◆ SpookStack

oe ee appropriate action would be taken by the FBI. Weinberg and the agents set up business in an office in Holbrook, Long Island. The FBI's cdde name "Abscam" came from the first two letters of "Abdul", combined with the word "scam". x At first Abscam's focus was upon stolen and forged ~ securities and stolen art work. Other "investment" opportuni- | ties soon presented themselves, and quickly the investigation turned itself toward Atlantic City dnd the, gambling casinos which were then being proposed and constructed. As word spread about Weinberg's contact with virtually inexhaustible Arab funds, Angelo Errichetti, who was both mayor of Camden, New Jersey, and a New Jersey state senator, came on the scene. Errichetti claimed to have extraordinary influence in obtaining gambling casino licenses, power over the commis - Sioners who issued the licenses, connections with organized crime, ability to deal in narcotics, guns and counterfeit securities, as well as intimate knowledge of which members of the New Jersey legislature could be bought. Errichetti brought to the undercover agents Howard Criden, a Philadelphia lawyer seeking to promote a gambling ‘casino in Atlantic City. In July of 1979, Errichetti and Criden met with Weinberg and Amoroso on the sheiks’ yacht in Florida :to discuss financing for the proposed casino t a