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Healy wasn’t among those charged, but he admitted meeting with FBI operative Solomon Dwek twice to talk business. It was Jack Shaw, however, who said he delivered $10K to Healy from Dwek, an accused felon posing as a corrupt developer for the government in an “Abscam”-like sting.
The twist: Shaw was found dead in his Paulus Hook apartment yesterday, the possible victim of a prescription drug overdose.
The plot, as they say, thickens.
Federal authorities charged Shaw with accepting $10,000 from Dwek and then steering him to Healy, suggesting the deveoper donate another $10,000 to the mayor’s re-election campaign to curry favor in future development projects.
Shaw later told Dwek that he gave Healy the money, the federal complaint filed in Newark says. It also says he introduced Dwek to several other officials who ended up in handcuffs last week. (For a copy of the complaint filed against Shaw click here.)
The Jersey Journal reports that three independent sources confirmed that bottles of pills were found near Shaw, 61, at in his Portside Towers apartment in Paulus Hook, where Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said a relative found his body around 5 p.m. yesterday.
However, DeFazio said authorities aren’t drawing any conclusions until toxicology test results are in. The autopsy is today, he said.
Shaw learned from some of the smoothest, having begun his career working for Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago.
He went on to become an aide to Jim Florio while the former governor was still a congressman, as well as for Robert G. Torricelli’s 1996 Senate bid and Gov. Corzine’s 2000 electon tto the Senate.
Shaw also was a confidante of Robert C. Janiszewski, the former county executive sent to federal prison for corruption.
A more recent client of Shaw’s was Metrovest Equities, developer of the Beacon, a 10-building apartment complex on the site of the former Jersey City Medical Center.
Ever since news of the arrests broke, calls for resignation have taken place in Hoboken, where Mayor Peter Cammarano refuses to step down, even though hundreds of people protested outside City Hall and his home, his chief-of-staff quit, and his transition team bailed, as well. Ridgefied Mayor Anthony Suarez is also sticking to his seat. Secaucus’s Dennis Elwell is the only mayor of the three to step down amid the growing scandal.
When council members showed up for their meeting this morning, protestors were waiting with signs and shouts.
Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega, who was among those charged, issued a written statement: “The events of this past Thursday were as shocking to me as they were to everyone else. I am not guilty of the allegations. In our system of justice, we are presumed innocent until proven guilty. I do not intend to resign as city council president nor as a councilman.”
Healy said he’s standing pat, too, not having been charged with anything and able to govern amid rumor and innuendo.
For more on last week’s arrests, go to:
Meet the cooperator behind NJ’s biggest corruption bust ever
For upstart mayor, it all began at the Malibu Diner
Roster of community leaders becomes a perp walk
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