The Nation - News from June 28, 1988

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III cannot be called as a defense witness in the racketeering trial of Rep. Mario Biaggi (D-N.Y.) and six others, a federal judge ruled. U.S. District Judge Constance Baker Motley denied a defense request to call Meese and a former top aide as witnesses--saying their testimony was “irrelevant.” The defense asserted that it was Meese--not the defendants--who “acted corruptly” in helping Wedtech Corp. This, they said, would bolster the defense contention that corrupt Wedtech officials had no motive to bribe Biaggi because they had influential connections in the Reagan Administration. But prosecutors asserted the request was “a very obvious effort to confuse and divert the jurors.” Biaggi, his eldest son Richard, and the others are charged with turning Wedtech into a racketeering enterprise that paid bribes to obtain no-bid government contracts.