Word: stingingly
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...lawyer who had made big profits in real estate. When he learned of the sheik's desire to spread his vast wealth, the soft-spoken Criden was far from quiet. He passed the word to four members of Congress, all of whom succumbed to the FBI's sting...
...decided to shut the operation down on Saturday, Feb. 2. The agents knew that a number of news organizations had heard rumors about the sting and were about to break the story. They asked reporters for these organizations to hold off until some 100 agents could complete a rush of windup interviews on that Saturday...
Even as one House subcommittee announced plans to investigate the FBI'S internal ground rules for its sting operations, Director Webster expressed his belief that the FBI and Congress as a whole have compatible interests. Said he: "It's been my experience that public officials-say in Congress, for instance-want to get the rotten apples out. They're proud of what they are doing, and they are angered by anybody that is bringing discredit upon them by association...
Abscam is not the only FBI operation to lead into higher levels of political corruption. TIME learned last week that another FBI sting called Brilab, for "bribery labor," had fooled the New Orleans Mafia boss, Carlos Marcello, into believing that two FBI agents actually were insurance brokers seeking a cut of the lucrative fees that they would acquire by selling health and welfare in surance contracts for state employees in Texas and Louisiana, as well as municipal workers in Houston...
Like the mysterious stranger in Mark Twain's tale, the FBI brought a bag of gold to tempt politicians. Did those who fell for the Abscam sting have only themselves to blame or can they, like Hadleyburg, blame the stranger for leading them astray? This question lies at the heart of the uproar over the tactics used to catch public officials in the act of allegedly taking a bribe. Did they willingly commit a crime, if indeed a crime was committed, since the charges have not yet been filed? Or were they tricked into wrongdoing by a Government...