‘New Jersey politics is a blood sport’ and other key takeaways from prosecutors’ case against S. Jersey power broker George Norcross

Clocking in at 111 pages and covering 12 years of development history and real estate wrangling in Camden, Monday’s mammoth indictment of South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross and five allies was filled with insider details and new insights destined to be overshadowed by the larger news of the charges brought within it.

Broadly, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin has accused Norcross and the others of using their political influence and control over local government to muscle out rivals in the lucrative development of Camden’s waterfront — allegations Norcross has dismissed as a political hit job.

Here are some other — yet no less interesting — takeaways from prosecutors’ summation of their case.

» READ MORE: Read the full 13-count indictment against South Jersey power broker George Norcross

The indictment underscored the large sums of money that Norcross, businesses associated with him, and his allies took in through New Jersey’s 2013 state tax credit program and the real estate transactions at the heart of the criminal case.

For instance, Norcross’ insurance brokerage — Conner Strong & Buckelew — has been awarded $8.6 million in tax credits as of 2023, which it later conveyed to other business in exchange for $7.9 million, a transaction enabled by provisions of the 2013 law. As the company’s executive chairman, Norcross has been paid handsomely for the business’ success, taking home $29 million in salary from the company between 2012 and 2023, according to the indictment.

Meanwhile, Cooper University Health Care — the Camden-based hospital network for which Norcross serves as board chairman — won $27 million in tax credits between 2016 and 2022, which it has sold for $25 million. Those sales, according to the indictment, have allowed it to fully cover the annual $3.8 million rental cost for its headquarters at the 575,000-square-foot office complex on Federal Street known as L3.

The indictment alleges that Norcross and his allies strong-armed a local nonprofit out of a deal to buy the building in 2013, steering the sale instead to an investor group they preferred. Cooper Health later gained a 49% ownership stake in the building, entitling it to nearly half the profits earned from its other tenants.

Likewise, after allegedly muscling Philadelphia developer Carl Dranoff out of development rights to another parcel on Cooper Street in Camden, Norcross and other investors went on to build the apartment complex 11 Cooper there. The complex received $3.5 million in tax credits between 2022 and 2023 and sold them for $4.3 million.

Norcross has stressed that for as much money he’s taken in from his business dealings in Camden, he and his business partners have invested significantly in the city, pumping more than $300 million into development there.

» READ MORE: Who is George Norcross? A look at the indicted South Jersey power broker

If George Norcross sat atop what prosecutors are calling the “the Norcross Enterprise” — the alleged racketeering operation at the heart of their case — his brother Philip served as its fixer.

Philip Norcross, CEO of the Mount Laurel law firm Parker McCay, is referenced throughout the indictment conveying his brother’s demands to rivals and meeting with local government officials to ensure George Norcross’ interests remained protected.

“I try to practice as little law as possible … just for laughs and giggles,” he told a group of allies in a September 2013 meeting quoted in the indictment. “My siblings and I get around … the table and decide what George’s agenda is in Camden.”

Philip Norcross and his law firm played a central role in shaping the 2013 tax credit legislation that set off the development boom along Camden’s waterfront that forms the backdrop for prosecutors’ case. Working with another Norcross ally, then-Senate President Stephen Sweeney, prosecutors say, he sent over line-item revisions to the tax credit bill that were later adopted as part of the law.

Once that tax incentive program was approved and the Norcrosses began eyeing waterfront property for development, it was Philip Norcross who, according to the indictment, muscled the CEO of the community development nonprofit Cooper’s Ferry out of the deal to buy the L3 building that now serves as headquarters to Cooper Health.

Though Philip Norcross had no financial stake in the property and no role at Cooper’s Ferry, Camden City officials repeatedly instructed the nonprofit’s then-CEO Anthony Perno to “meet with Philip” and to follow his instructions about the land deal, the indictment says.

Philip Norcross pushed Perno to abandon a developer Cooper’s Ferry had earlier lined up and partner instead with two other investors, preferred by George Norcross, instead. If Perno refused, the indictment alleges, it was made clear to him that Cooper’s Ferry would “suffer repercussions.”

» READ MORE: New Jersey tax credits turned a Camden office complex into a lucrative investment. Now the feds and state AG are investigating

Perno eventually acceded to Philip Norcross’ demands and sided with the Norcrosses’ preferred partners. Then in 2014 Cooper’s Ferry sold its rights to the L3 development for a net $125,000, far less than the millions it had expected to earn from the more actively involved ownership of the building it had originally envisioned.

When years later, George Norcross found himself at odds with Dranoff, the Philadelphia developer, over another parcel of land along the waterfront, Philip Norcross helped him achieve his desired outcome there, too.

At the time, Dranoff was hoping to sell the Victor Building, a luxury apartment complex he helped develop in 2003, but he needed Camden City officials to agree to transfer a beneficial tax arrangement he’d enjoyed during his ownership to the potential buyers.

Philip Norcross urged city officials to “slow down” approving the transfer and met regularly with elected officials and other “stakeholders” about the issue, according to the indictment, even though he didn’t have any formal role with the city or financial or legal interest in Dranoff’s building. They did not grant Dranoff the approvals he needed, and ultimately, his deal to sell the Victor fell through.

The indictment also accuses Philip Norcross of plotting with his brother and others to have the Camden Redevelopment Agency condemn another nearby property Dranoff owned to force him to accede to other demands.

Philip Norcross’ lawyer, Kevin Marino, has denied his client did anything improper.

“What is in this indictment that is outside the lines of appropriate negotiations?” Marino said in an interview Tuesday. He added: “I’ve never seen a thinner indictment. I have never seen a set of allegations that I feel more confident should never have been brought.”

» READ MORE: What to know about the racketeering indictment against South Jersey power broker George Norcross

To cover up their conduct, the indictment says, Norcross and his allies routinely made false or misleading statements to the media and the courts.

As news outlets including ProPublica and The Inquirer began writing articles in 2019 about the pressure the Norcrosses exerted on Cooper’s Ferry during the L3 deal, Norcross’ spokespeople pushed back with a number of claims prosecutors now characterized as false, including that the nonprofit wasn’t capable of purchasing the building.

In fact, the indictment says, Cooper’s Ferry had “an agreement in principle” with a well-known developer to complete the transaction.

In another instance, Norcross lawyer William Tambussi, who was also charged in Monday’s indictment, allegedly misled a Superior Court judge about the role the Norcross brothers had played in a push to pressure Dranoff to give up an easement he held protecting the views from his Victor Building apartment complex.

The indictment accuses the Norcrosses of using threats, intimidation and their control over Camden City government to effectively force Dranoff to sell the easement rights in 2016 for less than he thought it was worth.

Dranoff later sued the City of Camden over his continued frustrations with his efforts to do business in the city. As the case neared trial last fall, Dranoff sought to introduce evidence that his difficulties in Camden dated back to that 2016 dispute with the Norcross team over the easement rights.

But Tambussi — a longtime Norcross lawyer who represented the city in the litigation with Dranoff — sought to block Dranoff from mentioning either George or Philip Norcross at the trial, arguing that they weren’t relevant to the deal and that Dranoff’s negotiations over the easement had occurred with another developer.

Prosecutors maintained Monday that, in fact, Dranoff’s negotiations with that developer had been consummated at the insistence of the Norcrosses and their other business partners.

Tambussi on Monday said he was proud of his legal work for Camden and “astounded” by the charges.

» READ MORE: George Norcross probe: Two South Jersey transit officials charged with using authority to exact political revenge

The indictment portrays former Camden Mayor Dana Redd, who was also charged Monday along with Norcross and his brother, as a willing ally of their development plans in the city. When she left office in 2018, they allegedly helped her land a lucrative job as CEO of the Rowan University / Rutgers-Camden Board of Governors.

But that required moving others out the way. The indictment details a complicated game of musical chairs that culminated in Redd securing the position, which came with a $275,000 annual salary — a significant pay bump over the $102,000 a year she was paid as mayor.

But first, her predecessor in the role, Kris Kolluri, had to be set up with another job. According to the indictment, Norcross and his allies had the perfect position in mind — Perno’s job at Cooper’s Ferry following his falling out with Norcross over the L3 deal.

In late 2017 — as Redd’s term as mayor neared its end — one of Cooper’s Ferry’s cochairs, former Cherry Hill Mayor Susan Bass Levin, told Perno he needed to leave his $242,000-a-year job as the nonprofit’s CEO so that Kolluri could step into the role instead, prosecutors said.

She warned him, according to the indictment, that if he resisted, “they” would just make up something about him and use it as grounds to fire him. In late 2017, Perno asked whether Cooper’s Ferry would agree to restructure his severance package to better compensate him for the cost of leaving. But Levin told Perno that wouldn’t work either.

“It doesn’t give me cover with George,” she said in a secretly recorded conversation with the nonprofit CEO quoted in the indictment. “You can’t go there. You don’t want that fight. … If you don’t think he can’t get to anybody he wants to, you’re kidding yourself.”

Eventually, Perno agreed to resign as CEO. Kolluri moved into his old job, vacating his spot as CEO of the Rowan University / Rutgers-Camden Board of Governors, and Redd moved into that position.

In 2022, she was named CEO of Camden Community Partnership, the name under which Cooper’s Ferry rebranded itself in 2021.

Neither Levin nor Redd’s attorney, Henry Klingeman, has responded to requests for comment.

While unveiling the indictment at a news conference Monday, Platkin described New Jersey politics as a “blood sport.” It didn’t take long for that observation to be born out.

Typically, high-profile criminal defendants speak through their attorneys and reserve their sharpest barbs for the courtroom. Norcross, however, stared down Platkin from a seat in the front row of the news conference.

Afterward, he publicly attacked Platkin in deeply personal terms, calling him a “coward” and a “politician masquerading as an attorney general.” Norcross referenced a messy 2018 scandal in which Platkin’s handling of rape allegations involving a staffer on Gov. Phil Murphy’s 2017 campaign drew criticism from a state Senate committee full of Norcross allies.

At the time, Platkin was serving as chief counsel to Murphy’s administration. The Senate committee concluded that the governor’s office had “seriously mishandled” the sexual misconduct complaints from its former campaign employee. It specifically blasted Platkin for “sloppy” legal decisions and questioned the credibility of his testimony before the committee. The incident arose again during Platkin’s 2022 confirmation hearings for the attorney general post.

» READ MORE: ‘My voice went unheard’: Official testifies N.J. Gov. Murphy campaign, administration ignored sexual assault allegation

The episode had left Platkin “humiliated,” Norcross insisted Monday, and seeking political revenge.

As Norcross and his lawyers see it, Monday’s indictment is the culmination of years of bad blood between him and the attorney general — a feud further fueled by the role Platkin, while still working for Murphy’s administration, played in a 2019 task force that questioned the propriety of millions of dollars in state tax breaks awarded to several companies linked to Norcross.

Despite the headlines generated by the task force’s work, its efforts to rescind those tax credits have been shot down in court. Norcross and his lawyers dismissed Monday’s indictment as little more than a warmed-over version of the task force’s already stale allegations.

“Now, I’m sending a message to Matt Platkin,” Michael Critchley told a crowd of reporters Monday afternoon. “Buckle up.”