◆ SpookStack

peddlers, who told undercover agents which politicians would accept money/ “We tried to confine it to tl. _. we had reason to _ Suspect would engage in this kind of activity. In some ’ cases that rested heavily on the reliability” of the the middleman. ‘The middleman “had brought us people who did the things we have seen on the tapes, and when he called and said, ‘Mr. So-and-So would like to come,’ we would try to check to see what élse we knew. But we thought that was a pretty good reason itself since we had these mechanisms to protect whoever came.” . . Webster cited what he called a four-tier system ot protection against entrapment. First, the bureau tried to make its offer sleazy enough that only those predisposed to crime would accept. “Second, no payments were made “until a criminal represenation was made.” In other words, no payments were made until the legislator agreed to use his Office for gain. Third, prosecutors monitored nearly all of the meetings as they occurred. If a bribe offer were being Made improperly, the prosecutors could call the undercover agents to set them straight. And finally, ali the tapes involving members of Congress were flown to Washington and reviewed by Webster and Justice Department officials. ' “So we had a lot of checks in the system,’’ Webster said. The only alternative, he said, , was “not to do it at all. ” “I would not like to see these techniques — which have application not only to public corruption but also organized crime, to foreign counterintelligence, to er Bee PPT aT ead 8 drugs — not like to see them impaired by some over- § cautionary requirement that we have to gO into court for a warrant.” Webster acknowledged that his supervision of the Abscam investigation did not uncover some allegations of abuses now coming: to light. For example, he did not know that middleman Melvin Weinberg had coached Williams on how to boast about his influence. . ‘Webster said he was concerned when he learned about the coaching incident. But he said that it had occurred relatively early in the investigation and that Weinberg had been instructed not to do it again. He also noted that Williams testified at his criminal trial that Weinberg’s coaching had not affected his behavior at the meeting. —_— Webster said he had net known about allegations . that the undercovér FBI agents had an improper relationship with Weinberg. Those allegations were made by Weinberg’s wife in court:documents filed in Williams’ case. Mrs. Weinberg killed herself shortly afterward, - She maintained that one agerit had accepted gifts of two fur coats from Weinberg. The agent has said the coats were collateral for a loan. ., And she said that Weinberg slipped away from FBI agents fone, enough to Pick up an illegal payment for “ae