Word: abscam
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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With the actors and stage sets in place, Abscam went into action. According to Justice Department sources, events unfolded as follows...
...Only big business generally ranks lower than Congress.) Until the Abscam evidence is finally evaluated in the courts-and no indictments are anticipated in less than three months-cynics can say that their suspicions have been justified: all too many legislators are heedless of the national interest and also personally corrupt...
...through the recovery of stolen goods that Abscam started. It grew out of a rather routine undercover scheme in the New York area to recover stolen securities and paintings. In return for a favorable recommendation to reduce his sentence, FBI agents persuaded Mel Weinberg, a convicted swindler, to help them get thieves to resell their loot to the FBI'S fake fences. The agents used the ruse of claiming to represent a Middle East sheik interested in purchasing the stolen goods...
...middleman expecting to be generously rewarded for his efforts by the sheik, Criden also brought Pennsylvania Democrat Raymond Lederer, 41, Pennsylvania Democrat Michael Myers, 36, and New York Democrat John Murphy, 53, into Abscam. Myers and Lederer were filmed accepting $50,000 each. Murphy, who has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, was more wary. In an almost comic scene, he sparred with Criden over who would pick up the suitcase of bribe money in a Kennedy Airport hotel; Criden lost, and walked out with the cash. Pennsylvania Democrat John Murtha, 47, went to the Washington house...
...Southern Congressmen found their way into the Abscam web through other intermediaries. South Carolina Democrat John W. Jenrette, 43, apparently was tipped...