Posted on 04/18/2007 7:43:25 AM PDT by SmithL
They were fast friends. John Ford and L.C. McNeil shopped together, vacationed together and shared financial tips and news bits -- even shared girlfriends.
"What's mine is yours,'' Ford told his pal when offering him a date with one of his longtime girlfriends.
But Ford was duped. McNeil isn't real -- he was a character played by an undercover FBI agent investigating Ford, then a state senator, in a corruption probe.
Over parts of two weeks, that agent and Ford have stared at one another -- the agent on the witness stand and the Memphis Democrat in a defendant's chair -- during Ford's federal bribery trial.
Testifying under his code name, agent McNeil has become the star witness against Ford, 64, who's accused of taking $55,000 in bribes in the Tennessee Waltz undercover sting.
And for the last two days it's been McNeil who's been on trial. Under cross examination, defense lawyer Michael Scholl has tried to portray the 11-year FBI veteran as a lying, overzealous and at times frightening agent.
"You were building up his trust weren't you?'' Scholl asked Tuesday during one testy exchange as he tried to convince jurors Ford was a legitimate business consultant entrapped in the Waltz sting.
McNeil seldom yielded any ground, including when Scholl asked the agent if he knew Ford was a consultant who was paid to provide business advice.
"I know he was a state legislator who accepted money for legislation,'' McNeil answered as Ford turned away and shook his head.
The bald and solidly built agent has been on the stand for four days now as prosecutors and the defense wage a war of tapes. Together, both sides have played more than 100 undercover tapes in trying to prove their cases. The vast majority of those video and audio tapes involve one-on-one conversations between Ford and McNeil.
Those tapes show that while initially cautious, Ford came to trust McNeil, a onetime Los Angeles police officer and minister who studied at Oral Roberts University before joining the FBI in 1996. McNeil specializes in undercover operations and teaches a course on it to other agents.
Testimony in the trial shows another undercover agent, who is white, was assigned to track the Waltz's East Tennessee leads, while McNeil, who is black, took Memphis, where Ford and other African-American politicians became subjects of the probe.
McNeil has a cover story -- he was a successful music and movie score producer -- and he refers to others on tapes as "cat,'' and "doctor,'' and signs off on phone calls with a word -- peace.
According to his cover story, McNeil has diversified as the co-owner of a computer recycling firm, E-Cycle Mangement. The firm was seeking government contracts, and McNeil finds Ford to be the perfect foil.
Their mutual interest in women and the good life drew them close. On tapes they go shopping for clothes and luxury automobiles, and spend time together in Miami, where Ford allegedly took a $5,000 payment for pushing legislation to help E-Cycle.
Like a couple of fraternity brothers, they engage in regular banter over the phone.
"Hey, hey,'' Ford tells McNeil in a Dec. 13, 2004, phone call as they finalize plans for a second Miami trip. "Line us up with some fine bitches down there.''
Appearing to be in his late 30s, the handsome, mostly expressionless agent speaks from the stand in a soft, deliberate tone that's been difficult to shake.
Trying to show the lengths the FBI went to make its case against Ford, defense lawyer Scholl played 30 or more tapes Wednesday and then peppered McNeil with questions.
Scholl asked pointedly at one point why McNeil took Ford to an expensive Miami nightclub, Crowbar's, and set him up in a VIP room.
"Senator Ford considered himself a VIP,'' the agent replied.
"You guys were making him a VIP," Sholl shot back.
"No," McNeil said, standing his ground, "he considered himself one before he came down to Miami.''
It is comforting to know that at least one guy with the FBI has the guts to root out corruption. We need a bunch more like this agent is.
I scanned the article and found no mention of party affiliation for Senator Ford.
I guess that means he is a ‘rat?
Mrs Ford...please pick up the courtesy phone
All Memphis Fords are rats, as are all the dead people that vote for them.
4th line says he’s a Memphis Democrat
Democrat Harold Ford Jr.’s uncle.
Thanks everyone. More coffee for me - apparently I’m not awake yet.
That’s OK. It is really rare that the dems are actually identified.
I hope they nail this scum bag. I have lived in middle TN for 20 years and have heard enough of his (fill in the blank) to last me a life time.
The only thing that worries me about Thompson is his Tennessee affiliation. It’s not just the Dems, either, Howard Baker, Bill Frist and Lamar “The Shirt” Alexander just struck me as being worse than the people they represented. Elk, you can probably add to the list.
that will not be a problem. Ford has (i believe) 3 homes he keeps women that he has children with. All well known and above board. I don't believe he is married. Some of this came out a year or so ago when the state was considering some changes in child support laws, and he was working feverishly to stop it.
It’s in there but very subtle: Democrat!
MEMPHIS democrat.
He’s a MemDem.
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