New Jersey AG charges another Dem state powerbroker in 'groundbreaking' corruption case

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) isn't the only major New Jersey Democrat facing charges of corruption.

Politico reports that Democratic New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin on Monday leveled what it describes as "groundbreaking" corruption charges against state Democratic power broker George Norcross.

According to an indictment unsealed on Monday, Norcross allegedly "led a criminal enterprise whose members and associates agreed the enterprise would extort others through threats and fear of economic and reputational harm and commit other criminal offenses to achieve the enterprise’s goals."

The New York Times reports that Norcross was charged with racketeering offenses along with five other codefendants: Philip Norcross, a lobbyist who is Norcross's brother; attorney Bill Tambussi; former Camden, New Jersey Mayor Dana Redd; Sidney Brown the chief financial officer of the trucking firm NFI; and John O’Donnell of The Michaels Organization, a residential development organization.

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"The 13-count indictment unsealed by the attorney general accused the group of unlawfully obtaining property and property rights on the waterfront in Camden, N.J., collecting millions of dollars in government-issued tax credits, and controlling and influencing government officials," notes the Times.

Norcross, who made his name as an insurance broker, is widely known as the most powerful unelected Democrat in the Garden State, and he is widely seen as the architect of the New Jersey Democratic Party's political machine.

Multiple media outlets reported that Norcross appeared at Attorney General Platkin's press conference announcing the charges, even going so far as to sit in a front-row seat to hear the AG list off his alleged crimes in person.