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First Posted: 12/13/2013
PITTSTON TWP. — A new movie, “American Hustle,” is a fictionalized portrayal of the FBI’s ABSCAM case three decades ago when longtime elected official Ray Musto resisted the real-life sting operation’s bribe bait.
In 1980, the FBI targeted Musto in its ABSCAM sting operation, a controversial corruption probe that led to the convictions of a U.S. senator and six U.S. representatives.
The movie stars Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence and opens Dec. 20.
Messages left at Musto’s Pittston Township home Friday were not returned.
But in a Times Leader story in November, 2010, Musto said: “I’m pleased it happened, because I’ve been tested. I have been put through it. If anyone would offer me something to me that is not proper, there is no doubt in my mind what the outcome would be.”
Operation ABSCAM
FBI agents posed as business representatives of a fictitious Middle Eastern sheik, offering money to national and state officials to secure favors. News of the probe created controversy about the FBI’s tactics in sting operations.
Musto’s encounter with the sting lasted just one day.
According to a Times Leader archives, Musto said in 1980 that he walked away from an implied bribe from undercover FBI agents, and he was never charged as a result of the investigation.
Some 30 years later, in a case unrelated to the ABSCAM incident, Musto, who went on to a 28-year career as a state senator, was charged federally on allegations he accepted more than $38,000 in kickbacks and lied to federal agents. His trial is scheduled for next month.
According to Times Leader files:
• On Jan. 31, 1980, Musto and U.S. Rep. Michael Joseph “Ozzie” Myers, D-Pa., met with undercover FBI agents Michael Wald and Ernest Poulis at the Barclay Hotel in Philadelphia.
• At the time, Musto, who already had served four terms as a state representative, was a candidate in a special election to fill the 11th District U.S. Congressional seat vacated by the resignation of Daniel J. Flood.
• Myers was later convicted of accepting a $50,000 bribe from undercover agents on Aug. 22, 1979. Musto told The Times Leader in September 1980 that Myers invited him to the meeting, saying: “… there were people who wanted to make big investments in my district, and since it was evident I was going to be the congressman, they wanted to assist me in my campaign.”
• Musto said he attended the meeting as a campaigning politician seeking industrial support.
• FBI agents, posing as representatives of the fictitious Arab sheik, had $25,000 in a suitcase they were ready to turn over to Musto if he helped the sheik cut through reclamation requirements in mining hard coal.
• Musto said he “never saw the money, but they kept implying there would be a big investment and big bucks if I helped.”
Transcript excerpt
An excerpted transcript of the covertly recorded meeting published by The Times Leader in September, 1980, showed that undercover agent Wald asked Musto to help influence the state Department of Environmental Resources. Musto said he could not force a decision, but could “go to bat for” the sheik.
During the meeting, the transcript reveals Wald later said he was “prepared to come up with a sizable sum of money for things that we cannot foresee this evening. But for that sum, I’ve got to have some, some help, some assurances, right?”
However, Musto did not respond immediately, but later told the undercover agents, “to be fair, I don’t think I could say yes at this point, because I don’t know what you’re asking.”
Musto then walked out of the meeting and did not return.
Musto was never charged with a crime as a result of ABSCAM. Myers was convicted of bribery and conspiracy, sentenced to three years in prison and expelled from the U.S. House.