Councilman Responds to Mention in New Book on Corruption Sting

Aabout the sting operation that and sent him to prison for extortion and bribery, alleges that Third Ward Councilman Michael Russo was offered a $5,000 bribe by the same FBI informant who nailed Cammarano. 

In The Jersey Sting, authors and Star Ledger reporters Ted Sherman and Josh Margolin describe a meeting between FBI informant Solomon Dwek, Russo and two others at the Light Horse Tavern in Jersey City. 

"'I'll give him five thousand next week and you'll work it out ... and after the election, I'll do the same. It'll be more,'" one of the men is quoted as saying. The passage continues, "Russo agreed and then the foursome broke up. After that, however Russo would not take calls from Dwek's middlemen."

Russo, in a phone interview on Monday, said that the book fails to mention that he made it very clear to Dwek that he doesn't accept campaign contributions in cash, nor does he accept any quid pro-quo.

More importantly, Russo continued, "I never met with him again. I never took any money from him."

The book speculates that Russo was advised by an attorney to stay away from Dwek. "The feds believe Michael went home and was reminded by his ex-con father that this is New Jersey and money that presents itself too easily is often connected to the feds," the book states.

Russo said that he didn't want to have any more to do with Dwek. "The guy was creepy," Russo said on Monday afternoon. "It was not a conversation that I wanted to continue."

Besides Cammarano, Russo was not the only Hoboken politician who was approached by Dwek during the campaign in 2009. According to a Hudson Reporter article from that time, Councilwoman Beth Mason—then a mayoral candidate—met with Dwek. According to that same article, Mayor Dawn Zimmer's husband, Stan Grossbard, took a call with an individual he believed to be one of Dwek's middlemen.

Russo wasn't running for mayor or council at the time of the meeting.

He is, however, running for council now and his opponent issued a press release on Monday morning.

"Councilman Russo needs to explain why he agreed to accept a $5,000 bribe, why he refused to answer questions about the incident, and why he never reported it to the authorities," Third Ward Council candidate Greg Lincoln said in the release.

Russo countered that there was no talk of a bribe. "Anyone who portrays that," Russo said, "is lying."

The authors of the book, which also mentions former Hoboken Councilman Michael Schaffer, who is currently, will hold a reading at in uptown Hoboken on Wednesday afternoon.