George E. Norcross III, a long-feared Democratic strongman with statewide influence, was indicted Monday on wide-ranging criminal corruption charges for his role in a scheme to close lucrative multimillion-dollar real estate deals in the state’s poorest city.
Also charged were his brother, his personal attorney, the former mayor of Camden and two others.
Authorities said the 12-year scheme resulted in real estate and property rights on Camden’s waterfront being acquired through “illegal means.”
The state’s charges, contained in the 111-page indictment, were announced at a press conference by Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin; curiously, Norcross himself attended the press conference, sitting prominently in the front row but said nothing.
Platkin alleged that Norcross and others acquired real estate and property interests on the Camden waterfront, collected millions of dollars in government-issued tax credits and controlled or influenced government officials to advance what he called a “political bloodbath,” which the attorney general repeatedly referred to as the “Norcross Enterprises.”
The lawyers said Camden’s waterfront could have been a relief for the city, but Norcross and others “manipulated development plans for their own purposes” that were intended to benefit the city.
According to the indictment, the state charged that Norcross and others used their political influence to hijack New Jersey’s economic development laws to their advantage. They then conspired to illegally extort and threaten other entities and potential developers to acquire real estate and property rights on Camden’s waterfront for themselves, and to obtain millions of dollars in related tax breaks to benefit them, including Cooper Health.
“They have taken the Camden waterfront for themselves,” Platkin said. “With this indictment, the state intends to hold Norcross Enterprises accountable.”
Norcross is chairman of the insurance company Conner, Strong & Bucklew and is also chairman of the board of directors for Cooper Health.
- Philip A. Norcross, 61, of Philadelphia, is an attorney, managing shareholder and CEO of Parker McKay, a New Jersey law firm involved in the Camden development.
- William M. Tambussi, 66, of Brigantine, New Jersey, is an attorney and partner with the law firm of Brown & Connelly. He was the personal attorney for George Norcross for many years and served as counsel to the Camden County Democratic Committee, which Norcross chaired from 1989 to 1995. He also served as outside counsel to the City of Camden, the Camden Redevelopment Authority, Cooper Health and Connor Strong.
- Dana L. Redd, 56, of Sicklerville, is CEO of the Camden Community Partnership (formerly the Coopers Ferry Partnership) and previously served as Camden’s mayor.
Also named are Sidney Brown, CEO of NFI, a trucking and logistics company that profited from the development deal, and John J. O’Donnell of the Michaels Organization, a housing developer, who was a partner in a group that owns some of the Camden buildings at the center of the allegations.
All six were charged with first-degree organized crime, which, if convicted, carries a maximum sentence of 10 to 20 years in state prison and a fine of up to $200,000.
The charges come just days after two South Jersey Transportation Authority employees were indicted Friday in an alleged political retaliation scheme to withhold payments from an engineering firm whose executives ran afoul of Norcross.
According to the complaint in the case, Christopher Milam, 45, of Sewell, vice president of the SJTA board of directors and vice chair of the authority, and Brian Bush, 52, also of Sewell, were charged with official misconduct, conspiracy to commit official misconduct and perjury.
Norcross is not named in the complaint and has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case.
The development deal that triggered the investigation
The investigation that led to Monday’s indictments grew out of a lengthy investigation into state economic development incentives, which was the subject of the governor’s special task force. The committee, appointed by Gov. Phil Murphy in 2019 following a highly critical report by the state comptroller, concluded that the state Economic Development Agency may have “improperly awarded, miscalculated, overvalued and overpaid” many companies involving literally billions of dollars in state funds.
Norcross is a key figure in the probe, with investigators accusing him of secretly rewriting legislation meant to spur new construction and jobs to help him profit from the program.
The task force later released documents revealing that amendments to the tax break bill were drafted by Kevin Sheehan, a real estate lawyer at Parker McKay, a law firm whose chief executive is Norcross’s brother, Philip Norcross. The task force said the changes would benefit insiders, including Norcross’s interests in Camden, including his insurance company and Cooper University Healthcare, where Norcross serves as board chairman.
Mr. Norcross denied any wrongdoing. The dispute over the economic incentives quickly devolved into an ugly personal feud with Mr. Murphy, who publicly fought back against accusations of wrongdoing, calling him a “liar” and “politically inept,” and slamming the governor and the task force.
At a subsequent Senate Select Committee hearing, Norcross defiantly defended his role in the city’s development efforts, arguing that he was “personally and unfairly” targeted by the task force and that without the tax incentive program, “nothing would have happened in Camden.”
“We did everything in our power to bring businesses to the most dangerous city in America and the poorest city,” he told NJ Advance Media as controversy swirled over his role in Camden. “As long as they followed the law, what’s wrong with that?”
But some of the task force’s findings were later sent to authorities for a criminal investigation, and that same year a state grand jury issued subpoenas to the state Department of Economic Development in connection with the incentive program. And last year, as first reported by NJ Advance Media, the city of Camden and a major nonprofit working on the redevelopment received a flurry of subpoenas related to the investigation that led to Monday’s indictments.
Many of the records sought in the subpoenas related to companies, individuals and transactions publicly associated with Norcross.
The charges involved a complex transaction in Coopers Ferry surrounding the purchase of the site still known as the L3 site, named for a defense contractor that once was located there.
Coopers Ferry bought the L3 property from the Economic Development Department just as Camden real estate values were beginning to rise thanks to the Economic Opportunity Act of 2013, which provided millions of dollars in tax credits to employers who relocated to the city. It seemed like a profitable investment for the nonprofit, but soon after the purchase, Coopers Ferry sold the building to a Cherry Hill commercial developer with ties to Norcross.
Prosecutors said Norcross and his brothers stole the land from the Coopers Ferry Partnership, which was ultimately dropped from the deal but received a payment of $575,000, records show.
Meanwhile, it later emerged that some tenants who received millions of dollars in tax breaks to relocate to the L3 campus, which also included Cooper Medical Center, where Norcross serves as board chairman, had no intention of leaving New Jersey.
The indictment against the 68-year-old gray-haired political boss, a deep-pocketed fundraiser who has never run for office but who has played an outsized role in deciding the fate of those who have, is likely to send shock waves through the state’s political circles.
Norcross had been a major player in New Jersey politics for decades, with unquestioned political power and a well-functioning political machine that could swing elections from local mayoral races and state legislatures to governorship and the U.S. Congress. Elected officials from his home base in Camden to counties far north had built their careers on the power and money Norcross wielded to get them elected. He controlled a core group of legislators, controlled leadership of the state legislature, and, thanks to his close relationship with former Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), had the power to make or break any bill, as the Tax Credit Program Task Force later claimed.
At the same time, his connections enabled his insurance brokerage, Connor, Strong & Bucklew, to secure large, profitable contracts from municipalities, counties and public agencies throughout New Jersey.
Norcross’s other brother is Rep. Donald Norcross, D-1, and he wasn’t shy about using his power. In a series of secretly recorded conversations, he is heard pressuring local council members, who were unaware at the time that he was cooperating with prosecutors, to sabotage his political opponents, and bragging in vulgar, ruthless and blunt terms about how unfair the game was. He was basically making it clear to the council members that he was in charge.
“I don’t mean to say this to insult you guys, but at the end of the day, the McGreeveys, the Corzine family, they’re all going to be on my side,” Norcross is heard on the tape saying, referring to Gov. James E. McGreevey and Jon Corzine, who had just been elected to the U.S. Senate at the time.
“It’s not because they like me,” Norcross says, “it’s because they have no choice.”
That investigation, more than 20 years ago, ended without any charges being filed.
Read Norcross’ indictment here
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