Abscam

Not to be confused with Adscam.

Abscam (sometimes ABSCAM) was a United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sting operation run from the FBI's Hauppauge, Long Island, office in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The operation initially targeted trafficking in stolen property but was converted to a public corruption investigation.

The investigation ultimately led to the conviction of a United States Senator, five members of the House of Representatives, one member of the New Jersey State Senate, members of the Philadelphia City Council, and an inspector for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Operation

The FBI set up "Abdul Enterprises, Ltd." in 1978. FBI employees posed as Middle Eastern businessmen in videotaped talks with government officials, where they offered money in return for political favors to a non-existent sheikh. A house (4407 W St. NW, Washington, D.C.), along with a yacht in Florida and hotel rooms in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, were used to set up meetings between various public officials and a mysterious Arab sheikh named "Kambir Abdul Rahman" 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

Much of the operation was directed by Melvin Weinberg, a convicted con artist, who was hired by the FBI for that purpose. It was the first major operation by the FBI to trap corrupt public officials; up until 1970 only ten members of Congress had ever been convicted of accepting bribes.

On February 2, 1980, NBC Nightly News became the first media outlet to break the story that FBI personnel were targeting members of Congress in a sting operation. The FBI had codenamed the operation "Abscam", a contraction of "Abdul scam", after the name of the company.

Convictions

Of the thirty-one targeted officials, one senator, Harrison A. Williams (D-NJ), and five members of the House of Representatives John Jenrette (D-SC), Richard Kelly (R-FL), Raymond Lederer (D-PA), Michael "Ozzie" Myers (D-PA), and Frank Thompson (D-NJ), were convicted of bribery and conspiracy in separate trials in 1981. While most of the politicians resigned, Myers had to be expelled and Williams did not resign until the vote on his expulsion was almost due. Five other government officials were convicted, including New Jersey State Senator Angelo Errichetti; members of the Philadelphia City Council; and an inspector for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Pete Williams' involvement

Pete Williams

Senator Harrison "Pete" Williams (D-NJ) 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. Harrison 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 Mr. Williams argued that the Senator had not actually been bribed because the stock in the titanium mining company was worthless. Other defenses attempted 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 Mr. Williams after 28 hours of deliberation on May 1, 1981. Later appeals made by Mr. Williams included arguments that a main prosecution witness had perjured himself and that the Senator had been a victim of entrapment. The guilty verdict was upheld, and the Senator was sentenced to three years in prison for his crimes.

Because of the convictions, the Senate Ethics Committee voted to censure Senator Williams and put a motion to the floor to expel the Senator for charges of bringing dishonor upon their house of Congress 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 Mr. Williams, but before the vote on his expulsion could occur, Senator Williams resigned his seat in the Senate. In his resignation speech, the Senator proclaimed his innocence and argued that the investigation into his activities was a grievous assault on the rights of the Senate, and that the other senators should be wary of unchecked investigations into their activities by other branches of the government.

Mr. 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 became a member of the board of directors 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.

Frank Thompson's Involvement

Congressman Frank Thompson (D-NJ) was a congressman from Trenton, New Jersey who was indicted and convicted of accepting a bribe from an FBI agent posing as an Arab sheik. Well-loved by his constituents, he was the longest-serving member of Congress indicted in Abscam. He had a reputation amongst his constituents of being thrifty, wearing a well-worn sports jacket to work and utilizing an older vehicle as his primary method of transportation. Thompson was videotaped accepting a bribe of $50,000 and commenting that he would help in recruiting additional congressmen.

Thompson abstained on vote to expel Rep. Meyers, the first Congressman to be indicted. Thompson himself was not expelled from the House of Representatives because he lost his re-election campaign in 1980 to Chris Smith, a relatively unknown GOP candidate who in 1978 had run against Thompson as a sacrificial lamb candidate. The 1980 election was won by Smith by a margin of 20,000 votes. On December 29th, 1980, Thompson resigned his seat in the US House of Representatives.

On December 2nd, 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. While legal at the time, the ethical considerations of using campaign funds were dubious and was referenced as additional evidence of ethical issues that Rep. Thompson had.

Thompson was convicted of bribery and conspiracy charges and served 3 years in prison as his sentence starting in 1983. He served 2 years before being released, and worked as a consultant in Washington until his death in 1989.

John Murtha's involvement

John Murtha

Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) was one of the Congressmen videotaped in an encounter with undercover FBI operatives. Although never indicted or prosecuted, he was named an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the scandal. As such, he testified against Frank Thompson (D-NJ) and John Murphy (D-NY), the two Congressmen mentioned as participants in the deal at the same meeting. A short clip from the videotape shows Murtha stating "I'm not interested, I'm sorry. At this point..." in direct response to an offer of $50,000 in cash.

In November 1980, the Justice Department announced that Murtha would not face prosecution for his part in the scandal. The U.S. Attorney's Office reasoned that Murtha's intent was to obtain investment in his district. Full length viewing of the tape shows Murtha citing prospective investment opportunities that could return "500 or 1000" miners to work. In July 1981, the House Ethics Committee also chose not to file charges against Congressman Murtha, following a mostly party line vote. The resignation later that day of Republican E. Barrett Prettyman, Jr., the panel's special counsel, has been interpreted as an act of protest.

Mr. Murtha remains prominent in Congress, and has been re-elected by his constituency 13 times over the course of 26 years.

Other public figures

The FBI was accused of entrapment and in 1982 the conviction of Richard Kelly was overturned. However, an appeals court upheld the conviction and Kelly served 13 months in prison. (He had been memorably videotaped jamming $25,000 into his pockets. He then turned to one of the agents and asked "Does it show?")

Larry Pressler

Senator Larry Pressler (R-SD) refused to take the bribe, saying at the time, "Wait a minute, what you are suggesting may be illegal." He immediately reported the incident to the FBI. When Senator Pressler was told Walter Cronkite referred to him on the evening news as a "hero" he stated, "I do not consider myself a hero... what have we come to if turning down a bribe is 'heroic'?"

Conclusion

When the investigation became public in early 1980, controversy centered on the use of the "sting" technique and Weinberg's involvement in selecting targets. Although Weinberg was found to have previously engaged in numerous felonious activities, he avoided a three-year prison sentence and was paid $150,000 in connection with the operation. Ultimately, all of the ABSCAM convictions were upheld on appeal, although some judges criticized the tactics used by the FBI and lapses in FBI and DOJ supervision.

In the wake of ABSCAM, Attorney General Civiletti issued "The Attorney General Guidelines for FBI Undercover Operations" ("Civiletti Undercover Guidelines") on January 5, 1981. These were the first Attorney General Guidelines for undercover operations, and they formalized procedures necessary to conduct undercover operations.

Following the initial press accounts about the ABSCAM investigation, Congress held a series of hearings to examine FBI undercover operations and the new Civiletti Undercover Guidelines. The House Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights began hearings on FBI undercover operations in March 1980 and concluded with a report in April 1984. Among the concerns expressed during the hearings were the undercover agents' involvement in illegal activity, the possibility of entrapping individuals, the prospect of damaging the reputations of innocent civilians, and the opportunity to undermine legitimate rights to privacy.

In March 1982, after the Senate debated a resolution to expel Senator Harrison A. Williams for his conduct in ABSCAM, the Senate established the Select Committee to Study Undercover Activities. In December 1982, the Committee issued its final report, which was generally supportive of the undercover technique but observed that its use "creates serious risks to citizens' property, privacy, and civil liberties, and may compromise law enforcement itself."

FBI documents later disclosed in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, consisting of newspaper clippings and letters written to the FBI, revealed a mixed response of the American public. Some Americans supported the FBI, but others argued that Abscam was an entrapment scenario ordered by a revenge-minded FBI who earlier had been stung by Congressional inquiries into acts of police brutality and similar widespread abuses. Congressional concern about sting operations persisted, creating numerous additional guidelines in the ensuing years:

• The Civiletti Guidelines - 1980-1981
• The Smith Guidelines - 1983
• The Thornburgh Guidelines - 1989
• The Reno Guidelines - 2001

During the course of Abscam, the FBI handed out more than $400,000 in bribes to Congressmen and middlemen.

In Popular Culture

French director Louis Malle adapted the Abscam story into a film script entitled Moon Over Miami, with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi set to star, with Belushi playing a fictionalized version of Weinberg. Belushi's death in March 1982 scuttled plans for the film.

See also

• Operation Greylord
• Operation Tennessee Waltz
• Jack Shaheen, Abscam: Arabiaphobia in America (1980, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee)

External links

• PBS - History of Washington Scandals
• The Capital Century - Focuses on Frank Thompson, D-NJ, Abscam details
• Abscam FBI 'Freedom of Information Act' Releases
• Attorney General's Investigative Guidelines, September 2005
• American Spectator article "Murtha and the FBI: Full Director's cut" - September 29, 2006. Has link to watch online the full, unedited 54-minute FBI Abscam/John Murtha video from Jan. 7, 1980
• Abscam Operation
• Political Corruption in America, by Mark Grossman