Page 11 - RE-NJ

File photo/Courtesy:
Aaron Houston
JUDGE DISMISSES RACKETEERING
CASE AGAINST NORCROSS, ALLIES
A judge has dismissed the state’s
racketeering case against political
power broker George Norcross and
other key fi gures in South Jersey,
one that stemmed largely from a
series of land deals and well-known
development projects along Camden’s
waterfront.
In a Feb. 26 ruling, Superior Court
Judge Peter Warshaw granted a
motion to toss out the 13-count
indictment announced last spring by
Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin,
writing that “its factual allegations do
not constitute
extortion
or criminal
coercion as a
matter of law”
and concluding
“that there is
George E. Norcross III
no racketeering
enterprise.” The
ruling applies to Norcross and his
codefendants — attorneys Philip A.
Norcross and William M. Tambussi,
former Camden Mayor Dana L. Redd
and CEOs Sidney R. Brown and
John J. O’Donnell of NFI and The
Michaels Organization, respectively
— who were tied to what prosecutors
argued was a pattern of extortion,
intimidation and political pressure
for pursuits such as developing a
375,000-square-foot offi ce tower for
companies led by George Norcross,
Brown and O’Donnell.
Published reports said Platkin’s offi ce
will appeal the decision.
“We disagree strongly with the trial
court’s decision, and we are appealing
immediately,” Platkin said, according
to The Philadelphia Inquirer. “After
years in which the U.S. Supreme Court
has consistently cut back on federal
public corruption law, and at a time
in which the federal government is
refusing to tackle corruption, it has
never been more important for state
offi cials to take corruption head on.”
The case centers on more than a
decade of economic development
activity around the Camden
waterfront, which Norcross has
famously championed as a business
leader and philanthropist, with
prosecutors alleging that he and his
allies secured property, property
rights and lucrative state tax credits
in the city for their own personal gain.
But the defendants maintained their
innocence and argued that their efforts
were for the benefi t of Camden and
Cooper University Health Care, an
anchor institution that’s been a driving
force of economic development in the
city.
George Norcross is executive
chairman of Conner, Strong &
Buckelew, board chairman for Cooper
Health and the former longtime chair
of the Camden County Democratic
Committee. Phil Norcross, his brother,
is the managing shareholder and
CEO of Parker McCay PA as well as
a Cooper Health board member and
chair of the Cooper Foundation, while
Tambussi is a partner at Brown and
Connery LLP who is the longtime
personal attorney to George Norcross
and counsel to several organizations
with ties to Camden and the Norcross
family.
Attorneys for each defendant declared
victory after Warshaw’s ruling,
speaking during a Zoom call where
they also launched a lengthy, scathing
attack on Platkin and his political
ambitions.
“I want to begin by asking why Matt
Platkin, who was so eager to hold
a press conference when issuing a
politically motivated sham indictment,
has refused to meet the press today,
now that a judge has ruled that
everything he alleged is entirely
without merit,” said Michael Critchley,
George Norcross’ attorney, according
to a prepared copy of his remarks.
“New Jerseyans deserve to hear Mr.
Platkin explain himself after this
stunning rebuke from the court.
“The truth of the matter is that Mr.
Platkin took the storied reputation
of the New Jersey Attorney General’s
offi ce and trashed it. This politically
motivated indictment will go down
in history as an epic failure and a
blot on the fi ne reputation of the line
prosecutors whom Mr. Platkin forced
to do his dirty work. As any lawyer
worth his salt could tell you, Mr.
Platkin was wrong on the law, which
is why two other law enforcement
agencies in two states looked at the
facts of this case and passed.
“They know — and we know — that
this indictment was a sham,” Critchley
continued. “But Mr. Platkin, with his
scant legal experience, was never
focused on justice. He was focused on
his political career — on what’s next,
and best, for him.”
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