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Posted by: kwflatbed

NEW YORK — Where is Atlantic City's mayor?
That's the question being asked not only by residents of the New Jersey gambling mecca, but by local and state officials.
Mayor Bob Levy's administration has said he's absent on temporary medical leave, but won't reveal if he's hospitalized and, if so, where Levy might be.
The city's business administrator, Domenic Cappella, appointed himself acting mayor last week, claiming Levy verbally transferred power to him on Sept. 26.
Some residents are outraged.
"That's like a dictatorship," one resident told a city council meeting Wednesday night. "If I can write a letter saying I'm in charge, this is a third-world — if this is a democracy, what about the voters?"
Levy vanished a week ago — after signing seven city ordinances — amid reports that he was under federal investigation for falsifying his military record. The Press reported that the mayor had falsely claimed to be a Green Beret and was under investigation by the Justice Department.
The Newark Star-Ledger, citing unidentified sources, reported that Levy was suspected of embellishing his military record for financial gain. As a veteran, he could have received more money by exaggerating his service accomplishments.
"If you are sick, if you are in the hospital, let the public know, let the council know," City Councilman Tim Mancuso told CBS station KYW-TV in Philadelphia.
Several councilors have called on Cappella to withdraw. Cappella declined to do so at a recent meeting, defending his move to step in by declaring the city needed his leadership. He then walked around to shake hands with all nine councilors before leaving the meeting.
Levy does have a solid military record, having served two tours in Vietnam with the Army. He was never a Green Beret, though.
Ed Kline, a former assemblyman who grew up with Levy, told the Star-Ledger newspaper that the mayor was "down and out," "devastated" and "destroyed" by the revelations about his military record.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299479,00.html

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Posted by: Inspector

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (Oct. 5) - Under federal investigation for embellishing his Army service in Vietnam, a groggy-sounding Mayor Robert Levy called in sick at City Hall, climbed into his city-issued Dodge Durango and seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth.

A spokesman said the Mayor was going on indefinite medical leave. That was a week and a half ago. Aides say he is in a hospital, but they won't say where, why or for how long.

The mystery and the gathering scandal over Levy's military record have worried civic leaders in this seaside casino resort, which has a long history of corruption, with four of the last eight mayors busted on graft charges and one-third of last year's nine-member City Council in prison or under house arrest.

"It's a national embarrassment," said City Councilman Bruce Ward, who asked a judge Friday to declare the mayor's seat officially vacant and clear the way for the council to name a replacement.

"We have entertainment companies that are considering investing billions of dollars in Atlantic City. They need to know there is stability in Atlantic City. And we have 40,000 residents here who need to be protected."

Last fall, The Press of Atlantic City investigated Levy's accounts of his wartime service and used military records to verify that Levy was a 20-year Army veteran with two Bronze Stars and two tours of duty in Vietnam. But the newspaper found he was not a member of the storied Green Berets, as he had claimed.

Shortly afterward, Levy, former head of Atlantic City's lifeguards, admitted misrepresenting his record.

"I'm sorry for having this happen at all," Levy told The Associated Press in November. "It's something I should have corrected 40 years ago. It is what it is, and I apologize for the embarrassment I've created for myself and my family."

But now, federal authorities are looking into whether the 64-year-old Levy made the false claims with the intention of bumping up his veteran's benefit payments, an official with knowledge of the investigation said Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Specifically, investigators want to know whether Levy was properly awarded a Combat Infantryman's Badge that was used to obtain about $25,000 more in military benefits than he otherwise would have been entitled to, the official said.

Levy spokesman Nicholas Morici and the mayor's attorney, Edwin Jacobs, did not return messages over the past few days. Aides will not say anything about the mayor's condition, citing medical privacy laws. But close aide Domenic Cappella said Levy will remain on sick leave for the next few weeks.

About two dozen demonstrators gathered outside City Hall on Friday afternoon to protest the stalemate.

Even before word of his embellishments became known, Levy was frequently absent from City Hall. Levy, who took office more than a year and a half ago and makes about $100,000 a year, took a leave several months ago because of what he said were back problems.

Before his disappearance, political opponents had begun gathering signatures to force a recall election, in part because of his sporadic attendance, along with his political affiliation with disgraced former City Council president Craig Callaway, who is serving a nearly 3 1/2-year federal prison term for bribery.

As for other Atlantic City politicians, one councilman is under indictment on charges of helping to set up another councilman who was lured to a motel room and filmed having sex with a prostitute.

Still another councilman is facing charges he drunkenly drove his city-owned car across the Boardwalk and onto the beach in the wee hours. He was on his way home from a party celebrating the arrests in the sex-and-video case.

"Atlantic City has become, `Do what you want, when you want,"' said Jim McDonell, a retired truck driver. "There's no professionalism or competence here."

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Posted by: kwflatbed

Atlantic City Mayor to Resign After Disappearing From Sight



AP


Speculation is rampant that Atlantic City Mayor Robert Levy will resign this week. A city official who does not want to be named told FOX News that Levy's departure could come on Tuesday or Wednesday.
But state Sen. James Sonny McCullough said he has been given no indication that Levy will quit.
Levy called in sick to work a week and half ago and has since disappeared. With his resignation, "this circus will come to an end," the official said.
The strange case of the missing mayor began when information was revealed that suggested Levy lied about his military service and has been falsely collecting military benefits. The official said a federal investigation is close to concluding that Levy illegally took military benefits he wasn't entitled to receive, and a plea deal is currently being worked out with prosecutors.
The Press of Atlantic City was first to check out Levy's accounts that he was a 20-year Army veteran with two Bronze stars and two tours of duties in Vietnam. The newspaper learned that Levy lied when he said he was a Green Beret, and used the false claim to bump up his veterans' benefits payments by about $25,000.

Click here to read the latest Press of Atlantic City article on Mayor Levy.

The allegedly phony Special Forces soldier has said he should've corrected the record years ago.
"Just something that occurred, you know ... just something that occurred and I am sorry for having it done," Levy told reporters recently.
But on Sept. 26, Levy got into his city-issued Dodge Durango and drove off. A Levy spokesman issued a statement saying the mayor was going on indefinite medical leave, and an aide said he's in the hospital, but few people seem to know where or for how long he's been seeking medical care.
The reason behind the hideout may be because Levy's lawyer, who would help orchestrate his resignation, has been out of the country and is expected to return Monday.
While McCullough, a Republican from Egg Harbor Township 20 minutes away, said he has not heard back from the mayor's wife, Hazel, about any plans to resign, and Acting Mayor Domenic Capella has not heard anything definitive about a departure, a high-ranking attorney and someone with federal sources told FOX News that the mayor will resign.
Sources within the city's Democratic Party also said Chairman Ron Ruff is preparing to submit three names of people who could possibly replace the mayor, and is hoping to get a letter of resignation soon.
City Councilman Bruce Ward asked a judge on Friday to declare the mayor's seat officially vacant so that the council can name a replacement.
Gov. Jon Corzine has said the state is looking into legal options. Cappella is acting as mayor on the claim that Levy asked him personally to take over his job duties. City officials say the day Levy disappeared, he signed an order transferring his powers to Cappella.
"He doesn't have to give it to you in writing, it can be verbal. I have had conversation with him last Wednesday where I wanted to find out how he was doing. He told me to continue the day-to-day business, that he would be back soon, and do what I do every day," Cappella said.
Unfortunately for Atlantic City residents, they are no strangers to this kind of controversy. Over the past 40 years, five Atlantic City mayors have been convicted of a variety of criminal offenses, four of the city's last eight mayors have been investigated for corruption, and three city city council members are either in jail or under house arrest.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299945,00.html

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Posted by: kwflatbed

Jailed Politician Accused of Blackmailing Rival With Sex Tape

Friday, June 20, 2008


MAYS LANDING, N.J. — Clandestine meetings in a dark sport utility vehicle hidden near the Boardwalk. A secret pow-wow in a diner. A computer hard drive tossed into the ocean. A secret sex videotape and blackmail.

It sounded like a TV crime drama. But Friday's testimony in state Superior Court featured the FBI's description of real-life corruption in Atlantic City.
Craig Callaway, a former Atlantic City Council president already serving a 40-month federal prison term for bribery, is trying to have statements he made to two FBI agents thrown out in his trial on charges that he, two brothers and several others conspired to blackmail Councilman Eugene Robinson in attempt to force him to resign.
On Friday, an FBI agent recounted three conversations in which Callaway discussed the secret videotaping of Robinson in a sexual encounter with a prostitute in a motel room. Robinson, a Baptist minister, has said that the sex was consensual and that money he gave the woman was to buy sodas.
FBI Special Agent James Eckel testified about three clandestine meetings he had with Callaway in 2006 and 2007. Each time, agents picked up Callaway and dropped him off about a block from his house so he wouldn't be seen talking to them. Twice, they parked on New Jersey Avenue where it dead-ended at the Boardwalk; once they spoke in a diner, where they asked the owner for a private table.
On Dec. 18, 2006, Eckel and his partner, Special Agent Edward Corrigan, spoke with Callaway in their unmarked sport utility vehicle parked out of sight near the Boardwalk. Eckel said he asked Callaway if he knew who had secretly taped a sexual encounter between a prostitute and Robinson, then leaked the tape to the media.
"Craig's exact words were, `Other than us, I have no idea,"' Eckel testified. "He said, `We all know I know what happened to Gene."'
But after the hearing was adjourned without a decision, Callaway's lawyer, Joseph Grassi, said those comments were not an admission of guilt, and actually came in response to a different question from the FBI agents.
"He was asked who would have a motive to do this," Grassi said.
On Dec. 19, 2006, the agents picked up Callaway and drove him to a diner in neighboring Egg Harbor Township. Soon after ordering breakfast, the agents told Callaway that what happened to Robinson was a federal crime.
"He (Callaway) said he always seems to get stabbed in the back," Eckel said of Callaway. "He said he was upset with Gene Robinson. Gene Robinson had switched allegiance from himself to Lorenzo Langford."
Langford, a former mayor and political rival, won the Democratic mayoral primary earlier this month and is widely expected to be elected in the November general election in this overwhelmingly Democratic city where Republicans are outnumbered 11-1.
"He felt he was responsible for Mr. Robinson getting his seat on council, and Mr. Robinson was not grateful for that," Eckel testified.
The agent also testified in detail about the plot to lure Robinson to the Bayview Motel in neighboring Absecon. Callaway, his brothers David and Ronald, and a friend, Floyd Tally, approached the motel owner and said they wanted to rent adjacent rooms so they could secretly videotape someone, the agent said. The Callaways, Tally and City Councilman John Schultz are all charged in the case.
They got rooms 101 and 102, and Tally placed a camera hidden in a clock radio inside one of the rooms, Eckel said. The camera sent a video stream to a recorder in the adjacent room, he said.
The agent said the Callaways paid a woman, whom he did not identify, between $150 and $200 to lure Robinson to the motel and perform a sex act on him.
Craig Callaway edited the video on his home computer, then yanked out the hard drive and threw it into the ocean, the agent said. Schultz arranged for a computer expert to help edit the video and blur the woman's face, Eckel testified.
Robinson refused the Callaways' demand that he resign.
All the defendants charged in the case have pleaded innocent and maintain they had nothing to do with the taping.
The case is scheduled to resume in court on June 30.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,369705,00.html

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