[music]

Nancy Solomon: Hello, This is Nancy Solomon. It's been more than a year since we wrapped up Dead End.

Dispatcher: 911. Where is your emergency?

Caller: Yes, Meadow Run Drive in Skillman, New Jersey.

Nancy Solomon: When we left off, the county investigation into the brutal deaths of John and Joyce Sheridan had been badly botched. Investigators thought John had killed Joyce and then himself. Their son Mark was outraged.

Mark Sheridan: There's no fingerprint dust in the house. The rug that they were killed on is still rolled up upstairs. How could you have done any DNA testing? You didn't do shit.

Nancy Solomon: At the time of his death, John Sheridan was the CEO of Cooper University Hospital in Camden. That put him in close proximity to the political boss of Camden, George Norcross. On the dining room table on the night the Sheridans were killed was a stack of documents detailing a real estate deal. The emails and memos involved a purchase agreement of an office complex by a nonprofit where Sheridan was on the board and how Norcross took over that deal. Mark Sheridan says that was what his father was working on at the time of his death.

Mark Sheridan: My father was involved in a very high-dollar real estate transaction that was going to make lots of money for lots of people.

Nancy Solomon: For eight years, successive attorneys general did very little, but then Matt Platkin became the AG last year. He launched an investigation into the murders. We haven't heard anything about that, but an investigation by the AG into the Camden real estate deals is the talk of the town. In this episode, we'll look at what's bubbled to the surface. 

The Attorney General's Office doesn't comment on ongoing investigations, and there have been no leaks so far in the Sheridan murder case, but I am hearing from people in the know about progress by the AG's investigators into the Camden Waterfront real estate deals.

Remember, this involves state tax breaks that funded those developments and potential political corruption to obtain land and buildings there. Word on the street is that multiple government agencies, former mayors and people involved in Camden real estate have received a subpoena. Which brings us to the Norcross brothers: George, the party boss and businessman who controls much of that waterfront, and Phil, the attorney whose firm helped write the tax break law. They say they haven't received any subpoenas and haven't been told they are under investigation.

Through a statement from spokesman Dan Fee, they say the state tax break program and I quote, "Has been repeatedly and exhaustively reviewed, including by a special task force, the state, the Economic Development Authority and the media. Each and every time there has been no wrongdoing found." But Camden is buzzing about the investigation.

Jim Walden: Hello?

Nancy Solomon: Hey, Jim.

Jim Walden: How are you?

Nancy Solomon: I'm good. 

Nancy Solomon: I called the two lawyers who are well-versed in how the tax breaks funded new buildings on the Camden Waterfront. They led an investigation into the state tax break program four years ago. Ron Chen is an associate dean at Rutgers Law School and a former state public advocate.

Ron Chen: I suppose nothing should really surprise me about New Jersey politics.

Nancy Solomon: Jim Walden is a New York City lawyer with a storied track record as a federal prosecutor. He took down several mob bosses and applied his investigative chops to the state tax break program.

Jim Walden: Some of the conduct was so flagrant. Some of this was not subtle at all. Literally, a paper trail where people are making up facts and actually in emails saying what facts they need to make up.

Nancy Solomon: I've been trying to get Chen and Walden to talk to me since their work on the task force ended in 2020. They finally said yes. Walden says the report they released on their findings recommended that the attorney general conduct a criminal investigation into the tax break program.

Jim Walden: I think the reports fairly conclude that the state was defrauded.

Nancy Solomon: One of the things I wanted to know from Walden is what criminal charges we might see as part of the current investigation into the Camden Waterfront. Walden thinks the referrals they made to the former attorney general would be a good place to start.

Jim Walden: Obviously, Ron and I are not involved in any way with the investigation that we understand is going on, but when we were thinking this through at the time, what we were thinking about was the New Jersey RICO statute, the racketeering statute in New Jersey.

Nancy Solomon: RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, originally passed to take down the mob, but it can be used against any group that operates a criminal enterprise; a bit of a hot topic these days because of the case against Donald Trump in Georgia. If charges are brought as a result of the Camden investigation, Walden thinks the AG might use RICO. That's because his investigation into the tax breaks found a pattern of alleged criminal acts committed by an organized group of people. Walden says there was fraud in the tax break program and pressure against private developers who gave up their rights to build on the waterfront.

Jim Walden: I'd be looking at business-related extortions.

Nancy Solomon: We talked about that type of alleged conduct in Episode 6. Remember Carl Dranoff? He developed luxury lofts on the Camden Waterfront years ago, and he held the right to develop more housing there. He ended up in a legal battle with the city, which he recently settled and agreed to pay back taxes. In that case, Dranoff testified in a deposition that he believed he was the victim of what he described as a shakedown by the Norcross brothers and others to hand over those rights.

Jeff Pillets: The intimidation allegedly would take place in many ways, but one way it would take place would be that city officials would block or slow-walk approvals that Dranoff needed to go forward with his projects.

Nancy Solomon: Jeff Pillets and I have worked on a series of stories about the land deals. We wanted to understand how George Norcross and his business partners came to own a large stretch of this potentially valuable land.

Jeff Pillets: During our reporting, we found out that Phil Norcross, Norcross' brother, met every week with the mayor and with top staff members to discuss development in the city and even told the city attorney to slow down Dranoff's development.

Nancy Solomon: It's been reported that the Camden City Attorney has received a subpoena. They're also looking into another case of potential extortion over the purchase of the L3 office complex. That's the building that was the focus of the documents, including letters that John Sheridan wrote to George Norcross in the months before Sheridan's death, Sheridan was the chair of the board for the nonprofit organization that was buying L3, and the Norcross brothers wanted the organization to hand over the deal to developers of their choosing, and if the leaders of that organization didn't get out of the real estate business, they'd be persona non grata.

Jeff Pillets: When somebody like that is calling somebody persona non grata or threatening, you have to sit up and listen. Nobody questions whether they have the power to carry through with that threat.

Nancy Solomon: I spoke recently with someone who works in a government agency in Camden that received subpoenas issued by the Attorney General's Office. I'm told the subpoenas ask for all communications between various governmental agencies in Camden and the Norcross brothers and that they also ask for documents about the deal to purchase the L3 office complex. I was told the subpoenas are flying. The Camden City attorney, two former mayors, all the public agencies that own land on the waterfront and the nonprofit where John Sheridan was chairman of the board has also been subpoenaed.

In the last couple of months, both the city of Camden and the Camden Redevelopment Agency, according to their meeting minutes, hired lawyers to handle undisclosed matters. One source tells me that's because they have to produce so many documents required by the subpoenas, there have been two newspaper stories about the Camden investigation in the Philadelphia Inquirer and nj.com. Those newspaper reports confirm Jim Walden's thinking that the Attorney General's Office may be looking at a racketeering case. That's because the allegations of extortion, fraud and political corruption could all be elements of a criminal enterprise, but Walden says that's a very hard case to prosecute.

Jim Walden: The New Jersey Attorney General's Office, they have fabulous litigators, but the RICO statute there is not exactly well-worn. There've been RICO cases, but it's not the go-to for business-related crimes, even at the federal level let alone level at the state level. I'm actually not even aware of whether or not it's ever been used toward legitimate businesses.

Nancy Solomon: If the attorney general thinks they have a case they can prove, then they'll present it to a grand jury. That means regular people will hear the case and decide whether to hand up indictments. If that happens, a big if, it's anybody's guess exactly when. I'll be watching, and as soon as I know anything, I'll update this feed.

[music]

Nancy Solomon: Dead End was reported by me, Nancy Solomon, and edited by Karen Frillmann. Jared Paul wrote the music and sound-designed the mix. Thanks to Lauren Cooperman for the sound legal advice.

[music]

Copyright © 2023 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.