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.10 investments on projects in which each was to hold an inter- est. Toward the end of 1979 the credibility of Abdul Enterprises was beginning to wear thin, because the only cash produced were ‘the $50,000 payments to congressmen, relatively small amounts when. compared to the large business © . investments and bank deposits which had been promised. by ‘Weinberg and Amoroso. Security for the investigation was increasingly jeopardized as more and more people becaiite aware of Abdul Enterprises and its activities, and the end of the investigation was clearly in sight by December, 1979. Because much of the revealed political corruption focused on the Philadelphia area, at the request of the U. S$. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. the investigation was extended for a brief period in order to provide an opportunity for uncovering there additional corruption at the local level. Saturday, February 2, 1980, was scheduled. as ~ the wrap-up day of the investigation, the day on which Abscam was to "go public”. A few days before that, some a reporters got wind of the investigation and sought informa- tion about it, particularly from the U. S. Attorney in ‘Philadelphia and from Thomas Puccio and his staff at the Eastern District Strike Force in Brooklyn. The government represéntatives managed to keep the publicity lid on until a