Estes Kefauver: A Lesson for Mark Foley

In October, 1950, Outfit attorney Sidney Korshak was the first of eight hundred to be subpoenaed to appear before 'crime fighting' Senator Estes Kefauver (Dem-TN).  Korshak never testified.

From Gus Russo's new book, Supermob:

(p120)...Kefauver was known as a legendary drinker and womanizer...In June 1976, reporters Seymour Hersh and Jeff Gerth began to unravel the inside story of Kefauver and Korshak in a four-part profile of the well-connected Supermob lawyer in the New York Times...(p121)...Korshak and the Outfit blackmailed the ever-randy Kefauver. The informant, unnamed in the article, related that he had seen compromising photos of the senator taken in the suite of the luxurious Drake Hotel...

...a private meeting was arranged between Kefauver and Korshak...Korshak flung the incriminating photos on Kefauver's desk. "Now how far do you want to go with this? Korshak asked. Kefauver never called Korshak to testify.

I continued to recommend, especially to progressives, Supermob and Russo's first book, The Outfit. All assumptions that this is a political battle between left and right are out the window. It never was and unfortunately, until we get campaign reforms, never will be.

Mob money, mob power, mob influence, mob corruption, and mob blackmail are at work today determining the outcome of elections and the votes in the legislative chambers. Not always, but too often.

• With each hour we hear that more and more people covered up Mark Foley's indiscretions; the opportunity for blackmail was as common as sand in the desert.
• It is hard to believe that the likes of Jack Abramoff would hesitate to use the information to coerce a Foley.
• While some, like Jayne Lyn Stahl, are concerned that the Foley story will push the Abramoff report on to the back burner, maybe we should connect the dots.