Thomas J. Whelan (January 28, 1922 – July 31, 2002) was an American politician who served as the mayor of
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.[Army Air Force
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...]
. He later became the chief security officer of New Jersey Bell Telephone Co.
A Democrat, Whelan was appointed mayor in 1963 when his predecessor,
Thomas Gangemi, was forced to resign over a question about his citizenship. Whelan then ran for mayor in 1965 and again in 1969, winning both times.
In 1971, during his second term, Whelan was indicted by the
U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey as a member of the "Hudson County Eight," and was convicted in federal court of conspiracy and extortion in a multimillion-dollar political kickback scheme connected to city and county contracts.
Convicted along with him was former mayor and political boss,
John V. Kenny
John Vincent Kenny (April 6, 1893 – June 2, 1975) was mayor of Jersey City from 1949 to 1953.
Biography
He was born on April 6, 1893. A former ward leader under longtime mayor Frank Hague, he broke with his mentor after Hague engineered t ...
and former City Council president
Thomas Flaherty.
Whelan served seven years of a 15-year sentence in the
federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
Whelan died on July 31, 2002, at home in
Naples, Florida
Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the historical city (i.e. in the immediate vicinity of downtown Naples) was 19,115. Naples is a principal city of the Naples-Marco Island, Flori ...
, aged 80.
References
1922 births
2002 deaths
Mayors of Jersey City, New Jersey
Politicians convicted of extortion under color of official right
New Jersey Democrats
New Jersey politicians convicted of corruption
New Jersey politicians convicted of crimes
20th-century American politicians
United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II
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