Word: wiretap
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Knebel sets out alone into the well-trampled shrubbery of Washington. That way lies, literally, madness. President Mark Hollenbach, after three brilliant years in the White House, begins to develop some peculiar ideas. Convinced that a mysterious "they" are out to get him, he wants to throw an F.B.I, wiretap on every single telephone conversation in the U.S., to be taped and stored in computers, so he can spot conspiracies against himself. He conceives of a grand union of the U.S. with Canada and Scandinavia, whose first President will be, of course, Hollenbach, who will then seize the rest...
...diverts some of the current flowing in the wire of a telephone. No direct connection with the wires is needed; a small induction coil placed ,beside them repeats fluctuations of the current, which an amplifier and earphones turn into intelligible sounds. Though highly sophisticated and still widely used, the wiretap has one big practical drawback. It has to have a wire leading to the investigator or his tape recorder, thus risking his detection by a trained countersnooper...
Thinking of Themselves. No one seemed certain just what Valachi's appearance before the committee might gain. Bobby spoke about new wiretap laws and extending immunity from prosecution for racketeers who cooperate with the Justice Department. McClellan said vaguely that he had in mind some kind of law to "prohibit membership in such a criminal and secret organization as Cosa Nostra." And Joe Valachi thought organized crime should probably be outlawed-largely because "the bosses been thinking only of themselves for years...
Protest & Veto. To succeed O'Donoghue, Judge Letts appointed former FBI Agent Terence F. McShane. 33. Naturally, Hoffa protested. Reason: trim, handsome Terry McShane had investigated Hoffa for the FBI in 1957, twice testified against him in the wiretap case. Fortnight ago. splitting 2 to 1 in favor of Hoffa, the U.S. Appeals Court in Washington bounced McShane, ruled that either the Teamsters or the insurgents could block any appointee for the chairmanship on "reasonable grounds...
...resign. When he declined, Judge Letts fired him. ("You have been disappointing to the court in your failure to recognize your responsibilities and duties.") As Smith's successor, Judge Letts appointed a former FBI man: Bronx-born Terence F. McShane, 32, a federal agent in the 1956 Hoffa wiretap case who later conducted an investigation of the secretary-treasurer of Hoffa's home Local 299 in Detroit. That done, Judge Letts was ready to proceed with the showdown trial late this month of the monitors' civil suit against Hoffa on charges that he misused...