The Sopranos Documentary, that’s what I always liked to say. Early 2000s. Mafia Show It captures the New Jersey I grew up in. The heyday of organized crime is long gone, but local politics still have a Tony Soprano spirit to them: secret negotiations and deals between petty local power brokers.
The fall of Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) captures that spirit well. Menendez be found guilty On Tuesday, a bribery case involving gold bullion was reported. truth soprano style—Shady meat businessHe is likely to face up to 10 years in prison. northjersey.com According to reports, Menendez I told my allies On Wednesday he announced he would resign.
Ironically, Menendez’s massive corruption opened the door to a new era of uncorrupted New Jersey politics. After Menendez’s legal troubles, the state Democratic Party sought to crown an unpopular replacement. Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) and other dissident Democrats A more open basic courseForce the country Adopt reform.
Menendez did the following: Corruption allegations As has been the case in the past, this scandal mixes low-level corruption in New Jersey politics with high-level international intrigue and national security concerns. While exchanging favors with Egyptian-American meat importer Wael Hana, Menendez and his wife Nadine Arslanian Egyptian intelligence officersThey pressured them to get information and assistance in the arms trade.
For example, in February 2018, Arslanian I sent you a voicemail “I have a favor to ask of you,” she said to the “very handsome senator.” She wanted him to meet an Egyptian general at the Egyptian embassy in Washington. A few months later, Menendez Sent by text Arslanian was to approve a detailed list of US arms sales to Egypt. He told Arslanian to pass it on to Hana, who then passed it on to Egyptian officials.
Prosecutors also suspect unknown agents Tried to threaten American diplomat Brett Tate was tracked throughout Cairo and his apartment searched to raise concerns about the monopoly that Hana had on importing Egyptian beef liver.
“I have always been a patriot for my country and my people,” Menendez said. said Leaving the court, he said: “I have never been a foreign agent.”
And in some ways, he was not wrong about his loyalty. Menendez, a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was committed to making anyone from New Jersey oil his and Arslanian’s palms. The deal with Egypt was just an extension of local politics, of which Hana happened to be a member.
court Also found guilty Fred Dibes, a local real estate developer, is accused of bribing Menendez to cover up a bank fraud case and attract Qatari investors to Dibes’ business. Jose Uribe, another local businessman who gave Arslanian a luxury car to avoid criminal investigation, Testified Menendez.
The most salacious aspect of the case was the gold. The FBI found 13 gold bars in Arslanian’s home, and Menendez’s search log shows how much he had. 1 kilogram of gold It was worth the trip back from Egypt. Menendez Tried to hint The claim that he hid the gold because of his Cuban-American family’s communist trauma is nonsense, since the Menendez family left Cuba years before the communists took power.
Menendez has made New Jersey a bipartisan joke. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) Long-standing grudge He has spent the past several months taunting Menendez against the state. He even hired another former congressman, George Santos, who is facing criminal charges. Video message For “Barbie from Jersey”.
And at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) I was joking “Inflation has gotten so bad that we can no longer bribe Democratic Senators with cash alone. We must use gold bullion to maintain the value of our bribes!”
