Jury selection was getting under way in yet another Atlantic City political corruption case, this one involving allegations of voter fraud in the last mayoral election.
A former councilman was pursuing a lawsuit against the city and several former council mates after he was set up and secretly videotaped having sex with a hooker in a seedy motel.
The state was completing a plan to take control of the city's casino zones after years of local governmental incompetence and corruption.
(In the last three years, a mayor and three councilmen have been convicted and forced to leave office. Since the dawn of the casino era in 1978, three mayors have been indicted and one has been sentenced to prison for conspiring to sell his office to the mob.)
There are those who believe that corruption is part of the city's political DNA and trace the source to the Nucky Johnson era.
Johnson, whose colorful career spanned Prohibition and the age of Atlantic City as a premier resort, epitomized the fast-and-loose mentality that allowed corruption - and, some would argue, the city - to flourish.
He was a friend of power brokers, deal-makers, and gangsters, part of an Atlantic City that didn't play by the rules.
Councilman Dennis Mason said he had proposed renaming the street not to celebrate Johnson's corruption, but to acknowledge his accomplishments. He also admitted that he hoped to cash in on the popularity of the HBO series.
"It's not so much about honoring the man," Mason told the Press of Atlantic City when he proposed the idea. "It's taking advantage of all the hype and publicity."
Mason was just as philosophical when the motion was voted down Wednesday and is talking about other promotions linked to the Boardwalk Empire buzz.
