EPISODE 5: New Jersey’s Other Boss

Dead End: A New Jersey Political Murder Mystery

WNYC

Jersey, Sheridan, Murders, And, New, Crime, John, Joyce, True, Politics, True Crime

4.6 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

John Sheridan’s decision to go work at Cooper University Hospital came at a curious time. It was just months after news about the Palmyra tapes came out. The tapes caught George Norcross bullying and offering a favor to a small town official; they are a rare instance where evidence emerged of the rough and tumble side to the south Jersey political machine. An email shows Norcross' control over the state legislature and city council members in Camden explain what it means to be a "yes yes" person.

• Kelly Francis, union organizer and Camden activist

• Kevin Riordan, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter who has covered south Jersey off and on for the past 45 years

• Micah Rasmussen, director of Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Ryder University

• Tom Knoche, lecturer at Rutgers University in Camden

• Matt Katz, reporter at WNYC

• Shaneka Boucher, Camden City Councilwoman

• Marilyn Torres, Camden City Councilwoman

• Jeffrey Brenner, doctor who worked and lived in Camden during its worst years

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode includes some salty language
0:02.4	that might not be appropriate for all ages.
0:13.7	John Sheridan was a governmental maghiver.
0:17.8	He loved fixing problems like the state's crumbling highway system.
0:22.2	In the oral history in the Redgar's archives,
0:24.7	he relishes the details of the transportation system.
0:28.5	Four-leaf clovers were originated in New Jersey.
0:31.0	Jersey barriers that everybody,
0:33.0	everybody knows who hear jug candles.
0:36.2	And I could go on and on and on.
0:37.4	But Sheridan was a problem solver and a creative one.
0:41.5	That was told.
0:42.2	I don't know if this is true, but I was told the governor said,
0:44.9	are we going to do that crazy thing Sheridan wants to do?
0:48.9	Some of his friends and family thought he was crazy to go work in Camden.
0:53.2	If I'm going to understand what John Sheridan was up to in the months before his death,
1:00.6	I need to find out what he was doing in Camden.
1:04.1	And to understand Camden,
1:06.2	I have to take a deep dive into Sheridan's boss.
1:09.8	He's New Jersey's other boss, George Norcross.
1:14.0	He's the head of a powerful political machine.
1:16.8	And Camden is his hometown, his passion project,
	...

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