Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla opened up about a letter last year that said in part “we are ready to kill you” in an email blast sent late this afternoon.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“As you may have heard, my friends, neighbors, and colleagues were sent several unsolicited and unwanted packages to our homes that contained racially charged, sexually explicit, and threatening messages, all connected to local politics,” Bhalla began, referring to a municipal court case with a local resident that was settled in June.
“And, last year, my family opened the mail to read multiple death threats that had been made against us. These threats were investigated by law enforcement who continue to diligently pursue the person(s) who made them.”
The undated letter that was allegedly sent to Bhalla’s home is written in black pen on a piece of notebook paper, and while the grammar is poor, contains several threatening phrases.
“Now it’s time to kill you you ****in b**** Muslen [sic] we have already 27 people to kill you … We are ready to kill you on the street ready to blow [up] your house do not walk in the street,” the letter says, ending with violent threats to his wife and kids.
A spokesman for Bhalla, New Jersey’s first Sikh mayor, said he has received at least three death threats since taking office in 2018 and the most recent one referenced here was sent about a year ago.
“Let me be clear. Hoboken is a welcoming, inclusive community. Over the years we have all worked in concrete ways to ensure that remains true. Together we define what it means to live in Hoboken, and together we continue to visibly remain true to our highest ideals as a community and nation,” the mayor continued in the email blast.
He continued that he publicized the situation to further emphasize that Hoboken stands for civility, inclusion, and respect.
“I’ll close by asking us all to show faith in our neighbors and our potential when we work together,” Bhalla stated.
“Disagreement on issues of importance is what it means to live in a democracy, but when it is all said and done, when an election or debate is over, we should always come together as one community, one Hoboken.”
Bhalla has endorsed city council candidates running in Wards 1, 2, 5, and 6 next month and has also expressed an interest in running for the 8th District congressional seat next year, two issues that were touch upon in a poll last weekend, as only HCV reported.
where are the letters?????
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/a62eh3qz5xbphk6kdzecz/letter.jpg?rlkey=89waofkxvgyzphqqflec1t6cp&dl=0
You can tell its election season cause ravi always want to play the victim, cry me a river. I dont doubt that he received the letters but at the same time why are you talking about it 1 YEAR after you received the letter.
Oh wait, its election season and that is this years terror flyer. What does he think will happen if he ever becomes a congressman. They unfortunately are threatened all the time by different crazies in the world.
Cry me a river. So manipulative. If true–want to see to believe–he should be wondering which of his lies, lawsuits, failed promises would solicit such aggressive behavior and not look to religious prejudice as a cause. Bhalla admin has not accomplished any progress that wasn’t started before they took office. Instead, Hoboken has new problems: rats, NYWW, increasing homelessness, entrances and city exists getting impossibly choked from overruling and –flooding, zero progress on flood mitigation.
While I am certainly not dismissing this information out of hand, I do have to express my unfortunate reservations in light of a prior false flag racist attack on Bhalla in the very late stages of his mayoral election with Mike DeFusco.
For those that don’t remember, an anonymous party sent out racially charged flyers attacking Bhalla with false attribution to Mike DeFusco’s campaign in the waning days before election day. At the time, Mike and Ravi were favorites, and the negative publicity with limited time to spread the word that Mike was set up lead to the mayor’s eventual election. To this day there is no evidence as to who committed this heinous act, but the fact remains that the mayor benefited from it – it should be surmised then that an ally of the mayor’s perpetrated this.
Timing is always something to take into account when reading headlines like this. We have elections coming close and if it turns out the mayor held onto this information longer than needed, we may need to evaluate just how realistic the threat in fact was.
But we *are* required to presume it’s true and Ravi *did* receive these threats. What on earth is wrong with not only some members of our community but also our law enforcement? This is like the third or fourth event like this aired at Ravi – how have these people not been caught yet? Can we launch an inquiry into this?
I think I speak for many Hobokenites when I say that it’s totally unacceptable (and almost defies logic) that perpetrators of these acts haven’t yet been tracked down.
Terror flier privilege.
Ravi should really have Ken Ferrante look into this one too.
He did such an amazing job finding the guys who did the 2017 racial fliers in Hoboken who also were identified in recordings, credit card receipts and by fingerprints in Edison that Ravi created a new job for him with at $155,000 salary just months after he announced he is retiring and collecting a $130,000 pension!
It’s quite possible that the people sending poor Mr. Bhalla death threats are also behind the terror fliers that helped him get elected in 2017. Thankfully, we found those culprits and Ravi’s mutual best man and lifelong best friend, Gurbir Grewal who just happened to be the Attorney General of NJ at the time was quick to prosecute too.
Great job, fellas!
And I don’t know about you, but I sure am voting for Ravi and whomever else he tells me to! I mean, it’s enough that is a minority and therefore obviously qualified, quite possibly overqualified.
But he really has our back, is only working for Hoboken, has cleaned up the rat infestation, kept NY Waterways out of Union Dry Dock, opened the public pool, and is not another working at another job or campaigning for Congress or anything.
Wait, what?
Hey MM, aren’t you in enough trouble?
I googled the name and it’s apparently the guy who made the fake terror fliers in Edison the same time Nancy reported on the fake terror fliers here. Lock them all up.
So hilarious how the anti-Bhalla trolls on HCV think anyone pays attention to, believes, or cares about their non-stop crying. Even funnier because they’re such lousy trolls, pretty much a disgrace to rich history of trolldom!
If Bhalla is so terrible, how come he keeps winning? Last time around, you hacks didn’t even have the guts to run someone against him because you knew you’d be trounced, LOL!! Face it: voters realize you are fill of BS, they know the score. They elected him twice, and he’s still popular in town (do you even live here?).
But by all means, carry on. We all need the daily laugh, and would hate to deprive you of what is apparently the only thing you have in life. Sad as that may be.
No one wanted to be DeFusco and be hit with a Ravi terror flier. Can’t blame them.
Let’s see how Ravi “wins” for Congress and gets out of Hoboken which he’s tried to do since 2011. Ravi tried to bail on Hoboken almost immediately by running for Assembly.
I’m sure Hoboken would vote to get rid of Ravi. So we agree and you can tell your boss that. But he will not win. Ravi will hate another day here in Hoboken. Hispanics will vote for Menendez.
One can hope that one day, you will make a modicum (look it up) of sense. Perhaps. I don’t recommend anyone hold their breath waiting.
You need to learn a modicum of Spanish if you think you’re deflection is helping your boss, Ravi.
Ravi manufactured the “letter” just like he did these “crimes” – all charges were dismissed – and the 2017 racist fliers that only got him elected by 300 votes
Google his buddy “Gurbir Grewal” and see the connection to Menendez. Then Google “Satish Poond,” “Edison,” “fliers,” and “Bhalla” and read the real truth behind the cover up.
Ravi did the fliers with help from his antisemite friend NP and his mutual Best Man (literally each other’s best men) covered it up by not prosecuting.
You’re going down, Ravi.
The real racism and corrupt politicians need to be exposed.
Meow!
Interesting, more details about the origins of that 2017 Hoboken Terror Flier and its ties to that Edison, NJ campaign.
There’s not going to be any justice. The statute of limitations has come and gone and Ravibot Team Terror Flier got away with it so now we have the Strongest Foundations for big development in Hoboken.