Trenton, NJ Mayor Found Guilty On All Charges

Trenton, NJ Mayor, Tony Mack, Found Guilty of All Charges 

Facts:

Tony Mack

• Jury deliberated for 7 hours
• Found guilty of all charges
• Charged with extortion (2 counts), accepting bribes, wire fraud (2 counts) and mail fraud

Tony Mack, Trenton, NJ mayor, was found guilty on all counts brought against him late Friday evening. The jury deliberated for just about 7 hours before handing down the verdict to Judge Michael A. Shipp. Shipp denied a motion in early January to throw out evidence obtained by wiretap as the case was in its early stages.

Joseph "JoJo" Giorgianni

Tony Mack was convicted of 1 count of conspiracy to obstruct and affect interstate commerce by extortion under color of official right, 1 count of attempted obstructing and affecting interstate commerce by extortion under color of official right, 1 count of agreeing to accept bribes, 2 counts of wire fraud and 1 count of mail fraud.

Mack's attorney,  Mark Davis, said "That was the wrong verdict that the jury reached," and added that jurors "believed testimony that they should have never believed." Davis also said that Mack and his attorneys were looking into an appeal.

Mack, his brother, Ralphiel, were arrested in a sting in September of 2012 on the premise of conspiring to accept $119,000 in cash and valuables in exchange for the development of an automated parking garage. Ralphiel was also convicted of three counts of extortion and accepting bribes.

Ralphiel Mack

Joseph "JoJo" Giorgianni, co-conspirator and Trenton restaurant owner,  pleaded guilty to two counts of extortion in the weeks before the trial began. He told investigators that he handled the bribes for Mack and had given him about $8,000 in cash in 2012 at the steakhouse that he owns and operates.

Under the scheme, developers would buy city owned property for $100,000 less than the land's value, hand over $119,000 dollars to Giorgianni, whom would then hand it to Ralphiel, who, in turn, would hand it over to Mack. This buffering was done to keep the "heat off" of Mack, as Giovanni said in one wiretapped phone conversation.

When Mack was arrested in 2012, he was caught with over $2,500 dollars in marked bills in his pocket. This was one of the main pieces of evidence in the prosecution, with one prosecutor telling jurors that the evidence was, "in his [Mack's] pocket."

JoJo's Steakhouse where the transactions took place

With the conviction, Mack will be removed as mayor and George Muschal, city council president for the city of Trenton, will be the interim mayor.

Since the year 2000, city officials in Newark, Camden, Paterson, Perth Amboy, Hoboken, Passaic, Asbury Park, Orange and Hamilton have been convicted or pleaded guilty in corruption cases.

Sentencing is set for May, 14 of this year.