Word: weinberg
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...anything in return. One of the defense lawyers, Richard Ben-Veniste, a former Watergate prosecutor, told the jurors: "Keep in mind the only thing that was ever done was to take the fat Arab's money." The defense lawyers insist that their clients were innocent dupes of Weinberg. They claim that he set up the meetings between their clients and the bogus Arabs, coached the defendants on what to say and assured them that they would never have to deliver on their promises. Declared Ben-Veniste: "This man is ABSCAM...
...video tapes and sound recordings of agents' meetings with the defendants, the Brooklyn courtroom looks like a NASA tracking station, with ten television monitors, four loudspeakers and a control panel in the center of the room. The evidence flickers before the jurors, each of whom wears headphones. Weinberg's face never appears on the screens, but his thick Brooklyn accent is heard frequently...
...squeeze even more money from the pseudo Arabs. The trio arranged for a Philadelphia lawyer, Ellis Cook, to impersonate Mario Noto, then deputy commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and demand a bribe for himself. But Cook's memory apparently failed him at the critical moment. Weinberg asked his name. "Nopo," replied Cook. "Nopo?" asked Weinberg in disbelief. "Yeah, Nopo," said Cook. "N-o-p-o. "Suspecting an impostor, Weinberg ordered Cook to leave. As the tape was shown, laughter rippled through the courtroom; even Judge George Pratt cracked a smile...
...attempt to demonstrate that their clients were only following Weinberg's "script," the defense lawyers played a tape recording of Weinberg supposedly coaching Democratic Senator Harrison Williams of New Jersey in June 1979 for a meeting with an undercover agent. Williams, who has not been indicted, has acknowledged that he met with Weinberg and the pseudo Arab, but has denied doing anything illegal. On the tape, Weinberg urged, "You gotta tell him how important you are. You tell him in no uncertain terms: 'Without me there is no deal...
Though the tape seemed to show that Weinberg leaned heavily on Williams, the defense lawyers are finding it hard to show that the same possibly improper pressure was applied to their clients. In cross-examining Weinberg, however, they did succeed in shaking his credibility as a witness by demonstrating that he is a con man with unsurpassed chutzpah. Asked if he swindled an uncle out of $50,000, Weinberg quickly denied it. He then added: "It was a cousin." He admitted he received $3,000 a month from the FBI for his services, plus perquisites like limousines and champagne...