N.J. Businessman Indicted for Sopranos-Style Economic Development Racket
A powerful New Jersey businessman has been accused of Mafia-like behavior in order to enrich himself and his associates on the taxpayer’s dime. But is it all that different from business as usual?
At a press conference this week, New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin announced a 13-count indictment, with charges including racketeering and extortion, against six defendants—chiefly George Norcross III, whom the New Jersey Monitor referred to as “a Democratic kingmaker widely regarded as New Jersey’s most powerful unelected person.” In an impressively bold move, George Norcross attended the press conference and sat in the front row, apparently even refusing to switch seats when asked by someone from Platkin’s office.
According to the indictment, George Norcross has “led a criminal enterprise” since 2012, whose members “would extort others through threats of economic and reputational harm” in Camden, New Jersey. Specifically, in 2012–13, George Norcross and other indicted co-conspirators “used their political influence to tailor New Jersey economic development legislation to their preferences.”
The Economic Opportunity Act of 2013 expanded the state’s existing economic development grant programs, allowing a developer to claim “a credit of up to 35 percent of its capital investment, or up to 40 percent for a project located in a Garden State Growth Zone,” defined as “the four New Jersey cities with the lowest median family income”—which would include Camden, the state’s poorest city. The credits were intended to bring companies to the state or keep them from leaving. Recipients could claim the credits or sell them to other New Jersey taxpayers.
In 2019, The New York Times found that before that law passed, one attorney “was allowed by lawmakers to edit drafts of the bill in ways that opened up sizable tax breaks to his firm’s clients.” That attorney’s firm was Parker McCay—whose CEO was George Norcross’ brother, Philip Norcross, who is also indicted. The indictment alleges that after the law passed, Philip Norcross told a group of people, “We re-wrote a tax credit law…that says in essence, if you come to Camden, we’re going to give you one hundred percent tax credit for all capital and related costs” over 10 years. “It will cause real havoc, it’s unlimited.”
Once the law passed, according to the indictment, the defendants “extort[ed] and coerce[d] others” in order to obtain their property along the Camden waterfront, “then occupied t
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