Angelo Errichetti

Angelo Joseph Errichetti (September 29, 1928 – May 16, 2013) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as Mayor of Camden, New Jersey, and in the New Jersey Senate before being indicted during Abscam.

As Mayor of Camden, Errichetti claimed to put in 12-hour days, working to improve the economy of the struggling city. He exercised substantial control over the city's operation, and he submitted seven budgets without tax increases that were passed with little oversight.

After his indictment, he emphatically denied the allegations filed against him and refused to consider demands that he resign from his two elected positions.

In 1981, Errichetti, defended by attorney Raymond A. Brown, was convicted of federal bribery and conspiracy charges, and sentenced to six years in prison, of which he served 32 months.

U.S. Senator Harrison A. Williams had claimed that he was improperly lured to accept bribes, to which Federal District Judge George C. Pratt responded that there was no evidence that the FBI sought out Senator Williams, rather he had selected himself when he accepted Errichetti's offer to meet with the undercover agents and that it was Errichetti who was "standing in the center of a cesspool of corruption".

Death A resident of Ventnor City, New Jersey, Errichetti died on May 16, 2013, at his home there. Camden mayor Dana Redd ordered that flags at Camden's municipal buildings be flown at half staff during the day that his funeral was held. He was predeceased by his wife Dolores and survived by his daughter, Michele.

In popular culture The character Carmine Polito (played by Jeremy Renner) in David O. Russell's 2013 film American Hustle is based on Errichetti.