The state that gave us La Raza supporter Senator Robert Menendez found federal and IRS dragnets sweeping across the state this morning to arrest 30 people, among them Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano and Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, as well as several area rabbis and other community leaders and politicians, including Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega.

It appears to be a corruption-related investigation but Justice Department and FBI spokesmen would only say the corruption involved a “high-volume international money-laundering conspiracy.”  It is said to involve rabbis in the Syrian Jewish enclave in Brooklyn and Deal, New Jersey.  The probe is said to have started when money transfers drew the interests of the feds who followed the trail back to small-town Jersey corruption.

Officials say separate from the corruption probe, some of the suspects charged today were also connected to an illegal human organ-selling ring.   Investigators say some charged would take cash payments to help find organs for sick patients in need of transplants.  It’s unclear where the body parts might have come from or how many surgeries may have been done.  The FBI,  IRS and U.S. Attorney’s office all declined comment saying details will be given at the press conference.

You can bet the ties (and lies) that eventually come out of this will prove to be interesting.