I have received a great deal of email asking more about Deputy Mayor Silvio Acosta, here are some facts about West New York Political Boss Silvio Acosta.

1) Silvio Acosta is currently (as of this month) deputy mayor and chief of staff of the Town of West New York under current Mayor Felix Roque. He gets a salary as a chief of staff and he also gets another salary as a Deputy Mayor. (Double dipping, you can visit the clerk office in city hall and ask for the "West New York Salary Ordinance.") It will have the actual salary, but is over 100k adding both salaries. He drives around in a jeep that used to be assign to former Commissioner Gerry Lange. (Another failed promise, Mayor Roque said he will not use or allow his employees to use vehicles paid by tax payers.)

2) Silvio Acosta filed for bankruptcy on 1/5/1994 (reference State of New Jersey 2:94-bk-20063.)

3) Silvio Acosta bought 6608 Lincoln Place on December 7, 2004 for $270,000.(Reference here).

4) Silvio Acosta was fired in July 2009 by the administration of Mayor Sal Vega due to the illegal conversion of 6608 Lincoln Place to six families. Because the situation has not been abated, the fines have been mounting since the 2009 inspection, and as of yesterday totaled $500,857. (Reference here)

5) There are some rumors that Silvio Acosta was caught by the FBI taking money from developers to expedite construction permits back in 2009 but negotiated and was a key witness against convicted West New York Code Official  Franco Zanardelli. However we have not been able to find any document to back up this rumor. Most documents from the case of Zanardelli had been sealed by the courts. (If anyone has documents that can verify this rumor please forward it to us.) Let me clarify again for legal purposes that this is a rumor.

6) Mayor Roque appointed Silvio Acosta as a member of the Planning Board. Any developer or homeowner needs to get the clear from Boss Acosta to get the construction permits from city hall in West New York.

Deputy Mayor Silvio Acosta, back in June 2011, lobbied Mayor Roque to assign a handicap parking space for his wife Edelma Acosta in front of their residence. Yet people within the administration opposed and Mayor Roque was pressure to remove it from the agenda. Check the agenda below from the meeting of June 15, 2011 item R7. By the way this was done a month after winning the municipal election. You can obtain the agenda from the official West New York website at  westnewyorknj.org, commissioner meeting, date June 15, 2011. We have attached a copy of the agenda to this post for your convenience. By the way Acosta's wife is very healthy!

In this photo taken on 2007 we can see the new town attorney Gilberto Garcia with Acosta. They had been friend for years. Acosta needed an ally in the administration of Mayor Roque to advance his agenda of corruption, so he convinced Mayor Roque that Julio Morejon was bad news. Julio Morejon the former attorney of West New York did not want to lose his license rubber stamping Acosta's agenda so he resigned from the position. Didn't Mayor Roque on a mailer sent during the election promised "to put the residents of West New York first - not his friends." I guess he meant all Acosta's friends.

Acosta living large..... owes more than half a million dollar in construction fines and makes over 100k as a deputy and chief of staff to the mayor. Didn't Mayor Roque promised no double dipping!!! More failed promises...

Read More at the Jersey Journal......