McGreevey made New Jersey a laugh riot......but the best political corruption story was the Arizona case----when conniving pols willingly got sucked into the trap to rig the legislative system for money .....all caught on tape. It was all recorded in a hiliarious book: "What's in It for Me?"
When it broke early in 1991, the scandal resulting from the government sting known as AzScam exposed the sewer of corruption and blind ambition that is Arizona politics. What's in It for Me? is the astonishing, often hilarious inside story of what AzScam revealed and how it worked, chronicled by the remarkable man who made it work.
Working with the Phoenix District Attorney's office, JOSEPH STEDINO set up Operation "Desert Sting." Stedino, a gruffly suave ex-Mafia crony and Las Vegas talk show host, became Tony Vincent, a flashy, freespending Mafia capo looking to ensure the passage of a bill to legalize gambling in Arizona.
As word of Vincent's willingness to buy votes spread among Arizona politicians, they eagerly lined up to have him grease their palms. Some he bought for as little as $600. Others, like Representative Don Kenney, the conservative Mormon chairman of the Arizona House Judiciary Committee, exacted over $50,000 in bribes. Over seventeen months, Vincent doled out a total of more than $300,000 in bribes, while police and prosecutors recorded it all on tape, ensuring that this sting would be one of the most successful ever.
Ultimately, twenty legislators, lobbyists, and political insiders would be indicted as a result of Desert Sting. What's in It for Me? offers a panoramic view of every
conceivable type of political chicanery. In these pages we witness:
-- legislators jockeying for the seats that will give them the most revealing views of their female colleagues
-- a lobbyist requesting that Vincent rub out a competing lobbyist
-- a former sheriff offering his services as a hit man
-- lobbyists peddling "studies" whose results are tailored to clients' specifications by members of the Arizona State University faculty
-- and countless more examples of how politics in Arizona -- and the rest of this country -- really works.
--- One 35-ish female pol was caught on tape saying---unasked--- that she was sexually attracted to young boys.
Picking up where the national headlines left off, What's in It for Me?; is true crime on a colossal scale, a taut, funny, and endlessly fascinating tale of shameless villainy Western-style.
This scam probably wouldn't work in New Jersey snce all the legislators, agency appointees, their lobbyist pals, contributors and developers, are members of elected organized crime.