A Tale of Strippers, Rabbis and Crooked Pols

It’s a story of bribery, corrupt politicians and backroom deals that features a host of characters, including lawyers, rabbis and a stripper.

The characters in the new book “The Jersey Sting” sound like they should be from a made-for-television movie. But the book outlines a true story of a federal corruption sting that stretched from Brooklyn through Hudson County and the Syrian Orthodox community of Monmouth County.

Millburn resident Ted Sherman, an investigative reporter at the Star-Ledger, along with his former colleague, Josh Margolin, now a reporter at the New York Post, did exhaustive research over seven months to pull together this modern-day thriller set in the Garden State.

“The characters were so outrageous and the narrative so compelling that we felt it could only be told in a book,” said Sherman.

He added, “This was the biggest federal corruption bust in New Jersey history. We both covered the story as it broke and followed it for weeks afterward. But as we dug deeper, the characters involved were so interesting and engaging that it started to feel like a Carl Hiaasen novel. We felt the only way to tell it to readers was in a narrative that started from the beginning.”

Sherman and Margolin will sign copies of their book at today at 7 p.m.

The book’s launch party in New Brunswick last week drew a roomful of heavy hitters, including Gov. Chris Christie, former Gov. Dick Codey and other government officials and journalists.

“As strange as this story sounds, it was even stranger while it was happening,” said Christie, New Jersey’s former U.S. Attorney who helped prosecute the case along with the FBI. “I think Josh and Ted did a great job on the book as they do most things.”

At the center of the story is swindler Solomon Dwek, a man who portrayed himself as an investor and developer, but who used a Ponzi scheme to bilk investors and banks out of millions of dollars. Dwek eventually became an informant for the federal government and helped bring down politicians who were taking bribes.

“This is a story that had to be told. In a state with incredible corruption problems and outrageous characters, this case just topped everything we had ever seen in our careers,” said Margolin.

Sherman added, “We thought the story had almost a cinematic feel to it. There are crosses and double crosses left and right and anecdotes that even we had trouble believing. It is a fun story to read and we hope people sit down with it and feel they can't put it down.”

Though Dwek is currently out of jail with an electronic monitoring device, the two journalists say his story isn’t over yet. He faces prison time and owes millions of dollars to the people he swindled.

There is a lesson to be learned from his story, says Margolin, “The greatest lesson is the simplest lesson that we all learned as kids—if someone offers you something or nothing, there's probably a really hidden, yet steep price to pay.”

For more information, check out the book’s website.