It was just another news conference, the announcement of a demolition project on the Rutgers campus. But it gave Milton Milan a chance to make an impression.

Putting on a hard hat, he fired up a backhoe and chomped the machine's metal jaws into the derelict Victor Hall building.

"Whoo," the mayor said, as TV cameras rolled. "This is a tough building."

It was Sept. 12, 1997, and Milan - who knew a thing or two about tough - had been mayor for less than three months.

Despite widespread concerns about questionable, even criminal, associations in his past, there was a sense of excitement around the brawny ex-Marine. He appeared to be the kind of guy who could get things done on behalf of a struggling city where nothing seemed to work.

"Everybody knew that he had some kind of history, but he had a way of convincing you that was in the past, that he had turned himself around, and that he could help turn Camden around," said longtime city resident Yolanda Aguilar DeNeely.

At 34, Milan was far younger and more vigorous than his predecessor, the professorial Arnold W. Webster. Unlike Webster, he was earthy, colorful and quotable. And he made history simply by taking office: He was Camden's first Hispanic mayor.

"I think people could relate to him," DeNeely said. "He had had barriers, and he had overcome them. It's like our relationship with the 76ers. Everyone was rooting for him."

Said Dave Garrison, the owner of Cartun Hardware in East Camden: "When he came into office, he had a united city behind him."

Milan's combination of street smarts and charisma made him similar to former Mayor Angelo Errichetti, said longtime Camden attorney John Lack.

"He was dynamic ... he had a great deal of energy," said Lack, who was fired by Milan from his job as counsel to the city council. "He was not educated, but he was clever. He picked up ideas quickly."

Unlike previous mayors, he had not so much been groomed by the city-county Democratic political establishment as adopted - especially after he became the front-runner.

But Milan "was not a real politician at all," said City Councilman Israel Nieves.

"Milton Milan was someone with great potential. He had an ability to influence others, and he was very assertive. But a real politician is someone who has knowledge, who has a political education, who knows how power works and can make commitments.

"Milton Milan had a big weakness," said Nieves, who ran on Milan's council slate. "He was completely unpredictable. His ego grew and grew and grew. He lost perspective. He believed he was untouchable."

Nieves said "people with other intentions" came to surround Milan, insulating him from reality as questions about his past turned into questions about his conduct as mayor.

"He was in complete denial," Nieves said. "It was sad."