George E. Norcross III, who was indicted on Monday on charges of racketeering, has never held elected office but has wielded immense political power in New Jersey for decades.
A Democrat, he rose to prominence in Camden, N.J., after dropping out of Rutgers University in the late 1970s. His father helped him start a small insurance company in Camden and introduced him to the mayor, who appointed him to the city’s parking authority — the only government position he has ever held.
Mr. Norcross, 68, went on to become financially successful and politically potent, playing a large role in selecting New Jersey’s political leaders and influencing state policy.
For six years, from 1989 to 1995, he was chairman of Camden County’s Democratic Association, but he has continued to be largely in control of the organization since then. He served many years on the Democratic National Committee, until he was forced, in 2021, to resign after reporting showed that he had registered to vote in Florida, where he now spends much of his time.
He had alliances that often blurred the lines between the Democratic and Republican parties. For years he was both a close friend of the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and a member of former President Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club.
Mr. Norcross led the insurance division of Commerce Bank and is now chairman of Conner Strong & Buckelew, one of the nation’s largest insurance firms.
He is also chairman of the board of the Cooper Health System, Cooper University Hospital, and MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper — all based in Camden, a small South Jersey city outside Philadelphia that has long served as Mr. Norcross’s political power base.
He has three brothers, including Representative Donald Norcross, a labor leader and former state lawmaker elected to Congress in 2014, and Philip A. Norcross, the chief executive of a law firm.
Mr. Norcross’s power was threatened in January 2001, when John Gural, then a councilman in Palmyra, in Burlington County, taped Mr. Norcross pressuring him and threatening political retaliation. Mr. Norcross was never charged with wrongdoing, but a former U.S. attorney for New Jersey — Chris Christie — accused state investigators of botching the case.
Mr. Norcross and Mr. Christie, who went on to be elected governor, later became allies.
Mr. Christie would later sign legislation, the state’s Economic Opportunity Act of 2013, which had been sponsored by Donald Norcross, then a state senator.
The legislation, which led to the award of roughly $7 billion in tax incentives for companies that remained or relocated to New Jersey, became a lightning rod for criticism when Gov. Philip D. Murphy, a fellow Democrat, began running for office.
Once elected, Mr. Murphy and his chief counsel, Matthew J. Platkin initiated an investigation that exposed the program as a poorly managed boon for politically connected firms that provided few guardrails to protect the state against fraud.
Subpoenas were issued, but the investigation never led to charges.
And in December 2020, Mr. Murphy signed off on his own $14 billion economic development package designed to lure companies to New Jersey with tax breaks.