Mayor Donald ‘Big Tookie’ Shaw shanks Anthony Esposito as ‘Dirty Denise’ Wilkinson vilifies resident Bob Sumner

What follows is not a scene from a grim novel or a satirical play, but witness accounts according to numerous citizens who see it as the regular business of governance in Roselle, New Jersey.

The council chamber in Borough Hall—meant for calm deliberation of the public’s interests—has been described by those who attend as something more like a prison yard where the inmates have taken control.

The latest chapter unfolded Wednesday night. Residents and taxpayers seeking a safe and affordable community arrived to voice concerns, but they were met, as they often are, with what many describe as a climate of threat and harassment.

At the center of this circus is Mayor Donald ‘Big Tookie’ Shaw, whose tenure—long shadowed by allegations of fraudulent jobs and family kickbacks—is now defined, critics say, by conduct unacceptable in any public forum.

“Going to a Borough Council meeting in Roselle is like visiting a prison where the inmates have taken over the asylum,” said one observer. “Citizens who attend the meetings and speak at the microphone are regularly threatened, harassed, and disrespected by Donald ‘Big Tookie’ Shaw, like he has money missing in his commissary, and they are the reason.”

The primary target Wednesday evening was Anthony Esposito, a longtime community activist. His offense, witnesses say, was asking a simple question: why was the mayor arranging consulting contracts that appeared to funnel money to his own family?

According to those present, the mayor responded with epithets and racial slurs, culminating in a physical confrontation after the meeting.

“Mayor Shaw confronted Esposito with epithets and racial slurs and then, after the meeting, accosted him physically,” said one witness. “Many of us left fearing what might have occurred had Shaw gotten closer. I believed he would have shanked Mr. Esposito if he could have.”

Another observer placed the incident in a broader context.

“The problem with this mayor is that he spent time in Rikers Island for dealing heroin and can’t shake his old prison behavior, so he acts like a criminal who believes he can get away with anything,” the observer said. “He clearly no longer lives in Roselle, has thousands of dollars in E-ZPass violations, and lied on his application to get a recreation job in Roselle working with children, concealing his background.”

Despite these allegations, Shaw continues to preside over borough meetings while holding a full-time $80,000 position with the Union County Department of Parks and Recreation.

He is not alone on the dais.

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Supporting the mayor is Denise Wilkinson, who holds a town job that, they allege, was crafted solely for her.

“Denise Wilkerson is known in the streets as ‘Dirty Denise’ since she will do anything for money or a title,” said a member of the Democratic Committee who attended the meeting. “She was hired to a position only she was allowed to apply for, for which she set the salary, and which did not exist until she created it. At last night’s council meeting, it was clear she has no real duties or job function for the title.”

Voters rejected her, but dope dealing Roselle mayor gives Wilkerson $130K plum job

During the meeting, Wilkinson mounted a vigorous defense of the mayor’s alleged familial kickbacks and turned her fire on Bob Sumner, a lifelong resident and respected promoter who has donated his time and expertise to Roselle for years.

Wilkinson attacked Sumner by publicly exposing invoices for his services—widely regarded as valuable—in an act critics saw as an attempt to silence a successful businessman and activist who questioned the significant conflict of interest hidden in a $9000 contract awarded to a fly-by-night company established by Shaw’s daughter.

Residents say this is the daily reality in Roselle.

They watch as Wilkinson and her three reliable council votes—Isabel Sosa, Cindy Thomas, and Rosie McCarron, dubbed “the Dirty Three”—rubber-stamp proposals regardless of cost to taxpayers.

A town government is not a fiefdom. A public meeting is not a prison block. The people of Roselle are not inmates—they are citizens.

And the growing testimony from Borough Hall suggests that those entrusted with the keys may be the ones who have locked democracy out.