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.
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.