The Jersey City Independent "

In a basement auditorium decorated with the pictures of top Democrats, including Mayor Jerramiah Healy — whom Josh Margolin and Ted Sherman report was the most-prominent target of the complex and lengthy FBI investigation — the authors explained their own investigation into the case, including the many loose ends that have caused feverish speculation in Jersey City since the FBI made dozens of arrests in July 2009.

“The defendant in this case wants you to believe that he was only in public service in the interest of the public,” begins federal prosecutor Sandra Moser. “$5,000 [of bribe money] went into his campaign account, [and] $10,000 went into his basement. In other words, the defendant wasn’t only about public service, but self-service.”

Defense attorney Peter Willis calls L. Harvey Smith down from the witness stand to the center of the room. He faces the defendant towards the judge and puts a width-wise folded FedEx envelope — a stand-in for the actual cash-filled envelope provided by Solomon Dwek — in his hand, just as Smith remembers Edward Cheatam holding it the day he either “threw,” or “gave,” him the envelope.

Thursday’s proceedings again find Cheatam sitting at the witness stand, this time for the day’s entirety. In part this is because of Cheatam’s explanatory answers, which were somewhat minimal and required exhaustive probing from Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenny Kramer. This extensive testimony is also made necessary by the video, which was often shaky and at times hardly audible, presented to highlight the prosecution’s somewhat understated evidence.

On the morning of July 23, 2009, federal agents began knocking on doors all over Jersey City, arresting politicians and other public officials and taking them to the federal courthouse in Newark. The process of bringing the accused to trial has progressed slowly throughout the last year; a year that has brought resignation, death, court [...]

- School Board Results: As we reported last night, it looks like two of the three incumbents running for the Board of Education have been ousted, and the budget has been approved. Gerald McCann and Terry Dehere are far behind Sterling Waterman, Angel Valentin (also an incumbent) and Carol Lester, with 97 percent of the [...]

- Guy Heading to Prison: Former city worker and Ward E City Council candidate Guy Catrillo reports to the Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution in South Jersey today; he’s the first person swept up in the federal corruption probe to head to prison, where he will spend 18 months. – Storm Wreaks Havoc: Emergency services [...]

- Prosecutors rested their case yesterday in the federal corruption trial of suspended deputy mayor Leona Beldini, without ever calling Edward Cheatam to the stand. Meanwhile, the girlfriend of deceased political consultant Jack Shaw testified that Shaw gave her cash and she wrote out personal checks to campaigns. – Sparks are flying between Ward E [...]

One of the most stunning revelations from the five days of testimony by Solomon Dwek is his ignorance of the system in which he has wreaked so much havoc. Few professional politicians have ended as many promising careers as Mr. Dwek has, and yet a tenth-grade civics class probably has a better handle on government than he does.

Maybe it was a couple of extra handshakes. Or bending down to pick up that quarter he dropped. Could’ve been the moment he waited for the car to pass until he crossed the street. What’s clear is this: a few seconds on April 30, 2009 saved Jerramiah Healy’s ass. Otherwise, he might no longer be mayor of Jersey City.