Gold Bar Bob: The Downfall of the Most Corrupt US Senator

by Isabel Vincent, Thomas Jason Anderson

"American politics at its sleaziest."—Publishers Weekly

Power corrupts, and in the case of New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, power—and boatloads of money—corrupted absolutely and led to the downfall of the Democratic Party.

Senator Bob Menendez stands alone as the most corrupt US Senator in history. After corruption charges were dropped in a 2017 mistrial, he may have considered himself invincible. But when the Feds raided his home in June 2022, they found a gifted Mercedes Benz, more than $600,000 in cash, and thirteen gold bars stuffed in envelopes, clothes, and closets. It was an outrageous haul for a man who styled himself as a fierce anti-corruption crusader, an ambitious Democrat who overthrew his mob-connected predecessor and rose through the ranks to the House of Representatives and the Senate to serve as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

From New York Post writer Isabel Vincent and government watchdog Thomas Jason Anderson comes the unbelievable story of a vast web of lies and a stunning conviction.

Gold Bar Bob chronicles Menendez’s politicking for profit as he enriched a network that included the New Jersey mafia and businessmen from the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East. In exchange for personal and campaign contributions, Bob aided others to sway criminal prosecutions, defraud millions from Medicare, secure questionable visas, acquire government contracts and financial investments, obtain millions in firearms, and weaken Homeland Security.

While Menendez was convicted of sixteen felony counts—including bribery, extortion, fraud, acting as a foreign agent, obstruction of justice, and several counts of conspiracy—there are still many secrets to unveil. After nearly a half-century political career, the lies will finally be unraveled about his family’s origins, how his second wife may be part of his crimes, and how much he attempted to get away with.

Genres: Politics, True Crime, Nonfiction

298 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 14, 2025

About the author

Isabel Vincent (born 1965 in Toronto) is a Canadian investigative journalist who writes for the New York Post, an alumna of the University of Toronto Varsity newspaper, and the author of several books.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Thomas Lennek · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this on Goodreads and am glad I did. I had a personal interest in this story as I lived in New Jersey from 1968 to 1975-during the same period of the early parts of the Bob Menendez saga. This is an American success story of a smart kid of Cuban immigrants who recognized early the "right people" in the neighborhood to emulate, befriend and work for. In other cities it might have been low level gang & organized crime members. In Union City, NJ it was the democratic political machine. Bob Menendez entered the machine moving from appointed jobs to elected State and Federal positions culminating in the U.S. Senate. Along the way, while doing political favors for his constituents and other friends and associates he discovered he could use various methods to profit financially. These profits frequently were in the form of cash, and especially hard to trace gold bars. When Federal Agents searched his house, bundles of cash and gold bars were found in closets- hence the nickname "Gold Bar Bob." Fair warning: when you read this book, you will want to keep a note page of the names & jobs of the key players - you can't tell the players without a scorecard. Towards the end of this tale you will see many of the familiar political names and family members that we are living with today.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book in return for a review.

Gold Bar Bob follows the rise and fall of a prominent New Jersey senator. Beginning with his family's origin in Cuba, their immigration to the USA after the Cuban Revolution, his high school ambitions, rise to local Union City, NJ mayor and then NJ state house and senate, and finally reaching the US Senate, where he was a very powerful figure. Along the way, he was aided by his friendships with shady characters, who he generally threw under the bus when things got bad. As a resident of the Philadelphia suburbs, Menendez was often in the news, especially after the raids on his home where mountains of cash and gold bars were found hidden in the basement and in shoes and pockets in closets throughout his house. Written in a very readable fashion, I found this to be a very interesting and informative review of the Senator's life, rise and fall. The epilogue contained a short, partisan section that I found unnecessary and lowered my opinion to a small degree of the book, but overall worth reading.

[Relena_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very interested in this book, but there's a difference between being exhaustive and being exhausting, and the level of detail here fell toward the latter. The title implies that this will focus mostly on Menendez's downfall, but instead we start at the very, very beginning and wend our way through a deeply corrupt quagmire to slowly arrive there, at which point everything wraps up quite fast in comparison. The balance was just never quite right and the details that were initially salacious just became more of the same New Jersey mud pit over time.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC.

[LARRY FLICK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read, sometimes too much detail. and repetitive info

[Sheree · Rating 3 out of 5]

An in-depth analysis of how he functioned for most of his life. There was repetitive details but overall it’s pretty interesting. Appreciate winning this book but wouldn’t purchase it.