Cooperating conspirator in Trenton Mayor Tony Mack corruption case pleads guilty to extortion charge

Charles Hall III, a Trenton Water Works meter reader assigned to the recreation department in City Hall, also admitted to drug conspiracy charges

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TRENTON -- Mayor Tony Mack conspired to extort bribe money from developers in exchange for his official influence in office, a former city employee and Mack confidant attested under oath today in federal court.

Charles Hall III, who pleaded guilty to two information counts of extortion and drug conspiracy during a late morning hearing, said he, Joseph “JoJo” Giorgianni and Mack’s brother Ralphiel acted as intermediaries to insulate the mayor from bribes given to him for decreasing the purchase price of land for a proposed parking garage project.

During allocution in front of Judge Michael Shipp, Hall admitted to meeting with Mack last June 27 and telling the mayor the developers had a $10,000 bribe for him.

“In response, did Tony F. Mack direct you to provide a cash payment to Giorgianni,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Moran asked.

“Yes,” said Hall, 49, of Trenton.

Hall went the next day to Giorgianni’s Ewing home in order to make sure he got the money, Moran said.

By that time, Hall was working as an FBI informant for the alleged developers, who were in reality cooperating witnesses.

City officials and actions Hall admitted to in court today identify him as the cooperating co-conspirator who helped FBI agents prepare their case against the mayor. Hall had not previously been charged with a crime in the case, but today pled guilty to conspiracy to violate the Hobbes Act by extortion under color of official right, along with a narcotics conspiracy count, including conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.

In addition to the information counts, Hall admitted that he steered city contracts to a Franklin Township power washing company and city environmental firm in exchange for kickbacks.

In March 2012, Charles Hall III, right, and Joseph "Jojo" Giorgianni, owner of JoJo's Steakhouse in Trenton, applaud as Mayor Tony Mack delivers his State of the City address at City Hall. Martin Griff / The Times of Trenton

Hall accepted $1,300 cash last April to get work power washing an amphitheater in a city park to Five Star Mobile Auto Detailing, of which he said he pocketed $600. Between January and June, he said he accepted a $2,000 payment to award a contract for dirt removal, keeping $1,000.

The Times has reported that company, Clean Green Engineering, received the work despite a quote that was nearly $10,000 more than the next-highest competitor for the job. Hall did not say who retained the rest of the money.

Shipp accepted the guilty plea.

The plea agreement was drafted Dec. 12 and signed in court today. Hall was released on $100,000 unsecured bond. He declined comment, and his attorney refused to say whether testimony against Mack came as a condition of the plea.

Hall was hired as a meter reader for the Trenton Water Works assigned to city's recreation department, one month after Mack took office, but was eventually given responsibility over all city park projects. He was terminated in October 2012.

Charles Hall is the nephew of Harold Hall, who is currently public property manager in Trenton's public works department.

Federal investigators began tapping the phone of Charles Hall on Aug. 12, 2011 as part of the two-year probe into Mayor Mack that culminated with a raid on the mayor's Berkeley Avenue Home and City Hall in July.

Mack, his brother and JoJo's Steak Shop owner, Giorgianni, were indicted in December on eight total charges linked to a $119,000 bribery scheme involving a phoney parking garage project in the city that was actually an FBI sting. Giorgianni faces separate drug distribution charges.

On June 22, the FBI stopped tapping the phone of Charles Hall, according to federal documents obtained by The Times. One day earlier, federal agents interviewed a conspirator, later identified as Hall, and secured his cooperation, according to the federal complaint.

A file photo of Jo Jo's Steak House on Martin Luther King Jr Blvd in Trenton Michael Mancuso/The Times

Charles Hall was frequently seen with the wheelchair-bound Giorgianni and they were together in City Hall during Mack's State of the City address in 2012.

Hall's uncle Harold Hall had warned him on several occasions not to frequent Giorgianni's steak shop during hours he was supposed to be working for the city, according to Dave Tallone, a former city union head.

Tallone has previously said Charles Hall also had close ties to the mayor.

“Charlie Hall was tight with Tony,” Tallone said in a December interview.

There was no mention during the guilty plea today about whether Hall was required to testify in the corruption case pending against the mayor.

Giorgianni was charged separately from the corruption case with conspiracy to distribute drugs, along with eight other co-defendants. They are accused of obtaining an selling oxycodone pills in Mercer, Essex and Atlantic counties from May 2011 to July 2012.

Giorgianni’s steakhouse on Martin Luther King Boulevard served as a storehouse, authorities said. That case also remains pending.

Sentencing for Hall was set for June.