extortion coercing businesses with property rights on Camden's Waterfront and securing millions in tax credits these are just some of the allegations in a 111 page indictment against George Norcross the powerful political influencer for Jersey Democrats who has never been elected to office he and his associates have been accused of multiple criminal acts that attorney general Matt plen says spanned over 12 years so will this be a slam dunk for the prosecutor's office or could this case prove to be more difficult for more expert Insight on the indictment I'm joined by Ed steer a former Federal and New Jersey state prosecutor specializing in complex organized crime and Corruption prosecutions Ed thanks for joining me my pleasure you know the defendants in this case are charged with racketeering among other crimes racketeering is a charge usually associated with organized crime cases you've read this indictment what is the attorney general laying out here um a lengthy Enterprise uh whose um purpose was to use political power to force Property Owners to uh disgorge uh the value of their property and to transfer that value to the defendants uh and their Associates use use the pressure of government to uh force people to give up valuable property rights you know you read this indictment was there anything that really stood out or shocked you uh well it wasn't shocking um one of the things that was of course of great interest was the extent to which um there was electronic surveillance evidence that was quoted uh in the indictment uh when you have a case in which there is um direct electronic surveillance uh evidence in other words recordings of the defendants speaking about what it is that they're planning to do and how they're doing it right and in fact in in in several instances in the indictment allegedly actually carrying out the crime by making threats um that's powerful evidence and uh very difficult for the defense to overcome anded we know that George Norcross has been influential politically in South Jersey for a long time the AG says this criminal Enterprise expand 12 years that's a long time and a lot of evidence but how can he prove all of this activity was criminal and not just for political gain well that's the key question in the case um and that is going to require showing that the value that was extracted from the victims uh went to people who were designated by the defendants either themselves uh or their friends and Associates and if that's the case uh then that's a completed crime the indictment accuses Norcross of using his political influence to craft legislation that served his own interest he allegedly conspired with allies to leverage control of Redevelopment in Camden and benefit from state tax incentives so how is this extortion and not just good oldfashioned horse trading well the uh the history of how this legislation was created and how it was influenced by the as the indictment characterizes the the group the Norcross Enterprise uh the background is important to understand how they were positioned to uh carry out the objectives of the conspiracy it's not necessarily uh criminal in every respect but it is part of uh organizing and and uh strengthening the power of the Enterprise and so um but that's just uh preparation for the commission of the ultimate crime that's alleged in the indictment you know Ed in a complicated case like this what is the timeline when might this even go before a jury well it's hard to say I don't know uh how backlogged cases uh are in the U New Jersey courts um when I was handling these kinds of cases um a long time ago uh there were times when the Chief Justice would assign a special judge to handle the case so that it could be expedited recognizing that there's a very strong public interest in moving a case like this expeditiously Ed steer thank you so much good to be with you [Music]