The Zisas and the Borgs

The former Borg family homestead at Summit and Fairmount avenues in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Here is a fascinating look into Hackensack's past from a self-described old-timer. 

You'll likely never see this in The Record, which fosters lazy, incompetent editors and weak reporting. 

This was posted on HackensackNow.org, a community message board:

"This whole issue has multiple dimensions.

"There are many people who are upset with the coverage of The Record in terms of Hackensack issues.  Not the amount or thinning of coverage, but the political slant that they have.  Columnist Mike Kelly is no friend of the Zisas, and neither is [Bergen County Prosecutor John] Molinelli, especially since the debacle of the Prosecutor's "safe-house" that the County wanted to buy on Summit Avenue a number of years back.  So this is payback time.

"On the other hand there are many people who are fed up with Chief Zisa.  Fed up with the dozen or more lawsuits, fed up with the idea that law enforcement should be involved in partisan politics, fed up with the infighting and wrangling that has gone on in the Democratic party... the list goes on.  At the height of his power, Ken Zisa was so powerful that he was able to force a sitting Sheriff to step aside so that he could run for sheriff.  He then lost to the Republicans.

"These two categories of people are not mutually exclusive.  They can be sick of both parties, and many are.

"The existing city council would be smart to distance themselves from this situation. Otherwise it could come back and bite them in the next election.

"One needs to look at history to see how they came to power.  In 1989, there were no Zisas in power.  Frank Sr. had served as Mayor from 1977 to 1981, and then as a Councilman under an adversary, Mayor Fred Cerbo, from 1981 to 1985.  After the 1985 election, there were no Zisas in power.  There was no "Dynasty" to speak of.  The Zisas were just one of several prominent Italian families with a patriarch who had been Mayor or who was looking to be Mayor.

 "They were looking for a way back into power.  One son (Jack) was to go the Republican route and also be a successful business owner. The other son (Ken) was to get active in the Democratic Party and rise to power through the Police. Frank Sr. always taught that whoever controls the police controls Hackensack.

"1988 was the key year for the Zisas in their return to power. Joseph Pizza of Summit Ave got the Zisas firmly involved with zoning and community activist controversies in the Fairmount section  With the help of Pizza and others, they built a huge base of support over the Borg tract debate.  This started their war with The Record that has continued till this day. Earlier in 1988, they finally came to terms with Democratic Chair Lynne Hurwitz, and she agreed to support them.  It could be argued that Lynne saw the handwriting on the wall and decided this time to support the group that was going to be the next Council. Nevertheless, Zisa barely beat the D'Arminio slate.  Certainly if Lynne Hurwitz or the environmentalist leaders had supported the D'Arminio slate, a few hundred votes would have swung and Jack Zisa would have never been elected. Ken would have never become Chief under that scenario.

"In 1988, Pizza and the Zisas instigated a Recall election against the Cerbo administration, which was thrown out of court over something silly, but it totally discredited Cerbo and the incumbents.  In the 1989 election, Jack Zisa became Mayor.

"Political activist Geneva Youngblood publicly predicted that they would put the other son, Ken Zisa, as Chief of Police within a few years.  She was right on the money.  He bypassed so many high-ranking police brass, each sitting and waiting for their one year as Chief to maximize their pension and retirement package.  Ken Zisa skipped over about 12 - 15 of them.  The Record makes a big deal about one of them, but there were so many, and each could have been Chief for a year or two.  Such as Emil Canestrino, who became a political activist for nearly 20 years against the Zisas as a result. This jump to power caused big fallout within the Police Department that festered for a long time.

"The Record is now struggling to put the pieces together and 'report' about the Zisa dynasty, the who, the when, the why.... Good luck, only us old-timers know what really happened."