The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption - Paperback

by Bob Ingle (Author), Sandy McClure (Author)

Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure New York Times bestseller The Soprano State--back in trade paperback to tie-in with the release of the major documentary film.

It's not a joke
New Jersey leads the country in corruption

The Soprano State details the you-couldn't-make-this-up true story of the corruption that has pervaded New Jersey politics, government, and business for the past thirty years. From Jimmy Hoffa purportedly being buried somewhere beneath the end zone in Giants Stadium, through allegations of a thoroughly corrupt medical and dental university, through Mafia influence at all levels, the Garden State might indeed be better named after the HBO mobsters.

Where else would:
- A state attorney general show up after police pulled over her boyfriend who was driving without a valid license?
- A state senator and mayor of Newark (the same guy) spend thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money on a junket to Rio days before leaving office?
- A politically connected developer hire a prostitute to tape sex acts with his own brother-in-law and then send the tape to his sister?
Only in the Soprano State.

Back Jacket

It's Not a Joke
New Jersey leads the country in corruption
"Ingle and McClure have been chasing the people, politics, and plundering for years in the best Ben Hecht "Front Page" style. Investigative journalism in New Jersey is not for the faint at heart, the lazy, or the impatient."
--from the Foreword by Dick Hughes
"We're often asked by people elsewhere if New Jersey residents are aware of what the rest of the country thinks and why they don't do something about it. The answer to the first question is: They know. The second is harder. Do they like being the national butt of jokes? Do they wait for the day when they can get their share of graft? Are they too busy working more than one job to afford the extraordinary cost of living? Have they given up?"
--from "The ""Soprano"" ""State"
"This book is a page-turner. You start out laughing and end up pounding the table for reform. May the book inspire those who care about New Jersey to imagine a better place."
--Tom Curley, CEO, The Associated Press
""
"New Jersey is arguably America's most corrupt state, and it is not an
achievement to be proud of, as Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure starkly
demonstrate. Only the people of the Garden State can stop the jokes--both the ones elected to office and the ones told about the crooked truth of
political life there."
--Dr. Larry J. Sabato, author of "A More Perfect Constitution "and director of the Center for Politics, University of Virginia
" "
This three-decade journey through the political and economic weeds of the Garden State, led by two of its finest journalists, will astound, outrage, and empower any American taxpayer.

Author Biography

Bob Ingle is Trenton bureau chief of Gannett Newspapers. Sandy McClure is a veteran political reporter. Their work is read by more than a million people daily.