A former federal prosecutor in Philly will supervise N.J. Attorney General’s case against George Norcross

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin has tapped a former federal prosecutor in Philadelphia to supervise the office’s racketeering case against power broker George E. Norcross III.

Eric L. Gibson will lead the Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability’s Corruption Bureau alongside Jeffrey J. Manis, Platkin announced Monday.

Gibson, a former deputy chief of the Corruption and Civil Rights Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, will oversee the prosecution of Norcross, according to a spokesperson for Platkin.

“The cases prosecuted by the Corruption Bureau tend to be high-profile, high-stakes, and complex,” Platkin said in a statement. “The prosecution team frequently finds itself in the spotlight as it holds powerful individuals and institutions accountable. Having these two individuals and their long histories dealing with those challenges, including at the Department of Justice, will be a tremendous asset to the people of New Jersey.”

Norcross, an insurance executive and longtime leader of the South Jersey Democratic political machine, was indicted in June on racketeering and extortion charges. A grand jury accused him of using threats and coercion — as well as his influence with local government — to obtain valuable waterfront real estate in Camden from rival developers.

Norcross and five codefendants have pleaded not guilty. They have asked a judge to dismiss the indictment, arguing that it failed to specify any criminal activity and that the allegations against him showed nothing more than “hardball business negotiations.”

“Changing attorneys does not change the facts of this case — the allegations contained in the indictment do not amount to crimes,” Norcross attorney Michael Critchley said Monday.

As a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, Gibson played a leading role in his office’s case against former longtime U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, a Philadelphia Democrat who was convicted in 2016 on racketeering and bribery charges. Gibson also helped secure a guilty plea in 2022 from former U.S. Rep. Michael “Ozzie” Myers in an election fraud case.

But Gibson lost the U.S. Attorney Office’s most recent high-profile public corruption case against Philadelphia City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson, who was acquitted of bribery charges in 2022.

Gibson last year joined the Philadelphia-based law firm Post & Schell PC, leading its Internal Investigations & White-Collar Defense Practice Group. Manis, another former federal prosecutor, already works in the state Attorney General’s Office. They started their new positions last week, Platkin’s office said.

The announcement of a new leadership team comes as the AG’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability has faced scrutiny from criminal defense attorneys — including one working on the defense team in the Norcross case — and news organizations that have questioned some of the prosecutors’ tactics. “Is the AG’s corruption office up to the job?” read a headline on an August piece by the editorial board for the Newark Star-Ledger, citing the corruption unit’s botched case involving a rabbi.