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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/954479/posts
Scamlord (abscam)

Abcam
On February 3, 1980, the Philadelphia Inquirer and other newspapers revealed details about a secret two-year FBI sting operation code-named "Abscam." By 1984, four members of the U.S. House of Representatives and one U.S. Senator had been convicted of bribery and conspiracy charges. It was the biggest scandal to hit Washington since Watergate though it is largely forgotten today. Why is that? Because neither party has an incentive to bring it up.

What was Abscam?
The name "Abscam" is derived from the fictitious company the FBI set up - Abdul Enterprises - to lure various public officials into accepting bribes.

On September 19, 1978, the FBI - via another fictitious company named "Olympic Construction Corp." - rented a house in Washington D.C. from, ironically enough, a Washington Post reporter named Lee Lescaze. According to an article Lescaze wrote in 1997 for the Post, "the FBI knew that I was a newspaper reporter and apparently didn't care." He also said that "The FBI is a good tenant. It pays the rent on time."

The house - along with a yacht in Florida and hotel rooms in Pennsylvania and New Jersey - was used to set up meetings between various public officials and a mysterious Arab sheik named Abdul who wanted:

To purchase asylum in the U.S.
To involve them in an investment scheme
To get help in getting his money out of his country
FBI agents posing as associates of Abdul approached various public officials with Abdul's goals and how they could help to achieve them. The FBI secretly videotaped each meeting and had no trouble finding politicians willing to abuse their office in exchange for bribes. Despite the convictions, the FBI itself became a target as politicians who were not caught soon realized how easily they could have been.

Rep. Richard Kelly of Florida is notorious for a January 8, 1980 videotape showing him stuffing $25,000 worth of bribes in his pockets and then turning to one of the agents and saying "Does it show?" Kelly was lucky enough to encounter a judge sympathetic to the entrapment excuse and, sadly, his conviction was overturned.

Angelo Errichetti was not as lucky. In 1981, New Jersey State Senator Errichetti was sentenced to six years in prison and fined $40,000 for his involvement in Abscam.

Representative Frank Thompson (D-N.J.), used $24,000 of campaign funds for his legal fees related to his Abscam trial. This was actually legal at the time but showed in the minds of many just how unethical some of these "entrapped" defendants were.

On May 1, 1981, Senator Williams was convicted and on March 11, 1982, Senator Williams of New Jersey resigned rather than have his colleagues vote him out.

One of the Abscam figures was quoted on one of the videotapes as claiming that then Hempstead Town Supervisor Al D'Amato was "definitely taking contributions -- he's on the take." D'Amato - who would be no stranger to scandal over the coming decades - later became a three-term Senator for the state of New York. Ironically, he held investigations into the Whitewater affair in the mid-90s.

Abscam Aftermath
Although a repeat of Abscam would doubtless net dozens if not hundreds of convictions today, don't expect the Justice Department or the FBI to conduct such a sting operation ever again. The political appointees to Justice are well aware their party faithful were not amused by Abscam. For a brief moment in our nations history starting with Watergate and ending with Abscam, the American people learned what scoundrels their elected officials were. One can only hope that future generations will recognize this.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1453849/posts

Sen. Torricelli Played Key Role in Closing Down CIA Ops
NewsMax ^ | BACKSTORY 9/17/01 | Wes Vernon

Posted on 07/30/2005 2:36:27 PM EDT by Liz

WASHINGTON - Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., led congressional efforts in the mid-1990s that handcuffed the CIA's abilities to recruit spies - a key policy that helped allow the attacks of Sept. 11 to take place with no intelligence warnings. Current and former CIA operatives say that Clinton administration policies, which forbade the CIA from recruiting known terrorists and other criminals, left the U.S. government bereft of all intelligence about such terrorist groups.

In 1995, then-Rep. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., made secrets public at the behest of left-wing activist Bianca Jagger, his girlfriend at the time, according to Newark Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine in the January/February issue of Heterodoxy.

The secrets suggested that the CIA had on its payroll one or more unsavory characters who had been involved in murder.

Torricelli gave away secrets he obtained through his membership on the House Intelligence Committee.

(snip)

From a blogged Tony Snow interview:

Tony Schaffer: "CIA was against it for professional jealousy, said that if the operation 'cutting off the tentacles worked, that'd steal the CIA's thunder.'"

http://therevolutionwillbeblogged.blogspot.com/2005/08/able-danger-interview.html

This seems to confirm that they were working on the same information, but separately:

What is interesting about this information now is that a CIA team, working separately from the Able Danger Team, had set its sights on al-Mihdar and al-Hazmi. The two were already on a CIA terror watch list and still had managed to obtain U.S. visas.

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyNjMmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY3NDQ2OTMmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk5

Thanks ravingnutter!

Rep. Michael J. Myers (PA) (1980) H. REP. NO. 96-1387, 96^th Cong., 2d Sess. (1980)	Convicted of bribery, conspiracy and Travel Act violations (Aug. 30, 1980)	Preliminary inquiry voted (Sept. 3, 1980); Special Counsel hired; adopted SAV (Sept. 16, 1980); recommended expulsion, 10-2 (Sept. 24, 1980)	Resolutions to investigate (Oct. 2, 1980 and March 4, 1981); expelled, 376-30 (Oct. 2, 1980)	ABSCAM Investigation; SAV charged violations of House R. 43(1), House R. 43(2), and House R. 43(3)
Rep. John Jenrette, Jr. (SC) (1980) H. REP. NO. 96-1537, 96^th Cong., 2d Sess. (1980)	Convicted of bribery and conspiracy (Oct. 7, 1980); accepted money in return for promising to use official influence [H. R. 43(1)-(3)]	Preliminary inquiry voted (Nov. 13, 1980); adopted SAV (Dec. 3, 1980); sanction hearing terminated by resignation (Dec. 10, 1980); report filed (Dec. 16, 1980)	Resolutions to investigate (Oct. 2, 1980 and March 4, 1981)	ABSCAM Investigation; defeated for reelection (Nov. 1980); resigned (Dec. 10, 1980); SAV charged violations of R. 43(1)-(3)
Rep. Raymond F. Lederer (PA) (1981) H. REP. NO. 97-110, 97^th Cong., 1^st Sess. (1981)	Convicted of bribery, acceptance of an unlawful gratuity, conspiracy and Travel Act violations (Jan. 9, 1981)	Preliminary inquiry voted (March 11, 1981); adopted SAV (April 2, 1981); expulsion recommended, 10-2 (April 28, 1981); report filed (May 20, 1981)	Resolutions to investigate (Oct. 2, 1980 and March 4, 1981)	ABSCAM Investigation; resigned (Apr. 29, 1981); SAV charged violations of R. 43(1)-(3)
Rep. John Murtha (PA)(1981) H. REP. NO. 97-1004, 97^th Cong., 1^st Sess., at 6 (1983)	Bribery and conspiracy	Preliminary inquiry voted (May 28, 1981); dismissed (July 28, 1981) (Special Counsel resigned)	Resolutions to investigate (Oct. 2, 1980 and March 4, 1981)	ABSCAM Investigation; recused from ABSCAM-related investigations (member of Standards Comm.)
Rep. Frederick W. Richmond (NY) (1982) H. REP. NO. 97-1004, 97^th Cong., 1^st Sess., at 6 (1983)	Pleaded guilty to felony charge of evading federal taxes, two misdemeanors involving a government contract, and misdemeanor possession of marijuana (Aug. 25, 1982)	Preliminary inquiry voted (May 12, 1982); deferred at request of Justice Dept. ("DOJ")		Resigned (Aug. 25, 1982)

ABSCAM Investigation; defeated for reelection (Nov. 1980); resigned (Dec. 10, 1980); SAV charged violations of R. 43(1)-(3)