US - organ trafficking

Police arrest politicians and rabbis in corruption sweep

Article published on the 2009-07-24 Latest update 2009-07-24 13:44 TU

A rabbi exits federal court surrounded by supporters trying to block journalists from taking photographs
(Photo: Reuters)

Police in the US state of New Jersey have arrested dozens of politicians and Jewish rabbis in an anti-corruption swoop on allegations of money laundering, extortion, bribery and trafficking in human organs.

On Thursday federal police staged simultaneous raids on suspects’ addresses after a two-year investigation into a money-laundering ring which wtreteched from New Jersey and New York to Israel and Switzerland. Forty-four people have been arrested including three New Jersey city mayors, two state parliamentarians and five rabbis.

Acting US Attorney Ralph Marra told a press conference that politicians had “willingly put themselves up for sale". He added that the arrests demonstrated "the pervasive nature of public corruption in this state".

The New York Times has compared the case to the famous New Jersey-based TV series “The Sopranos”, which features the illicit dealings of a local Italian Mafia family, although it was Jewish clergy who allegedly played a central role in the crime network.

Some of the money laundering is alleged to have revolved around bribes to politicians – disguised as campaign donations - in exchange for favours and contracts in the state’s lucrative construction sector.

In addition one rabbi, Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, was also charged with conspiring to broker the sale of a human kidney for transplant. Marra said that Rosenbaum's "business was to entice vulnerable people to give up a kidney for 10,000 dollars which he would turn around and sell for 160,000 dollars".

State Governor Jon Corzine, a Democrat, described the scale of the corruption “outrageous”.