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Saddle River NJ, a resident of the borough has filed a lawsuit alleging the Saddle River Planning Board approved a 112-unit affordable apartment complex without allowing time for objector statements and witnesses.
Continue reading Lawsuit Filed to Invalidate Saddle River Affordable Housing Approval
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Saddle River NJ, Well, it was twenty years ago today…when a bunch of FBI guys got hit in the head with a million bucks, falling from the New Jersey sky.
Until that moment, April 2002 had been going okay for NJ con master, Thomas Giacomaro, author of the 2018 memoir The King of Con: How a Smooth-Talking Jersey Boy Made and Lost Billions, Baffled the FBI, Eluded the Mob, and Lived to Tell the Crooked Tale.
True, he was doing 18 months for embezzlement at Fort Dix prison, just south of Trenton. But it was easy time in a low-security prison. And he was such a clean, neat inmate…he was a shoo-in to get out by Christmas.
photo of Rosie O’Donnell’s Saddle River mansion
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Saddle River NJ, Notorious NJ con artist and mob-associate, Thomas Giacomaro, refused to become a mafioso “made man” in the early Eighties. Why, you ask?
He didn’t want to kiss the ring.
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Saddle River NJ, Childhood memories of spring are usually happy and bright: Icicles dripping, chocolate Easter bunnies, putting your sneakers on after a long, Jersey winter.
For local anti-hero, Thomas Giacomaro, spring reminds him of the day he saw his father almost kill two men.
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Saddle River NJ, Was Will Smith having a mental breakdown when he assaulted Chris Rock at the Oscars on Sunday night? Was he on drugs?
I’ve heard both theories—and more. But Denzel Washington has the one Smith likes best because it takes the blame off him.
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Saddle River NJ, in honor of last night’s Academy Awards—and actor Will Smith’s unhinged outburst—local bad-boy-turned good, Thomas Giacomaro, tells us his nickname was once “the Italian Hannibal Lecter.”
The Anthony Hopkins drama, The Silence of the Lambs, swept the Oscars exactly 30 years ago winning five main categories—Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.
A decade later, Giacomaro—who penned his 2018 memoir The King of Con: How a Smooth-Talking Jersey Boy Made and Lost Billions, Baffled the FBI, Eluded the Mob, and Lived to Tell the Crooked Tale, earned the moniker—in prison.
Continue reading AND THE OSCAR FOR BEST PSYCHO PERFORMANCE GOES TO…
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Saddle River NJ, If you try to Google-map it, the house is shrouded in shrubbery and leafy Northern Red Oak.
But it’s still there, the 8,000 square-foot mansion on Fox Hedge Road in Saddle River, NJ—a potential upcoming shooting location this fall for the upcoming docuseries, The King of Con, and former home of local legend, Thomas Giacomaro.
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Saddle River NJ, Last week’s episode of The Walking Dead had pizza purists yelling molto bene when the show delivered a reprimand to ignorant Pizza Hut eaters: Never, ever, put pineapple on a pizza.
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Saddle River NJ, The colorful bloom of spring always reminds New Jersey businessman Thomas Giacomaro of his first enchanted meeting with celebrated mystery novelist, Mary Higgins Clark.
Continue reading MARY HIGGINS CLARK: “HE’LL MAKE ME RICH AND FAMOUS!”
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Saddle River NJ , Saddle River Police on Saturday February 18th reported a Criminal Activity Alert , In the alert Car thieves are in Saddle River and had tried to steal a vehicle from the Twin-Brooks section of town. LOCK your Vehicles and REMOVE Your key Fob.
Continue reading Saddle River Police Report Attempted Car Thefts on Saturday
‘Tis the season to be immortalized!
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Saddle River NJ, One of our own North Jersey personalities, The King of Con’s Thomas Giacomaro—who grew up in Paterson before living a life of Koi ponds and Bentleys in Saddle River—
was once the inspiration for a Christmas character created by “Queen of Suspense” novelist, Mary Higgins Clark—also a Saddle River/Spring Lake resident until her death last year.
It was Christmas eve 2004 (Higgins’ birthday) when Giacomaro, who bilked Clark for millions after she invested in one of his companies, read Mary’s description of him in her holiday offering, The Christmas Thief.
In a case of art imitating life, Higgins’ lead character, Packy Noonan, was “a world-class scam artist whose offense had been to cheat trusting investors out of nearly $100 million in the seemingly legitimate company he had founded… Fifty years old, narrow-faced, with a hawk-like nose, close-set eyes, thinning brown hair, and a smile that inspired trust.”
Yup. That’s him all right. “The guy even looks like me,” says Giacomaro today, still a NJ local but now reformed and living life on the straight and narrow.
Mary was a tad more lenient on her fictionalized scam artist than a judge was with Giacomaro, who was sentenced to four months more prison time than her lead character:
Continue reading NOVELIST MARY HIGGINS CLARK WROTE NJ “KING OF CON” A FOREVER X-MAS PRESENT
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Saddle River NJ, Saddle River Police report mail stolen on Christmas Eve . The Saddle River Police ask residents to check their mail boxes and report missing mail or damage to the Saddle River Police department ,
Chief Jason Cosgriff , Saddle River Police Dept. jcosgriff@saddleriverpd.com 201-327-5300 .
Continue reading Saddle River and Upper Saddle River Report Mail Thefts on Christmas Eve
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Saddle River NJ, a Saddle River resident off of Chestnut Ridge road reported two suspects trying to steal a car from their driveway. Multiple patrol units and canine units were dispatched to the area but the suspects fled the area. It’s very common they return to the same town or neighborhood to steal cars. Please remove your valuables from your cars, lock your vehicles and bring your key fobs inside.
REPROT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY IMMEDIATELY 201-327-5300
photo courtesy of the Saddle River Fire Department
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Saddle River NJ, according to the Saddle River Fire Department at approximately 3:30pm Friday afternoon, the fire department was requested to a home in the borough for a reported structure fire. Fast arriving police units confirmed a fire on the second floor. Chief 1130 requested our 2nd alarm be dispatched to the scene. Engine 1131 arrived on scene, established a water supply and stretched an attack line quickly knocking down the fire. Thank you to all of the mutual aid who responded to the scene to assist us and covered Saddle River while we operated at this scene.
Continue reading Saddle River Fire Department Responds to Friday Afternoon Fire
