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Ronald Manzo gets supervised release, home confinement in Hudson corruption case

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Ronald Manzo was sentenced today in federal court in Newark to three years of supervised release for being the go-between in a bribe to former Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell from the central figure in New Jersey’s largest public corruption case ever.

Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot
Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot

He was also sentenced separately to one year of supervised release, five months of which will be served as home confinement, for violating the terms of his probation from a 2004 conviction for securities fraud and perjury.

And he was fined $30,000 by U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares.

Manzo pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and agreed to testify against Elwell in the disgraced mayor’s corruption trial last year, which ended with the former mayor convicted of accepting the $10,000 cash bribe.

A federal judge sentenced Elwell to 30 months in prison three weeks ago.

Also charged in the 2009 “Operation Bid Rig II” roundup was Manzo’s brother, former assemblyman Louis Manzo. At the time, Lou Manzo was running for mayor of Jersey City and Ron was his campaign manager. However, that case was thrown out — twice — by a judge in Newark.


Elwell (l.), Dwek


For the full history of “Operation Bid Rig II” stories, CLICK HERE



Ronald Manzo pleaded guilty last May to the first count of an indictment charging him with conspiring with Elwell and another man to collect $10,000 from a crooked developer-turned-government informant, Solomon Dwek,  in exchange for help from the former mayor in securing project approvals.

A convicted felon from the Jersey Shore, Dwek worked as an operative for the government in an attempt to reduce his sentence for embezzling more than $50 million. The swindler-turned-snitch portrayed a developer looking to gain project approvals, wearing a hidden camera that recorded conversations with a number of people.

Dwek was later jailed after he tried to cover up an arrest in Baltimore when he was supposed to be under house arrest in New Jersey. He was looking at nine to 12 years in federal prison for his cooperation after pleading guilty to fraud and other charges in September 2009.

Some of the cases were either thrown out or ended in acquittals. The vast majority of those charged accepted plea bargains.


Federal prosecutors said Elwell met with Ronald Manzo (a businessman and friend of his), Dwek and  then-Jersey City official Edward Cheatam at La Reggia Restaurant at the Meadowlands Plaza Hotel in Secaucus
on May 28, 2009.

During that meeting, they said, Dwek purported to be a developer interested in building a large-scale real estate development in Secaucus. He offered to pay Elwell $10,000 “green” in exchange for the mayor’s future assistance, action and influence in favor of his development projects.

At the end of the meeting, Dwek gave $10,000 in cash to Manzo, which was intended for Elwell, in the parking lot of the hotel restaurant.

Elwell was convicted of accpeiting the $10,000 in cash from Manzo, knowing that it was being made in exchange for his future official assistance.

On July 17, 2009, Elwell met with Cheatam, Manzo and Dwek at Secaucus Town Hall. During that meeting, prosecutors said, Elwell confirmed that he had received the $10,000 in cash from Manzo, and that he was happy with it.

Cheatam is still awaiting sentencing.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman credited special agents of the FBI and IRS with making the case against Manzo, which is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley Harsch of Fishman’s Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.


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