WLB mayor, councilman charged with taking bribes from contractor
BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
West Long Branch Mayor Paul Zambrano and Borough Councilman Joseph DeLisa have been released on $50,000 bail following their arraignment Tuesday in a federal court on one charge each of extortion.
Zambrano and DeLisa, both Democrats, were arrested early Tuesday morning on charges that they collectively accepted $15,500 in bribes over more than a year from a well-known contractor who was cooperating with an ongoing FBI investigation.
Both men and nine other public officials from six Monmouth County municipalities were nabbed by FBI investigators during the predawn sting that climaxed the federal agency’s ongoing, seven-year investigation into government corruption.
Besides Zambrano, two other sitting Republican mayors, John Merla of Keyport and Paul Coughlin of Hazlet, were also apprehended and charged with extorting cash bribes and free work from the undercover contractor who exchanged cash in amounts ranging from $1,000 to $9,000 with each of the 11 public officials involved, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark
Both Zambrano and DeLisa are charged with one count of extortion under color of official right, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. That charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
All 11 defendants were released on $50,000 bail after appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald J. Hedges in Newark on Tuesday afternoon.
Zambrano is charged with accepting a total of $12,500 in bribes on six different occasions, and DeLisa is charged with accepting a total of $3,000 in two separate payments of $1,500, the U.S. Attorney’s Office states.
Criminal complaints filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Newark describe how the FBI set up a bogus construction and loan-sharking firm, with the assistance of the cooperating contractor and two undercover law enforcement officers, to carry out the sting operation in six county municipalities where the investigation took place.
The contractor and in some cases the two officers, acting as representatives of the false construction company, approached the 11 accused officials, including Zambrano and DeLisa, at various times, usually in public restaurants to try to secure government contracts, the criminal complaint states.
The contractor was known to numerous public officials in the county as one who actually performed construction work, according to the press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Either Zambrano, DeLisa or both officials met with the cooperating contractor in restaurants in Tinton Falls, West Long Branch and Monmouth Beach as well as an undisclosed location in Atlantic City between Sept. 30, 2003, and Nov. 17, 2004, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
On most of those occasions, the two West Long Branch officials were audiotaped or videotaped as they accepted cash in various amounts from the contractor in search of borough work, the criminal complaint states.
Zambrano allegedly accepted $5,000 in cash from the contractor acting as the FBI’s cooperating witness during a September 2003 meeting at an unnamed Tinton Falls restaurant in exchange for the mayor’s promises to secure demolition and construction work for the false construction firm, the criminal complaint states.
The contractor then asked Zambrano to pass $1,500 of the full $5,000 to DeLisa, which the mayor agreed to do, the complaint states. Of the $1,500, DeLisa was to keep $1,000 for himself and use the remaining $500 to purchase a ticket on behalf of the contractor to a campaign fund-raiser held for the councilman in October 2003, the complaint states.
Recorded evidence shows that Zambrano indicated that he would attempt to secure site work for the supposed contractor on an unnamed housing development in the borough, according to the complaint.
At the October 2003 fund-raiser, both Zambrano and DeLisa also told the FBI witness that he might be awarded the contract to demolish the former Borough Hall in appreciation for his financial support, the complaint states.
DeLisa even offered to divulge the bid amounts offered by other firms competing for the demolition contract so the contractor could then submit the lowest bid to the borough, the criminal complaint shows.
During the same month, Zambrano allegedly took $2,000 in cash from the FBI witness to arrange for the demolition contract to be awarded to the contributing firm at a council meeting in November, the complaint states.
On or about Nov. 18, 2003, Zambrano and DeLisa both met with the FBI witness in Atlantic City. During that meeting, Zambrano accepted two envelopes from the witness, one containing $1,500 in cash and a second holding $1,000. According to the complaint, Zambrano agreed to deliver the $1,000 cash to another unidentified public official in another unnamed Monmouth County municipality in exchange for obtaining work for the contractor in that town.
On the same date, DeLisa received another $1,500 cash payment after indicating that he would find more work in the borough for the contractor.
Zambrano subsequently took $4,000 from the FBI witness, accompanied by an undercover officer, during a January, 2004 meeting at a Monmouth Beach restaurant.
At that point, Zambrano had promised the contractor that he would secure a private contract for him as well as future government work in West Long Branch, the criminal complaint states.
Zambrano reportedly took the final bribe of $1,500 from one of the undercover officers during a November 2004 exchange in Atlantic City. During that meeting, the mayor told the undercover officer, acting as the contractor’s representative, that future borough construction projects would be awarded to the contractor in the future.
Zambrano is in his third consecutive, as well as his second elected, term as the borough’s Democratic mayor.
DeLisa was last re-elected to office in 2003.
Federal and state officials are not finished searching Monmouth County for officials suspected of corrupt practices according to U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie.
“I can assure you that we and the FBI are not done in Monmouth County,” Christie said in a press statement issued Tuesday.
The other officials arrested and charged are identified as former Keyport Borough Councilman Robert L. Hyer, Middletown Committeeman Raymond O’Grady, Neptune Township Deputy Mayor Richard Iadanza, Asbury Park Deputy Mayor John Hamilton, Neptune Director of Code and Construction Patsy Townsend, Monmouth County Division of Transportation Operations Director John McCurrin, and Assistant Monmouth County Roads Supervisor Tom Broderick.
All except Broderick, a former Marlboro Township councilman, are charged with one count of extortion. Broderick is charged with money laundering, an offense carrying the same penalty as extortion, the U.S. Attorney’s Office states.
Following their apprehensions, the 11 defendants were taken to the FBI’s local offices in Tinton Falls at about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday before being transferred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.