Hackensack Shakedown?

A secretly recorded conversation sounds like a scene from the TV show "The Sopranos." But this conversation is real and it's not about the mob, it's about a scandal in a local police department.

A conversation between Hackensack Police Department Captain John "Joseph" Carroll and Police Officer Aldrin Lamboy was secretly recorded as they were talking between two side-by-side police cars.

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A portion of that audio is transcribed below:

Captain: "... people are not going to be employed here because of their mouths."

Captain: "... I'm telling ya people are going to lose their jobs.

Officer: "Nah, that's not me."

Captain: "**** you **** them **** them all."

On the tape, Lamboy and Captain Carroll discuss a complaint letter sent to Capt. Carroll's boss, Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa. The letter accuses Chief Zisa of retaliating against officers who did not vote the way the Chief wanted them to in a union election.

The letter, written by another officer, mentions that Lamboy was transferred from motorcycle duty to a less-desirable duty of walking the streets for not voting the way Chief Zisa wanted him to. Captain Carroll has been accused of being a henchman for the chief, and on the recording Capt. Carroll encourages Officer Lamboy to make things good with the chief.

Captain: "...you should go next week, go see the chief, tell the chief that you heard that there was some, your name was mentioned in some letter about some type of intimidation and that you're pissed off about it. That why somebody would put your name in their thing. ... Now I don't know how you want to play it. You want to like act like you got intimidated and you did you got ******, you did, no doubt about it, you did but how many years do you got left?"

Officer: "Fifteen"

Captain: "I'm looking out for your well being for the next fifteen years. ... you still make a hundred thousand dollars a year and you barely got out of high school."

Officer: "I understand that."

Captain: "... you have a chance right now to put things behind you and I think in the long run you'll reap certain benefits I won't steer you wrong. ... Your name is in there and you're the one that's got to answer the questions when they give you the deposition."

Officer: "So what do you want me to say, I don't want to get involved?"

Captain: "... I'm not telling you what to do, I'm just giving you guidance of what I think and how you should act on far as if you want to go forward."

The Captain appears to, more or less, coach Officer Lamboy, who is Hispanic, into rationalizing his transfer to foot patrol in a Hispanic neighborhood.

Officer: "... I don't want to get involved but what happens if I get brought into this?"

Captain: "Then you gotta tell them what you gotta tell them. Listen, I got transferred I got sent down there as a Hispanic officer in a Hispanic neighborhood, I walked. I was in the community I made my arrests."

Officer: "...I don't want to ******* lie or get subpoenaed or get brought into the thing."

A total of 10 former or active cops are now suing the Hackensack PD, claiming that Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa runs a "mob like organization" retaliating against anyone who does not vote his way in both police union elections and regular political elections. Chief Zisa allegedly forced officers, in fear of retaliation, to donate money to help support his own political runs for state Assembly, Bergen County sheriff, and state Senate.

"We never had this kind of corruption in this department," says retired Hackensack Sgt. Thomas Aiellos. "It's all about money, it's all about politics."

Aiellos put in 26 years on the job and is suing the department claiming he was forced to quit because he didn't play by Chief Zisa's rules.

Aiellos tells Fox 5's John Deutzman: "We're working under an environment where we're treated like it's an organized crime organization." He continues: "... you're told if you step out of line, the only way you're going to get back into the loop is if you kiss the ring… I mean that's something out of 'The Godfather.' "

The "Godfather," he says, is Chief Ken Zisa. Zisa was appointed chief 14 years ago when his brother Jack Zisa was the mayor. His other brother Frank Zisa is currently Hackensack PD's deputy chief.

"There are a lot of hard working police officers who are there but they can't work in that environment," says retired Lt. Don Pierce says.

Pierce had 24 years with the department and is suing the department as well. When Fox 5 News reporter John Deutzman asked him: "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" Pierce replied, "not in real life, maybe on HBO maybe in 'The Sopranos,' maybe something you see on TV or in the movies. … If I didn't live it myself, I wouldn't believe it."

Back to the recording:

Captain: "... I'm mad about the way this department is going, the way people think they