New Jersey Corruption Bust Had Deep Roots

The Wall Street Journal reports:

A statewide corruption investigation that has entangled dozens of New Jersey politicians had its origins a decade ago inside a dingy trailer office in Monmouth County, where federal agents overheard talk about bribes to local officials, some involving real-estate deals.

The wiretaps of phones in the trailer eventually led to the arrests and convictions of a half-dozen public officials and sparked two other probes that have since ensnared nearly 80 politicians, most of them Democrats, and fixers, businessmen and others. The key figure in last month's dramatic arrests of 44 people, real-estate developer Solomon Dwek, first came to investigators' attention through his connections with officials ultimately convicted in Monmouth County, according to a person in law enforcement familiar with the case.

When politicians have monopoly favors to hand out: corruption is inevitable.