April Busset testifies against North Bergen DPW supervisors Longo and Bunero

After opening statements commenced in the morning, former North Bergen commissioner candidate April Tricoli-Busset testified against township DPW supervisors Francis Longo and Troy Bunero, revealing she was the one who recorded a video prior to the 2011 municipal election showing Bunero removing her campaign literature from houses. 

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After a court recess for lunch, a neighbor of Troy Bunero testified in Spanish that the supervisor had DPW workers shovel snow on his block back in the winter of 2011, with Brian Neary (the attorney representing Bunero) quick to question the accuracy of his story.

Afterwards, Busset, a 2011 commissioner candidate who ran with the “Citizens for Change” slate that opposed the Sacco team, took the stand.

During testimony, she admitted she was the one that filmed two DPW employees, Bunero and then-Department Superintendent James Wiley’s grandson, taking literature down from front doors weeks prior to the May 2011 election.

The video was later uploaded to YouTube and also received local media coverage at the time. Busset, who also ran in the 2011 Assembly race, explained that she felt removing campaign literature from homes, especially while on township time, was illegal.

The video, which was shot on her cell phone, didn’t prove much about Bunero from Neary’s perspective – repeatedly asking Busset why she didn’t contact law enforcement if she felt a crime was being committed.

Neary also argued that the video was shot purely for political gain, with Paul Faugno, Francis Longo’s attorney in the matter, getting Busset to agree that complaining to Sacco, Wiley or DPW Commissioner Frank Gargiulo would be pointless due to the political nature of day-to-day business in North Bergen.

Also under cross-examination, Busset conceded that Longo and Bunero were not politicos aligned with Sacco or his administration.

Finally, New Jersey Deputy Attorney General Victor Salgado asked Busset for further clarification on why she did not contact the North Bergen Police Department or confront Bunero on the spot.