Author Topic: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office  (Read 18101 times)

Offline just watching

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Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« on: April 30, 2010, 10:36:06 PM »

This has to be documented online, with the actual text cut and pasted.  Because eventually the link to the Record article will disappear.  This matter is today's breaking news, but also an important historical event.  I offer no comments or opinions on the subject matter. The only goal here is to post this important news on this website.

Hackensack police chief Ken Zisa put on paid leave, acting officer in charge named

Friday, April 30, 2010

LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY APRIL 30, 2010, 7:12 PM
BY MONSY ALVARADO, MARLENE NAANES AND SHAWN BOBURG
THE RECORD
STAFF WRITERS
 
41 Comments
   
 Page 1 2 >>
 
HACKENSACK — Police Chief Charles “Ken” Zisa was placed on paid leave Friday, a day after he surrendered to Bergen County authorities to face an insurance fraud charge stemming from a 2008 accident involving his then-girlfriend.
 
TARIQ ZEHAWI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
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Captain Tomas Padilla was named the acting officer in charge of the Hackensack Police Department.
Capt. Tomas Padilla was named acting officer in charge of the department.
The Bergen County prosecutor, John L. Molinelli, said at a press conference that he also has assigned Timothy Condon, who is in charge of special investigations for the prosecutor’s office, to serve as a monitor for the department. Condon’s duties will include “general oversight” of the department, Molinelli said. Condon will sign off on “all major policy decisions,” including promotions, over a six-month period.
At the end of six months, Molinelli said he would decide whether to extend the monitoring agreement. Condon would not maintain an office at police headquarters, he said. Padilla will report to Condon, according to a memorandum of understanding between the city and the prosecutor’s office.
Padilla said he will be leaving the Bergen County freeholder board, possibly in June.
SPOTLIGHT: TOMAS PADILLA
Name: Capt. Tomas Padilla

Padilla was named the acting officer in charge of the Hackensack Police Department
Age: 46

Hometown: Upper Saddle River

Education: Padilla is a certified public manager with a bachelor’s degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He is working on a master’s degree in administrative science.

Background: Padilla is a 22-year year veteran of the department. Prior to joining the administrative office, his longest tenure was in the juvenile division where he was in charge for three years and a detective and sergeant for more than six years.

Padilla also oversaw the records and licensing bureau, and was a supervisor of the traffic and patrol divisions. He also spent time as a patrolman, a Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer and a detective in the juvenile and general investigation divisions.

Political offices: Padilla was appointed to the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders in October 2002 to fulfill an unexpired term. He was elected in 2005, becoming the second Hispanic elected a freeholder.
 
Kathleen Tiernan and Charles 'Ken' Zisa
Deputy Chief Frank Zisa Jr., the chief’s brother, retired Friday morning, Molinelli said, adding that he was not implicated in the controversy surrounding the chief.
The insurance fraud charge stems from a February 2008 accident involving the chief’s then-girlfriend, Kathleen Tiernan. Zisa is accused of ordering officers to write in their report that Tiernan struck a utility pole after swerving to avoid an animal, even though sources said the first officers on the scene reported smelling alcohol on her breath.
Hackensack City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono said the city’s labor attorney recommended placing Zisa on paid leave until city officials are able to review documents from the prosecutor’s office detailing the charges against the chief.
Zisa, a 34-year department veteran who has served for 15 years as chief, had not emerged Friday and could not be reached for comment. It is believed he cleared out his office on Thursday, officials said. Molinelli said he did not know whether Zisa would resign or be removed.
Zisa and former girlfriend Kathleen Tiernan, were charged with insurance fraud in a car accident in which the chief allegedly drove the woman from the scene, prosecutors said Friday.
Tiernan, 49, of Hackensack, was driving a Chevrolet Trailblazer owned and insured by Zisa on at 12:45 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2008, when she allegedly struck a utility pole on Moore Street in Hackensack, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Moments later, Zisa arrived and allegedly removed
Tiernan from the car and drove her away before sobriety tests could be administered, according to the statement.
The police report on the incident states that Tiernan “swerved to the right to avoid an animal that entered the roadway” and hit a utility pole.
The report says no alcohol or drug tests were administered. It does not indicate that any charges were filed or summonses issued. Tiernan, an employee of the Bergen County Technical Schools, was alone in the vehicle, the report says.
Zisa filed an insurance claim, and both he and Tiernan are accused of signing a document with a false statement. Both are charged with insurance fraud, which is punishable by up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $15,000.
They are set to appear in court at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Investigators received information about the crash in January, the statement said.
Emotions were mixed in the police department Friday morning after news of Zisa surrendering to authorities Thursday night made its way through the city. However, officers are still doing their job, “as all professionals do,” a police source said.
Lo Iacono said he did not know if the chief planned to resign.
“Everybody has to know that the department continues to operate professionally as it always did even through these last six to eight months,” he said. “No one should be concerned that it’s affecting city operations. Should there be any involvement of an outside agency like the prosecutor’s office, we are going to cooperate and we are going to do whatever needs to be done to clear the issues.”
Zisa arrived at the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office building on Eisenhower Drive in Paramus shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday, a law enforcement source said.
Rumors swirled all day Thursday that Zisa was poised to resign. But during a meeting with some of his highest-ranking officers Thursday afternoon, Zisa reportedly said he “was weighing all of his options,” two sources said.
Outside City Hall, Padilla confirmed that Zisa held the meeting, but he declined to say what was discussed. He said the chief often meets with his staff.
Zisa left police headquarters through the back entrance at 6:30 p.m. Thursday carrying a black bag and got into his black sedan. When approached by a reporter, he rolled down the window.
“I’m not going to speak to you,” he said when asked about his plans and what might happen in the department if he did choose to leave it.
This past year has been a tumultuous one for the Hackensack Police Department, with Zisa named in five separate civil lawsuits filed by 15 current and former police officers. The officers alleged that Zisa — who also served as a Democratic state assemblyman for the 37th District from 1994 until 2002 — abused his authority by retaliating against officers who did not contribute to his state election campaigns or those of candidates he supports in county, city and local police union elections.
Zisa has denied those allegations — which did not involve any criminal complaints — saying the lawsuits were filed by disgruntled employees who are looking for a financial windfall from the city.
“I would have never expected people making well over $100,000 a year to further tax the residents by filing bogus lawsuits that need to be defended,” he said in an earlier interview.
The allegations in the civil lawsuits prompted at least one of the officers’ attorneys to write to the state Attorney General’s Office and another to contact the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, the lawyers said. City Councilman John Labrosse, whose wife was sued by Zisa for posts she made on an Internet forum last year, also asked the attorney general for help, he said.
In February, Patrick Toscano, an attorney representing suspended Police Officer Anthony Ferraioli, said that he had been in contact with the county Prosecutor’s Office and that investigators were looking into Zisa and allegations of insurance fraud and official misconduct. He made the statements at Ferraioli’s disciplinary hearing.
Thomas Aiellos, a retired Hackensack policeman who is a plaintiff in one of the civil suits, said in an interview last week that city police officers have been interviewed by county investigators in the last few weeks about Zisa and how the department handles its cases. Aiellos said he also talked to investigators from the FBI last year about the chief, the way he leads the department and his influence |on city government. And he said other officers have been interviewed by federal authorities as well.
Molinelli acknowledged “turmoil” and “divisiveness” in the Hackensack department in his remarks to reporters on Friday.
“The amount of divisiveness that has taken place in Hackensack Police Department for some time now is not necessarily the result of one person,” he said. “It’s a result of personalities, egos. But when it reaches a point where the citizens of Hackensack need to have a better sense of law enforcement direction, our office needs to get involved. And we have gotten involved.”
Zisa is a member of a Hackensack political dynasty. His family members have served, at various times, as mayor and deputy mayor, deputy police chief and city counsel.
Labrosse said he opposed Padilla’s appointment as the department’s acting chief.
“I am totally against it,” he said. “I’m not against the monitoring, but the man they are choosing … he’s too close to the chief. He is one of the chief’s guys. It’s unfortunate for him, but that’s just the way it is.”
Staff Writers Jean Rimbach and William Lamb contributed to this article. E-mail: alvarado@northjersey.com




Offline Homer Jones

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Re: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2010, 07:30:59 PM »
Et tu, Brute?  THEN FALL CAESAR!

Offline just watching

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Re: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2010, 07:59:27 PM »

That's funny that you referenced Ceasar.

Someone told me once that Zisa is the Arabic spelling, or close to the Arabic spelling, for Ceasar.   If you pronounce Ceasar without the "r", it sounds a lot like Zisa.  I would love to be able to confirm that.

The Arabs and the strongmen of Algiers and Tripoli controlled Sicily for 300 years before the Normans booted them out and restored Christianity.  Some of the last names may have Arabic roots.  Maybe Zisa used to be Aziz, and someone reversed it to make it less Arabic and more Italian-sounding in post-Muslim Sicily.

Offline Editor

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Re: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2010, 10:57:59 PM »
There doesn't seem to be any connection at all: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=985549

Offline just watching

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Re: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2010, 02:08:15 AM »

another Rankin myth turns up false. 

What about the 2nd half.  The reversal of Aziz to create Ziza, allegedly the root form of the name Zisa.  Do you know any websites that research the meaning of last names ?

Offline Victor E Sasson

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Re: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2010, 09:13:19 AM »
I am the author of Eye on The Record, a blog that takes a critical look at the journalism being practiced at The Record before and since it moved to Woodland Park last year. How do people feel about the thinning coverage of Hackensack in the last couple of years, as the staff investigated first Michael Mordaga, former chief of detectives in the Police Department, and Police Chief Ken Zisa? Does anyone know how Zisa, whose first name is Charles, got the nickname "Ken"?

Offline Homer Jones

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Re: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2010, 09:50:47 AM »
I believe that it is his middle name. Guess he didn't like Charlie.

Offline just watching

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Re: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« Reply #7 on: May 03, 2010, 09:09:08 PM »

This whole issue has multiple dimensions.

There are many people who are upset with the coverage of The Record in terms of Hackensack issues.  Not the amount or thinning of coverage, but the political slant that they have.  Columnist Mike Kelly is no friend of the Zisa's, and neither is Molinelli, especially since the debacle of the Prosecutor's "safe-house" that the County wanted to buy on Summit Avenue a number of years back.  So this is payback time.

On the other hand there are many people who are fed up with Chief Zisa.  Fed up with the dozen or more lawsuits, fed up with the idea that law enforcement should be involved in partisan politics, fed up with the infighting and wrangling that has gone on in the Democratic party... the list goes on.  At the height of his power, Ken Zisa was so powerful that he was able to force a sitting Sheriff to step aside so that he could run for sheriff.  He then lost to the Republicans.

These two categories of people are not mutually exclusive.  They can be sick of both parties, and many are.

The existing city council would be smart to distance themselves from this situation. Otherwise it could come back and bite them in the next election.

One needs to look at history to see how they came to power.  In 1989, there were no Zisa's in power.  Frank Sr. had served as Mayor from 1977 to 1981, and then as a Councilman under an adversary, Mayor Fred Cerbo, from 1981 to 1985.  After the 1985 election, there were no Zisa's in power.  There was no "Dynasty" to speak of.  The Zisa's were just one of several prominent Italian families with a patriarch who had been Mayor or who was looking to be Mayor.

 They were looking for a way back into power.  One son (Jack) was to go the Republican route and also be a successful business owner. The other son (Ken) was to get active in the Democratic Party and rise to power throught the Police. Frank Sr. always taught that whoever controls the police controls Hackensack.

1988 was the key year for the Zisa's in their return to power. Joseph Pizza of Summit Ave got the Zisa's firmly involved with zoning and community activist controversies in the Fairmount section  With the help of Pizza and others, they built a huge base of support over the Borg tract debate.  This started their war with The Record that has continued till this day. Earlier in 1988, they finally came to terms with Democratic Chair Lynne Hurwitz, and she agreed to support them.  It could be argued that Lynne saw the handwriting on the wall and decided this time to support the group that was going to be the next Council. Nevertheless, Zisa barely beat the D'Arminio slate.  Certainly if Lynne Hurwitz or the environmentalist leaders had supported the D'ARminio slate, a few hundred votes would have swung and Jack Zisa would have never been elected. Ken would have never become Chief under that scenario.

In 1988, Pizza and the Zisa's instigated a Recall election against the Cerbo administration, which was thrown out of court over something silly, but it totally discredited Cerbo and the incumbants.  In the 1989 election, Jack Zisa became Mayor.

Poolitical activist Geneva Youngblood publicly predicted that they would put the other son, Ken Zisa, as Chief of Police within a few years.  She was right on the money.  He bypassed so many high-ranking police brass, each sitting and waiting for their one year as Chief to mazimize their pension and retirement package.  Ken Zisa skipped over about 12 - 15 of them.  The Record makes a big deal about one of them, but there were so many, and each could have been Chief for a year or two.  Such as Emil Canestrino, who became a political activist for nearly 20 years against the Zisa's as a result. This jump to power caused big fallout within the Police Department that festered for a long time.

The Record is now struggling to put the pieces together and "report"  about the Zisa dynasty, the who, the when, the why..  Good luck, only us old-timers know what really happend.

Offline HHS72

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Re: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« Reply #8 on: May 04, 2010, 09:41:57 AM »
I never considered myself an "old timer" but u r 100% correct on your history!

Offline itsme

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Re: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« Reply #9 on: May 04, 2010, 04:51:20 PM »
Personally, I believe the Molinelli stand is just for show.  I believe both he and Padilla are cronies of Chief Zisa and should step away from the situation totally.  This matter needs to be handled by the State Attorney General's office and maybe they can arrive at the truth.  While coverage of the Record has not always been accurate on issues involving Hackensack, the County Seat is so politically swayed it is hard to believe anything they print dealing with governing issues.  I must, however, give them kudos on its coverage of school plays and municipal activities.

With regard to the comments of Just Watching and HHS72, I grew up in Hackensack and agree with the history given. 

This issue is bigger than Democrats or Republicans but an issue about people who forgot what good government means.

Offline just watching

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Re: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« Reply #10 on: May 06, 2010, 08:12:35 AM »
Thanks for the support.  Of course, there were more issues in the 1989 election such as the recent re-evaluation that occurred right before the real estate market tanked, causing so many houses to be over-valued (interesting pattern, since it just happened again).  And there were four complete slates running in 1989.  It cannot be understated how much the local Democratic organization was divided by the election, and how people like Daniel Kirsch wound up on D'Arminio's ticket.

The Zisa's were considered a breath of fresh air, a "clean sweep" over the stagnancy of the Fred Cerbo Administration. Cerbo was a former mail carrier who somehow rose thru the ranks of the US Postal Department, and then decided to get into politics. He had no people skills, and was once denounced by the ACLU for plotting against a school teacher circulating recall petitions. They referred to him as the Mayor of Moscow.  There were no glory days before the Zisa's came to power.

The Zisa's and their political associates were good people when they came to power in 1989. THey were young, energetic, and committed to preserving neighborhoods, zoning, and the environment.  They had strong family values, and four of the five elected in 1989 had children in the city's school system (The exception being Sandra Robinson). They were bursting at the seams with new ideas. They had tremendous vision for the city's future, and they wanted to stop urban decline and the spread of inner city problems. 

In 1989, Ken Zisa was a low-ranking police officer in charge of interacting with the city's youth. By all accounts, he excelled at that task.  Jack Zisa was a young accountant in his 30's working out of a hubbble little office on Hudson Street, and son of a former Mayor.  First Cousin, Joe Zisa, was an attorney, son of a former city judge, with dreams of following in his footsteps.

What happened to the Zisa's. Why did  they change.  Why did all this happen ???




Offline Homer Jones

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Re: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« Reply #11 on: May 06, 2010, 08:57:52 AM »
"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Offline Victor E Sasson

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Re: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« Reply #12 on: May 06, 2010, 09:17:43 AM »
Recent posts on Hackensacknow.org and an evaluation of how the Ken Zisa story is being covered  appear at Eye on The Record:

http://eyeontherecord.blogspot.com/

Victor Sasson

Offline averagejoe

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Re: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« Reply #13 on: May 06, 2010, 07:38:00 PM »
for historical accuracy,justwatching

1 the election results of '89 were not that close.darminio was hundreds behind mattei(5th place on zisa ticket)

2 you overlook that hackensack is a civil service community promotions are competitive.chief zisa was a sgt when jack zisa took office.but he was no 1 on a lt.list that the cerbo council would not move because  promoting ken zisa was not their desire.there were only 2 qualified police captains when chief aletta retired,ken zisa and anthony leggieri.canestrino had long since retired after the s hackensack moonlighting scandal.so you may subscribe to the notion that geneva youngblood was a "seer" i remember her as a vicious loudmouth who pretty much never knew what she was talking about( remember"i pay my taxes when i feel like it"?)

Offline just watching

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Re: Chief Zisa surrenders to Prosecutor's Office
« Reply #14 on: May 06, 2010, 10:59:38 PM »

Your point is well taken on Geneva Youngblood.  She was vocal and sometimes hostile, especially regarding any issue that could be perceived as being racial. And her definition of that was very broad. But at other times she was very conservative, such as her votes on the Zoning Board, including one to deny a 2-family house conversion to the widow of a firefighter who died at the Hackensack Ford fire.  And her demanding that all new Zoning Board members take some sort of training.  And demanding that the 3rd Street shale mountain be hauled away because of its impact on the neighborhood.  How many thousands of truck loads ?   

And then, in 2005 she was directly involved in one of the most ridiculous zoning applications ever to be heard in the city of Hackensack.  It was a warped and twisted siteplan for condos within and amongst and between back yards and the houses of Berdan Place and James Street.  And it wasn't even townhouses, it was 3 stories above a parking level. That application was in complete contrast to every she stood for when she served on the Zoning Board. The neighbors trounced that project and it was unanimously defeated.

I think the best words to describe her are unpredictable and undefinable.

As far as the promotions are concerned, there is a tremendous amount to be said on that, and I am far from the most knowledgable.  I cannot advise what constitutes "qualified police captains", for instance, but I know that was an issue.  I seem to recall a Record article listing 11 high-ranking older police brass that were bypassed for the much younger Ken Zisa to take the position.