ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The mayor of this seaside gambling town hasn't shown up for his usual cheese steak sandwich and root beer at a local submarine shop in more than a week.
Bob Levy didn't arrive to take his seat at a City Council meeting on Wednesday, either. And when protesters gathered at City Hall on Friday demanding to know his whereabouts, the Democrat's seventh-floor office sat empty, except for aides who wandered in and out.
People here reported seeing Levy drive off in his city-issued silver Dodge Durango amid a federal investigation into his inflated account of his Army service in Vietnam and a flurry of rumors about a pending resignation. It has been 11 days since he has been seen in public.
"Nobody's heard from him," said Phillip DiGesare, 65, over lunch a few blocks from City Hall at the White House Submarine Shop, where Levy often eats. "Nobody knows where he is."
"His bodyguard is usually here every other day, and we haven't seen him in a week either," said waitress Terrie Merendino, 46. She recognizes most of the regulars who dine at the 60-year-old blue-and-white corner shop across from Caesars casino and Trump Plaza.
For longtime residents of this city of 40,500, Levy's vanishing act hardly rouses more than a chuckle or a head shake. Four of the last eight mayors have been arrested. One-third of last year's nine-member City Council is in prison or under house arrest. Former Council President Craig Callaway is in federal prison for taking bribes in office.
Councilman John J. Schultz is charged with helping frame another councilman, Eugene Robinson, who was allegedly lured to a hotel room and videotaped having sex with a prostitute. Councilman Timothy Mancuso is charged with driving while intoxicated -- behind the wheel of a city car, across the boardwalk and onto the beach in the middle of the night. Schultz, Robinson and Mancuso still serve on the council.
It's not the first time Levy, who took office early last year, has dropped out of the public eye. People here say he has been a mostly invisible leader, taking periodic sick leaves and frequently failing to show up at his office. On Friday, Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine held a news conference asking Atty. Gen. Anne Milgram to look into whether Levy had abandoned his office.
According to the mayor's staff, Levy is in the hospital and his car is parked in the city lot. But a local newspaper reported the car gone last week.
