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Allegations of municipal corruption in New Jersey were so outlandish that they warranted coverage by correspondents on all three newscasts. "There were so many suspects, FBI agents needed a bus," joked CBS' Kelly Wallace. A trio of mayors--from Secaucus, Hoboken and Ridgefield--were among the 44 arrested, who also included a collection of rabbis. The politicians were accused of taking bribes; the rabbis of moneylaundering ill-gotten gains. All the cash, CBS' Wallace told us was distributed by Solomon Dwek, "who became an informant two years ago after being accused of a $50m bank fraud." ABC and NBC both covered the sting operation from the Justice Department. NBC's Pete Williams, courtesy of WNBC-TV's Jonathan Dienst, threw in an allegation of $160,000 organs sold to Israeli kidney transplant patients. ABC's Pierre Thomas picked up the detail that the alleged bribes were paid "in parking lots, diners, basement boiler rooms, even bathrooms."
And, yes, neither ABC's Thomas nor CBS' Wallace could resist likening the alleged corruption to HBO's The Sopranos.
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