The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin: on Crime


Al Gore: Introduced legislation banning human organ sales

There was someone in the Orthodox community in Brooklyn brokering human kidney transplants for about $150,000 a pop. As the story went, the broker would find donors in Israel and for the right price hook them up with people who needed transplants for operations here in the US.

On Capitol Hill, a Tennessee congressman named Al Gore introduced legislation banning such sales, and Utah senator Orrin Hatch sponsored similar legislation in the Senate. The National Organ Transplant Act became law in 1984, spelling out the prohibition, though leaving the issue somewhat vague: "It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly acquire, receive or otherwise transfer any human organ for valuable consideration for use in transplantation." No one had ever been prosecuted under the statute. If the prosecutor made a case, it was going to be a first.

[The relevant US attorney], Chris Christie did not authorize it right away. It took several months to get the US Attorney's office to sign off on the approach.

Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p.136-137 Apr 10, 2012

Chris Christie: 2002: Aggressive political campaign for US Attorney position

A graduate of the University of Delaware and Seton Hall Law School, Christie--who doesn't do things halfway--waged an aggressive campaign for the top federal law enforcement job in the state. The US Attorney is a political appointee of the president, and Christie received widespread backing from prominent NJ Republican leaders. Opponents to the nomination, though, argued that Christie was, at best, ill prepared to be US Attorney in an office with a reputation for its independence and known for high-profile cases ranging from espionage and political corruption to white-collar crime and health-care fraud. The executive committee of the Federal Bar Association of NJ passed a unanimous resolution urging the president to nominate a candidate with law enforcement experience.

Christie ultimately won Senate confirmation and was sworn in as the state's top federal law enforcement official in January 2002.

Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p. 81-82 Apr 10, 2012

Chris Christie: Prosecuted international scheme for human organ sales

There was someone in the Orthodox community in Brooklyn brokering human kidney transplants for about $150,000 a pop. As the story went, the broker would find donors in Israel and for the right price hook them up with people who needed transplants for operations here in the US.

"You're kidding me," Christie said. They were not. Christie said almost jokingly, "That's definitely against the law, right?" His chief counsel nodded.

On Capitol Hill, the National Organ Transplant Act became law in 1984, spelling out the prohibition, though leaving the issue somewhat vague: "It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly acquire, receive or otherwise transfer any human organ for valuable consideration for use in transplantation." No one had ever been prosecuted under the statute. If the prosecutor made a case, it was going to be a first.

Christie did not authorize it right away. It took several months to get the US Attorney's office to sign off on the approach.

Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p.136-137 Apr 10, 2012

Chris Christie: OpEd: Loved decrying officials trading on elected office

The race for governor was in its final, frenzied months and Jon Corzine and Chris Christie were at the center, slugging it out now like street brawlers.

Corzine's very weakness had lured Christie into the race and the former prosecutor loved calling the incumbent timid. It drove Corzine bananas. In 7 tears running the US Attorney's office, Christie fully inhabited--and basked in--the role of chief federal lawman in NJ. You could see it on his face. In his strut. He loved the news conferences on courthouse steps to decry another public official trading on elected office. He eagerly traversed the state for speaking engagements in all corners, no matter how long the drive. And he was the rage of the press who provided clippings that wouldn't stop. Lengthy TV interviews with him trumpeting his efforts to clean up corruption and gangs. Announcement after announcement, laying out stings that nailed politicians, informants who fingered politicians, greed that destroyed politicians.

Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p.269 Apr 10, 2012

John Ashcroft: 2007: Earned $52M monitoring medical device kickbacks

Christie came under harsh scrutiny in 2007, after "The Star Ledger" revealed that he had appointed former US Attorney General John Ashcroft, his onetime boss, to a lucrative 18-month monitoring contract involving a medical device company that had been under investigation over kickbacks to orthopedic surgeons--a deal estimated to be worth as much as $52 million to Ashcroft's law firm.
Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p.269 Apr 10, 2012

Orrin Hatch: Introduced legislation banning human organ sales

There was someone in the Orthodox community in Brooklyn brokering human kidney transplants for about $150,000 a pop. As the story went, the broker would find donors in Israel and for the right price hook them up with people who needed transplants for operations here in the US.

On Capitol Hill, a Tennessee congressman named Al Gore introduced legislation banning such sales, and Utah senator Orrin Hatch sponsored similar legislation in the Senate. The National Organ Transplant Act became law in 1984, spelling out the prohibition, though leaving the issue somewhat vague: "It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly acquire, receive or otherwise transfer any human organ for valuable consideration for use in transplantation." No one had ever been prosecuted under the statute. If the prosecutor made a case, it was going to be a first.

[The relevant US attorney], Chris Christie did not authorize it right away. It took several months to get the US Attorney's office to sign off on the approach.

Source: The Jersey Sting, by Sherman & Margolin, p.136-137 Apr 10, 2012

  • The above quotations are from The Jersey Sting
    Chris Christie and the Most Brazen Case of Jersey-Style Corruption--Ever
    by Ted Sherman & Josh Margolin.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Crime.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Chris Christie on Crime.
  • Click here for more quotes by Barack Obama on Crime.
Candidates and political leaders on Crime:

Retiring Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retiring House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retiring House as of Jan. 2015::
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Jul 12, 2015