Democratic power broker pleads not guilty in racketeering case

George Norcross speaks to reporters in Trenton on June 17, 2024, after hearing he has been indicted by the state Attorney General's Office. (Photo by Hal Brown for New Jersey Monitor)

South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross and four of his co-defendants pleaded not guilty to a range of charges that accuse them of leveraging their control of Camden County government to steer redevelopment work to their chosen investors and punish those who angered the kingmaker.

The five defendants — Philip Norcross (George Norcross’ brother), former Camden Mayor Dana Redd, attorney William Tambussi, and Michaels Organization CEO John O’Donnell — appeared in person in Judge Peter Warshaw’s courtroom in state Superior Court in Mercer County for their arraignment on the charges that stunned New Jersey’s political world .

“My client emphatically states he is not guilty,” Norcross attorney Michael Critchley said at the top of the hearing.

The final co-defendant, Sidney Brown, CEO of the trucking firm NFI, did not appear in court Tuesday because of a scheduling conflict with his attorney, Larry Lustberg, who is representing a co-defendant of Sen. Bob Menendez in Menendez’s corruption trial in Manhattan . Brown is due to be arraigned Aug. 7.

The racketeering indictment alleges Norcross, a former Democratic national committeeman, and his allies improperly used the Camden Redevelopment Agency to seize development rights, tax incentives, and an easement from Carl Dranoff, a Philadelphia-based real estate developer.

It charges the defendants obstructed nonprofit Cooper’s Ferry’s redevelopment of a Camden site that Cooper University Health Care — where Norcross is chairman of the board — wanted for its own offices and eventually forced out Anthony Perno, then-CEO of Cooper’s Ferry, as they shuffled officials through patronage positions.

Norcross on Tuesday declined to say whether he has faced pressure to step down from his position at Cooper. Last week he took a leave of absence from Connor Strong & Buckelew, the insurance firm where he is executive chairman.

During a brief press conference following the arraignment, Critchley charged Attorney General Matt Platkin is waging “jihad” on his client, repeating a claim that the case was lodged to further Platkin’s political career.

“The indictment is a lot of words, a lot of pages, a lot of allegations, but one thing it does not have — it does not have elements of a crime,” Critchley said.

Platkin was Gov. Phil Murphy’s chief counsel when the governor launched a task force to probe tax incentives awarded to firms controlled by Norcross and other defendants. The task force released reports charging those firms lied on tax incentive applications before receiving millions in tax breaks.

The case will move slowly over the coming months as the parties enter the discovery phase. Prosecutors are set to release a trove of more than 2.5 million documents to the defense following Tuesday’s hearing, but they said at least two other batches of discovery would come later.

The first of those is due to be made at the end of the July, prosecutors said. Prosecutors provided no timeline for the release of a third batch, saying only that it requires the U.S. Department of Justice to approve its release.

The state asked the Department of Justice to release those documents only last week, prosecutors said, a timeline Warshaw said was “running a little late.”

“My experience here in state court is the feds don’t move on my calendar,” he said.

Warshaw granted the state a preliminary protective order that bars the parties from sharing discovery documents with those outside the case. The state sought the order to protect bank records and confidential information and shield witnesses from harassment.

The judge indicated he is likely to narrow the order but signaled some documents would remain shielded.

The parties are due back before the judge for a hearing on a more permanent protective order on Sept. 10, though the proceeding could be delayed by an unrelated trial, Warshaw said.

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