Early Monday morning, federal authorities arrested Tony F. Mack, mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, on corruption charges including conspiracy to obstruct commerce by extortion. He was arrested at 6.30am at his home in Berkeley Avenue, according to NBC 4 New York.
Mack, his top campaign contributor Joseph "Jojo" Giorgianni (owner of a steak-house) and six others have been whisked away by federal authorities for their role in an ongoing corruption probe since September 2010 related to a city parking garage project involving as much as $119,000 in bribes.
"The investigation revealed evidence of a conspiracy among the defendants and other to corrupt certain functions of Trenton City government in favor of a purported developer seeking to building a parking garage on City-owned property in exchange for cash payments totaling approximate $119,000, a total of $54,000 that the defendants actually accepted in one way or another and another $65,000 that they anticipated accepting," according to the criminal complaint filed Monday, reported by NewJersey.com
Mack and the others were handcuffed by the FBI and taken to a federal court in Trenton, New Jersey. They will soon be scheduled for a federal appearance. If convicted, Mack could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The allegations come mainly from a long investigation involving a lot of wire-tapping. One conversation reveals saying Giorgianni,
"I can be bought...We want this...I like to do it the Boss Tweed way, you know, Boss Tweed ran Tammany Hall...Tony knows when I'm in for a penny I'm in for a pounds," as reported by NBC 4 New York.
A press conference on the incident is scheduled for later Monday.
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