Three city mayors, two state politicians and five rabbis were among 44 people arrested across New Jersey yesterday when federal agents cracked an alleged Sopranos-style crime ring accused of bribery, money laundering and trafficking body parts and counterfeit handbags.

In a sweep that shocked even residents hardened to the state’s endemic corruption, officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) raided synagogues, government offices and a Jewish school early yesterday before busing suspects to the FBI headquarters in Newark.

Outside, cars were backed up four deep as agents processed those arrested, including Peter Cammarano, the Mayor of Hoboken, Anthony Suarez, the Mayor of Ridgefield, and Daniel Van Pelt, a member of New Jersey’s lower house, the assembly.

Ralph Marra, Acting US Attorney for the District of New Jersey, said that the sweep demonstrated “the pervasive nature of public corruption in this state”.

“The politicians willingly put themselves up for sale,” he said, while “clergymen cloak their extensive criminal activity behind a façade of rectitude”. He spoke of “a corrupt network of public officials who were all too willing to take cash in exchange for promised official action. It seemed that everyone wanted a piece of the action.” He added: “The corruption was widespread and pervasive.”

Federal agents used an informant, a member of the close-knit Syrian Jewish community from the seaside town of Deal, to infiltrate political and religious circles. The informant, who had previously been charged with bank fraud, posed as a property developer to conduct a sting, allegedly agreeing bribes with the politicians in return for public building contracts and other favours.

Mr Marra’s office charged Mr Cammarano, who took office at the beginning of the month after working as a councillor since 2003, with taking $25,000 (£15,000) in bribes, including $10,000 as recently as a week ago.

Mr Cammarano, who at 32 is Hoboken’s youngest-ever mayor, allegedly met the FBI informer at a diner where he agreed to help the mole with building projects, telling him: “You’re gonna be treated like a friend.”

In payment, he allegedly received bundles of cash that were stashed in the boot of the informant’s car.

Joseph Hayden, Mr Cammarano’s attorney, said that his client was innocent. “He intends to fight them with all his strength,” Mr Hayden said.

Dennis Elwell, the Mayor of Secaucus, was charged yesterday with accepting $10,000 from the informant, as was Mr Van Pelt, Mr Suarez and Mariano Vega, the president of the city council in Jersey City. Leona Beldini, the 74-year-old deputy mayor of Jersey City, was accused of accepting $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions.

The FBI informant also helped investigators to trap rabbis allegedly involved in using religious charities to launder money as part of a network that ran from New Jersey to Switzerland and Israel.

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