A powerful South Jersey political boss accused of illegally profiting off of development in Camden is arguing in court that the indictment against him is a “crime thriller with no crime,” as his allies attack the state attorney general’s office in the court of public opinion.
George Norcross, who runs the most effective political machine in New Jersey and has enormous influence across the state, was indicted along with five others in June for running a criminal enterprise in Camden. Prosecutors allege he used his political power to extort property and defraud the government. Last week, members of the defense team attacked the case in a legal brief and the state attorney general’s office in an op-ed – following a pattern seen in previous Norcross controversies.
On Tuesday, Norcross’ lawyer Michael Critchley filed a motion to dismiss the charges, arguing the alleged threats and extortion are not criminal, but merely hard bargaining.
“The Indictment seems offended that some private citizens have close connections with public officials, but that is a feature of democratic self-government—not a bug. And certainly not a crime,” Critchley wrote.
“It never alleges that any Defendant threatened anyone with violence or blackmail; nor does it allege any corruption of public officials. Rather, the Indictment rests on the notion that Defendants exerted economic pressure and political influence.”
Meanwhile, a member of the defense team is also running a public relations campaign attacking state Attorney General Matthew Platkin and his unit that prosecutes public corruption.
Lee Vartan, a defense attorney working on the Norcross case, published an opinion essay Wednesday in the Star-Ledger and nj.com, backing a bill introduced before the state legislature that would create an agency to “oversee prosecutorial abuses.”
“When prosecutors ‘go rogue,’ there are few checks and even fewer repercussions,” Vartan wrote.
Conspicuously absent from the piece was a key detail: Vartan is representing William Tambussi, a personal lawyer for Norcross who is also charged in the case. Vartan has also been cited in two other columns in the Star-Ledger that criticize the attorney general’s corruption unit. He wasn’t identified as having a stake in the Norcross case in those pieces, either.
“We didn’t realize that Vartan was representing one of the parties indicted along with Norcross, an honest mistake. It should have been noted,” Tom Moran, editorial page editor and columnist for the Star-Ledger said. But he defended the three recent opinion articles that criticized the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. “That office has seriously screwed up several big cases and deserves the criticism,” Moran said.
Vartan did not comment.
The attorney general’s office says criticism often comes with high-profile cases. In a statement, Platkin defended the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, which investigates political corruption, fatal police encounters, and law enforcement internal affairs.
“Their work is not only sensitive, but it is time-consuming and complicated – and often unpopular among powerful people and interest groups,” Platkin said. “Their impactful work promotes improved trust in the government and agencies charged with serving the public by holding power to account.”
Data provided by the attorney general’s office shows the corruption unit has obtained convictions or other successful resolutions in half of its cases.
In New Jersey, the state attorney general is appointed by the governor. Platkin’s term ends in January 2026 when Murphy leaves office.
Norcross himself has said the charges against him are an example of a prosecutor run amok. He alleges Platkin has held a years-long grudge.
“Matt Platkin, since the day he got in there has decided…how they were going to deter the South Jersey Democratic Party, its elected officials and otherwise, of which he was feuding with,” Norcross told reporters.
The Norcross machine has taken the tactic of combining negative press coverage of adversaries with legal maneuvers before. In 2019, Norcross sued Murphy to stop the governor’s investigation into the tax break scheme that is now part of the criminal charges against Norcross. In that case, numerous articles published by NJ Globe were cited in court documents filed by lawyers for Norcross in an attempt to strengthen their case.
Norcross deployed a similar public relations campaign in the early 2000’s, when he was under investigation for forcing town leaders in Palmyra to contract with his chosen engineering firm. He was caught on tape insisting that the town’s attorney be fired.
Norcross fought that case in the press until it stalled under a new attorney general who scuttled cases involving Democrats.
Not everyone sees the criticism of Platkin as a problem.
Former Attorney General John Farmer, who served from 1999 to 2002 and has also been the dean of Rutgers School of Law, says he doesn’t think the bad press will undermine Platkin’s ability to prosecute the case.
“I know some of his decisions have not been the most popular. But that tells me he’s trying to do the job the way it’s supposed to be done,” Farmer said.