Feds Bust N.J. Officials

Calling it "unprecedented," FBI officials in Newark announced on Thursday the arrests or issued summonses for 44 people including mayors, assemblymen and rabbis in New Jersey and New York.

The busts were part of a 10 year long corruption and international money laundering conspiracy probe that also included charges of illegally transporting human organs.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL LIST OF THOSE CHARGED AND THE CHARGES THEY FACE

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE CORRUPTION PROBE

CLICK HERE TO HEAR WHAT SOME OF THE CHARGED WERE CAUGHT SAYING

Among those arrested: Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, Rigdgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Baldini, Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega, Jersey City Fire Department official Michael Manzo, Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt and Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith.

New Jersey Community Affairs Commissioner Joe Doria resigned on Thursday after he was asked to step down by Governor Jon Corzine. Doria's home and office were searched by FBI agents. He was not charged in the corruption probe.

Van Pelt is accused of accepting $10,000 from a cooperating government witness posing as a developer who sought help in getting permits for a project in Ocean County.

Cammarano, who won a runoff election last month, is charged with accepting $10,000 from a government witness who posed as a developer.

Five rabbis from Brooklyn and New Jersey are accused of trafficking kidneys from Israeli donors to laundering proceeds from selling fake designer bags.

Mike Winnick was praying inside the Deal Synagogue when it was raided. Winnick says FBI agents removed several boxes from the Deal Yeshiva.

The school was founded by Rabbi Isaac Dwek and his wife. Dwek's son, Solomon, resigned from its board of trustees following his arrest in 2007 on bank fraud charges relating to a bounced $25 million check.

The arrests are putting the insular Syrian Jewish community at the Jersey shore in an uncomfortable spotlight.  The wealthy Monmouth County beach community is home to about 10,000 Syrian Jews year-round, and the population surges to three times that much in the summer, fueled by vacationers from Brooklyn.

A member of a synagogue headed by one of the defendants says the charges are hard to believe, given the rabbi's sermons on the need to be ethical.

Corruption has permeated New Jersey politics for years. Former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie takes credit for 130 convictions of elected and appointed officials on corruption charges.  Christie is the Republican candidate for governor.

Current New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine issued the following statement regarding the arrests:

"Any corruption is unacceptable - anywhere, anytime, by anybody. The scale of corruption were seeing as this unfolds is simply outrageous and cannot be tolerated."

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who has fought corruption in New Jersey' largest city, says it's "an unbelievable morning so far."

From the AP:

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — An investigation into the sale of black-market kidneys and fake Gucci handbags evolved into a sweeping probe of political corruption in New Jersey, ensnaring more than 40 people Thursday, including three mayors, two state lawmakers and several rabbis.

Even for a state with a rich history of graft, the scale of wrongdoing alleged was breathtaking. An FBI official called corruption "a cancer that is destroying the core values of this state."

Federal prosecutors said the investigation initially focused on a money laundering network that operated between Brooklyn, N.Y.; Deal, N.J.; and Israel. The network is alleged to have laundered tens of millions of dollars through Jewish charities controlled by rabbis in New York and New Jersey.

Prosecutors then used an informant in that investigation to help them go after corrupt politicians. The informant — a real estate developer charged with bank fraud three years ago — posed as a crooked businessman and paid a string of public officials tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to get approvals for buildings and other projects in New Jersey, authorities said.

Among the 44 people arrested were the mayors of Hoboken, Ridgefield and Secaucus, Jersey City's deputy mayor, and two state assemblymen. A member of the governor's cabinet resigned after agents searched his home, though he was not arrested. All but one of the officeholders are Democrats.

Also, five rabbis from New York and New Jersey — two of whom lead congregations in Deal — were accused of laundering millions of dollars, some of it from the sale of counterfeit goods and bankruptcy fraud, authorities said.

Others arrested included building and fire inspectors, city planning officials and utilities officials, all of them accused of using their positions to further the corruption.

In rounding up the defendants, FBI and IRS agents raided a synagogue Thursday morning in Deal, a wealthy oceanfront city of Mediterranean-style mansions, with a large population