Guy Catrillo
Guy Catrillo was a senior planning aide in the city’s planning department.
On July 23, 2009, he was charged with attempted extortion under color of official right by the FBI. (You can read the criminal complaint here.) He is accused of taking a total of $15,000 in money from a purported developer in return for favors. Much of that money was allegedly spent on his 2009 campaign for City Council, and it showed up in an ELEC report as a personal loan from Catrillo to his campaign. In that election, he ran for the Ward E City Council position on Mayor Healy’s ticket and lost.
On Sept. 9, 2009, Catrillo pleaded guilty to the federal charges against him, saying he “did knowingly and willfully attempt to obstruct, delay and affect interstate commerce by extortion under color of official right, by corruptly accepting and agreeing to accept corrupt payments that were paid and to be paid by another, with that person’s consent, in exchange for exercising and agreeing to exercise [his] official influence and assistance as a member of the JCDCP, and future official influence as an anticipated member of the JC City Council.” You can read the plea here.
Catrillo was then fired from his position with the city; he will be sentenced in December 2009.
Catrillo was formerly Hudson County’s deputy superintendent of elections. He sought the Republican nomination for the 31st District state Senate position in 2001 but lost. He has also been involved in a number of associations and nonprofits across the city, including a stint as president of the Van Vorst Park Neighborhood Association and chairman of the Downtown Coalition of Neighborhood Associations.
