FBI arrests NJ mayor, accomplice over bribery charges

Trenton, NJ, United States (4E) – FBI agents on Monday arrested Trenton, New Jersey Mayor Tony F. Mack and his campaign supporter at their homes as charges of accepting bribes were filed against them.

Mack’s brother, Ralphiel Mack, who was also charged along with the mayor and Joseph “JoJo” Giorgianni, surrendered to the FBI later in the morning, according to FBI spokeswoman Barbara Woodruff.

A handcuffed Mack and Giorgianni declined to comment when they were led to the Trenton federal court house at 10 a.m.

Mack allegedly accepted part of a $119,000 bribe money offered by a developer in exchange for his support to a parking garage project on a city property at East State Street. Giorgianni allegedly acted as broker while Mack’s brother acted as the bagman.

Based on the criminal complaint against the three, the FBI has been investigating the deal since September 2010 and have as their evidence recorded conversations of Mack, Giorgianni and an informant, who disguised as the developer’s representative and offered the mayor money in exchange for supporting the building of the parking garage. The informant, now acting as a witness to the case, recorded the conversation that occurred on Sept. 14, 2010.

The initial payments, two envelopes each with $1,500 in marked money, was given by the informant to Giorgianni on Oct. 27, 2011. One was for him and the other for Mack. Giorgianni’s coded call to Mack about getting the money was wire-tapped and recorded by the FBI.

Another informant gave Giorgianni two large leather folios each containing $10,000 and an envelope containing $5,000 at his restaurant in Trenton, JoJo’s Steak House, on June 8. FBI agents secretly took photos of people coming and going out of the restaurant in July.

On July 18, FBI agents raided the homes of the defendants and found some of the marked money given them by the informant. At the time, Mack denied that his brother received the money for him.

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