Atlantic City Mayor Is Corrupt, So Says Atlantic Club Developer

Posted on: January 19, 2025, 12:14h. 

Last updated on: January 19, 2025, 12:14h.

Marty Small Sr., the embattled Democratic mayor of Atlantic City who is facing child endangerment and witness tampering charges in state court, is also corrupt. That’s according to a real estate developer who has been trying to revitalize the long-shuttered Atlantic Club for years.

Atlantic City Marty Small Atlantic Club
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small has stalled a redevelopment of the closed Atlantic Club. That’s according to the real estate developer behind the Boardwalk project. (Image: Getty)

Rocco Sebastiani and his Colosseo Development Group acquired the former casino hotel on the Boardwalk in late 2020 just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Two years later, Sebastiani says he began filing applications with the city to overhaul the property that Steve Wynn opened in December 1980 at the Golden Nugget.

Speaking with WPG Talk Radio’s Harry Hurley, who worked for almost a decade at the casino before pivoting to broadcasting in 1991, Sebastiani alleges Small and his administration are corrupt. He says the city has been unwilling to issue him a permit for the project for more than two years.

The corruption under Marty Small kept my project suppressed. I was told by many city guys that if I sat with the mayor and Anthony Cox, I would get my permit quickly. I chose not to pay to play,” Sebastiani said.

Cox has overseen the Atlantic City Division of Construction for almost three decades. 

State Control

Sebastiani says he has since successfully bypassed the local red tape by appealing his project to the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA). The DCA provides administrative guidance and technical assistance to local governments, community development organizations, and businesses.

With Atlantic City’s governances remaining under state control, a takeover that was initiated in 2010, Sebastiani told Hurley that he’s being allowed to proceed with his Atlantic City redevelopment without local approvals. The Atlantic Club has been closed since January 2014.

Sebastiani says he plans to sell 108 luxury condominiums at $2 million each and renovate the other rooms into a Hyatt or Hilton-branded hotel.

New York-based Colosseo expects the undertaking to take two years. Along with the private residences and 330 hotel rooms, the project additionally includes 250K square feet of food and beverage space, an indoor swimming pool, and an outdoor sun deck on the hotel’s third floor overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Corrupt in AC 

Though Sebastiani didn’t present evidence proving Small is corrupt, it certainly isn’t the first time that the mayor in the gaming capital of the East Coast faced such scrutiny.

Since 1970, four mayors in Atlantic City have been arrested on corruption charges. The charges ranged from intimidation and bribery to theft.

Small’s predecessor, Frank Gilliam, was one of the four. In December 2018, Gilliam’s home was raided by the FBI. Ten months later, Gilliam, a Democrat, pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges and admitted to stealing $86K from a youth basketball organization he founded called the Atlantic City Starz.

Gilliam was sentenced to one month in prison and 11 months of home confinement. He was also ordered to pay restitution to his victims of $86,790 and perform 200 hours of community service.

Prosecutors said Gilliam used the money on luxury clothing, expensive meals, and costly trips that were “completely unrelated to the operation of a youth basketball team.”

Before the FBI raid, in November 2018, Gilliam was involved in a physical altercation outside the Golden Nugget. Surveillance video showed Gilliam exchanging punches with a man. No charges were filed in the early morning hours incident.