Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano Gets Ground Into Powder

While there is certain to be plenty of news to emerge in the following hours around the arrests of some thirty people regarding the money laundering schemes in New Jersey, this quote from Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, taken from the Criminal Complaint, United States of America v. Peter Cammarano III and Michael Schaffer, paints a picture of what was going on during the months of April through July 2009 in terms of his election process.

The Complaint stems around Cammarano's relationship with an undercover FBI agent posing as a real estate agent, in which in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in cash, the Hoboken mayor, if elected, would help "expedite" his developments in as rapid a manner as possible. The election was already being questioned, as a runoff with Dawn Zimmer in June led to a "found" box with hundreds of votes in favor of Cammarano. Following is the quote regarding Cammarano's political allies. (CW refers to a "cooperating witness" who had been charged with bank fraud in a federal criminal complaint in May 2006.)

"This is the way Mr. Schaffer and I both see the world through the same lens, right. In this election, hopefully, we, we, we, you know, we get to the point where I'm sworn in on July 1st, and we're breaking down the world into three categories at that point. There's the people who were with us, and that's you guys. There's the people who climbed on board in the runoff. They can get in line. . . And then there are the people who were against us the whole way. They get ground . . . They get ground into powder." The CW remarked that the latter group would have to wait for approvals on their projects for "three years," and that they would be consigned to the "bottom of the pile."

Perhaps next up will be the allegations of the others selling organs to transplant patients to coincide with the charges of international money laundering and real estate development fraud.