I don't know of any discounts -- here is another article though!
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Smooth jazz for summer's end
Friday, September 8, 2006

By ED BEESON
HERALD NEWS


Looking for one of those laid-back last-of-summer weekends? Perhaps you should check out this weekend's Liberty Jazz Festival in Jersey City.

The two-day festival, co-produced by the smooth jazz radio station CD101.9, spends the weekend at the city's Liberty State Park with a lineup full of Grammy Award-winning smooth jazz players.

Saturday night's concert is headlined by Norman Brown, who won a Grammy for "Just Chillin'," his 2002 pop, jazz and R&B fusion album. He will perform with his Summer Storm band, a quartet that features saxophonist and former soap opera star Paul Taylor ("One Life to Live"). Preceding Brown is George Benson, an eight-time Grammy-winning jazz guitarist who for four decades has wowed critics and fans with his versatility and virtuosity.

One of Argentina's best known musical exports, Gato Barbieri, performs Saturday afternoon. The Grammy-winning saxophonist is perhaps best known for the score he composed to the controversial 1972 film "Last Tango in Paris," as well as his many appearances at the Playboy Jazz Festival in Los Angeles. Also performing Saturday is the Spirit of Life Ensemble with Daoud-David Williams and guitarist Gil Parris.

The Rendezvous All-Stars, a jazz quartet that features retired NBA forward Wayman Tisdale on bass, headlines Sunday's concert. Performing before the All-Stars is another, more renowned jazz figure, the smooth jazz saxophonist David Sanborn. The six-time Grammy winner performs for an hour.

Also performing Sunday is what could be called a smooth jazz showdown: the four-man Guitars & Saxes 2006 tour will softly rumble the crowd for two hours in the afternoon. Stanley Jordan opens the concert.

Doors open at noon Saturday and Sunday. The concert runs until 9:35 p.m. Saturday, and 8:05 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets for general admission lawn seating, when purchased in advance, cost $54.50 per day or $94.50 for both days. Tickets at the gate jump to $69.50 per day or $115 for both days. Reserved seating costs $94.50 per day, $179 both days (advance); $125 per day, $225 per day (day of show). Children 6 and under are free.

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Friends of Liberty State Park, a 30-year-old all-volunteer organization dedicated to beautifying the park that is home to New Jersey's Sept. 11 memorial and some of the best views of the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty.

For tickets and information, call 888-556-5299 or visit www.nj.com/libertyjazzfestival.

Reach Ed Beeson at 973-569-7042 or beeson@northjersey.com.

JCPD loses a cop legendary for his smarts, and his caring
Friday, September 08, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City Deputy Police Chief John Sheyka, the most decorated cop in the city's history, died yesterday, apparently of natural causes, in his Lafayette section home, authorities said.

Sheyka had a legendary 33-year service record, Police Chief Tom Comey said, earning 78 awards from the Jersey City Police Department and the FBI.

There were so many awards and plaques on a wall in his home, Deputy Chief Peter Nalbach, that it was hard to see the paint color.

He hadn't taken a sick day since 1973, Comey said.

"We used to have to tell him, 'John, go on vacation! We'll call you when you have to come back,'" Comey said.

Sheyka remained in the Lafayette Section home where he was raised, leaving a pencil and pad on his front stoop so people could leave him crime tips when he wasn't home, and paid informants out of his own pocket if that's what it took to solve a crime, Comey said.

But he also would bring food to relatives of people he'd locked up, and alongside his many service awards he hung up pictures of people who had turned their lives around after he'd arrested them.

When Comey graduated from the Police Academy in 1981, he was told that if he had a problem on the street he ought to call Honda Able One - Sheyka's radio name, which dated to the days he rode a scooter.

"It was the best information I got at the academy," Comey said. "And as chief I still relied on his counsel."

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said Sheyka was "completely dedicated to whatever position and assignment he had. His institutional memory was superior to that of the most sophisticated computer."

Police Director Sam Jefferson said Sheyka was known even at the national level for his knowledge of the streets.

Jazz festival a treat for the ears and eyes
Star Ledger - Friday, September 08, 2006

Guitarist and singer George Benson, a headliner at the Liberty Jazz Festival, calls the event's location "spectacular."

The festival, set for Saturday and Sunday at the waterside Green Ring in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, does have amazing views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Jersey City and Manhattan skylines.

"Man, I can't think of any site within a city's limits like this," says Benson. "With the view of New York and the rest, it's really incredible."

Adding a musical complement to those vistas will be a bevy of contemporary jazz stars, from Benson and saxophonists Gato Barbieri and David Sanborn, to guitarists Norman Brown and Stanley Jordan.

The festival is produced by The Star-Ledger, CD101.9 and Promo 1, in association with RBC Dain-Rauscher and Valley National Bank.

Performance times may vary. Gates open at noon both days.

Advance tickets range from $44.50 for one-day lawn seat to $179 for a two-day VIP pass, which includes seating and VIP parking. Day-of-concert tickets range from $69.50 one-day lawn ticket to $225 two-day VIP seating -- with VIP parking to match. Children age 6 and under are admitted free.

Call (888) 556-5299 or visit www.cd1019.com.

The festival allows cameras, lawn chairs, blankets, and hand-held umbrellas but does not allow any beverages (including water), food, coolers, grills, or large beach-type umbrellas. Numerous food and beverage vendors will be on hand for the entirety of the festival. All attendees are allowed exit and re-entry to the festival site. Visit www.nj.com/libertyjazzfestival for complete festival guidelines.

From New Jersey: Take the New Jersey Turnpike to Exit 14C. After tolls, get in right lane and exit down the ramp to a stop sign. Follow signs to Jazz Festival Parking.

Here is a case of a "crack head" from Holland Gardens public housing area (grove street) crossing over the tunnel traffic to rob gas station on this side - (14th street)

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From the Jersey Journal:

Robbery suspect throws loose change at cops during chase
Tuesday, September 05, 2006

A robbery suspect tried to fend off cops by throwing loose change at them during a chase through the Holland Gardens public housing complex, police said.

When police finally caught up to Willie Fredericks, 39, of Grove Street in Jersey City, he punched and kicked them until he could be subdued, reports said.

At that point, police said, all he had left in his pockets was a dollar coin, two pennies, and a glass crack pipe, reports said.

The incident began Sunday just before 11 p.m. when an attendant at the Sunoco gas station on 14th Street in Jersey City called police to say he'd just been robbed.

Minutes later, police spotted Fredericks, who they said matched the description of the robbery suspect, standing across the street from the Holland Gardens public housing complex.

He was caught after the coin-tossing chase and scuffle and arrested on charges of aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, robbery and possession of drug paraphernalia, police said.

CRAIG GARRETSON

It is up and working now


London's Financial Times: Cover article on Jersey City

It is in FT's "How to Spend it" section -- it's their travel, arts and entertainment magazine section -- click on the Jersey City Golf Course -- the one with NYC in background.

http://www.ft.com/howtospendit

It is a funny interface -- it is a virtual magazine -- if you want to jump to the cover article it starts on page 64

Sorry if I was unclear -- Yeah I would LOVE to see it as a PS1 or BAM kind of thing! I would love to see so many other things -- I would love to see the Strand Book Store open in a small part of it - The Strand could act as the HUB for a huge yearly Book Fair held all over Downtown Jersey City and Liberty State Park - as with the Chicago's Printers Row or the Miami Book Fair.

Or I would love to see a bunch of REAL "known" galleries with track histories - large PRESS boooks - open in the powerhouse.

I more than anyone would hate to see any frat/tourist bars - ESPN sports bar kind of places, or HARD ROCK CAFE kind of places -- those are REALLY JERSEY!

They also would hurt other bars in Jersey City by making the powerhouse into some kind of de facto Bar Mall and food court -- like the Newport Mall, this Bar Mall will hurt the development of the rest of downtown -- and will just be very JERSEY and not at all NYC!!!!

If they do put fake tourist crap in there (like the South Street Seaport) -- which I hate to say seems likely given where it is and hotels and condos around it, then I really hope THEY put a Barnes and Noble in there at least.

"At least" I can read the magazines.

Yeah -- I hate ESPN and sports bars, but I would like a Barnes and Noble -- but please make it with in two years not five!

I think as far as art -- it will happen west in JC -- it's a little too high end already for anything REAL to happen around there.

I don't blame people for trying to get cheap condos though.

Wants development on abandoned city property; more visibility

Ricardo Kaulessar - Hudson Reporter - 09/02/2006

NEW MAN AT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY ? Robert Antonicello was named the new executive director of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency by Mayor Jerramiah Healy in April.
A city agency charged with redeveloping approximately 75 city properties has a relatively new director.

In April, Robert Antonicello, who used to be a private real estate broker, was named the new executive director of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency by Mayor Jerramiah Healy.

"What I do here is what I did on the other side the table when working in the private sector," said Antonicello in an interview last week. "I'll be reviewing all the city's redevelopment projects and find out where some of them have been stalled."

The Jersey City Redevelopment Agency is an autonomous agency created in 1949 to revitalize blighted and economically depressed areas in the city to promote economic growth.

The agency designates developers to build projects in these areas, most of which are city-owned property.

Antonicello had previously worked in the private sector for over 20 years as a real estate broker and consultant.

But he had worked for the city's Redevelopment Agency and Planning Department for a short time in the early 1980s after graduating from Rutgers. He has a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University's Newark campus in city planning and urban affairs, and a master's degree from New York University in real estate development.

Antonicello said Mayor Healy got to know him because he had dealt with him previously in the mid 1990s. That was when Healy, as the chief judge of the Jersey City Municipal Court, had to retain Antonicello's services in finding land for a new location for the court, which now sits on Summit Avenue.

"Healy wanted someone in place who understood the intricacies of how development was done and could extract the best value of properties," said Antonicello.

His plans for the agency

In an interview, Antonicello talked about his first 100 days and said he went through all the redevelopment projects the agency had been working upon. He said there at least 75 redevelopment projects under the agency's auspices.

"I am going over projects that are at least a year old and how asking why these projects are not going through," said Antonicello. "In the second 100 days, my plans will be to advance the ball farther down the field."

Among the major projects he will be keeping his eye on are the redevelopment of Journal Square near the PATH station, being done by the Harwood family, and the development of the old Hudson/Manhattan Powerhouse on Washington Boulevard.

Journal Square

Antonicello sees great things for Journal Square, particularly the area near the PATH Station, where there was a dilapidated set of buildings on the verge of collapse until they were torn down early this summer.

In March, the Harwood Family, who has maintained a business in Journal Square for the last 70 years, was designated by the Redevelopment Agency as developers of the area. They had acquired the buildings from the previous owners, the Tawil family. They plan to build two mixed-use high-rise towers, which will include apartments, retail stores and parking. The plans also include a hotel.

"Journal Square is a number one priority," said Antonicello. "The creation of a transit village is something I see can do great things for that part of the city."

The "transit village" is a concept that the state is promoting to encourage homes and businesses around public transit hubs, to reduce traffic and reliance on cars.

The Powerhouse

In July, Baltimore-based developer David Kordish was designated the developer of the Powerhouse, a large boxy building that once provided electricity for the massive Hudson Manhattan railroad (the precursor to the PATH system).

The Jersey City Redevelopment Agency was responsible for designating Kordish.

The Powerhouse lies in the Powerhouse Arts District, a redevelopment zone that runs from Washington Boulevard to Marin Boulevard.

Construction of the original Powerhouse building started in 1906 and was completed in 1908. It is a steel-framed 200,000-square-foot edifice with its 28-inch thick brick walls. But it only operated until 1929 and was abandoned for many years, although the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey still used it as a power station.

There have been efforts since 1999 by the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy to preserve the building. During that time, Kordish has been negotiating with the city to become the developer. Kordish developed the old Baltimore Power Plant into the ESPN Zone Restaurant and a Barnes and Noble bookstore on the waterfront.

"The Powerhouse is a priority," said Antonicello. "It will be unique. Five years from now, I see someone coming to the Powerhouse to go to the Barnes and Noble, and have a drink at a bar."

How it works

A redevelopment plan is a plan that provides for the reuse or redevelopment of property within a municipality. The Jersey City Planning Dept. designates an area in need of redevelopment then drafts a redevelopment plan.

Then the plan is introduced in front of the Planning Board for their consideration. If the plan is approved, then it goes to the City Council, which introduces the plan at a council meeting where it is read into the record. At the next council meeting, the council does a final vote to either approve or not approve the plan.

The JCRA designates a developer(s) for the redevelopment area.

Making it known

Antonicello said boosting the public image of the agency was needed to make its workings more "transparent" to the public.

Press releases were sent out in July by the agency regarding its board's approval of a developer for the Hudson/Manhattan Powerhouse and of the renovation of a historic home on city-owned property on Monticello Avenue.

The agency has placed signs on various properties across the city letting the public know that it was a project approved by the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency. Antonicello also plans to have a website for the agency by the end of the year.

"The greatness of a city is providing for its residents that you build a great city," said Antonicello. "And that's what I want the public to know that the Redevelopment Agency is doing."

I heard this on WNYC's Brian Lear's show the other day:

Some Jersey Public Employees Hold Multiple Jobs to Boost Pensions

by Bob Hennelly

NEW YORK, NY September 01, 2006 ?New Jersey state legislators looking for ways to cut property taxes were told by state officials that thousands of public employees are boosting their pensions by holding as many as 11 different jobs simultaneously. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has more.

It gives a whole new meaning to the term ?double dipping.? State Pension Director Fred Beaver told the legislative panel that 5,OOO public employees were gaming the state's pension plan by working multiple part time jobs and racking up retirement credits for each one.

The state system, which covers government workers at all levels, permits participants to start accruing pension credits after they make as little as 1,5OO a year. A public employee can then stay on the pension roll for decades; and if they got a full time government job 3-years shy of retirement they get to collect a pension check for the rest of their life based on the higher salary.

New Jersey's public pension plan is currently underfunded by more than $18 billion. For years administrations from both parties did not pay into the system even as benefits were expanded.

http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/63876

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also see
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Cost of pensions for officials with multiple jobs to be addressed

8/24/2006 -- By TOM HESTER Jr.-- The Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) ? It is not unusual for elected officials in New Jersey to hold more than one government job, an arrangement that can substantially boost their publicly funded pensions. A recent analysis by The Associated Press found 49 of 120 state legislators earned income from more than one public job last year.

But exactly how much does such double-dipping actually cost the taxpayers? A special legislative committee looking to reform public employee benefits as a way to help cut property taxes is looking into it.

On Thursday, it was scheduled to hear from Frederick J. Beaver, the state's pensions and benefits division director. Committee member Sen. Ronald Rice, D-Essex, said he intended to ask Beaver how much taxpayers would save if pensions for elected officials were based on one job.

On Wednesday, Rice, who earned $135,000 last year as deputy Newark mayor and state senator, dismissed concerns about dual office holding, saying taxpayers would see no "substantial savings" if pensions were based on a single job.

"I get tired of it because it seems to be a jealousy issue more than an economic issue," Rice said.

The escalating cost of benefits for state, county and municipal government workers and school employees is among the factors seen as driving up property taxes, which have increased about 7 percent per year in recent years and now average about $6,000 per homeowner, twice the national average. State and local governments will pay about $1.75 billion this year to public worker pension funds.

Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole, R-Bergen, said he supports limiting pensions for elected officials.

"I just think this is pensions gone wild," said O'Toole, another committee member.

While the AP analysis found 49 of 120 state legislators earned money from more than one public job last year, Sen. Sharpe James left office as Newark mayor on July 1. However, Hunterdon County Freeholder Marcia Karrow joined the Assembly in January.

Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, recently became interim Woodbridge mayor, but is accepting neither pay nor benefits for that job.

Assemblywoman Amy Handlin, R-Monmouth, resigned as a county freeholder and Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, R-Monmouth, resigned from the Red Bank council when they were elected last year to the Legislature.

London's Financial Times: Cover article on Jersey City

It is in their "How to Spend it" -- their arts and entertainment section.

It hasn't been posted onto the web yet.

They still have last weeks up -- but that should change soon. The article talks about the history of Jersey City and the new Golf course and has three glossy pages of photos. Pretty interesting wish I could post it.

Not a big deal but -- Top Chef"s host Tom Colicchio will be the head chef at the Golf Club -- one of the many things he does. Kind of like a smaller Trump.

The article gives a good overview of the history, especially of the golf course -- not a total fluff piece -- talks about all the dirt, money and mob history of the area.

But, as I said it is not up on the web yet. It is out on the news stands.

It should be here when and if their web page is updated from last Saturday's.

http://www.ft.com/howtospendit

Yeah "Way-to-Go" Mr. Eason!

I wish the Journal had the times posted -- wonder if this young gang had anything to do with this other attack:
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Fights off attack by kid thugs
Saturday, September 02, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Eight juveniles pounced on a 30-year-old Jersey City man at Kennedy Boulevard and Orient Avenue Thursday night and tried to rob him of his cell phone, police said yesterday.

But the victim, who suffered bruising and swelling to the left side of his face, put up a ferocious fight, and police said his attackers fled without taking anything.

The victim was treated by emergency medical technicians at the scene and detectives in the juvenile division are trying to find the people who jumped him, police said.

Marauding juveniles are becoming a growing problem in the city, said Jersey City Police Capt. Hugh Donaghue, so much so that police have begun to enforce the curfew law already on the books.

With a few exceptions, children under 17 aren't allowed to be on Jersey City streets unaccompanied by an adult between 10:30 p.m. and 6 a.m., Donaghue noted.

Since Aug. 1, police have picked up 232 people for violating the curfew, Donaghue said.

New Jersey leads nation in political double-dipping
Trenton Times - Monday, August 21, 2006

Among our unfortunate distinctions in New Jersey is that we lead the nation in political double-dipping.

No other state allows people to hold multiple taxpayer-funded jobs to the extent New Jersey does. Many states' constitutions or laws ban it. In Indiana, a person can go to prison for it. The federal government also forbids the practice.

But not New Jersey, where self-indulgence by politicians is a tradition. In 1962, in fact, the Legislature, worried that the courts would restrict double-dipping, enacted a law explicitly allowing it.

"One to a Customer: The Democratic Downsides of Dual Officeholding" is a new report co-sponsored by New Jersey Policy Perspective and written by public-policy expert Tom O'Neill of Pennington. It notes that 20 of New Jersey's 120 legislators (none are from Mercer County) hold local elective offices in addition to their $49,000-a-year part-time lawmakers' gigs. Another 19 legislators have appointive government jobs. The total doesn't include Sen. Sharpe James (D-Essex), who recently retired as the $184,410-a-year mayor of Newark, the state's largest city. Dual officeholding also is common at the county and municipal levels.

It's a bad deal for the public, for reasons that are spelled out in O'Neill's report.

Conflict of interest is built into the system. Mayors who double as legislators argue that by holding state office they can get the most in funds and favors for their towns, but often that comes at a cost to the other towns in their legislative districts, or the state as a whole, whose interests the lawmakers also are sworn to protect. In the case of James, he has used his leverage as a senator to bargain for special favors for Newark. According to O'Neill, James also invoked senatorial courtesy to block the appointment of an Essex County prosecutor he didn't want -- a prosecutor who would have been responsible for any possible legal investigations involving the mayor's administration.

Double-dippers are unlikely to be able to give sufficient time and attention to one or both of their public jobs. Assemblyman Charles Epps Jr. (D-Hudson), spends at least two days of most weeks at the State House, which is time when he's not back home superintending Jersey City's troubled school district, for which he receives $210,520 a year. In 2003, Assemblyman Ronald S. Dancer (R-Ocean) triple-dipped as a legislator, mayor and Ocean County employee.

It's hard enough for a challenger to unseat an incumbent in an election, but when the incumbent holds two elective jobs, he doubles the campaign advantage he enjoys in such areas as publicity, fundraising and staff assistance.

Multiple positions lead to padded public-funded pensions. For example, former Senate President John Bennett (R-Monmouth) qualified for an annual pension of $91,176, based on his 24 years in the Legislature and his salaries as attorney for several municipalities and school boards in his district.

There are some refreshing exceptions to the prevailing attitude. One freshman Assembly member, Amy Handlin (R-Monmouth), stepped down after 15 years as a county freeholder when she was elected to the Legislature last year, and another, Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth), resigned her seat on the Red Bank Borough Council. "You can't fully commit yourself to two elected positions," Beck told a reporter. "It's impossible to manage local priorities and larger responsibilities of a legislative district. In the end, somebody gets short-changed."

Not surprisingly, though, there's little enthusiasm in the Legislature for a ban on double-dipping. The fervor is limited to a familiar group of reform advocates, such as Assemblymen Bill Baroni (R-Mercer), and Michael Panter (D-Monmouth), who have sponsored bills to require legislators to shed their extra government jobs as soon as possible. Two years ago, when the Democratic-controlled Assembly made a start on restricting pay-to-play, it approved a bill calling for a study of multiple officeholding, a move that often is done at the State House to forestall action. But even a study was too much for the Senate Democrats, who buried the measure in committee.

Former Gov. Richard Codey, who still is president of the Senate, said the chances for passage of any kind of restriction on dual officeholding are "50-50." It will happen only if present beneficiaries are grandfathered, he said. That way, at best, it would take years to eliminate the practice.

"I've never subscribed to it," Codey said. "I think you're better off just concentrating on one job. But others say, 'If the voters choose that way, who are you to tell them they can't?' I've got running mates who are dual officeholders" -- Democrats Mims Hackett and John McKeon, the mayors of Orange and West Orange, respectively -- "and they do a great job as state Assembly people and as mayors. People would say, 'When they ran, it was well known that they would be dual officeholders. They won. People said it didn't bother them.'"

The "let the voters decide" argument is simplistic, however. Tom O'Neill points out that most dual officeholders come from safe, one-party districts, where incumbents lose mostly in primaries. As the number of such districts increases, "the elective offices are more insulated from active public accountability," O'Neill wrote. In a swing district, there's a better chance of getting a true test of public sentiment. A memorable instance in which dual officeholding became a campaign issue was in 1985, when the voters of the 14th District nearly denied popular Hamilton Mayor Jack Rafferty's bid for an Assembly seat because many of them disagreed with his announced plan to hold both jobs.

The only changes related to dual officeholding that appear to have a real chance of enactment are a requirement that double-dippers choose one job for calculating pensions and benefits and an end to pension eligibility by professional-service providers. These are part of the agenda of the Legislature's special session on tax reform. They also are the only aspect of double-dipping that seems to trouble Gov. Jon Corzine.

"That's something we clearly have to do. I think there will be reforms in that area," Codey said.

Contact George Amick at gamick@njtimes.com.

THE MUD FLIES
Menendez, Kean rap each other on ethics
Thursday, August 31, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Gearing up for what has the makings of a close and bitter campaign stretch after Labor Day, Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and his Republican challenger Tom Kean Jr. swapped accusations of ethical breaches yesterday at dueling news conferences.

To dramatize his point, Kean, a state senator from Westfield, stood across the street from a three-story brick building on 41st Street in Union City that Menendez once owned.

The building serves as the administrative office for the Head Start program run by the North Hudson Community Action Corp., a nonprofit Menendez helped designate a "federally qualified heath care center." The designation led to the nonprofit receiving nearly $10 million in federal grants, according to news reports.

But over a nine-year period, roughly $350,000 of that money came back to Menendez in the form of rent," Kean said.

"Bob Menendez is either engulfed in corruption or he's oblivious to it. Either way, he's not fit to serve in the Senate," he said.

Matt Miller, Menendez's campaign spokesman, said Menendez asked for and received permission from the House Ethics Committee to collect rent from the nonprofit 12 years ago.

"The (federal) designation meant thousands of under-privileged county residents were able to get health care services that they needed," he said, noting Menendez did the same for Horizon Health Care Center in Jersey City and the Jewish Renaissance Medical Center in Perth Amboy.

Miller said Kean was simply trying to deflect attention away from his own ethical failings, which Menendez discussed at a morning press conference in Trenton.

In an earlier news conference in Trenton, Menendez charged Kean with accepting campaign donations from the UnitedHealth Care insurance company the same day his father, former Gov. Thomas Kean Sr., a board member of the corporation, was testifying to the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company did nothing wrong when it backdated stock options for its chief operating officer.

In addition, Menendez accused Kean of accepting $62,000 in campaign funds from corporate boards his father sat on and flip-flopping on several votes, including extending the New Jersey smoking ban to casinos, after he received campaign contributions from industry lobbyists.

The dueling news conferences happened on the same day that a poll was released showing the U.S. Senate race was virtually tied - but that Kean would enjoy a sizable lead if not for the war in Iraq.

Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind Poll, designed to test the impact of national issues on the race, indicated that if the war were not a factor, Kean could be leading Menendez by 47-36 percent.

As it stands, however, 43 percent of voters polled said they favor Kean to 39 percent for Menendez, a difference that matches the poll's sampling error margin and makes the race a virtual tie.

The poll also found Kean has strong approval numbers with all voters, even Democrats, while Menendez has maintained his solid party base but has relatively little support among Republicans. And while 86 percent of Republicans recognize Kean, just 70 percent of Democrats say they know who Menendez is.

Kean characterized Menendez's accusations as the actions of a desperate politician - and took a shot at Menendez's home county in the process.

"He knows he's going to lose this race," Kean said. "What a Hudson County Democrat does is try to bring down as many people with him."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Rivals in New Jersey Senate Race Invade Each Other?s Turf
By DAVID W. CHEN and LAURA MANSNERUS
New York Times
Published: August 31, 2006

UNION CITY, N.J., Aug. 30 ? State Senator Thomas H. Kean Jr. and United States Senator Robert Menendez ventured into each other?s turf on Wednesday to continue what has become an almost daily barrage of accusations over ethics in their tight race for Mr. Menendez?s seat.

At a news conference in front of a house here that Mr. Menendez once owned and occupied with his family, Mr. Kean, a Republican, hammered away at Mr. Menendez for collecting more than $300,000 in rent for that house over a decade from a nonprofit community agency for which he helped secure federal funds.

Echoing criticism from two Republican assemblymen who have claimed that Mr. Menendez skirted conflict-of-interest rules in the transaction, Mr. Kean expressed outrage over what he said were Mr. Menendez?s dual roles as lawmaker and landlord. Mr. Menendez sold the house three years ago.

?Bob Menendez is either engulfed in corruption, or he?s oblivious to it,? Mr. Kean said. ?Either way, he?s unfit to serve New Jersey in the United States Senate.?

Just two hours earlier, Mr. Menendez held his own news conference at the State House, in Trenton, attacking Mr. Kean where he legislates. Mr. Menendez questioned what he said was Mr. Kean?s receipt of more than $62,000 from corporate donors with business ties to his father, former Gov. Thomas H. Kean. He also accused Mr. Kean of flip-flopping on support of a smoking ban in Atlantic City casinos after receiving $10,000 in contributions from the casino industry.

Mr. Menendez spent most of his time, though, swatting away repeated questions about his dealings with the nonprofit agency in Union City, the North Hudson Community Action Corporation. Both Mr. Menendez and Mr. Kean reinforced the themes that they have been using against each other all summer: Mr. Kean casting doubts on Mr. Menendez?s ethics because he is a product of Hudson County?s political machine; Mr. Menendez raising questions about Mr. Kean?s finances and ties to Republican donors.

The race is likely to become more intense in the hotly contested race when former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton are expected to campaign for the two candidates in separate fund-raisers next Wednesday.

The day?s events coincided with the release of the latest poll on the race from Fairleigh Dickinson University, which showed Mr. Kean and Mr. Menendez drawing 43 percent and 39 percent support, respectively, among registered voters, a dead heat given the margin of error of four percentage points. The telephone poll was taken of 651 randomly selected registered voters statewide reached between Aug. 21 and Sunday.

Mr. Menendez has raised three times as much money as Mr. Kean has, and many political observers expect that the race will largely be fought ? and will be won ? by the quality and quantity of television commercials in the fall.

For Mr. Kean, the appearance in Union City was not without some risk, given that on the day nearly three months ago when Mr. Menendez formally announced his candidacy in Union City, Mr. Kean appeared in Jersey City at a news conference to criticize Mr. Menendez?s ethics ? but appeared to be flummoxed when he was drowned out by lawn mowers operated by county corrections personnel.

This time, though, there were no major distractions, with a minor exception: a garage band played a raucous rendition of ?La Bamba? in the house next to the one where Mr. Kean stood.

At one point, Mr. Kean claimed that Mr. Menendez was a product of a broken system in Washington. When he was asked whether Republicans should be blamed for that system, since they control all the levers of the federal government, he said: ?This is not a partisan issue. There is a system that has allowed people like Jack Abramoff to thrive.?

In Trenton, Mr. Menendez delivered his lengthiest comments yet on the Union City house. He called its rental ?an arm?s-length transaction,? that he said had been approved by the House ethics committee.

He noted that the North Hudson Community Action Corporation received federal funds long before he was elected to Congress and continues to do so.

Only toward the end of the news conference did Mr. Menendez let a little exasperation show, cutting off questioning and then rapping softly on the lectern as he said, ?This is an agency I am proud to have helped.?

David W. Chen reported from Union City for this article and Laura Mansnerus from Trenton.

Mob rat may face time for'02 plea
Thursday, August 31, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Mob rat Peter Caporino's recent arrest on gambling charges means the FBI will no longer fight to keep him out of jail - and that could mean serving time for an old arrest out of Hudson County.

In 2002, Caporino pleaded guilty to money laundering involving illegal gambling proceeds, and he was sentenced to five years in prison, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.

But after pleading guilty, Caporino - who had already been cooperating with the FBI for a number of years - agreed to wear a wire for the feds during their investigation into gambling, extortion and loansharking rackets in Hudson County, and the five-year sentence was suspended, DeFazio said.

That investigation eventually led to the successful prosecution of 15 people reputedly associated with the Genovese crime family.

But on the witness stand earlier this year, Caporino admitted he continued running his illegal gambling business even while cooperating with the feds.

Last week, Caporino was arrested by Jersey City police on charges of promoting gambling and possession of gambling records. Police said he had $6,500 in cash and records of at least $50,000 in gambling receipts in his car when he was arrested.

"We have had a conversation with the federal authorities and they say Caporino is on his own," DeFazio said. "He is at this point facing the new charges, plus he is facing a hearing on the previous sentence which was suspended."

The new charges each carry possible five-year prison terms upon conviction, but DeFazio said he wants the five-year suspended sentence to be looked at again as well.

"We will be revisiting it because, as a general rule of suspended sentences, you are not to be involved in criminal activity," DeFazio said. "That will be subject to a court hearing concerning whether there is a violation, and the judge could then impose a suspended sentence."

The two biggest fish netted and jailed earlier this year with the help of the hundreds of recorded conversations made by Caporino were reputed Genovese "capo" Lawrence Dentico, 81, of Seaside Park, and Joseph "Big Joe" Scarbrough, 67, of West Orange, who reportedly oversaw loansharking and gambling operations from a Hoboken social club.

Caporino has been released after posting $500,000 bail, DeFazio said yesterday.

Messages for two attorneys working for Caporino weren't returned last night.

N.J. richest state with poorest city
Home News Tribune Online 08/30/06
TRENTON: New Jersey again has the highest household income of any state and one of the lowest poverty rates, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau, but two of its biggest cities are among the poorest in the nation.

Camden ranks as the poorest place in the country with a population over 65,000 and Newark is among the poorest cities with more than 250,000 people, according to the figures released yesterday based on data for 2005.

The numbers illustrate that New Jersey, with its middle-class and wealthy suburbs nestled up against struggling, old industrial cities, continues to be a place of stark economic contrasts.

On the whole, the state has high incomes, along with a high cost of living. Half the households make more than $61,672 per year ? putting the Garden State just ahead of Connecticut as the nation's richest. And the poverty rate of 8.7 percent is lower than every state except for New Hampshire, Maryland and Connecticut.

The census income report a year ago found New Jersey's poverty rate slightly lower ? 8.5 percent. But Legal Services of New Jersey Poverty Research Institute on yesterday said its own analysis, which took into account the high cost of living, shows that more than one in five state residents are impoverished.

Despite that, Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset and Burlington counties are all among those with the lowest poverty rates in the country and Hunterdon, Somerset, and Morris all rank among the highest-income places in the nation. Among all the counties across the country with populations over 65,000, only two ? Loudon, Va., and Fairfax, Va. ? have median household incomes higher than those in Hunterdon.

A seat of the pharmaceutical industry with many residents who commute to New York, the county north of Trenton sees half its households bring in more than $93,342 per year.

Yet, among large cities nationally, only six have lower incomes than Newark, where the median household income was $30,665.

In Camden, 44 percent of the roughly 80,000 residents live in poverty ? the highest such rate in the nation, according to the study.

8 commuter vans off streets
Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Spot inspections of 15 commuter vans in Downtown Jersey City resulted in dozens of violations being issued, and eight of the vans had to be taken out of service and towed away, officials said.

The Newark Avenue vans were redirected onto a side street and inspected in a joint operation by Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio's office, the Hudson County Sheriff's Office and the state Department of Transportation.

Three of the randomly selected vans had fake insurance cards, DeFazio said. Four were towed after being deemed unsafe for operation, DeFazio said. Two vans had inoperable emergency doors - perhaps intentionally, DeFazio said.

MICHAELANGELO CONTE

You guys must really miss Grad School!

Quote:

What do they do with the people now living in these "project buildings" or these "blocks" of residential properties?

Should the city send out letters saying -- "Sorry but you must move -- we have these guys who just got out of jail and they have a problem with drugs -- they need your houses and apartments"

Also how would you like it if you owned or even rented a house next to where the city says must now be a "druggie zone"?


I think people who have to live in the projects want these families who have drug dealing - gang bangers - out! They are tired of living in a war zone -- the hell with these families who cause the life of other poor people to be so hard.

Drugs = Guns

no Semantics

Hey Alb,

You stopped mid sentence -- what happened?

Quote:

I don't know why you are so uptight - but the Booker T. Washington Housing Projects are in our zip code 07302 - I like to keep up on the growing gun shootings there.

Policing Rockaway reservoir snags in legalisms
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy is in hot water with his Rockaway Township counterpart.

Mayor Louis Sceusi wants to step up crowd control in and around the 625-acre Split Rock Reservoir in his township, which Jersey City owns. But Healy, according to a letter Sceusi dashed off to the mayor on Aug. 14, is holding him up.

"We are again requesting permission for our police department to patrol and enforce trespassers in and around the Reservoir area to prevent any potential dangerous or life threatening situation," Sceusi wrote.

"Over this past weekend, there was much activity around the remote areas of the Reservoir, including drunken and disorderly conduct, parties, etc., which could have resulted in dangerous situations, leading to potential liability concerns," Sceusi added.

According to the letter, Jersey City's corporation counsel, William Matsikoudis, met with township officials on June 7, but nothing was resolved and there's been no follow-up.

But Healy says several issues have to be sorted out before policing Split Rock is handed over to Rockaway Township police - including holding Jersey City legally harmless for the actions of township cops.

"Further clarification needs to be made on whether the state, through its park rangers or State Police, should patrol the property, or if the Rockaway Township Police Department should enforce the law, but indemnify the city in case of a liability," Healy said yesterday.

Ten years ago, Jersey City - over the objections of the township - signed an easement with the state's Department of Environmental Protection to allow recreation, including electric-powered boating.

The deal netted Jersey City $1.5 million, but left Rockaway Township with a host of headaches, including children swinging off tree limbs and into the water even though swimming is prohibited.

Sceusi is seeking an agreement from Jersey City that only a police officer's testimony would be needed to prosecute a complaint at Split Rock, according to a news report.

Without such an agreement, a Jersey City official would have to appear in court in order to prosecute an offender.

Mourning in 'Bullet Town'

3rd shooting at housing complex in 3 months

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
WILLIAM GRIFFIN JR.
DERRICK MACK

The latest shooting in Jersey City's Booker T. Washington Public Housing Complex has a dead man's grieving father referring to the complex by a new nickname.

"This was once a model for public housing projects nationwide, and from that it turned into what it is now - they call it Bullet Town," said William Griffin Sr., whose 24-year-old son, William Griffin Jr., was shot to death in the complex Sunday about 2 a.m. It's the third shooting at the housing complex in as many months.

Investigators believe Griffin Jr. was killed in a shootout with Derrick Mack, 25, of Bidwell Avenue, who was wounded in the exchange of gunfire.

Griffin Jr. - whose last name was incorrectly spelled by authorities Sunday - formerly lived in the complex and attended Ferris High School, his father said. But Griffin Jr. went to prison in 2004 on drugs and weapons charges, and after getting out last March, he moved in with his father in Linden.

His father said Griffin Jr. would frequently return to Jersey City to visit his grandmother.

The shootout may have been the result of an attempted robbery, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.

Griffin Jr. was shot in the chest and the left eye and pronounced dead on arrival at the Jersey City Medical Center.

Mack - who was driven by a friend to University Hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to the back - has been arrested on weapons charges, but hasn't been charged with homicide in connection with Griffin's death, DeFazio said. However, the investigation is continuing.

Police have spoken to the man who drove Mack to the hospital and they impounded the car for forensic testing, DeFazio said, adding two .380-caliber casings were found at the scene, as was one 9 mm casing. Mack is expected to recover from his wound, DeFazio said. One gun thought to have been used in the shooting has been recovered, DeFazio said, and police are searching for the second weapon.

Last night, Griffin's family gathered in the Booker T. Washington apartment of his grandmother, Rachel Speaks, to comfort each other. They planned to make funeral arrangements after Griffin Jr.'s body is released by the Medical Examiner's Office in Newark.

"He always wanted to be around to help me," Speaks said last night.

Sunday's shooting caps a violent summer at the Booker T. Washington complex that has seen three shootings since June, as well as a man pistol-whipped during a robbery earlier this month.

"We have seen a noticeable increase of criminal activity in and around the Booker T. Washington Gardens," DeFazio said yesterday. "It's clear that we need the community's help to curtail this wanton gun violence

I'm no expert but I think that someone in the family or on the lease has to first be convicted of something -- however the issue is that it can be "drug related" and not a conviction for dealing drugs, before everyone in the unit can be all tossed out of public housing -- but again I am no expert -- But I do believe they have to first be "convicted" of something (drug related)

It is a problem though for Jersey City if Hoboken is kicking out all it's trouble makers (30 familys this year) from public housing (not to mention West New York) where are these people going to move? Jersey City?

KILLED IN GUN BATTLE
Monday, August 28, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A former Jersey City man was killed and another remains hospitalized after cops said the two men opened fire on each other in the Booker T. Washington Public Housing Complex in the early morning hours yesterday, officials said.

Investigators believe the 2 a.m. shootout at the corner of Fremont and Bright streets may have been the result of an attempted robbery.

William Griffith, 24, a Jersey City man who had recently moved to Linden, was shot in the head and chest; Derrick Mack, 25, of Bidwell Avenue, was shot once in the back, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said. Investigators believe the two men shot each other.

Griffith was pronounced dead on arrival at Jersey City Medical Center. But Mack, who fled the area, was driven by a friend to University Hospital in Newark. He told doctors he'd been shot during an attack in Newark, but Newark police investigated and found his story didn't hold water, DeFazio said.

Detectives from the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's Homicide Squad went to University Hospital and arrested Mack after interviewing him, DeFazio said, adding he was charged with various weapons offenses but not with homicide. However, the investigation is ongoing.

The gun police believe Griffith used has been found, but they are still looking for the gun Mack had, DeFazio said.

Mack was convicted two years ago on various drugs and weapons offenses, according to the state Department of Corrections.

After the shooting, numerous Jersey City police officers were dispatched to the area on a report of a riot situation and they began dispersing the crowd, police reports said. Among the crowd was Johnny Rosa, 22, of Fremont Street, who refused to leave and then pushed an officer, reports said.

While being arrested, Rosa dropped a handgun, police said.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's Homicide Squad at (201) 915-1345.

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and on the West side of town
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Similar crime happened in June
Monday, August 28, 2006

Yesterday's slaying is similar to another recent fatal shooting in Jersey City that investigators believe was a robbery attempt gone awry when the would-be victim pulled out a gun of his own.

Police responded early on the morning of June 4 to Kennedy Boulevard near Oxford Avenue, where they found Osmond Dixon, 20, dead on the sidewalk, a 9 mm handgun near his body.

Investigators believe Dixon and Tyshawn "Bang" Hines, 21, both of East Orange, had set out that morning to rob someone, but their intended victim - Kenneth Boykin, 26, of Jersey City, a convicted drug dealer, pulled out a gun and shot Dixon to death.

"It's a frightening coincidence that we have had two incidents of this type within months," Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said. "It's a very dangerous situation because innocent people are being put at risk."

Boykin is wanted on the charges of possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose and possession of a handgun by a felon; Hines is wanted on the charge of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, DeFazio said.

MICHAELANGELO CONTE

--------------------------------------------------------------
and in Greenville
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Shots fired into crowd hit his legs
Monday, August 28, 2006

A Rahway man was in stable condition last night after he was shot in each leg when someone opened fire into a crowd on a Jersey City street corner just after midnight yesterday, officials said.

The 26-year-old victim was being treated at Jersey City Medical Center for non-life-threatening bullet wounds to each thigh, police reports said.

Police responded to Union Street at Ocean Avenue at 12:05 a.m. on a report of a shooting and spoke to a man who said he heard gunfire and ran outside to find the Rahway man had been shot, reports said. He told police the man got into a car and was driven away, reports said.

The officers then got a call from the medical center saying the victim was there, reports said. At the hospital the victim told police he was in the crowd at the corner when someone opened fire, reports said, adding he did not see the shooter.

At the scene police recovered a bloodstained T-shirt and tank top, as well as copper-colored bullet fragments, reports said.

'One-strike' policy striking more often

Jersey Journal
Monday, August 28, 2006

The "one-strike" policy being more frequently used in Hoboken is also being used more in another city with a housing authority run by Bob DiVincent, West New York, and the policy could soon be on the upswing in other Hudson County public housing complexes, as well.

DiVincent said the policy of kicking out people accused of committing drug-related crimes along with anyone else living in their apartments makes public housing safer and sends a message that drugs won't be tolerated. Eviction proceedings are underway against 30 families in Hoboken this year, he said, while three families have been kicked out in West New York in the last two years.

But the policy is controversial, said Maria Maio, executive director of the Jersey City Housing Authority.

"The problem is evicting the entire family," Maio said. Three years ago, Jersey City had increased its usage of the policy and evicted nearly 30 families, said Maio. Its actions were met with much criticism, and it has since scaled back its use of the policy, she said.

Jersey City now gives families a second chance by removing the name of the offender from the lease. Under this condition, the rest of the family can avoid eviction, Maio said. Last year, just five families were evicted.

According to the North Bergen Housing Authority, that township evicted two families last year.

The Bayonne Housing Authority took three cases to court between July 1, 2005, and June 30, 2006, said John Mahon, director of the Bayonne Housing Authority. Two cases resulted in evictions, while the third family was allowed to stay.

Access to sex sites limited for workers
Monday, August 28, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City municipal workers will now have to check their MySpace.com profile at home.

By the end of this week, the city's 1,050 computer workstations will be outfitted with a program that prevents access to sexual-oriented Web sites, and several other popular Internet spots, such as MySpace.com and eBay, a city spokesman said.

"The goal is to maximize the efficiency of the roughly 2,800-person municipal workforce," city spokesman Stan H. Eason said.

The program, called "Web Sense," costs roughly $20,000 and is part of an on-going upgrade to the city's computer system, Eason said.

The program identifies and automatically blocks sexual-oriented Web sites, Eason said. The city also is specifying other Web sites, including eBay and MySpace.com, to be blocked.

Eason wouldn't say if the city had a problem with workers visiting non-work related Web sites. But this program, would "safeguard" against that possibility, he said.

Earlier this year, City Hall blocked access to "getnj.com" - a local Internet message board known for anonymous, biting commentary on Hudson County politicians

Genovese informant arrested for running gambling racket

Friday, August 25, 2006
BY JOHN P. MARTIN
Star-Ledger Staff

Peter "Petey Cap" Caporino, the Hasbrouck Heights mobster who saved himself from prison by ratting out his Genovese crime family associates, was arrested for running the same gambling racket the FBI had ordered him to shut down, authorities said.

After an investigation that spanned nearly three months, police arrested Caporino as he drove along a Hoboken street Wednesday evening, said Lt. Gary Lallo of the Jersey City Police Special Investigations Unit. Police found $6,500 in cash and records of at least $50,000 in gambling receipts in the car, Lallo said.

"We're still counting," he said.

For Caporino, a slight, white-haired man with glasses, the charges could mean an abrupt and unlikely end to the freedom that he had so dangerously earned.

The 69-year-old spent more than a decade as an FBI informant and three years ago began secretly recording conversations with his associates. Prosecutors used the tapes, which spanned hundreds of hours, to charge and convict 15 reputed mob members or associates who ran a multimillion-dollars gambling, sports betting and loan sharking operation in North Jersey.

In the May trial of one defendant, Caporino took the witness stand in Newark, admitting for the first time his 45 years in the mob and a decade as a snitch. Caporino testified he agreed to wear the wire for the FBI after he and his wife were arrested on state gambling charges in 2002.

"My wife had been to prison before, and I knew she couldn't do it again," he testified. "I knew she wouldn't be able to do the time."

A Superior Court judge was so impressed by the cooperation that he sentenced Caporino last fall to five years in prison but suspended the sentence, effectively freeing him. Caporino didn't even attend the hearing.

But he later testified that he continued running his numbers racket even after FBI agents had ordered him to stop, and that they warned him he could be prosecuted again.

Lallo said yesterday the new charges were unrelated to the federal investigation. Caporino was charged with promoting gambling, possession of gambling records and conspiracy to promote gambling, First Assistant Hudson County Prosecutor Guy Gregory said.

A judge ordered him detained at Hudson County Jail under $500,000 bail. His attorney, Samuel DeLuca, did not return a call for comment.

A second defendant in the car, Frank Rodriguez, 45, of Hoboken was jailed on identical charges.

The lead prosecutor in the federal mob case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Faye Schwartz, said yesterday she didn't know Caporino had been arrested.

A spokesman for the office, Michael Drewniak, said it would be "inappropriate for us to inject ourselves into this new prosecution, which is best handled by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office." FBI spokesman Steve Siegel said his office would have no comment.

Rumors of Caporino's continued involvement in illegal gambling had been swirling for months in Jersey City and Hoboken, especially after he testified that he refused FBI witness protection.

Earlier this year, police arrested several of his co-defendants in the 2002 case on new gambling charges. Anonymous letters were sent to law enforcement agencies, government offices and The Star-Ledger alleging that Caporino was still running numbers.

Lallo declined yesterday to discuss how the recent probe began, except to say, "It was a result of community complaints in various sectors of the city.

MOB RAT BUSTED

'Petey Cap' couldn't stay away from taking bets, police say

Friday, August 25, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE - JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

For the three years mob rat Peter "Petey Cap" Caporino wore a wire, he had a deal with the FBI that kept him out of jail. But once Caporino stopped recording mobsters for the feds, all bets were off.

And Caporino, 69, just couldn't keep in nose clean, officials say.

The Jersey City Police Special Investigations Unit arrested Caporino in Hoboken Wednesday night on charges of promoting gambling, conspiracy to promote gambling and possession of gambling records - essentially running his own gambling operation, officials said.

In his car at the time was $6,500 and records totaling as much as $50,000 in bets, said SIU Lt. Gary Lallo.

Yesterday, wearing olive-colored prison garb, the once dapper Caporino appeared in court via video link from the Hudson County jail in Kearny and pleaded not guilty.

Caporino's arrest was the result of a three-month investigation, Lallo said. Details about the operation were not released, because the investigation is ongoing, authorities said.

Caporino's mob-informing days spanned 18 years, during which he helped convict 16 people in a probe into gambling and extortion rackets associated with the Genovese crime family in Hoboken and Jersey City.

The two biggest fish netted in that operation - reputed Genovese crime chieftains Lawrence Dentico, 81, of Seaside Park, and Joseph "Big Joe" Scarbrough, 67, of West Orange - were sentenced last week.

To build the gambling case, the feds gave Caporino permission to commit gambling crimes while he was working for them. But Caporino admitted in court on May 17 that when the permission ended on Aug. 12, 2005, his criminal activity did not.

Arrested with Caporino, who has served time before for gambling offenses, was Frank Rodriguez, 45, of Hoboken, Lallo said. Rodriguez faces the same charges as Caporino, Lallo said.

Caporino's bail was set at $500,000. His Jersey City lawyer, George Taite, wasn't sure Caporino could post the 10 percent required to get out of jail. Caporino faces three to five years in prison on each of the new charges if convicted, officials said.

2 too close to PJP to vote, Fulop says
Friday, August 25, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW - JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Downtown Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop believes his council colleagues Mariano Vega Jr. and Mary Spinello should sit out further votes on the controversial warehouse proposed for the old PJP landfill in Jersey City.

Fulop said yesterday he plans to ask the Jersey City Ethics Commission to render an opinion on the subject since both Vega and Spinello have full-time government jobs connected with the site.

Vega - an opponent of the warehouse and proponent of open space at the site - serves as the Hudson County director of Parks, Engineering and Planning.

Spinello serves as the deputy director of administration for the Jersey City Incinerator Authority and has played a role in levying fines for illegal dumping against a company that occupies part of the 87-acre site, Fulop said.

Spinello, who supports the warehouse proposal, is also behind an "area in need of redevelopment" plan that would give the city the right to seize the property of the company she's cited for illegal dumping, Fulop said.

"There are laws in place in more than half of the other states that prohibit this type of conflict of interest. Two hundred fifty thousand people in this city would probably agree with me that one job conflicts with the other," Fulop said.

Both Vega and Spinello responded that they vote their conscience, and their full-time jobs provide them with insight on the topic.

"I don't see it as a conflict. I probably have better knowledge of these issues than the other council people because of my job," Spinello said. "I would wish Mr. Fulop would have the decency to have these conversations with me and not the newspaper."

Vega, a longtime advocate for parks, questioned Fulop's motivations.

"I am not sure what (Fulop) hopes to get out of it, perhaps he is paranoid about conspiracy theories," Vega said.

Since March, the City Council has kept tabled a vote on zoning changes that would allow California-based AMB to build the proposed 883,000-square-foot warehouse.

The Ethics Commission meets Sept. 21.

Noticeably absent from Fulop's criticism were Council members Bill Gaughan, Peter Brennan and Viola Richardson, all of whom have salaried positions with the county.

"Firstly, they are not having direct oversight of the site," said Fulop. "If I pick off everyone with a conflict of interest on City Council, we may not have a council."