Frank Ruggieri told DeCarlo how he was brought into Farley's home by an Atlantic City police sergeant. As a convicted bookmaker, Ruggieri was barred from the local racetrack.

"Don't worry about it," Farley told him. "Tomorrow send your name with Joe. I'll call Ryder [the police commissioner] up myself. Don't worry about it."

The next day the sergeant went to headquarters and left Ruggieri's name with the police commissioner. "Tell him to go to the track," the commissioner said.

Then there was the late Dennis Carey, the Democratic leader in Essex County - but relations with him weren't always the best.

"Carey double-crossed me," DeCarlo complained one day. "We gave him plenty of money and we didn't get one thing from him. A lot of it was Tony Boy's money. He never produced one thing he promised. The only favors we ever got were off Hughie and Rodino [the Newark-area congressman, Hugh Addonizio and Peter Rodino]. Any favor we ever went to them for, we got it right away."

Of all the bosses, Hudson County's John J. Kenny was the most reliable for the mob. DeCarlo reported that Kenny gave them clearance to run gambling in Secaucus, and when the game in Kearny was raided by a local cop, Kenny said, "I'll call the mayor" - and did.

In return, the mob did favors for Kenny. In 1962, Kenny phoned DeCarlo and asked him to contact Addonizio - by then mayor of Newark - and have him appoint one of Kenny's men administrator of Martland Medical Center.

DeCarlo agreed. "Well, what will I do with my man make him call you or make him call Tom [Jersey City mayor Thomas Gangemi]?"

Kenny's reply is not recorded, but DeCarlo continued, "I don't know if I can locate Hughie tonight, but if you see him down there, you tell him you was talking to me tonight and I go along with this a million percent. He knows I go along with anything you want. You talk to him the way you talk to me.... OK, fine.... OK, boy."

Of all the disclosures on the tapes - including DeCarlo's fantastic effort to infiltrate and take over the Masonic order - none was more sinister than the mob's role in electing Addonizio mayor of Newark in 1962.

A year before the election, Pete Landusco reported Addonizio's feelings about making the race: "And do you know what he said to me? ... He. said, `I'm only [going to be] mayor for six years. I want to run for governor, that's my aim.... I'll be the first guinea governor the state ever had.'"

To become mayor, Addonizio had to defeat the incumbent, Leo Carlin. The trouble was, Michael Bontempo, president of the city council, also planned to enter the race.

"He's gonna ... split the Italian vote," DeCarlo complained. "Carlin got him to do it."

So DeCarlo - and other members of the mob – sat down with Bontempo.

"Well, Mickey," DeCarlo said, "let's get down to business. What is it you want from Addonizio to work together?..."

"I've got to say this to you," Bontempo replied. "You say, `We want to win.' Let me put it this way: Let the best man win. But here's the story, and I say this to you, Ray, and I'm not pulling any punches. I think Mr. Addonizio made too damn many commitments with a lot of heels."

"Well, he must have made some commitments," DeCarlo said.

"Irving Berlin's [an Orange bookmaker] going to tell him what to do."

"Oh, no -"

"... Don't say, `No,' I'm telling you something. I'll bet you that Irving Berlin is closer to Hughie than you to Ray, Joe."

"Well, I won't deny it," said Joe DeBenedictis, the Democratic boss of Newark's North Ward.

"Irving's got him in the bag."

The conversation continued on this track for a while.

Then DeBenedictis asked Bontempo what he wanted to get out of the race.

"I just told you - motor vehicle director."

The post, appointive by Governor Richard Hughes, was apparently beyond the mob's power to deliver.

"Now, took, you're in this business for the money, ain't you?" DeCarlo asked.

"At my age, I am," Bontempo replied.

"You've got to be reasonable," DeBenedictis said. "We want to win. You've got to sit down with Hughie."

"I don't care if it's you or Hughie, as long as it's an Italian," DeCarlo interjected.

After Bontempo left the Barn, DeCarlo said, "We'll see if we can raise ten thousand for him. We'll get all the bookmakers. The Boot will pay up five thousand."

A few days later DeCarlo reported back on a meeting he had with Addonizio: "I told him, I said . . . Richie [Boiardo] and I were willing to give that lousy Mickey five Gs to get him out of the race. He said, `Don't give him ten cents...'

"I also told Hughie the other night, also, I said, 'Hughie, you get elected, there's only gonna be one guy collect from all the bookmakers. If I hear that this guy pays you direct, this guy pays you direct and that guy-the hell with youl I'm walking. You can go and do business with everybody you want to and you're gonna wind up in the can sooner or later. . . ."

They were prophetic words.

Apparently, Bontempo took the bait. DeBenedictis told DeCarlo a few days later, "We got rid of this jerk. I told you what I had to do with him. I had to give him five big ones."

Word of the payoff apparently reached another prospective mayoral candidate. On March 17, 1962, DeBenedictis reported to DeCarlo, "Nick Caputo's gonna file... . I heard about it; so I call him up yesterday. I said, `Nick, is it true that you're gonna file?' I said, `Why, you jerk, do you know what you're doing?'

"He said, `Well, I can't win, but I can force a runoff...'

"What he's asking for is out of this world. This is just between the four of us he wants to be the administrator of Newark....

"I had told Nick, `You s.o.b.... you're gonna pull this.'

"He said, `Well, I'm only looking out for myself.'

"So I said, `I'll tell you what I'm gonna do with you – I'm gonna break your two legs. Don't blame any racket men, don't blame any tough guys, I'm gonna break your legs for you if you file. I'm warning you now - I'll be the guy to break your legs.'"

"If he does," DeCarlo added, "we'll go and break his legs."