints state.

The developer said he would give a middleman $5,000 in cash for Cammarano and another $5,000 after he became mayor. "OK," Cammarano replied, according to the complaints. "Beautiful."

Joseph Hayden, an attorney who is representing Cammarano, told The Associated Press that his client was "innocent of these charges. He intends to fight them with all his strength until he proves his innocence."

Agents also raided the home of the state's community affairs commissioner, Joseph Doria. While he has not been charged in the case, Gov. Jon Corzine asked him to step down. He did that Thursday afternoon.
im sure though its just false reporting because its npr