Louis M. Manzo

Former New Jersey State Representative and Mayoral Candidate

DOJ Ethics In Question As Bribery Suspect Slams GOP Prosecutors

The federal indictment of nearly 50 New Jersey suspects on July 23, 2009 just as the state's election season heated up helped propel Republican former U.S. attorney Christopher Christie to the governorship. But major questions have since arisen in the conduct of the so-called "Bid Rig III" investigation, which involved federal authorities providing a convicted con man with large sums to donate to local candidates, with indictments overwhelmingly of Democrats. The Associated Press reported that the Justice Department has undertaken at least a preliminary review of allegations that Christie's successor, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra, made inappropriate public comments regarding the indictments that boosted Christie's election chances. Marra went on to join the Christie administration as general counsel for the state's gaming commission as part of a widespread pattern whereby former DOJ prosecutors in New Jersey or at the Washington supervisory-level received jobs or multi-million-dollar no-bid contracts in suspicious circumstances.

Among the Bid Rig III defendants was former New Jersey State Assemblyman Louis M. Manzo, center in the photo above. Manzo, a recent Democratic candidate for the Jersey City mayoralty, has denounced the prosecutions as politically motivated to help the successful gubernatorial campaign of Christie, below right. 

Manzo's experiences have prompted him to review a nationwide pattern of political prosecutions and lack of internal accountability by the Justice Department, except if a defendant is so fortunate as to have a fair judge. This led him to issue a statement in July opposing the Supreme Court confirmation of DOJ Solicitor General Elena Kagan for similar reasons as the Justice Integrity Project opposition announced on June 28. Manzo said the Senate should reject Kagan because of “her indefensible support of restrictions on constitutional freedoms and her failures to defend due process.”  A video of his remarks is available here.

On May 18, a federal judge dismissed the top four counts against Manzo. But the battle continues with remaining counts of fraud and the defendant's allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. Authorities are stretching out the process by appealing, which could take years. Other defendants included the Democratic mayors of Hoboken, Secaucus and Ridgefield, the Jersey City deputy mayor and council president, two state assemblymen, plus numerous other public officials and political figures, and five rabbis from New York and New Jersey. 

Manzo and his brother Ronald were both charged with accepting $27,500 in cash payments from government informant Solomon Dwek in exchange for Manzo’s official assistance on development matters once he became mayor.  Dwek is a felon who admitted last year that he cheated banks out of millions of dollars, and ran a cruise line that provided prostitution services. Dwek testified earlier this year that he's been living on between $10,000 and $12,000 a month that DOJ pays him for having set up targets as part of his deal to win leniency for his own crimes. Manzo and his brother both pleaded not guilty. Louis Manzo issued a statement April 22 saying:

I maintain my innocence. I never took a bribe from anyone, or agreed to any corrupt action. The prosecutors in this case know that as well. The indictment is the manipulation of a corrupted prosecution, handled by some prosecutors who had personal and professional stakes in the investigation and prosecution of the Bid Rig III police action. Those stakes, as documented from the public record, were jobs for themselves or family members tied to former United States Attorney Chris Christie’s election for Governor of New Jersey in November 2009. 

These same prosecutors violated Department of Justice guidelines and Federal laws by failing to recuse themselves from the investigation, despite maintaining partisan personal and political ambitions throughout the course of the investigation and prosecution. They did so because, like their former boss, they knew that they can hold themselves out to be above the law. They have an arrogant confidence that no one or no court will hold them accountable.