[3] A brother, David Crabiel, was a longtime member of the Middlesex County Board of Freeholders and twice a candidate for Congress.
He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where, as a member of the 70th Naval Construction Battalion attached to the Amphibious Corps, he was part of the Battle of Okinawa.
[4] In 1965 after the U.S. Supreme Court, in Reynolds v. Sims (more commonly known as One Man, One Vote), required redistricting by state legislatures for congressional districts to keep represented populations equal, as well as requiring both houses of state legislatures to have districts drawn that contained roughly equal populations, and to perform redistricting when needed.
Crabiel was elected to the state senate in 1965, running on an at-large ticket with incumbent John A. Lynch Sr. in the new 7th Legislative District.
[4] On December 13, 1972, Crabiel announced that he would be a candidate for the 1973 Democratic nomination for Governor of New Jersey, seeking to challenge the Republican incumbent, William T. Cahill.
"[9] He became the second Democrat to enter the race, following former Assemblyman Vito Albanese (D-Bergen), who supported the legalization of marijuana and advocated an end to New Jersey's prohibition of abortion.
Coffee (D-Mercer), former Senate Majority Leader John A. Waddington (D-Salem), and Assemblywoman Ann Klein (D-Morris).
[10] With liberals intent on nominating a gubernatorial candidate who was not a pawn of Democratic party bosses, by the end of January 1973 there was talk that Superior Court Judge Brendan Byrne was being asked to run.
Crabiel complained that it was too late for him to seek a fourth term in the state senate; his hand-picked successor, Edison Mayor Bernard J. Dwyer, was already in the race and the filing deadline had passed.
"[16] Crabiel immediately held a news conference professing his innocence, but he quickly became a political liability to Byrne.
Crabiel resigned in July 1977—just after staying long enough to qualify for his full state pension—while Byrne was seeking re-election and running well behind the Republican nominee, Raymond Bateman.
[19] Crabiel died on June 19, 1992, at St. Peter's Medical Center in New Brunswick, where he had been admitted two weeks earlier after complaining of muscle disease.