Former Hudson County Parks Department Director Admits to Participating in a Bribe and Kickback Scheme

NEWARK, N.J. - Former Hudson County Parks Department Director Russell Fallacara (Fallacara) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, United States Attorney Robert Frazer announced today.

Fallacara, 59, of Bayonne, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi to an Information charging him with conspiring to defraud Hudson County of the right to officials' honest services.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From 2019 through 2024, the conspiracy involved more than $1.5 million in bribes and kickbacks. The payments were made by business owner William A. Murray (Murray), so that Murray's company would be awarded contracts to work on various Hudson County Parks Department projects, including but not limited to landscape maintenance, paving, and general contracting projects. The bribes and kickbacks often came in the form of cash payments to Hudson County officials, including Fallacara and former Parks Department Director Thomas DeLeo (DeLeo). Fallacara received over $400,000 in cash bribes and kickback payments. At other times, the bribes and kickbacks came in the form of free home repairs and renovations for both DeLeo and Fallacara. In exchange for these bribes and kickbacks, at the time that each served as Parks Department Director, DeLeo and Fallacara each took official action to approve contracts awarded to Murray's company by Hudson County.

On March 3, 2026, DeLeo pleaded guilty before Judge Cecchi to a two-count Information charging him with conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. On March 17, 2026, Murray pleaded guilty before Judge Cecchi to an Information charging him with conspiracy to commit honest services fraud.

The conspiracy to commit honest services fraud charge that Fallacara pleaded guilty to carries a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment.

United States Attorney Frazer credited special agents of the FBI's Newark Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Region, under the direction of Anthony D'Esposito, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Labor, with the investigation leading to today's conviction.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francesca Liquori of the U.S. Attorney's Office's Special Prosecutions Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Goldberg, Chief of the Narcotics and International Trafficking Unit.

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Defense counsel: Jeffrey Garrigan, Esq.