New Jersey’s 2009 political-corruption and money-laundering case

A two year corruption investigation began around the Jersey Shore and Brooklyn before eventually stretching across the Atlantic to Israel and Switzerland. When federal authorities finally announced the charges, 44 people had been indicted, including three New Jersey mayors, two state assemblymen and five rabbis.

The investigation reportedly uncovered a world of backroom negotiations that took place in diners, parking lots and boiler rooms, with cash and favors changing hands away from public view. At one point, investigators reportedly heard nervous jokes about "patting down" a man who turned out to actually be an informant. The operation followed money and influence through a network that authorities said had become increasingly difficult to separate from ordinary political and religious connections.

Then came some of the stranger details. Investigators alleged that the network was involved in the illegal sale of human body parts, while enormous amounts of cash were being moved through the operation. In one instance, $97,000 was reportedly hidden inside a box of Apple Jacks cereal. At a press conference, acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra Jr. described the defendants as operating in an "ethics-free zone," arguing that the investigation had exposed a culture where corruption and influence peddling had become routine rather than exceptional.