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Jackson and Brown were among a host of elected officials statewide who accepted the payoffs in exchange for their influence in steering contracts to an insurance brokerage firm created by undercover FBI agents.
Both faced longer terms but caught breaks because they cooperated with investigators in taking down others involved in the sting.
U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson ordered both men to serve three years of supervised release after their prison terms end. In addition, Jackson, 39, was fined $15,000. Both remain free on bond pending their surrender to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Jackson quietly pleaded guilty in December 2007 to attempted extortion, admitting that he pocketed $26,000 in payments ranging from $2,500 to $6,000, in exchange for his official assistance in steering city brokerage contracts toward the undercover company.
A year later, Brown admitted he took nearly $13,000 to help the FBI stingers get business from the Paterson Board of Education.
Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr. credited the FBI with its work in netting the officials, in a sting that began in South Jersey and quickly spread north.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher J. Gramiccioni and David A. Bocian of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division handled the cases against Jackson and Brown.
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