The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption
by St. Martin's Press

	The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption
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Book Description

<div><div><i>The Soprano State</i> details the you-couldn't-make-this-up true story of the corruption that has pervaded New Jersey politics, government, and business for the past thirty years. From Jimmy Hoffa purportedly being buried somewhere beneath the end zone in Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands, through allegations of a thoroughly corrupt medical and dental university, through Mafia influence at all levels, to a governor who suddenly declares himself a “gay American” and resigns, the Garden State might indeed be better named after the HBO mobsters.



Where else would:



-    A state attorney general show up after police pulled over her boyfriend who was driving without a valid license?



-    A state senator and mayor of Newark (the same guy) spend thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money on a junket to Rio days before leaving office?



-    A politically connected developer hire a prostitute to tape sex acts with his own brother-in-law and then send the tape to his sister?



Only in the Soprano State.

Reader Reviews

Even if you live a continent away in Washington state, "The Soprano State" will amuse, educate and yes, horrify you. Authors Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure have put together an appalling catalog of the "worst of the worst" New Jersey politicians and public servants and their most outrageous shenanigans.
As the authors note, "why should such a wealth of lunacy and depravity" be enjoyed only by New Jersey? My personal favorite, in a chapter titled "All Aboard the Gravy Train," is an anecdote about how sometimes "the legislative gravy train delivers real gravy." In that case, New Jersey taxpayers coughed up $124,000 over three years to purchase 300 lunches each day the Legislature was in session to feed 80 members of the assembly, 40 senators _ and lobbyists. The lunches were trucked in from a well-connected restaurant 57 miles away!
¶ It's tempting for us outsiders to feel smug, but there's also a nagging worry: what if our politicians are just less obviously outrageous, and our reporters more lapdog and less pit bull?
¶ Beyond the entertainment value, this book is a cautionary tale, reminding us that citizens anywhere can be fleeced by those we elect.
¶