When it comes to modern American politics, truth is stranger than fiction — such as a mafia hitman-turned-councilman who is once again in trouble with the law.
John Alite has served prison time before for multiple murders and beatings when he was a hitman for the infamous Gambino crime family, according to the New York Post. Despite that lurid and bloody past, Alite now (or until this week) represents New Jersey’s Englishtown as a councilman. Alite claimed in March 2025, “I already had a bad past, and I’m here to redeem my whole life, and I would like to go out doing everything in a positive way.” That is a noble aspiration, so far as it goes, but unfortunately, it seems the former mobster did not live up to his promises of complete moral reformation.
Also, unfortunately, it seems based on local reporting that Alite is affiliated with the Republican Party, since the Republican English Town mayor appointed him, so, unusually, a political crime scandal isn’t directly tied to Democrats. Of course, the GOP has a corruption problem too.
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport issued a press release on June 19 about new criminal charges, in which she announced:
John Alite, 63, of Englishtown, New Jersey, was arrested on June 19, 2026, and charged with multiple counts of theft by extortion (second degree), corporate misconduct (second degree), usury (second degree), and terroristic threats. It is alleged that Alite made loans in excess of the maximum rate permitted by law and subsequently obtained the property and monies of victims by threatening to commit violent acts. He is also alleged to have misused his corporation, Straightened-Out Entertainment, Inc., to promote his criminal scheme. Alite is a councilman in Englishtown.
His suspected partner-in-crime, Stephen Locrotondo, is also facing charges. Alite seems either incapable of or unwilling to break his mafia tactics. He’s only “straightened out” in word, not in practice.
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Aside from the fact that a man who has committed multiple murders should have received the death penalty in a well-functioning and objective justice system, Alite also seemed to lack the understanding of how dreadful his past was, even when he was claiming to be reformed. “I mean every aspect of the street is like the government, so I understand the maneuvering these candidates are doing, so I feel I’ll be able to bring my knowledge and past history into politics,” he told the Post in 2025, actually using his mobster experience as a selling point to citizens.
He touted his understanding of “Machiavelli”-style tactics from the mob and compared it to local politics.
Alite said he spent 14 years in prison on convictions that include six murders, at least 37 shootings and countless beatdowns while working as a Gambino henchman.
But he didn’t have to put any rivals in cement boots to score his council seat.
He was appointed to fill a vacancy through the end of the year after being recruited by Englishtown Mayor Daniel Francisco and other local leaders impressed by his civic work helping youths.
It is not, of course, impossible for criminals to change their lives, but it is extremely dangerous to trust a man who has that many murders and violent assaults on his record. And in this case, it proved thoroughly imbecilic.
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