Upcoming events
Nothing currently scheduled.
Watch for the new paperback edition, with updated material, out in April
_______
What people are saying about The Jersey Sting...
"A great story, well-told by two of the best in the business. A must-read for fellow Jersey-addicts."
Bert Baron
Host, New Jersey TODAY
WCTC Radio
Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books
September 2011
Reviewed by James O. Finckenauer
Sherman and Margolin had great access to people and materials which gives their book considerable authenticity. Their reporting also has a day by day, and in some cases minute by minute timeliness about it that carries the reader along in following what is truly an incredible crime story.
Read more>>
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
June 15, 2011
Reviewed by Steve Weinberg
The words “money laundering rabbis” in any book subtitle seems guaranteed to arouse the curiosity of at least some Jewish Journal readers. Add into the equation that the “informant” of the subtitle is a rabbi’s son; that fact might fairly be termed the clincher.
Read more>>
Baristanet
April 25, 2011
Ted Sherman and Josh Margolin knew it was a winning story before they started to write The Jersey Sting, but it was only after digging deeper into the tale of corrupt politicians, money laundering rabbis, and black market kidneys — all revolving around the Ponzi-scheming FBI informant son of a Deal, NJ rabbi — that they realized it was a home run.
March 24, 2011
"It’s a great tale."
—Michael Smerconish, radio personality and TV commentator
April 11, 2011
"Great book. I highly recommend it."
—Wayne Cabot, anchor, WCBS Newsradio 880 AM, New York
April 11, 2011
Creating a great stir in New Jersey and elsewhere. (An) important book... even people in Illinois, I think, should pay attention to a book called The Jersey Sting.
—Andrew Kreig, executive director of the Justice Integrity Project
April 10, 2011
"A terrific book...A great job. It's very good reporting and it's very well-written."
—Michael Aron, news director and senior political correspondent, NJN News.
April 10, 2011
The Jersey Sting: A true story of crooked pols, money-laundering rabbis, black market kidneys and the informant who brought it all down, by Ted Sherman and Josh Margolin (St. Martin's, $26.99)
Enough with the long titles. Oh. Wait. We don't need anything else to describe this book, do we. Long title is fine.
HudsonReporter.com
April 3, 2011
The Jersey Sting reads like a true crime tale of politics, power, money, and greed. Released last month in hardback, the book by Star-Ledger reporters Josh Margolin and Ted Sherman is a behind-the-scenes account of the historic arrests of 44 public officials and religious leaders, most of whom were based in New Jersey, and most of whom were prominent Democrats and rising stars in the party... a must-read for government and politics junkies.
Read more>>
Politifax
March 30, 2011
Book of the Week:
We didn’t read Ted Sherman and Josh Margolin’s The Jersey Sting. We swallowed it whole. We were going to write about the book in some detail, but we decided that the best way to tell you how much we enjoyed the book is to tell you not that you should read it or that you’ll enjoy it but to make it clear that, if you want to understand what has happened in state politics over the past few years, you have to read it — and as soon as possible.
The Associated Press
March 23, 2011
It was like a small military undertaking when the FBI deployed over 300 agents in eastern New Jersey and the New York borough of Brooklyn early one July morning in 2009. They captured 44 people, including five rabbis. Most were accused of political bribery, money laundering and tax evasion. One was charged with trafficking in human kidneys.
The story of "The Jersey Sting" is meticulously, seriously — and humorously — told by Ted Sherman and Josh Margolin, two reporters at The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J...
Read more>>
March 13, 2011
Reviewed by Kathleen Daley
Two very good reporters at The Star-Ledger have done this state — and the whole country, for that matter — a great service. They have pulled together documents, transcripts from FBI surveillance tapes and interviews to tell a riveting story of public and private corruption that rivals any fictional crime novel on the shelves.
Read more>>
New Jersey Monthly
March 2011
For most New Jerseyans, July 23, 2009 was an unforgettable day. Okay, you might not remember the exact date, but who can forget the headlines? That's the day a government sting resulted in 44 corruption arrests—including many prominent New Jersey politicians, political insiders and religious leaders. The government's case rested on the involvement of one Solomon Dwek, the bizarre con artist who had turned government informant.
It was one of the most sensational stories in the annals of Jersey crime. Now it is finally being told in remarkable detail in a forthcoming book, The Jersey Sting, by two reporters who covered the arrests for the Star-Ledger, Josh Margolin and Ted Sherman... I think you'll agree it's fascinating reading.
The American Library Association
February 21, 2011
When Solomon Dwek bounced multimillion-dollar checks in 2006, his real-estate Ponzi scheme collapsed, and he was facing decades in the slammer. To mitigate his punishment, he agreed to wear an FBI microphone and camera that recorded the eager acceptance by rabbis in Brooklyn and public officials and political fixers in New Jersey of cash he handed out by the thousands.
After this case sensationally broke in 2009 with dozens of arrests, Sherman and Margolin reported the story for the Newark Star-Ledger, and here they narrate Dwek's undercover dramatics. A natural as well as voluble liar, Dwek exuded faux generosity, ensnaring Jewish charities that cheated Uncle Sam of taxes by laundering fake donations. If such perversion of philanthropy was shocking when revealed, bribery in the Garden State merely confirmed public expectations.
Still, Dwek's dialogues with the easily bought make for bizarrely entertaining reading that connoisseurs of corruption will savor. Including political ramifications—the sting's authorizer, Chris Christie, won the New Jersey governor's election in 2009.
Sherman and Margolin grittily show white-collar crime caught as it was being committed.
—Gilbert Taylor
February 19, 2011
At first, it seems like The Jersey Sting has the makings of the next Goodfellas, but then you realize that no three-hour film could do justice to the richness of this story of corruption and double crosses.
The anti-hero of this narrative is Solomon Dwek, a sleazy young operator who first bilked his friends, partners, and his local Syrian Jewish community of tens of millions of dollars in pyramid schemes; then, once caught, became a wired informant, eventually roping in no fewer than forty-four culprits. Among those arrested in the biggest corruption bust in Garden State history were three mayors, five Orthodox rabbis, two state legislators, and a former stripper deputy mayor.
The kind of stranger-than-fiction story that investigative reporters pray for.
December 15, 2010
The saga of New Jersey political and money-laundering scandals, tied together by an unlikely FBI informant.
Sherman and Margolin, both reporters for the Newark Star-Ledger, reveal the maneuvering behind the criminal charges filed on July 23, 2009, against more than 40 individuals—some of them local politicians across New Jersey, others with links to Syrian Jewish communities on the New Jersey shore. The politicians and the religious practitioners shared nothing in common except Solomon Dwek, the federal informant who operated undercover after being charged with bank fraud resulting from unsuccessful real-estate deals.
The cast of characters helpfully listed by the authors totals nearly 100, and that is not a complete count of everybody who played a role in the intertwined investigations. As a result, some of the characters might fade from the reader’s memory quickly. Dwek, however, is memorable, given his high-wire informant act coached by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.
The extroverted, disorganized and apparently fearless son of a respected rabbi from a Deal, N.J., synagogue, Dwek entrapped many in the usually closed devout community, placing himself in exile from his wife, children and parents, among others. In exchange, Dwek hoped to receive a reduced prison sentence after being caught defrauding a lending bank and private investors in his schemes. It turned out that many who of those who failed to forgive the informant had been breaking the law as well, using synagogues and private enterprises to launder money for a fee on behalf of disparate secular parties who wanted to cover up ill-gotten gains.
The political side of the sting coordinated by federal law enforcement had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with old-style bribes in cities across New Jersey—bribes that would have allowed Dwek to forge ahead with questionable commercial and residential real-estate projects. The authors set the scandals against the electoral backdrop of New Jersey, with the Republican candidate for governor defeating the Democratic incumbent a few months after the sting.
A vivid law-enforcement procedural with a larger-than-life central character.
Nothing currently scheduled.
Watch for the new paperback edition, with updated material, out in April
_______
What people are saying about The Jersey Sting...
"A great story, well-told by two of the best in the business. A must-read for fellow Jersey-addicts."
Bert Baron
Host, New Jersey TODAY
WCTC Radio
Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books
September 2011
Reviewed by James O. Finckenauer
Sherman and Margolin had great access to people and materials which gives their book considerable authenticity. Their reporting also has a day by day, and in some cases minute by minute timeliness about it that carries the reader along in following what is truly an incredible crime story.
Read more>>
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
June 15, 2011
Reviewed by Steve Weinberg
The words “money laundering rabbis” in any book subtitle seems guaranteed to arouse the curiosity of at least some Jewish Journal readers. Add into the equation that the “informant” of the subtitle is a rabbi’s son; that fact might fairly be termed the clincher.
Read more>>
Baristanet
April 25, 2011
Ted Sherman and Josh Margolin knew it was a winning story before they started to write The Jersey Sting, but it was only after digging deeper into the tale of corrupt politicians, money laundering rabbis, and black market kidneys — all revolving around the Ponzi-scheming FBI informant son of a Deal, NJ rabbi — that they realized it was a home run.
March 24, 2011
"It’s a great tale."
—Michael Smerconish, radio personality and TV commentator
April 11, 2011
"Great book. I highly recommend it."
—Wayne Cabot, anchor, WCBS Newsradio 880 AM, New York
April 11, 2011
Creating a great stir in New Jersey and elsewhere. (An) important book... even people in Illinois, I think, should pay attention to a book called The Jersey Sting.
—Andrew Kreig, executive director of the Justice Integrity Project
April 10, 2011
"A terrific book...A great job. It's very good reporting and it's very well-written."
—Michael Aron, news director and senior political correspondent, NJN News.
April 10, 2011
The Jersey Sting: A true story of crooked pols, money-laundering rabbis, black market kidneys and the informant who brought it all down, by Ted Sherman and Josh Margolin (St. Martin's, $26.99)
Enough with the long titles. Oh. Wait. We don't need anything else to describe this book, do we. Long title is fine.
HudsonReporter.com
April 3, 2011
The Jersey Sting reads like a true crime tale of politics, power, money, and greed. Released last month in hardback, the book by Star-Ledger reporters Josh Margolin and Ted Sherman is a behind-the-scenes account of the historic arrests of 44 public officials and religious leaders, most of whom were based in New Jersey, and most of whom were prominent Democrats and rising stars in the party... a must-read for government and politics junkies.
Read more>>
Politifax
March 30, 2011
Book of the Week:
We didn’t read Ted Sherman and Josh Margolin’s The Jersey Sting. We swallowed it whole. We were going to write about the book in some detail, but we decided that the best way to tell you how much we enjoyed the book is to tell you not that you should read it or that you’ll enjoy it but to make it clear that, if you want to understand what has happened in state politics over the past few years, you have to read it — and as soon as possible.
The Associated Press
March 23, 2011
It was like a small military undertaking when the FBI deployed over 300 agents in eastern New Jersey and the New York borough of Brooklyn early one July morning in 2009. They captured 44 people, including five rabbis. Most were accused of political bribery, money laundering and tax evasion. One was charged with trafficking in human kidneys.
The story of "The Jersey Sting" is meticulously, seriously — and humorously — told by Ted Sherman and Josh Margolin, two reporters at The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J...
Read more>>
March 13, 2011
Reviewed by Kathleen Daley
Two very good reporters at The Star-Ledger have done this state — and the whole country, for that matter — a great service. They have pulled together documents, transcripts from FBI surveillance tapes and interviews to tell a riveting story of public and private corruption that rivals any fictional crime novel on the shelves.
Read more>>
March 2011
For most New Jerseyans, July 23, 2009 was an unforgettable day. Okay, you might not remember the exact date, but who can forget the headlines? That's the day a government sting resulted in 44 corruption arrests—including many prominent New Jersey politicians, political insiders and religious leaders. The government's case rested on the involvement of one Solomon Dwek, the bizarre con artist who had turned government informant.
It was one of the most sensational stories in the annals of Jersey crime. Now it is finally being told in remarkable detail in a forthcoming book, The Jersey Sting, by two reporters who covered the arrests for the Star-Ledger, Josh Margolin and Ted Sherman... I think you'll agree it's fascinating reading.
The American Library Association
February 21, 2011
When Solomon Dwek bounced multimillion-dollar checks in 2006, his real-estate Ponzi scheme collapsed, and he was facing decades in the slammer. To mitigate his punishment, he agreed to wear an FBI microphone and camera that recorded the eager acceptance by rabbis in Brooklyn and public officials and political fixers in New Jersey of cash he handed out by the thousands.
After this case sensationally broke in 2009 with dozens of arrests, Sherman and Margolin reported the story for the Newark Star-Ledger, and here they narrate Dwek's undercover dramatics. A natural as well as voluble liar, Dwek exuded faux generosity, ensnaring Jewish charities that cheated Uncle Sam of taxes by laundering fake donations. If such perversion of philanthropy was shocking when revealed, bribery in the Garden State merely confirmed public expectations.
Still, Dwek's dialogues with the easily bought make for bizarrely entertaining reading that connoisseurs of corruption will savor. Including political ramifications—the sting's authorizer, Chris Christie, won the New Jersey governor's election in 2009.
Sherman and Margolin grittily show white-collar crime caught as it was being committed.
—Gilbert Taylor
February 19, 2011
At first, it seems like The Jersey Sting has the makings of the next Goodfellas, but then you realize that no three-hour film could do justice to the richness of this story of corruption and double crosses.
The anti-hero of this narrative is Solomon Dwek, a sleazy young operator who first bilked his friends, partners, and his local Syrian Jewish community of tens of millions of dollars in pyramid schemes; then, once caught, became a wired informant, eventually roping in no fewer than forty-four culprits. Among those arrested in the biggest corruption bust in Garden State history were three mayors, five Orthodox rabbis, two state legislators, and a former stripper deputy mayor.
The kind of stranger-than-fiction story that investigative reporters pray for.
December 15, 2010
The saga of New Jersey political and money-laundering scandals, tied together by an unlikely FBI informant.
Sherman and Margolin, both reporters for the Newark Star-Ledger, reveal the maneuvering behind the criminal charges filed on July 23, 2009, against more than 40 individuals—some of them local politicians across New Jersey, others with links to Syrian Jewish communities on the New Jersey shore. The politicians and the religious practitioners shared nothing in common except Solomon Dwek, the federal informant who operated undercover after being charged with bank fraud resulting from unsuccessful real-estate deals.
The cast of characters helpfully listed by the authors totals nearly 100, and that is not a complete count of everybody who played a role in the intertwined investigations. As a result, some of the characters might fade from the reader’s memory quickly. Dwek, however, is memorable, given his high-wire informant act coached by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.
The extroverted, disorganized and apparently fearless son of a respected rabbi from a Deal, N.J., synagogue, Dwek entrapped many in the usually closed devout community, placing himself in exile from his wife, children and parents, among others. In exchange, Dwek hoped to receive a reduced prison sentence after being caught defrauding a lending bank and private investors in his schemes. It turned out that many who of those who failed to forgive the informant had been breaking the law as well, using synagogues and private enterprises to launder money for a fee on behalf of disparate secular parties who wanted to cover up ill-gotten gains.
The political side of the sting coordinated by federal law enforcement had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with old-style bribes in cities across New Jersey—bribes that would have allowed Dwek to forge ahead with questionable commercial and residential real-estate projects. The authors set the scandals against the electoral backdrop of New Jersey, with the Republican candidate for governor defeating the Democratic incumbent a few months after the sting.
A vivid law-enforcement procedural with a larger-than-life central character.