| Description |
1 online resource (xvii, 339 pages) |
| Contents |
Timeline of Significant Events Related to Operation Pretense -- The Operation Pretense Investigation and Related Trials -- A License to Steal -- Perry County--The First Trial -- Wayne County--Two Trials and 60 Minutes -- Lamar County--Campaign Contributions -- Claiborne County--A Not Guilty Verdict -- Winston County--"I Didn't Know What a Kickback Was" -- Marion County--Pretense Plus -- A Vendor's Trial--Bobby Little Never Busted an Invoice -- Related Matters -- The Auditors -- The Unit System--Slow Progress -- State Highway Commissioners--We Play Too -- Madison County--Who Pays for the Backhoe? -- Plea Bargains -- Action in North Mississippi--Panola, Pontotoc, and Monroe Counties -- The Vortex of the Maelstrom--Attala, Leake, and Neshoba Counties -- The I-20 East Corridor--Scott, Newton, and Lauderdale Counties -- Rankin County--Three Boards of Supervisors in One Year -- Three Southern Counties with Five Crooked Supervisors--Smith, Jasper, and Clarke Counties -- Big-Time Corruption in South Mississippi--Copiah, Lincoln, Covington, and Greene Counties -- Crime on the Coast--Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson Counties -- The Vendors--It Takes Two to Tango -- Epilogue--Will the Beat Return? -- Counties and Their Officials Who Were Charged Under Operation Pretense, Indicted Highway Commissioners, and Vendors Charged in Operation Pretense--Disposition of the Cases -- The Tale of the Tapes |
| Summary |
During the 1980s fifty-seven of Mississippi's 410 county supervisors from twenty-six of the state's eighty-two counties were charged with corruption. The FBI's ploy to catch the criminals was code-named Operation Pretense. Ingenious undercover investigation exposed the supervisors' wide-scaled subterfuge in purchasing goods and services. Because supervisors themselves controlled and monitored the purchasing system, they could supply sham documentation and spurious invoices. Operation Pretense was devised in response to the complaint of a disgruntled company owner, a Pentecostal preacher who ba |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-329) and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Misconduct in office -- Mississippi -- Case studies
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Political corruption -- Mississippi -- Case studies
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Local government -- Corrupt practices -- Mississippi -- Case studies
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TRUE CRIME -- General.
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HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- South (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)
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Local government -- Corrupt practices
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Misconduct in office
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Political corruption
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Mississippi
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| Genre/Form |
Case studies
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9781604739305 |
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1604739304 |
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