Mayor Zimmer has been asked by US attorney to cease media interviews

[BlueStreak]

35. Right. The prosecutiors want to preserve the element of surprise or uncertainly

If all the evidence is put out in the media, that gives Christie's outlaws a chance to coordinate stories and circle the wagons.

At this stage of the investigation, the prosecutor will start working up from the bottom, picking off people who will give useful testimony in exchange for lenient treatment from the prosecution. For this to work, the prosecutors need to keep the thugs guessing a little. Christie's gang knows that they will all end up in prison if the prosecutor can prove the things that Ghristie's gang knows are out there. They know there are felonies just waiting to be prosecuted. You want them to have to wonder just how much evidence and how much cooperation the prosecutors have lined up.

There will be an element of bluffing. And they will foment suspicious among the Christie gang until some of them crack under the pressure.

You don't want to be the last one to offer state's evidence, because they will probably let you take that to prison if they already have enough to nail you.

The parallels with the mafia are inescapable here.