Trenton Mayor Tony Mack was found guilty on all six counts of extortion and bribery by a federal jury today.
By Jenna Pizzi and Alex Zdan
Trenton Mayor Tony Mack was found guilty on all six counts of extortion and bribery by a federal jury today.
Jurors returned their verdict after 7½ hours of deliberation, and came to a unanimous decision that the first-term mayor was guilty of conspiring to accept bribes in exchange for official action on behalf of parking garage developers.
Mack’s younger brother Ralphiel was found guilty of three of the same six counts his brother was convicted of, but not guilty of three other counts involving wire and mail fraud.
Tony Mack stood stoically as he heard himself judged guilty, barely flinching and looking straight ahead as each count was read. His wrestler’s posture failed just slightly, his shoulders slumping forward a little. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
Ralphiel Mack showed only slightly more emotion, his chin jutting out and his head back as he and his brother stood with their attorneys at the defense table. In the front row of the gallery, Ralphiel Mack’s fiancée sobbed quietly.
Both brothers were released on bail pending sentencing scheduled for May 14 — the day after the city’s mayoral election. They said nothing as they walked out of the courthouse bathed by the light of TV cameras into the frigid evening darkness, Tony Mack’s composure never failing.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman applauded the decision.
“The jury’s verdict solidly affirms what we first charged more than a year ago — that Tony Mack, with the helping hands of his brother and their cohorts, sold the mayor’s office and sold out the people of Trenton,” U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said. “We are very grateful to the members of the jury for their service.”
Immediately after the verdict was read, Ralphiel Mack’s attorney Robert Haney moved for an acquittal for his client.
“This is a miscarriage of justice,” Haney said. “The government has never established that Ralphiel Mack had any knowledge of this scheme.”
The jury was handed the case late Thursday afternoon, and the 12 members met only briefly before going home for the night. They returned at 9:30 a.m. to begin a full day of deliberations today. Throughout the day they asked three questions of the court, seeking clarification about the statutes the brothers were charged with breaking, with at least one query focused on Ralphiel Mack.
Their deliberations continued for most of the day until just after 5 p.m. when the jurors sent out a large manila envelope with a note to Judge Michael A. Shipp.
Tony Mack, 48, who was elected mayor in 2010, had his hands folded in front of him as jurors filed in. The courtroom was filled with friends, reporters, former teammates and concerned citizens.
Shipp told Haney he had to confer with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric Moran and Matthew Skahill, who prosecuted the case for the government. A briefing for the motion on behalf of Ralphiel Mack, 41, and a resident of Trenton like his brother, is scheduled for Monday.
After the verdict was read, Shipp closed the case of USA v. Tony F. Mack and Ralphiel Mack.
“At this time, we thank you, and we’re adjourned,” Shipp said.
The mayor and his brother rose slowly from their seats, Ralphiel Mack grabbing his brother’s overcoat and handing it to him. The brothers did not touch each other and said nothing as they left.
Outside the courtroom, the lone African-American woman who served on the jury but who was randomly picked as an alternate and so did not get a say in Mack’s fate wept, leaning on a railing as two other alternates tried to comfort her.
Behind the Mack brothers and the TV cameras departing on the East State Street sidewalk outside the courthouse came Robert Haney, dragging a wheeled briefcase. Haney had argued that both Mack brothers were set up by Joseph “JoJo” Giorgianni — a former co-conspirator who pleaded guilty in December — as part of an elaborate plan using the FBI’s surveillance equipment to foist guilt on the Macks.
“It’s deeply disappointing,” Haney said. “The jury did its duty, but unfortunately the case is one … it’s always difficult, unfortunately, in this one the forces of evil and lying are ultimately successful.”
The jury did not find that Ralphiel Mack was guilty on the final three counts with which he was charged.
“It’s a small comfort,” he said. “The verdict is one that never should have come about — a sting operation.”
Haney said he hasn’t had the opportunity to discuss the verdict with his client, but could tell that Ralphiel Mack was devastated
“Absolutely,” he said. “But we’re trying to prepare an appropriate motion of appeal.”
Mack’s attorney Mark Davis said nothing as he was followed by reporters requesting comment as he walked to his SUV.
The trial, which began on Jan. 6, consisted of 14 days of testimony including one witness called by Haney who testified for only 10 minutes. Neither the mayor nor his brother took the stand in his own defense.
Trenton mayor Tony Mack, left, is greeted as he reaches the top of the steps leading into city hall, having left the downtown federal courthouse (background, left) during a lunch break on day 1 of The United State v. Tony F. Mack and Ralphiel Mack, on January 6, 2014. Tony Mack, elected in 2010, took bribe money from the purported developers of a parking garage downtown. The jury found that Mack used his official influence as mayor to agree to sell the city-owned lot where the developers sought to build the garage at below market value in exchange for cash.
The developers — Harry Seymour and his local representative Lemuel Blackburn — were working in cooperation with the FBI for the sting operation targeting Mack. On several occasions either Seymour, a residential and commercial developer from North Jersey, or Blackburn, a former city attorney who worked as former Mayor Douglas Palmer’s personal counsel, met with Mack supporter Giorgianni and others to discuss the particulars of the deal. During those meetings, Seymour and Blackburn were wearing hidden FBI recording devices, capturing every moment on audio and video.
The FBI also had a wiretap recording phone calls made and received by Giorgianni, the mayor and admitted co-conspirator Charles Hall III, who at the time was working in City Hall and was in charge of running the recreation department, even though he was hired to be a meter reader for the city’s water utility.
Mack accepted cash for the project through Giorgianni, who gave the money to Ralphiel Mack to give to his brother.
In recordings played in court, Giorgianni said the buffers insulated the mayor from suspicion about accepting illicit cash.
Both Mack brothers and Giorgianni were arrested on Sept. 10, 2012, and a six-count indictment followed.
Just weeks before the trial was set to begin, Giorgianni pleaded guilty, admitting he handed cash to the mayor at his sandwich shop in the spring of 2012, shortly before the FBI made public its investigation.
Tony and Ralphiel Mack maintained their innocence and sought to stand trial to be exonerated. Haney and Davis argued that Mack and his brother did not know about the bribe payments being made to Giorgianni and saw the project as a good development for the city. Haney also said Ralphiel Mack received the money that was seized in his house on the night FBI searches from Giorgianni as a loan.
During the trial, their attorneys cross-examined several government witnesses including Hall, Giorgianni’s caretaker and former city housing director Carmen Melendez. Tony Mack’s attorney Mark Davis did not call any witnesses of his own, but Ralphiel Mack’s attorney Robert Haney called one witness, Mack’s friend Terry Birchenough, to testify that the mayor’s brother, who at the time was working as a guidance counselor and football coach, asked him for a loan.
Birchenough was in the courtroom when the verdict was read.
“The only thing I have to say is that the justice system has failed an innocent man,” Birchenough said.
Tony Mack has previously said he would not step down as mayor. Now that the jury has found he is guilty, if Mack does not resign his post, the state office of the Attorney General will seek to have a state judge force Mack to forfeit the office. When he is removed from office, City Council President George Muschal will become acting mayor.
Trenton Council President George Muschal will become acting mayor when Tony Mack is removed from office. City officials and community leaders on the whole expressed relief that the trial was concluded and that the city would be able to move on from the cloud of Mack’s pending trial. Yet even those who clashed with Mack in his time as mayor found sympathy for the man as his fate was decided.
“Justice is complex. Fairness is not,” said Toby Sanders, a former school board president, who had a tumultuous relationship with Mack. “This entire matter is unfortunate. I wish we could give more attention to matters in our educational system and our economic system that are just as complex but not as salacious and entertaining.”
“First of all my heart goes out to his family and his children,” Sanders said. “It’s very much time for us to move forward as a community. And that means that those children are taken care of, and all children like them, with incarcerated parents and families experiencing obstacles to opportunity.”
Tonight, City Hall was empty and on lockdown. The last workers there on a Friday night were gone before the verdict was announced.
But on the second floor in the mayor’s office, lights were on. Head security guard Michael Morris, who the Civil Service Commission found was terminated twice from his job in a targeted move by the mayor, walked through the building to make sure everyone was out.
Inside the mayor’s office, Morris switched off the lights.
Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717.
Contact Alex Zdan at azdan@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5705.
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