Samuel Rivera

Rivera began his career by joining the Passaic Police Department in 1968.[7] In 1970, Rivera was brought up on police brutality charges. He avoided trial by resigning and returning to Puerto Rico, where he became a police officer as well with the Puerto Rico Police Department.[7] There, his law enforcement career ended when he was convicted of a felony and sentenced to either two or three years probation[1] for offenses including admittedly[8] slashing himself to simulate having been attacked in order to protect his partner, who killed a narcotics suspect.[1][7] Rivera returned to Passaic in 1981 and became a private investigator.[7]

Rivera ran for Passaic City Council in 1993 and 1995, losing both times.[7] Later in 1995 he won a special election to the Council by 11 votes.[7] He then ran a losing campaign for mayor in 1997, and then again in 2001, winning the race.[7] New Jersey Governor Donald DiFrancesco attempted to prevent Rivera from taking office due to his status as a Puerto Rican felon, but Superior Court judge Robert Passero allowed Rivera to be sworn in, finding that the state had failed to prove that Rivera's crime was a crime of "moral turpitude".[1][7]

Rivera was a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition and, when he served as mayor, was a member of Hillary Clinton's Mayors Council[9] and National Hispanic Leadership Council.[10] During the course of his tenure as mayor, Rivera had the City Council nearly triple his salary from $40,000 to $117,000.[1]

On September 6, 2007, the FBI arrested 11 public officials and one civilian after a year-and-a-half long corruption investigation yielded grand jury indictments, against Rivera and other elected officials, including Assembly members Mims Hackett and Alfred E. Steele.[3] Rivera was indicted for demanding and accepting money from John D'Angelo,[2] an insurance broker acting as a cooperating witness for the FBI. D'Angelo pretended to be trying to get insurance coverage contracts from the City of Passaic.[3] The indictment alleges that Rivera accepted a $5,000 bribe to steer insurance business with the City of Passaic and with the Passaic Valley Water Commission, bragging that "I can get four votes easy, easy, easy," to a witness about his ability to obtain approval from the Passaic City Council.[11]

After appearing in front of a magistrate in Trenton and posting bail, Rivera resumed his duties the following day, Friday, September 7.[12] State law permits elected officials to retain their offices even after they are convicted and sentenced; they can only be removed if they are formally impeached.[13] Rivera had stated that he did not intend to resign.[4] Nevertheless, he pleaded guilty to attempted extortion and resigned on May 9, 2008.[14] In 2008, Rivera was sentenced to 21 months in prison.[5]

After serving 16 months at a Federal prison in Ohio, Rivera was transferred to a halfway house in New York, to serve the remainder of his 21-month felony sentence.[15][16]

Rivera was born on a tobacco farm into a family of 14 children, where he lived until he moved to Passaic in 1963.[1] Shortly thereafter, at age 17, he dropped out of 11th grade and married for the first time.[1] Rivera suffered five strokes and married four times.[1] He died at the age of 73 on May 1, 2020.[17]

• The criminal complaint against Rivera, United States Department of Justice, September 5, 2007.

• List of Puerto Ricans

• Official website