More stops added as the Ledger Live takes the Jersey City Historical Political Corruption Tour

by: Jason Springer

Fri Sep 11, 2009 at 04:30:00 PM EDT

The domino's continue to fall in Jersey City. Earlier this week, we had our first guilty pleas:

Maher Khalil, a former official with the Jersey City Zoning Board of Adjustment, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Newark to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion. The 39-year-old Mr. Khalil was the first public official to plead guilty in the case.
He admitted he accepted more than $70,000 in bribes from Solomon Dwek, a government cooperating witness posing as a developer, in return for setting up meetings with other officials who would help Mr. Dwek with zoning changes and approvals.
Mr. Khalil acknowledged converting some of the bribes into campaign donations for Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega Jr.
Later Wednesday, Guy Catrillo admitted in U.S. District Court that he accepted bribes from Mr. Dwek. Mr. Catrillo was an aide to Jersey City's planning and zoning boards and was a community-relations specialist in Mayor Jerramiah Healy's office.
Mr. Catrillo was accused of attempted extortion for taking $15,000 from Mr. Dwek in exchange for introducing Mr. Dwek to other officials and promising to expedite development approvals.

Following the guilty pleas, their suspension turned into a termination by Mayor Healy. Along with the guilty pleas, prosecutors were granted an extension for two more officials:

Meanwhile, Judge Linaris granted prosecutors another month to prepare for trial against two other Jersey City officials indicted in connection with July's corruption sweep.
Leona Beldini, a deputy mayor, and Edward Cheatam, a former city Housing Authority commissioner, had been scheduled to begin trial Oct. 26 on charges of conspiring to commit extortion.
But Linares granted prosecutors' request for more time yesterday, saying the case involved hundreds of hours of recorded conversations.
Beldini's attorney, Brian J. Neary, objected to the extension, saying the 74-year-old is too old to wait for her day in court.

Along with those that have been charged, reports surfaced last week that Mayor Healy, who has already said it's clear he is public official #4 listed in indictments, received a visit from the FBI before the big arrests. Apparently he's received a few visits now:

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy confirmed tonight that FBI agents paid a visit to his Bradley Beach home in August and to City Hall today.
Healy said he couldn't discuss the visits further because investigations connected to July's massive corruption sweep are ongoing. But according to sources, six to eight agents visited the City Hall offices of the business administrator, tax assessor, tax collector and city clerk today.

It should be noted that Healy still says he did nothing wrong, but it one has to question why you would have these visits from your friends at the FBI. With all of this news, the Ledger Live took a historical walking tour down Jersey City corruption memory lane:

Who knows if this is history repeating itself, but it still looks like there is more of the story to come.

Jason Springer :: More stops added as the Ledger Live takes the Jersey City Historical Political Corruption Tour