The Republican mayor of Clark Township denied using any slurs, claiming “I have many, many Black friends in my life”
A New Jersey town allegedly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to silence a whistleblower who came forward with secret recordings of local officials, including the mayor and police chief, using racial slurs.According to, Antonio Manata, a former police lieutenant, recorded several Clark Township officials using racial slurs and making derogatory statements, then threatened to file a lawsuit exposing them.
In another recorded conversation from 2019, Clark Police Chief Pedro Matos spoke about reopening a bias crimes investigation into the high school incident.In another recording, Internal Affairs Sgt. Joseph Teston allegedly said a Black suspect’s mugshot reminded him of a National Geographic photo and said he had a “big [expletive] monkey head.”
“As far as female cops go, I hope there is never any, but I can only take care while I’m here,” Bonaccorso once said, according Manata’s draft lawsuit which was never filed but was obtained by NJ.com. “They are all [expletive] disasters that I’ve seen.”He denied to NJ.com that he’d ever used racial slurs but also refused to listen to the audio obtained by the outlet to confirm it was his voice.
In a settlement with Manata in early 2020, Clark officials allegedly agreed to keep him on the police department’s payroll for two years—without working—until he could retire as captain. He was also paid a lump sum plus legal fees totaling $400,000. In exchange, Manata handed the recordings over to town officials and agreed not to file his draft lawsuit. The town also signed a document denying the allegations.
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