30 New Jersey officials and residents were coralled by the FBI early this morning as part of a two-year corruption and money-laundering investigation.
Agents raided the home of Joseph V. Doria Jr., commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs, who also is the former mayor of Bayonne, an official confirmed this morning.
Among the roughly 30 people arrested were Hoboken Mayor Peter J. Cammarano III, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell and Forked River Assemblyman Daniel M. Van Pelt. . Mr. Cammarano, 39, was elected mayor June 9 and sworn in July 1, after serving as councilman-at-large since 2005. The president of the city council in Jersey City, Mariano Vega, and that city’s deputy mayor, Leona Beldini were also brought in..
Prosecutors said the arrests included several rabbis from enclaves of Syrian Jews in Brooklyn and from Deal and Elberon, communities along the Jersey Shore in Ocean County. According to the Asbury Park Press, the investigation involved the Deal Yeshiva, a religious school.