A defiant George Norcross pleads not guilty, as attorneys attack racketeering case against the N.J. powerbroker

TRENTON — A defiant George E. Norcross III pleaded not guilty to state racketeering charges Tuesday, as his lawyers hurled accusations at prosecutors, tussled with the media, and painted the New Jersey Democratic powerbroker as a victim of a legal “jihad.”

“Wake up!” said Kevin Marino, attorney for Norcross’ brother and codefendant Philip, chiding a crowd of reporters outside the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse after a brief arraignment hearing. “People have devoted their entire careers to the pursuit of George Norcross. … Ask yourself what’s really going on here: ‘Am I being taken for a ride?’”

After admonishing a female reporter to “listen, lady,” Michael Critchley, George Norcross’ lawyer, denounced New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin as a politically ambitious prosecutor attempting to use the case his office filed last month as a prelude to a run for higher elected office.

“He introduced this jihad … with a predetermined conclusion,” Critchley said. “He wants to do something that is not fair and not just.”

Amid that combative display, Norcross — a Camden County insurance executive, board chair of Cooper University Health Care and, for more than a quarter century, the head of South Jersey’s powerful Democratic machine — stood silently by looking on from the courthouse steps, a tight grin fixed on his tanned face.

He declined to answer reporters’ questions and left the courthouse afterward without saying a word.

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

Tuesday’s hearing — and the lawyers’ aggressive response — came three weeks after Platkin unveiled a sprawling 13-count racketeering indictment against Norcross, 68, and five allies, accusing them of conspiring to corruptly acquire real estate worth millions while muscling rivals out of the redevelopment of Camden’s waterfront.

Prosecutors say the group used Norcross’ influence over local governments to manipulate a 2013 New Jersey tax credit program designed to encourage development in poorer communities and then used it to line their own pockets.

Marino on Tuesday described that allegation as a “fiction of prosecutors’ imagination.”

And during the morning’s largely procedural hearing, Critchley told Presiding Judge Peter Warshaw: “My client emphatically states he is not guilty.”

Critchley later derided the indictment as long on baseless allegations and provocative quotes — including a moment in 2016 in which Norcross allegedly threatened Philadelphia real estate developer Carl Dranoff — but short on detailed descriptions of any actual wrongdoing.

The defense attorney chalked up the tough talk attributed to Norcross in prosecutors’ charging documents as little more than the type of routine, hard-nosed negotiating that goes on in executive boardrooms every day.

“The indictment has a lot of words, a lot of pages, a lot of allegations,” Critchley said. “But one thing it does not have is elements of a crime.”

» READ MORE: George Norcross’ power: Real or imagined? Prosecutors highlight his reputation for hardball.

Platkin’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment after Tuesday’s hearing.

But in court, Warshaw, the judge, described the case as “substantial” and appeared eager to bring it to trial expeditiously.

As he negotiated with the attorneys over a schedule for the sharing of evidence, Norcross sat quietly at the defense table, repeatedly turning to flash a smile toward an array of TV news cameras in the jury box across the room.

Also pleading not guilty Tuesday were four of Norcross’ codefendants: Philip Norcross, an attorney at the New Jersey law firm Parker McCay; lawyer William Tambussi, developer John J. O’Donnell; and former Camden Mayor Dana L. Redd.

A fifth codefendant — trucking company executive Sidney Brown — was not in court and will instead make his first appearance before the judge next month.

» READ MORE: ‘Are you threatening me?’ Surprise recordings are at the heart of prosecutors’ case against George Norcross.

Henry Klingeman, an attorney for Redd, described the accusations against his client as “unjust and unjustified.” Though prosecutors contend she allowed Norcross’s allies to exert undue influence over Camden city government, Klingeman insisted Tuesday that all Redd had done was faithfully serve its citizens as mayor.

“She looks forward to fighting these false allegations,” he said in a statement, “so she can reclaim her good name.”

Marino, meanwhile, maintained that lawyers Philip Norcross and Tambussi had done nothing more than aggressively represent the interests of their clients.

In the indictment, prosecutors painted both men as George Norcross’ enforcers, using threats of litigation, their access to government officials, and the imprimatur of legal authority to help him achieve his goals.

“What Philip Norcross is accused of doing is behaving as a lawyer,” Marino said. “And every lawyer in this state should be alarmed that [he] and William Tambussi have been put in this indictment for doing what lawyers do every single day — which is to zealously represent their clients within the bounds of the law.”

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

Norcross and all five codefendants are due back in court for their next hearing on the case on Sept. 10.

Critchley, as he left the courthouse Tuesday, vowed that all of them would be vindicated in the end.

“Today was the first step,” he said, “in our journey to get where we know we’re going to get to — and that’s justice.”