Abscam


Abscam, sometimes written ABSCAM, was a Federal Bureau of Investigation sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the convictions of seven members from both chambers of the United States Congress and others for bribery and corruption. The two-year investigation initially targeted trafficking in stolen property and corruption of prominent business people, but later evolved into a corruption investigation. The FBI was aided by the United States Department of Justice and convict Mel Weinberg in videotaping politicians accepting bribes from a fictitious Arabian company in return for various political favors.
More than 30 political figures were investigated, and six members of the United States House of Representatives and one member of the United States Senate were convicted. One member of the New Jersey State Senate, members of the Philadelphia City Council, the Mayor of Camden, New Jersey, and an inspector for the Immigration and Naturalization Service were also convicted. The operation was directed from the FBI's office in Hauppauge, New York, on Long Island, and was conducted under the supervision of Assistant Director Neil Welch, who headed the bureau's New York division, and Thomas P. Puccio, head of the Justice Department's United States Organized Crime Strike Force for the Eastern District of New York.
"Abscam" was the FBI codename for the operation, which law enforcement authorities said was a contraction of "Arab scam". The American-Arab Relations Committee made complaints. Hence, officials revised the source of the contraction to "Abdul scam" after the name of its fictitious company.

Operation

In March 1978, John F. Good of the FBI's office in suburban Long Island created and oversaw a sting operation called "Abscam", which was initially intended to investigate theft, forgery, and stolen art. The FBI employed Melvin Weinberg, a convicted swindler, international con artist and informant, and his girlfriend, Evelyn Knight, to help plan and conduct the operation. At that time they were facing a prison sentence and, in exchange for their help, the FBI agreed to let them out on probation. Weinberg, supervised by the FBI, created a fake company called Abdul Enterprises in which FBI employees posed as fictional Arab sheikhs led by owners Kambir Abdul Rahman and Yassir Habib, who had millions of dollars to invest in the United States. Weinberg instructed the FBI to fund a $1 million account with the Chase Manhattan Bank in the name of Abdul Enterprises, giving the company the credibility it needed to further its operation.
When a forger under investigation suggested to the sheikhs that they invest in casinos in New Jersey and that licensing could be obtained for a price, the Abscam operation was re-targeted toward political corruption. Each member of Congress who was approached would be given a large sum of money in exchange for "private immigration bills" to allow foreigners associated with Abdul Enterprises into the country and for building permits and licenses for casinos in Atlantic City, among other investment arrangements. Among the casino projects involved were the Ritz-Carlton Atlantic City, the Dunes Hotel and Casino, the Penthouse Boardwalk Hotel and Casino, and the sheikh's fictional casino. The first political figure to participate in the phony investment scheme was Camden mayor Angelo Errichetti. In exchange for monetary kickbacks, Errichetti told the sheikhs' representatives, "I'll give you Atlantic City." Errichetti helped to recruit several government officials and United States members of Congress who were willing to grant political favors in exchange for monetary bribes.
The FBI recorded each money exchange and, for the first time in American history, surreptitiously videotaped government officials accepting bribes. The meeting places included a house owned by Lee Lescaze in the Foxhall neighborhood of Washington, D.C., a yacht in Florida, and hotel rooms in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Each convicted politician was given a separate trial. During these trials, much controversy arose regarding the ethics of Operation Abscam. Many lawyers defending their clients accused the FBI of entrapment. Though some judges concurred, appeals eventually overruled this claim and each politician was convicted.

Convictions

Of the 31 targeted officials, the following members of Congress were convicted of bribery and conspiracy in 1981:
Five other government officials were convicted, including
, mayor of Camden, New Jersey, was the first government official to be caught in Operation Abscam. Errichetti first accepted the bribe in exchange for obtaining a casino license in Atlantic City for Abdul Enterprises. He then introduced Abdul to Senator Harrison Williams, who also took the bait. Errichetti also introduced Michael Myers and Raymond Lederer to the company and arranged meetings with the undercover agents. He also introduced the "Arab businessmen" to Frank Thompson Jr. By the middle of 1979, Errichetti had arranged meetings with a list of state and federal politicians willing to go in on the operation. The FBI set up video cameras in a hotel suite near New York's John F. Kennedy Airport to record the transactions between the undercover agents and Errichetti. He was convicted on the federal bribery charges, for which he served about three years in prison.

Harrison A. Williams

Senator Harrison A. Williams was indicted on October 30, 1980, and convicted on May 1, 1981, on nine counts of bribery and conspiracy to use his office to aid in business ventures. Williams repeatedly met with the FBI agents and had worked out a deal where he would become involved in a titanium mining operation by way of having 18% of the company's shares issued to his lawyer, Alexander Feinberg. Williams then promised to steer government contracts to the venture by using his position in the Senate.
At his trial, lawyers for Williams argued that he had not been bribed because the stock in the titanium mining company was worthless. Other defenses attempting to have the charges dismissed included that he was a victim of selective prosecution by the Justice Department because he had supported the presidential bid of Ted Kennedy over Jimmy Carter in the Democratic primary. These premises were not accepted by the jury, who convicted Williams after 28 hours of deliberation on May 1, 1981. Later appeals made by Williams included arguments that a main prosecution witness had perjured himself and that Williams had been a victim of entrapment. The guilty verdict was upheld, and Williams was sentenced to three years in prison.
Because of the convictions, the Senate Ethics Committee voted to censure Williams and put a motion to the floor to expel him for charges of bringing dishonor upon the Senate and his "ethically repugnant behavior". Supporters of Williams moved that the censure was enough and that the expulsion was unnecessary. The Senate voted to censure Williams, but before the vote on his expulsion could occur, Williams resigned his seat. In his resignation speech, Williams proclaimed his innocence. He argued that the investigation into his activities was a grievous assault on the rights of the Senate and that other senators should be wary of unchecked investigations into their activities by other branches of the government.
Williams served two years of his three-year sentence at a federal penitentiary in Newark, New Jersey. He served the remainder of his term at the Integrity House halfway house, where he later became a board of directors member until his death by cancer on November 17, 2001. He also attempted to receive a presidential pardon from President Bill Clinton, but his request was denied. Williams was the first Senator to be imprisoned in almost 80 years, and, had the expulsion motion been approved, would have been the first Senator to be expelled from the Senate since the Civil War.
Linguistics expert Roger Shuy is convinced of Williams' innocence. In a recording of Williams' encounter with an agent disguised as a sheikh, "At one point, the sheikh put the bribe directly to Williams: 'I would like to give some money for, for permanent residence.' The first four words of Williams' reply were 'No, no, no, no. A prosecution memo at the time stated that there was no case against Williams but the judge, who in his ruling decried "the cynicism and hypocrisy of corrupt government officials", set it aside. After the trial, the lead juror said that had he known all the facts, he would not have found Williams guilty.

Frank Thompson

was a member of the House from Trenton, New Jersey, who was indicted and convicted of accepting a bribe from an FBI agent posing as an Arab sheikh. Thompson was offered money in exchange for helping the Arabs overcome certain immigration laws. Well-liked by his constituents, he was the longest-serving member of Congress convicted in Operation Abscam.
Thompson abstained on the vote to expel Representative Myers, the first Congressman to be indicted. While most of the politicians resigned, Myers was expelled from the House, and Williams did not resign until the vote on his expulsion was almost to take place. Thompson himself was not expelled from the House of Representatives because he lost his re-election campaign in 1980 to Republican Chris Smith, a relatively unknown candidate who in 1978 had run against Thompson as a sacrificial lamb candidate. Smith won the 1980 election by a margin of 20,000 votes. On December 29, 1980, Thompson resigned his seat in the US House of Representatives. Smith has continuously represented Thompson's former district through the 119th United States Congress.
On December 2, 1980, Thompson was indicted on bribery charges. Thompson spent $24,000 of campaign funds fighting the charges and appealing his conviction on grounds of entrapment. Thompson was convicted of bribery and conspiracy charges and sentenced to three years in prison, starting in 1983. He served two years before being released and worked as a consultant in Washington until he died in 1989.