April 27, 2011; Source: BloomfieldPatch.com | I’m sure that New Jersey is just sick to death of its usual portrayal in the media – partly flowing of course from HBO's “The Sopranos.” But this story is even a step down from there.

Apparently, one Michael Arpaio attempted to shake down a nonprofit company whose bins were being used to collect used clothing. Posing as a police officer who was mobbed up, Arpaio told a staff person at the New York-based company that the bins were in his “territory” and that they had to pay him to place the bins there and to affect the return of bins that had already been stolen.

Allegedly he said that a $1,000 payment “is gonna return some of your boxes to you and it’s gonna make sure none of your other [expletive]’s gone.”

Good Lord!

Charges have been brought against Arpaio by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Newark.

This guy needs his head examined. A decent ROI on this deal is pretty dubious.—Ruth McCambridge