A Few Clouds 44°
News
Totowa Trio Charged With Killing Paterson Woman Found Stuffed In Car Trunk Totowa Trio Charged With Killing Paterson Woman Found Stuffed In Car Trunk
Totowa Trio Charged With Killing Paterson Woman Found Stuffed In Car Trunk UPDATE: One of three people charged with the brutal murder of a Paterson woman told detectives that she saw her live-in boyfriend and his father carry a large box from their Totowa home to the victim's car the night she was believed killed, authorities said. The victim, Stephanie DeJesus, 38, had driven to the Gordon Avenue home where Justin Fisher and Joelle Martucci lived with their young son the night of Feb. 23, documents say security video shows. She'd driven there from a nearby pharmacy, according to an affidavit filed in Superior Court in Paterson. Martucci, 24, pulled up afterward…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Man Admits Role In NJ/NY Network That Laundered $27M For International Drug Cartels Man Admits Role In NJ/NY Network That Laundered $27M For International Drug Cartels
Man Admits Role In NJ/NY Network That Laundered $27M For International Drug Cartels The takedown of a New Jersey and New York network that laundered more than $27 million for Central and South American drug cartels has produced another guilty plea, federal authorities announced. Gilberto Martinez, 33, formerly of Clifton, "cleaned" more than $1 million himself, both by buying and directing others to buy cashier's checks using drug money, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Morristown police helped the DEA and IRS crack the case, in which more than 1,000 cashier’s checks were bought, he said. The buyers typically were paid a fee of $150 to $200 for each check…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Cremated Ashes Gone After SUV Is Stolen From NJ Funeral Home Cremated Ashes Gone After SUV Is Stolen From NJ Funeral Home
Cremated Ashes Gone After SUV Is Stolen From NJ Funeral Home The explosion of auto thefts took a heartbreaking turn when a New Jersey funeral home employee's car was stolen with cremated remains still inside. It was no surprise that the 2021 Audi SQ5 was ditched in Newark, where a majority of cars stolen in North Jersey are often abandoned. The bad news: The ashes were gone, the town's police chief told Daily Voice. Loved ones are now left without closure. The SUV was stolen from outside a Bergen County funeral home several blocks off southbound Route 17 shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3. The employee “ran in real quick to grab something, and…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Conspirator Who Used NJ High School Students To Cash Stolen COVID Stimulus Checks Gets 4 Years Conspirator Who Used NJ High School Students To Cash Stolen COVID Stimulus Checks Gets 4 Years
Conspirator Who Used NJ High School Students To Cash Stolen COVID Stimulus Checks Gets 4 Years One of a nest of criminals who paid New Jersey high school students to cash COVID stimulus checks stolen from the mail was sentenced to four years in federal prison. Because there's no parole in the federal prison system, Jeffrey Bennett, 27, of Irvington, must serve just about all of the plea-bargained sentence rubber-stamped by a U.S. District Court judge in Newark via videoconference on Monday, Feb. 14. Bennett -- a reputed associate of a group called "The Members" -- recruited U.S. Postal Service employees to steal checks, checkbooks, debit cards, and credit cards from the mail in excha…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Woman Caught With Loaded Gun At Newark Airport: 'I Forgot' Woman Caught With Loaded Gun At Newark Airport: 'I Forgot'
Woman Caught With Loaded Gun At Newark Airport: 'I Forgot' A woman was arrested when she tried to board a plane in Newark with a loaded gun in her handbag, authorities said. The 9mm handgun had a bullet in the chamber when a Transportation Security Administration officer spotted it in the X-ray monitor on Friday, Feb. 11, TSA Spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said. The woman, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, told officers that "she was running late for her flight and forgot that she had the loaded gun in her handbag," Farbstein said. Port Authority police responded and arrested her on weapons charges, Farbstein said. “If you own a firearm, you need to know wh…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
West New York Killer Brutally Beat Inmate For Latin Kings 'Hit Squad,' Indictment Charges West New York Killer Brutally Beat Inmate For Latin Kings 'Hit Squad,' Indictment Charges
West New York Killer Brutally Beat Inmate For Latin Kings 'Hit Squad,' Indictment Charges A convicted killer from West New York sent a fellow inmate to the hospital with a severe head injury as part of a deal with a prison "hit squad" run by a Latin Kings leader, authorities said. Daniel Balbuena, 29, carried out the beating in exchange for an assault on a rival of the Gran Familiar Mexicana gang by hit squad members, an indictment returned by a grand jury in Trenton alleges. Authorities last year charged Frank “Lafay” Blake of Hillside and several other current and former shank-armed inmates with an assault at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, as well as with plans to carry …

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Feds: Hit Man From Philly Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire For NJ Political Operative Feds: Hit Man From Philly Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire For NJ Political Operative
Feds: Hit Man From Philly Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire For NJ Political Operative A Philadelphia resident admitted Wednesday that he was one of the two hit men paid by a onetime New Jersey political operative to kill a former associate. Bomani Africa, 61, who has a criminal history that includes convictions for robbery and drug-related crime, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder for hire via videoconference with a federal judge in Newark, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger announced. People immediately began wondering who the hired killers were after Sean Caddle, 44, admitted on Tuesday that he paid them to whack Michael Galdieri, the son of forme…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
MURDER FOR HIRE: NJ Political Operative Admits Paying Hit Men To Kill Longtime Associate MURDER FOR HIRE: NJ Political Operative Admits Paying Hit Men To Kill Longtime Associate
Murder FOR Hire: NJ Political Operative Admits Paying Hit Men To Kill Longtime Associate A New Jersey-based political consultant admitted Tuesday that he hired two hitmen to kill a longtime associate from Hudson County who had worked for him on various election campaigns, federal authorities said. Sean Caddle, 44, a former aide to former State Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) paid the killers -- one from Connecticut, the other from Pennsylvania -- to get rid of Michael Galdieri, the son of former State Sen. James Galdieri (D-Jersey City) and a prominent figure in local Hudson County politics. Galdieri, 52, was stabbed to death in May 2014 before his Jersey City apartmen…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Jersey Shore Man Who Labeled Shipment Of Iguanas As Toys Sentenced To Home Confinement Jersey Shore Man Who Labeled Shipment Of Iguanas As Toys Sentenced To Home Confinement
Jersey Shore Man Who Labeled Shipment Of Iguanas As Toys Sentenced To Home Confinement UPDATE: A Jersey Shore man who falsely labeled a package containing 10 live iguanas bound for Hong Kong as “toys" was sentenced by a federal judge Tuesday to a plea-bargained six months of home confinement as part of three years probation. Jason Ksepka, 44, of Farmingdale, also was prohibited from "harassing, harming, pursuing, hunting, shooting, wounding, trapping, capturing, or collecting wildlife or attempting to engage in such conduct," U.S Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi also barred him from the "the import, export, transport, s…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
'Self-Upgraded' Business-Class Squatters Force Flight To Tel Aviv Back To NJ 'Self-Upgraded' Business-Class Squatters Force Flight To Tel Aviv Back To NJ
'Self-Upgraded' Business-Class Squatters Force Flight To Tel Aviv Back To NJ A flight from Newark to Tel Aviv was diverted back to New Jersey after two passengers "self-upgraded" themselves on a half-empty plane. The Israeli pair plopped down in business class and refused to move for members of the Flight 90 cabin crew, according to United Airlines. The Times of Israel broke the news of the confrontation, which reportedly occurred near the Canada border about an hour and a half into the flight and sent the plane back to Newark International Airport. “Law enforcement officials met the aircraft upon landing,” United Airlines said in a statement. “The flight was subse…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Former Trump Communications Chief's SUV Stolen In Paramus, Dumped In Newark, Police Say Former Trump Communications Chief's SUV Stolen In Paramus, Dumped In Newark, Police Say
Former Trump Communications Chief's SUV Stolen In Paramus, Dumped In Newark, Police Say Somewhere Donald Trump may be giggling. The tsunami of vehicle thefts in North Jersey claimed one of the former president's antagonists when someone snatched a 2021 Mercedes Benz owned by onetime White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci from outside a Paramus home. As with just about all of the thefts reported in North Jersey's wealthier counties, the SUV was left unlocked a with a spare key fob inside when it was stolen off Ridgewood Avenue, borough police said. "The Mooch" was one of the lucky ones, though: As with most cases, the flashy financier's wheels were dumped in N…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Men Drop Sex Assault Suits Against Retired Bergen Judge Turned Fox Analyst Andrew Napolitano Men Drop Sex Assault Suits Against Retired Bergen Judge Turned Fox Analyst Andrew Napolitano
Men Drop Sex Assault Suits Against Retired Bergen Judge Turned Fox Analyst Andrew Napolitano Two men have dropped their lawsuits accusing disgraced former Bergen County judge turned Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano of sexually assaulting them. Napolitano, who was fired from Fox last August amid accusations of sexually harassing employees, had already made headlines this week for selling his condo at Trump International Hotel & Tower on Central Park West. Then came reports, first published in the New Jersey Law Journal, that Charles Corbishley and James Kruzelnick had withdrawn their suits accusing Napolitano of sexual abuse three decades apart. Napolitano also dropped a lib…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco