Again the Sting off the Scam

Two Congressmen and a Mafia don are indicted

Abscam and Brilab, those FBI "sting" operations that sound like computer-named detergents, last week produced more indictments and against the biggest names yet. The Abscam (short for Arab scam) investigation led a federal grand jury in Brooklyn to indict Democratic Congressmen Frank Thompson of New Jersey and John Murphy of New York on charges of bribery and conspiracy. Brilab (for bribery labor) resulted in a New Orleans grand jury naming Mafia Kingfish Carlos ("Little Man") Marcello on counts of racketeering, conspiracy and fraud. So far, Abscam has led to indictments of five Congressmen, all accused of accepting bribes from bogus Arab businessmen. The first three: Democrats Michael Myers and Raymond Lederer of Pennsylvania, and John Jenrette of South Carolina.

According to the latest charges, a New Jersey land developer named Joseph Silvestri introduced Thompson, 61, a 13-term Congressman and the influential chairman of the House Administration Committee, to Philadelphia Attorney Howard Criden.

Thompson, accompanied by Criden, then allegedly met with two FBI agents posing as representatives of Arab businessmen and accepted $50,000 in return for promising to introduce private immigration bills in Congress. Thompson was said to have split the bribe with Silvestri and Criden, both of whom were also indicted last week, and then referred Criden to Murphy.

The New York Congressman allegedly received, in addition, $50,000 in cash in exchange for making a similar pledge of immigration help. Both Congressmen are charged with trying to push their pet projects on the agents. Thompson allegedly asked them to make investments in his district that would benefit him personally. Murphy supposedly tried to get the agents to invest in a shipping venture that he would aid as chairman of the House Merchant Marine Committee.

Thompson is also said to have introduced Democratic Congressman John Murtha of Pennsylvania to Criden, and the two then allegedly met with the FBI men. Though Murtha was named in the conspiracy charges, he was not indicted. He voluntarily testified before the grand jury -- and may testify against his col leagues at their trials, though the Justice Department has not offered him immunity in return for his testimony.

Thompson and Murphy denied guilt, but under House Democratic caucus rules, both resigned their committee chairmanships pending the outcome of their trials. As part of the Abscam investigations, the federal grand jury in Brooklyn is now hearing evidence against New Jersey Democratic Senator Harrison Williams. The Brilab operation, targeted against racketeering in the South and Southwest, led to the indictment of quite a different kind of figure. Long the reputed godfather of organized crime along the Gulf Coast, Carlos Marcello, 70, is suspected of running an empire whose illegal gambling operations alone reportedly grossed more than $500 million annually in the 1960s. Except for a six-month prison term in 1970 for slugging an FBI agent, Marcello has successfully dodged federal prosecution and deportation for decades. Today the Marcello domain includes hotels and motels, oil holdings, a produce company, and a 6,000-acre tract of land in suburban New Orleans worth an esti mated $60 million.

Working on the case, the FBI bugged Marcello's offices and set up a dummy insurance company in Bev erly Hills, Calif. Called Fidelity Financial Consul tants, the "firm" was run by Joseph Hauser, a convicted insurance swindler who was cooperating with the FBI in hopes of gaining early pa role. Hauser was introduced to Marcello by a Washington lobbyist named I. Irving Davidson; the Mafia don allegedly agreed to try to bribe Louisiana officials to obtain insurance contracts for Fidelity and then split the commissions with Hauser and Davidson.

According to the indictment, Marcello then tried to bribe, among others, Charles Roemer, then Louisiana state commissioner of administration, to award the state employees' life insurance contract, worth $2 million, to Fidelity. Marcello also allegedly told Hauser that he had arranged a meeting with then Louisiana Lieutenant Governor James Fitzmorris to talk about contracts for the "city of New Orleans." A local attorney named Vincent Marinello later reported to Marcello that he had handed over $10,000 in cash to Fitzmorris. "I got two big shots," Marcello boasted to Davidson.

The twelve-count indictment names Davidson, Roemer and Marinello as well as Marcello; Fitzmorris was not indicted, though he is still under investigation. The former Lieutenant Governor admitted meeting with Marcello but denied discussing state contracts, and described their conversation as "frivolous."

Two weeks ago, Brilab produced its first indictments when a Houston grand jury accused Texas Speaker of the House Billy Clayton of accepting $5,000 from Hauser's operation in return for contracts. Clayton has denied the charge and says he will drop out of his re-election race only if found guilty.

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