Biaggi Called ‘Thug’ at Wedtech Trial

NEW YORK — Rep. Mario Biaggi (D-N. Y.) is “a thug in a congressman’s suit,” a prosecutor said Wednesday in closing arguments at the Wedtech Corp. corruption trial.

During a summation expected to last two days, Assistant U.S. Atty. Edward J. Little said Biaggi extorted nearly $4 million in Wedtech stock in exchange for helping the company obtain defense contracts.

“We’re talking about official extortion,” Little said. “Congressmen don’t need guns. Their office is their weapon.”

Biaggi, 70, a 10-term New York Democrat, his eldest son, Richard, former Bronx Borough President Stanley Simon and four others are charged with turning Wedtech into a racketeering enterprise that paid out millions of dollars in bribes to obtain no-bid defense contracts.

A cornerstone of the defense has been that four Wedtech executives, who testified for the government in exchange for leniency, had links to White House insiders like Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III and did not need to bribe Biaggi.

U.S. District Judge Constance Baker Motley denied a defense request to call Meese as a witness, saying his actions had nothing to do with the guilt or innocence of those on trial.