Jury finds ‘racist’ NJ police chief guilty of lying to FBI

Bordentown's former police chief was found guilty Wednesday of lying to the FBI in what prosecutors said was a hate-crime assault of a black teenager three years ago.

The Trentonian reported Wednesday that the federal jury remains deadlocked on the two remaining hate-crime assault and civil rights violation charges. The jury will continue to deliberate Thursday.

Frank M. Nucera Jr. was accused of slamming a handcuffed prisoner’s head into a metal door jamb at the Ramada Hotel on Sept. 1, 2016.

The Southern Poverty Law Center said in December that Nucera "appears to be the first cop in at least a decade to be charged with a federal hate crime.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a police sergeant testified as a key witness in the case. Sgt. Nathan Roohr made 81 recordings of his former boss.

CBS News reported that about a dozen cops in the department had secretly recorded Nucera's comments.

Nucera had a "significant history of making racists comments" by frequently referring to black people as "n*****s," "nigs," "moulinyans" and "moulies," the federal complaint said, explaining that "Moulinyans" is an Italian slur for African Americans.

Nurcea went on a verbal rampage in November 2015 after a black suspect was accused of slashing a police vehicle's tires, prosecutors said.

"These n*****s are like ISIS, they have no value. They should line them all up and mow 'em down. I'd like to be on the firing squad," Nucera was quoted as saying.

“The complaint alleges that the defendant harbored an intense racial animosity towards African Americans," then-Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey William Fitzpatrick said after Nucera’s arrest in November 2017.

Nucera, who also served as the township business administrator, retired in June 2017 and has been collecting a pension of more than $101,000 a year.

If convicted, Nucera faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.

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