Friends of Russell Thomas Fallacara, the former inspector for the Jersey City Incinerator Authority who was indicted in August on a variety of charges including bookmaking, extortion and loan sharking, claim he got a bum deal.
These friends call his indictment “another Janiszewski,” implying that Fallacara was fingered by another indictee who hoped to get a lighter sentence. They drew a parallel between that and the situation of former County Executive Robert Janiszewski, who after being arrested, began to turn in his close associates in an effort to get a lighter punishment for his own crimes. Janiszewski is currently serving 41 months in a Brooklyn federal prison for extortion related crimes.
Fallacara – according to his closest friends – is the victim of a similar federal agreement with a Bayonne mobster and bookmaker, who was arrested last year and has become a cooperating witness for the federal authorities.
“Everything has been twisted around to make Tom look guilty, when he was the one trying to straighten things out,” one close friend of his said. “He was fired from the JCIA last year when he asked too many questions.”
Fallacara is considered a good soldier in Hudson County campaigns, doing his part to handle absentee ballots and other such duties. He has been involved in campaigns involving Mayor Jeramiah Healy, Councilman Steve Lipski, and Assemblyman Lou Manzo.
According to his friends, Fallacara’s most recent troubles evolved out a cooperative deal between the federal government and a Bayonne bookmaker whose testimony has resulted in more than a dozen arrests – and happened with Janiszewski before him. This bookmaker apparently has cobbled together every name possible in order to get a reduced sentence.
According to friends, Fallacara had a personal loan with the bookmaker, but has since been charged with extorting the money.
Friends of Fallacara, of course, say he will be exonerated. Fallacara made no comment in other media reports.
Kush vs. Lipski, part II
How did the Sixth Street Embankment property in Jersey City get pulled off the city’s list of places that should become a park?
That is a question in the ongoing battle between Councilman Steve Lipski and his former campaign consultant Steve Kush, a bitter feud that has become very personal.
Kush claims Steve Hyman, the developer proposing to build homes there, influenced Lipski into abandoning the park by backing Lipski’s campaign for mayor last year.
Lipski said he has steadfastly abstained for any vote concerning the embankment and has consistently admitted his close ties to Hyman.
“He is a friend of mine,” Lipski said. “I’ve never denied that.”
Lipski also admitted that Hyman helped with his campaign for mayor, but said this did not affect his position as a city councilman in regard to the embankment project.
Residents of the area just north of Hamilton Park have mounted a campaign of their own to keep the former elevated rail line’s designation as a park, and to deny Hyman assess to it as a site for development.
A budding controversy During the unveiling of development plans last week for a portion of the former Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne, people began to circulate copies of an article from New Jersey Business Magazine dated a week earlier.
In the article, Murray Kushner – who is partnering with Roseland Properties and Fidelco Reality for the development of another portion of the base – boasted that he might shortly be the developer for all of the residential development on the former base.
The boast raised some serious questions about the validity of the selection process, since the six sections of the base were supposed to be bid out separately.
Firms competing for the development of the second portion, called Bayonne Bay, began to ask if “a fix was in” if Kushner and friends had the inside track.
Fidelco Reality is represented by Scarinci & Hollenbeck in their negotiations with the BLRA. Donald Scarinci, a senior partner in the firm, is a campaign treasurer and a close friend of Rep. Bob Menendez, who has been instrumental in bringing millions of dollars in federal grants to the upgrade of the basic services on the former Military Ocean Terminal. Sever bidders on the Bayonne Bay portion – particularly supporters of a local effort called the Boraie proposal – feared the influence Scarinci and Menendez might have over the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority, especially in light of the Kushner boast.
Menendez isn’t running for U.S. Senate yet Although Menendez said he would concentrate on getting U.S. Senator Jon Corzine elected governor in November, then worry about who will fill Corzine’s Senate seat, there may be a move to push Menendez into the Senate just to get him out of Hudson County – as factions of the Democratic Party in Jersey City attempt to take control of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO).
Since September of 2001, when Janiszewski resigned as county executive, Menendez and State Sen. Bernard Kenny have largely controlled the HCDO. But over the last year or so, a new faction of Democrats have emerged in Jersey City under Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise that may seek to change the leadership of the HCDO.
By getting Menendez bumped up into the U.S. Senate, this faction hopes to reduce his local influence. If so, we might see Jersey City’s William Netchert, assistant county counsel, replace Sen. Bernard Kenny as the County Democratic Chairman. This realignment might also see Freeholder Chairman Sal Vega elevated to mayor of West New York and becoming much more close to Union City Mayor Brian Stack.
But the hand-off may be more complicated than Corzine simply giving Menendez the seat. Some sources suggest that Corzine may assign the seat to a caretaker such as Rep. Donald Payne and let all of the interested Democrats battle for the seat in the June 2006 primary.
Can Menendez win a statewide primary?
Some believe that his battles with former state Sen. and Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham have permanently damaged his reputation in the African-American community, a vote that would be vital for any seeking the Democratic nod.
Will Joe Doria run for re-election as mayor? With political season opening in Bayonne with the passing of Labor Day, pressure mounts on Mayor Joseph Doria to run for re-election.
Doria is seen by some observers as the only person who can beat Councilman Anthony Chiappone.
Although Chiappone lost his Democratic primary bid to retain his seat at state assemblyman, he is still considered a potent force in Bayonne.