The Nation - News from March 15, 1988

Rep. Mario Biaggi’s (D-N.Y.) defense lawyer took the offensive at the congressman’s racketeering trial, accusing four former Wedtech Corp. executives of attempting to bribe high-ranking officials including Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III. The four Wedtech officials have pleaded guilty to state and federal charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in return for leniency. They have yet to be sentenced. Before their plea bargain was struck, attorney James LaRossa said, they offered money to E. Robert Wallach, a close friend of Meese. LaRossa said the Wedtech officials said the money was for Meese. LaRossa appeared to indicate that the money was never paid. In Washington, one of Meese’s attorneys said there was no truth in LaRossa’s account. Biaggi, 70, was charged with taking bribes and stock from the struggling minority-owned Bronx machine shop for his help in turning it into a multimillion-dollar defense contractor from 1978 to 1986.