DeFusco: Identities of 5 suspects in ‘terrorism’ flyer case given to Hoboken PD

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Hoboken 1st Ward Councilman Mike DeFusco says that the identities of the five suspects involved in distributing the “terrorism” flyer days before the mayoral race have been forwarded to the police department.

Photos courtesy of Hoboken police.
Photos courtesy of Hoboken police.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

“This new information puts our city one step closer to finding out who perpetrated this heinous act that impacted our election and brought an incredible amount of negative attention to Hoboken,” DeFusco said in a statement.

“I am confident that the Hoboken Police Department is doing everything it can to solve this case and I would like to thank the many residents who responded to our reward offer and who share our goal of getting to the bottom of this disgusting act to hopefully prevent this kind of malfeasance from ever happening again.”

Days after the mayoral contest, which DeFusco lost by about 500 votes, the councilman’s sister started a GoFundMe page to offer a $5,000 reward for anyone who came forward with any information about the flyer.

The flyer, which said “Don’t let TERRORISM take over our town!” over a picture of now Mayor-elect Ravi Bhalla.

The flyer was a manipulated version of campaign literature distributed by the DeFusco campaign, who immediately denied playing any role in the creation or distribution of the racist flyer – which was also denounced by the other three major mayoral hopefuls.

In two separate announcements, Hoboken police have released images of five individuals who were involved with the distribution of the flyers.

In his own statement, Police Chief Ken Ferrante said that the department is still in the process of corroborating the information they received from the DeFusco team.

“When Police Investigators have people come forward with information, that info and the person providing the info are not identified until it needs to be (i.e. court), for many reasons, including the protection of the investigation, the protection of witnesses, and the protection of individuals against false claims,” he began.

“The Hoboken Police Department continues to perform interviews, work with the Hudson County Prosecutors Office, use forensic science in assessing evidence, and look at all tips and information for corroboration and veracity.

At this time, none of the leads or identities provided by the DeFusco campaign, have been corroborated, and Hoboken Police Detectives continue to attempt to corroborate the info provided, and continue to wait for follow up information that was requested to them.”

Ferrante also confirmed that once criminal complaints are filed and arrests are made, that information will be made public, which is standard procedure for the Hoboken Police Department.


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43 COMMENTS

  1. These are good developments. It sounds like DeFusco’s team is making some headway. I heard that one of the people handing out the fliers lives downtown and his mom supported Ravi Bhalla. Not blaming him or any candidate but did that PAC behind Ravi pay for this? Hope the Hoboken Police get to the bottom of it.

    • If the DeFusco campaign were actually interested in assisting the police investigation and had real credible information to share, they should not be putting out press releases like this. They should quietly provide their information they had to the police and let the police evaluate it and do their jobs.

      Grandstanding like this just damages the integrity of any real evidence that gets developed, and makes it harder to hold anyone accountable.

      DeFusco publicly claiming to have identified the five responsible individuals before the police have a chance to evaluate whatever evidence DeFusco has provided to support his allegations (assuming he has provided credible evidence of some sort) is completely irresponsible.

        • Oh look Nancy agrees with Stan Grossbard. Stan worked on the Ravi Bhalla campaign but he’s not conflicted in concluding DeFusco has not provided the names in advance of releasing what his investigation discovered. Did you talk to Michael DeFusco or did you just assume?

          Since the Ravi Bhalla people keep pushing for the HPD investigation to wind down and blow away, why would anyone want to listen to what Stan Grossbard and his underling Nancy Pincus are kvetching about?

          What Hoboken residents do want to know is if there is a big six-figure payout being planned for Carmelo Garcia? Because that’s a conflict people want to know what Stan Grossbard is promoting.

          • It doesn’t really matter whether DeFusco provided his “information” to the police before grandstanding publicly. The point is that he is grandstanding publicly in a way that compromises the police investigation, If the police have had time to check out the “information” and the Councilman is aware that they have been unable to corroborate it (ie at this stage it appears to be BS), then the irresponsible nature of the grandstanding is even clearer. That’s a pretty obvious objective conclusion to reach based on what is publicly known – particularly the police department’s public response to the effect that the “information” has so far led to nothing.

            You seem to like repeating the name Stan Grossbard alot in your posts. Does it provide you with some kind of cathartic release? I hope it does since its clear you are extremely troubled and need something to provide some relief.

            I thought you “reported” an almost 7 figure ($1 million)”payout” to be borne by the Hoboken taxpayer. Is that still your story? Or has it been reduced to 6 figures? Or is the math too hard for you keep the fictional numbers straight?

            Feel free to answer writing “Stan Grossbard” as often as you need to if that helps keep you from sliding ever further into the depths of true insanity.

          • Why is Michael DeFusco to blame for any alleged problem in the investigation when it looks like he’s the one trying to see it through? You have a problem with his investigation, call him. Or have Ravi call him. I’m sure it can be worked out. Like at the end of the last council meeting; that really went well.

            Almost seven figures, under seven figures to Carmelo only the Shadow knows, the Shadow knows how much Hoboken taxpayers and the HHA are about to get hammered. So why don’t you just tell us how much the bill is Stan?

            You suffer from the same stupidity as the crazy lady. Everyone who dares to disagree are not the guys that run the Reform websites. But you, Nancy loving Russo and Fake Struiver just keep right on with the bullshit. No one cares about the stupid guessing.

            This is the great victory you sowed. Congrats on getting 32.7% of the vote. Good for the win. Enjoy it.

          • Roman, you have become a malevolent entity for whatever reason. Why don’t you go back to hating on Hillary and stop attacking your former friends who really have no interest in you personally. You have a chaos addiction. The election is over. Suck it up and do something positive for yourself. Politics is not everything.

        • Grow up, Roman. When did you become the Dark Side’s Lane Bajardi? When did you become Mike DeFusco’s piss boy? Go back and read your blog in 2009 and 2010. What happened to that person. He’s gone. Everyone sees it but you.

          All you “resistance” idiots do all day is blow dark, nasty propaganda at authentic Reformers as you cozy up to Mike DeFusco and Ruben Ramos. That is where you and your ilk belong NOW.

          You’ve actually become evil. Dropping non-public figure’s full names on your website and here so they show up on Google Searches, possibly impacting their employment- and I am not taking about myself. Like someone we know, you are out to hurt people.

          Roman FACT CHECK:
          (1) FALSE that Ravi’s camp is interfering in the HPD’s investigation/ wants it to “end.” The only ‘camp’ that has been disruptive to the HPD investigation is Mike DeFusco’s.
          (2) FALSE that Hoboken taxpayers are on the hook to Carmelo Garcia.

          • Nancy, did you look in the mirror lately? You have the awareness of a glowworm. The only person who is acting like Lane and Hoboken411 is you. You did it through the entire campaign. Oh and btw, you haven’t stopped. You are a proven shameless liar.

            Facts are the facts. No one on Horse or the new Hoboken Resistance has endorsed anyone other than point out the disturbing facts about the dirty flier. You and others with Team Bhalla don’t like it and want it buried? Well, that’s too bad. DeFusco wants the truth out and is sharing valuable information with the HPD.

            Not a darn thing wrong with it and most residents agree with him. They don’t have to support him politically in wanting the people behind the flier caught.

            Nancy, you make a lot of crap up again as you did again here with more phony allegations. You’ve been lying for Ravi and doing a lot of ugly Google hit jobs on people or at least that’s what you and your scumbag pals are trying to do on your POS website.

            You have a lot of nerve with the proven facts about your lying and propaganda. No one can take you seriously as anything other than what you are, a Ravi propagandist who will smear and lie against anyone who you think is in his way.

            Shameful!

          • Blurt Fartner hung his childish and racist behavior around his candidate’s neck like an albatross and is now angry and bitter at how obviously and directly he caused her to lose. He’s become persona non grata among anyone with any reform cred because he nearly dragged the whole thing down with his little ego tantrum over the (in his words) “brown candidate” not kissing the ring when he was “Sikhing” a board appointment.

            Blurt Fartner thinks it’s ok when he makes racially loaded wisecracks and drops epithets because hey, we all know he’s liberal so he can’t be a REAL racist.

            Blurt Fartner blew up his own reputation and Jen’s campaign but thankfully he wasn’t relevant enough to drag down Reform with him, he just alienated himself from the movment completely and permanently.

  2. Maybe they want to ensure that the story remains in the minds of the public in the same way that Ravi continues to keep the mayor-elect as victim story alive by continuing to do interviews

    • If that’s their objective it just highlights how irresponsible this grandstanding is. If Mike’s supposed information is known by him to be bogus and this was as you say a stunt to keep the story “out there” then it is possible Mike may have committed a crime.

      Hopefully that’s not the case and Mike, believing his “information” was credible, simply made a good faith mistake by putting out this release without consulting with the police first.

      • I didn’t say issuing a release was a stunt; please don’t put words in my mouth and, quite frankly, it is offensive for any of us to suggest that any of the campaigns were involved. Although I would have to agree with you that I think it is more likely a campaign or someone connected to a campaign than the work of a hate group as our mayor-elect has suggested. I just hope that the person or parties involved are caught.

        • Councilwoman, you said DeFusco put out his press release to keep the issue alive. That means you thought it was a political stunt albeit one you seem to approve of. I am not putting words in your mouth – the words are yours.

          The election is over. Our Mayor is the candidate chosen by the voters.

          Those who called him unelectable may or may not have been racist, but they certainly were wrong. Wake up, read the data, smell the coffee, and do the job you were elected to do.

          • Who are you talking to? I am not a councilwoman. Are you out of your mind? It seems so, making such stupid guesses that ave no basis in reality is a good indication of lunacy.

            When last I looked this website is not that vile local blogger site where obnoxious anonymous commenters make stupid guesses at who is who. I don’t comment there but, I do read it to remind myself how grotesque the supporters of our new mayor are. It is cause for concern, I wonder why the people that comment there have so much hatred, including the person that runs the website. I sure hope that they are not reflective of the way our new mayor views his constituents.

            My comment had nothing to do with who won the election. That is irrelevant to my concerns about who was behind the flyer. It was disgraceful in ways that are more disgraceful than any of the dirty politics we have seen in our town and, we have seen a lot.

            The distribution of that flyer is not something that we should move on from. The perpetrators, whoever they may be, need to be exposed. If DeFusco has uncovered information, I hope it is fully vetted and if valid, the trail needs to be followed.

          • Perhaps you are a Councilwoman. Perhaps not. One of the features of anonymous blogging is that there is no way to really know and your denial adds nothing to the equation (that’s a math term).

            The bottom line here is that anybody with any understanding of how our legal system works would understand the Councilman DeFusco’s grandstanding impedes rather than furthers the investigation. It made it less likely not more likely that we will eventually learn the truth of what happened.

            I think the councilman knows that, so his grandstanding was an effort to frame a narrative, likely because the real investigation was not leading where he wanted it to go.

            As for you, this discussion started with your comment that DeFusco’s grandstanding could be justified by his desire to keep the issue alive. That means you recognize that DeFusco’s statement was an exercise in political framing at the expense of the integrity of the investigation.

            For those of us interested in learning the truth, councilman DeFusco’s actions were extremely disappointing. As are the actions of others who have been circulating false politically (or insanity) motivated rumors smearing people they would like to be blamed.

    • The media likes to interview winners, of course they are chasing Bhalla for interviews, what do you expect? They have no interest in interviewing losers like DeFusco, Giattino, Romano, etc. Who wants to read about losers?

      Also, this “victim” meme is total BS and you know it. Bhalla never brings up the flyer, the reporters do. He answers quickly and moves on to what he wants to do for Hoboken.

      We know it’s hard at accept losing, try to deal.

  3. Ravi doesn’t bring up the flier because he benefited from the sympathy vote and one of his supporters likely distributed it – thsts why he is trying to move on quickly. Chief Ferrante, who was quickly escalated from lieutenant to chief under the current administration and whose fiancé is a state assemblywoman under the current administration, has everything to lose if Ravi’s Campaign is connected to this. The Chief was even quoted in the NYT celebrating the victory, is this a fair investigation? Nobody likes winners that need a crime to win….

  4. You’re making a pretty serious allegation against the Chief. Given the seriousness of this matter I assume you will do more than blog nasty false defamatory claims under an alias. File a formal complaint so it can be fully investigated by IA and the County prosecutor. Of course that would require signing your name and offering real evidence. And providing false evidence would, of course, be a crime.

    Will a narrative that the Police investigation was “unfair” ultimately be publicly aired by Mr DeFusco? Or is the plan to just try to circulate that into bizarre online world inhabited by Roman Brice, Kurt Gardiner and others? I guess time will tell.

    • Wouldn’t blame the Police Chief. But Hoboken residents don’t want to see results from a real investigation ended prematurely unlike Stan Grossbard and Nancy loving Russo in their online bizarro world. Very suspicious.

      • But you wrote this about the chief Roman:

        “Chief Ferrante, who was quickly escalated from lieutenant to chief under the current administration and whose fiancé is a state assemblywoman under the current administration, has everything to lose if Ravi’s Campaign is connected to this. The Chief was even quoted in the NYT celebrating the victory, is this a fair investigation? ”

        Feel free to respond by writing the names Nancy and Stan over and over. Perhaps that will help you get a grip on what little reality you’re still in touch with.

          • Actually I don’t think Roman wrote that. I think it’s a different more politically relevant (for now) but equally batshit crazy person. But I like to write the name Roman. It helps make him feel important and his delusions of grandeur are all he has left.

  5. I wouldn’t be shocked in Nancy gets her big mouth sued again
    This time there are no friends to support her or donate money, after the way she treated Jen nobody likes her anymore.
    Poor lady needs help.

    • Pathetic- raising the spectre of getting “sued” over protected political discourse… so you’re a SLAPPer now ? Go screw yourself.

      As for the “way I treated Jen”? You mean political discourse about an opponent during a campaign? Waaaaah. Boo hoo. None of you thin-skinned crybabies belong in politics.

      I suppose I failed to fawn and gush over “Mona Lisa smiles” and “choking back tears” and daily doses of gooey prose. I suppose I failed to support a candidate because she is “nice”. But isn’t that my business (not yours) and my right to support whomever I feel is best qualified? This never-ending butt hurt is proof that I made the right choice, Mayor-elect Bhalla. Get over it!

      Oh yeah, I’ve got news for anyone who “doesn’t like me” because of my own personal policy beliefs and advocacy: clearly were never a friend, and mark my words: I will never AGAIN ever lift a finger for any of you. Now, go nurse your butt-hurt. Ta-da!

      Now, it’s time for all butt-hurt victims to recover and focus on our CITY.

      • Wrong Nancy, people were YOUR friends but you cursed them out, attacked them, screen captured comments of theirs, troll their facebook comments to this day and maligned anyone not in agreement with you.
        You snap candid photos of your enemies in public, you mock them and distort them and practically blackmail them by constantly ripping them apart if they don’t agree with you.
        Soon Ravi will realize this and all you’ll have left are the cashiers at Acme as friends.
        You should really look back on this past year and ask yourself would the people who helped me in the past be there if I need them again?

        Sad Sad Sad….

        • Oh, by “friends” you mean Kurt and yourself? Some “friends” you turned out to be. Had you left me alone and respected my choice to support Ravi from the get-go, and if we just went out separate ways from the BEGINNING, we would have no problems now. Both of you with your “Bonkers for Bhalla” crap, your “Pravda” crap, and attacks on my website BEFORE I hit you back (because you didn’t like my “moderation” of your SPAM). What you cannot walk back is purposefully trying to tie me to a criminal act.

          As for people “helping me in the past”- I would say the scales tip in my direction. Yes, you were there as a friend, and you set up the Legal Defense Fund, though I was an officer on that as well as Paul S. Otherwise, as far as “helping” goes, had it not been for my work on Bajardi v Pincus- sharing PLUMBs MSJ, doing ALL the discovery myself- ALL OF IT, paying for the Bertoli dep, Quashing the Mason’s subpoenas,etc., you would be up $hit’s Creek. Yes I had always “helped” you. From designing business cards 2x for you, or designing your “Sopranos” book cover, all you had to do was ask. I provided you with graphics, whatever you asked within. So to have such a “friend” turn on me because i supported a different candidate is a disgrace. Anyone who doesn’t agree with my POV is fine, but if you don’t, doesn’t give you a right to attack it. You and Kurt have a lot to be ashamed of.

          Now I would appreciate if we all could go forward and just co-exist. That includes relentless attack by name over here. Life goes on.

          As for whom I advocate for in our government, you can call it whatever you want. You can advocate for whomever you want, and so can Kurt. Have at it. We three are not as important as you seem to think.

          • You accused MSV of being paid- all candidates were welcome to by ads. YOU however got paid by Bhalla to Print and Design flyers and palm cards… Flyer… humph

          • There is no shame in getting paid for honest work. I never posted an article on my blog condemning Roman for getting paid $1,200 from Giattino for Mayor, nor Tiffanie Fisher’s $10,000 fundraising letter for Roman. Never did. Now take a look at today’s Kurt Gardiner hit job.

            Most of campaign graphics work I have done for YEARS- including for Kurt Gardiner’s Freeholder campaign- has been in-kind. Not all. I was paid by Mike Lenz for City Council in 2010- not a secret, and filed on ELEC. So what? All of the time I have spent donating my services to Reform campaigns over the years- and Roman personally whenever he asked (business cards, book cover) and now both try to smear my reputation and link me to midnight flyers? Boy, oh boy.

        • Ummm… WHO did I snap candid pictures of? Name names.

          Are you aware that’s a LIE? Taking pictures something that you do ALL the time with your very nice camera- like the one of Beth Mason you took in court, so she filed a compliant against you. You took a candid pic of me watching the candidates debate and published it twice so far. Is that why you came down from the balcony, to snap my pic?

          Now that you have turned malevolent , I suppose that photo will get a lot of use. Listen, I am not interested in you, nor Kurt as a topic. Shall we agree to focus on government and Hoboken?

  6. Take a look at my response to the latest Kurt Gardiner “resistance” smear campaign:

    https://grafixavenger.blogspot.com/2017/12/exclusive-kurt-gardiner-scandal.html

    Yes, I designed a 5×7 palm card for for Kurt Gardiner’s Freeholder campaign in 2011– and remember doing a newsletter for him- gotta find that. In fact, Kurt Gardiner and Roman Brice both KNOW I have been doing graphic design for political campaigns since 2009 (Kids First)! It is public information. Not a secret.

    https://grafixavenger.blogspot.com/2017/12/exclusive-kurt-gardiner-scandal.html

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