Tony Mack, New Jersey mayor, arrested by FBI in corruption probe
FBI agents are mourning the death of two members of the FBI’s ultra-elite Hostage Rescue Team who were killed Friday during a training accident.
Tony Mack, the Mayor of New Jersey's capital of Trenton, was arrested along with seven others Monday in connection to an ongoing corruption probe of his administration.
The FBI took Mack, his longtime campaign supporter and steakhouse owner Joseph "JoJo" Giorgianni, and Mack's brother and high school football coach Ralphiel into custody early Monday morning, the New Jersey Star-Ledger reported.
The three have been charged with conspiring to obstruct, delay, and affect interstate commerce by extortion, CBS News reported. They were brought to the FBI office in Hamilton, and are scheduled to appear in federal court, according to NBC News New York.
The trio reportedly took $54,000 in cash bribes from an agent posing as a parking garage developer, and were waiting on another $65,000 in bribes, according to Reuters.
Mack and his administration have been under investigation by federal officials since September 2010, shortly after taking office, according to the Star-Ledger. FBI agents raided the three men's homes July 18 and found 50 and 100 dollar bills that matched serial numbers sourced from the parking garage manager.
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His tenure as Trenton's mayor has been fraught with scandal that caused a number of staff to resign, including a business manager who pled guilty to embezzlement at another job, another that said Mack wasn't interested in "good government," and a housing director convicted of theft, NBC News reported.
Mack's former chief of staff Paul Sigmund was also arrested in May 2011 trying to buy heroin, the Star-Ledger reported, and the mayor's half-brother was arrested on charges of stealing.
"This is not a surprise," Mack's former campaign aide Jerell Blakley told NBC News about the probe. "A lot of people in Trenton were of the opinion—not of if, but when."
“Of course I’m not excited to hear about someone being in a big trouble, but yes, I am excited at the prospect that it might turn around,” Eleanor Kubacki, the founder and CEO of an advertising agency based in Trenton for 15 years, told the Trentonian. “Maybe this is the rock bottom.”
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