Good Company
Tom DeLay's good friend and associate Jack Abramoff, well known to the Republican elite in Congress, was arrested last week.
Five years ago, Abramoff and two partners made a deal to buy SunCruz Casinos, a company that runs gambling boats off the coast of Florida. Abramoff and his partners are accused of scamming the seller, and not actually putting up the money they said they would, forging a wire transfer in the process.
After the transfer of control, the seller retained an interest in the business. After a short while, he got into a dispute with Abramoff's partner about the money he hadn't been paid for his boats. The seller accused Abramoff's partner of having ties to organized crime. At one meeting things got especially heated, and they came to blows.
Weeks later, the seller "was killed as he drove home from a business meeting by someone in a Mustang who fired three hollow-point bullets into his chest. No one has been arrested in the slaying."
I don't want to tell too much, for fear of spoiling it. You've really got to read the article about it in the Washington Post. I particularly enjoyed the author's artful finish in the last two paragraphs. James V. Grimaldi knows how to write a news article.
MIAMI, Aug. 11 -- Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a business partner were indicted by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, charged with five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy in their purchase of a fleet of Florida gambling boats from a businessman who was later killed in a gangland-style hit.Yes, that's right. He wasn't busted for the corrupt deals with Indian tribes, or campaign financing, or any of the other scandals for which he is notable. There's a whole new sordid story from which these indictments stem, and the details read like a TV crime drama.
Five years ago, Abramoff and two partners made a deal to buy SunCruz Casinos, a company that runs gambling boats off the coast of Florida. Abramoff and his partners are accused of scamming the seller, and not actually putting up the money they said they would, forging a wire transfer in the process.
After the transfer of control, the seller retained an interest in the business. After a short while, he got into a dispute with Abramoff's partner about the money he hadn't been paid for his boats. The seller accused Abramoff's partner of having ties to organized crime. At one meeting things got especially heated, and they came to blows.
Weeks later, the seller "was killed as he drove home from a business meeting by someone in a Mustang who fired three hollow-point bullets into his chest. No one has been arrested in the slaying."
I don't want to tell too much, for fear of spoiling it. You've really got to read the article about it in the Washington Post. I particularly enjoyed the author's artful finish in the last two paragraphs. James V. Grimaldi knows how to write a news article.
posted by Paul at 9:15 PM |
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