Word: biaggi
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...continuing fraud cases that shuffled across front pages last week. In virtually every one of half a dozen scams, members of the public had been fleeced by names they thought they could trust, ranging from the Hertz rental- car company to New York City's senior Congressman, Mario Biaggi...
...Mario Biaggi, a Bronx Democrat who has served for 20 years in Congress, was convicted of 15 felony counts for his part in the Wedtech scandal. The federal jury found Biaggi guilty of extorting $1.8 million in Wedtech stock and $50,000 in cash in return for his influence in getting federal military contracts for the Bronx-based manufacturing company. The day after the conviction Biaggi tearfully resigned his seat in Congress...
...Biaggi, 70, who was once one of New York City's most decorated police officers, professed his innocence and plans to appeal the conviction. Said he: "Not a single penny, gift, trip, not a share of stock, ever came to me." But the jury apparently took the word of four former Wedtech executives who testified against Biaggi. In a separate case, Biaggi was sentenced last year to 30 months in prison for obstructing justice and accepting a free trip to Florida as a payoff for his assistance to a Brooklyn shipyard...
...This is the only way we have available to meet that objective," said Rep. Mario Biaggi (D-N.Y.). "We should thank God the situation has developed that permits this," he said...
Prosecutors claim that Biaggi received $3.6 million in Wedtech stock after threatening to undermine the SBA's support for the company. Among those indicted was a former SBA regional administrator who is alleged to have approved a sham arrangement masking the fact that Wedtech no longer had majority Hispanic ownership. "If Wedtech was the proverbial American success story," said U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani, "these charges raise serious questions about the way we practice politics and conduct business in the city, state and nation...