1 used, how he was being set up. Another little inconsistency 2 Weinberg said, and I add, he said, "John Stowe wasn't going to 3 get a commission from me. He gets the commission from the 5 I refer you when you listen to the call of April 6 18, 1978, and you see the transcript or what have you 7 had it in front of you three weeks ago. Mel Weinberg says 8 on April 18 and again on September 6 when he's talking to 9 Stowe, "I'll mark you down for commission." So he's not You know what's a further scam that he's just 2 perpetually committing? When he comes and testifies. He 3 4 he was operating. doesn't wear the outfit that he was wearing at the time that He tells you that he's wearing a three 5 6 7 piece suit with a distinguished-looking goatee. I submit that's part of the final scam, the scam, the final con. And I submit that this same man who is now on the Federal 8 payroll that gets probation - they didn't even make him 9 make restitution of $200,000 or whatever it was to the 10 victims in Pittsburg, the defrauded people. If he's going 11 to get probation, the only thing he had to do was work for 12 the FBI and fulfill a certain duty to them. And then they 133 14 15 16 17 18 19 go to bat for him. They didn't even get him to make the restitution of the people. MR. KOTELLY: Objection, your Honor. That's for the Court to decide at the time of sentencing. MR. JANUS: Si Pollack, he's a con man. He gets on and tells you that. But there was a certain ring of 20 truth to what he said, that he knew Mel Weinberg, a certain ring of truth about where he had met him, the fact that he 21 22 had met him. Why would Weinberg not tell the truth about And you know something? It was very subtle and 1 perhaps some of you missed it; perhaps all of you missed it 2 but at Page 1784 Mr. Robinson was asking questions about ABSCAM with Weinberg and at 1784 Mr. Robinson is asking: "And yet you can't remember how much money you made in ABSCAM?" See if you can stretch your memories to remember his answer, Page 1784. "In Amsterdam? "ABSCAM. "On ABSCAM? "Yes. "No. "What's in Amsterdam? Did that bring up some thing else to your mind?" And Weinberg said, "I thought you said Amsterdam." tie in, that trivial little point? Why would he have thought Amsterdam when the man is talking about ABSCAM, when the case is ABSCAM? Because Si Pollack said that Mel Weinberg had asked him to take part in a heroin deal with the heroin coming in from Amsterdam. That shows the guilty mind that he had at the time. You heard the fantasy about Bill Bell, that he shot into a mattress and it just missed him and Mr. Robinson, you will recall, perhaps humorously asked him, "Where's the 1 mattress? I want to take a picture of it. What's the hotel 3 You heard Bill Bell, who was a Government witness, He's a second-rate con man, not a first-rate one and 9 the Government was using him to see who was going to make it. 10 It was like tryouts: Who gets to be the best one gets to be 11 on the higher payroll. He's on the payroll for $150 a week. 127 Weinberg was $1,000 a month. Who was going to make it. 13 Auditioning for the top job. 14 15 Well, Meltzer got cut. He got shipped back, not even to the minor leagues. He got shipped someplace worse 16 than that. And you saw him and he didn't tell the truth 17 18 19 20 but he was honest enough when confronted by it to say, "Yes, I lied." That doesn't make him an honest man. He was a miserable witness because he's a second-rate con man. But do you know what Mel Weinberg is? He's a dressed up Joe He's a Joe Meltzer that made it. Joe Meltzer made good. $5,000 a month. 23 24 No, I'm not going to dwell any more on Weinberg. I'm counsel for Stowe. I'm sure, as counsel for Jenrette 25 has mentioned, is satisfied with what you think of But why do I dwell so long on Mr. Weinberg if he's 2 3 admitted he's a con man? 4 5 Because as you'll be instructed by the Court tomorrow, you've got to evaluate what inducement there was on John Stowe to commit a crime, what promises of 6 7 8 9 10 11 122 133 reward, what coercive tactics, and the only person that dealt with John Stowe was Mel Weinberg. He never even met Tony DeVito until December 3rd, 1979, he being John Stowe. You have also got, in order to convict John Stowe, to be satisfied that the Government has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that John Stowe was predisposed to commit a The word predisposed, inclined before crime, predisposed. the inducement, at the time of the inducement to commit a 14 crime and who is the only person that can tell you about 15 what John Stowe was saying and doing? Mel Weinberg. 16 17 The Court is also going to charge you tomorrow that even if certain evidence is uncontradicted from one 18 witness, such as Weinberg, if you find it inherently improbable you don't have to accept his testimony. I submit 19 20 21 22 you ought not to accept one single thing that Weinberg says until you are satisfied from the other evidence that it is corroborated, that it is substantiated. That's what we and let me just digress for a second. Both of them, Amoroso and Weinberg, had the nerve to come in |