The Fall of the House of Zeus
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10 Early on the morning … Interview with Sid Backstrom.
11 “I think … Interview with Diane Scruggs.
12 Scruggs seemed … Telephone conversation between Steve Patterson and Dick Scruggs, recorded by the FBI, Oct. 18, 2007.
13 Zach Scruggs … Interview with Zach Scruggs.
14 Outside the Scruggs … Interviews with confidential sources.
15 A search warrant … Application and Affidavit for Search Warrant, filed by William P. Delaney and signed by Judge Neal Biggers, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Mississippi, Nov. 16, 2007.
16 A second search … Application and Affidavit for Search Warrant, filed by Delaney and signed by Judge Biggers, U.S. District Court, Nov. 26, 2007.
17 Scruggs was standing … Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Zach Scruggs.
18 Around the corner … Transcript of testimony by Tim Balducci before a grand jury, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Mississippi, Nov. 2007.
19 While Balducci … Interview with Zach Scruggs.
20 In a coordinated strike … Interview with Tom Dawson. Confidential Human Source (CHS) Reporting Document of the FBI giving details of Steve Patterson’s converation with agents, Nov. 27, 2007.
21 Once hurried … Interviews with confidential sources.
22 According to an FBI … CHS Reporting Document of the FBI on Patterson.
23 After listening … Interviews with Dawson, confidential sources.
24 Patterson and Hailman … Interview with John Hailman.
25 At Scruggs’s office … Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Zach Scruggs.
26 On the coast … Interview with Backstrom.
27 By this time … Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Bruce Newman.
28 Langston decided … Oxford Eagle, Nov. 28, 2007.
29 Later in the afternoon … Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Langston, Dawson.
30 As late November … Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Langston.
Chapter 20
1 Facing the threat … Interview with Zach Scruggs.
2 There was another … Interview with Billy Quin.
3 While the lawyers … Interview with Zach Scruggs.
4 “The Scruggs Law Firm … Letter from Don Barrett, David Nutt, and Dewitt Lovelace to clients of Scruggs Katrina Group, December 4, 2007.
5 Scruggs faced … Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Zach Scruggs.
6 Backstrom and Tannehill … Interview with Sid Backstrom.
7 Eventually … Interview with Zach Scruggs.
8 The prosecutors … Interview with Tom Dawson.
9 At the press conference … Oxford Eagle, Nov. 29, 2007.
10 One of those … Interview with Dawson.
11 Earlier in the year … Interview with John Hailman.
12 The party … Interview with Paulo Prada.
13 “People appreciate … “It’s a Party Time for Dickie Scruggs in Oxford, Miss.—Home of Faulkner, Grisham Rallies Round a Lawyer Just Indicted for Bribery,” Paulo Prada and Peter Lattman, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 4, 2007.
14 That quote … Interview with Prada.
15 Keker had picked up … Interview with John Keker.
16 The source … Interview with Zach Scruggs.
17 Scruggs thought … Interview with Dick Scruggs.
18 DeLaughter … Interviews with confidential sources.
19 That evening … Interview with Zach Scruggs.
20 Tom Dawson … Interview with Dawson.
21 Scruggs had been talking … Interview with Zach Scruggs.
22 A few days after … Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Zach Scruggs, Joey Langston.
23 The government’s … Interview with Dawson.
24 Around the office … Interview with confidential source.
25 He returned … Interviews with Dawson, confidential sources.
26 Balducci and his family … Interview with confidential source.
27 At his hideaway … Interview with Norm Gillespie.
28 “Dear Judge Gillespie … Written message from Tim Balducci to Gillespie.
29 It was a troubled … Interview with Zach Scruggs.
Chapter 21
1 Like Dick Scruggs … Interview with Joey Langston; “Good & Guilty,” Patsy Brumfield, Northeast Mississippi Sunday Journal, Feb. 3, 2008.
2 He defended … Interviews with confidential sources.
3 By 1990, … Interviews with confidential sources; “Jury Awards Paralyzed Man $21M,” The Clarion-Ledger, Oct. 13, 2005
4 The families … “U.S. Judge Assesses Cuba $187 Million in Death of 4 Pilots,” Mireya Navarro, New York Times, Dec. 18, 1997.
5 Langston learned … Interview with Langston.
6 One legislative victory … Interviews with Langston, confidential sources; “Justice Nearer for Brothers Fliers’ Kin,” Miami Herald, Oct. 25, 1998.
7 At the eleventh hour … Interviews with confidential sources; “Terrorist Victims Set Precedent,” Bill Miller, Washington Post, Oct. 22, 2000; Section 2002 of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000.
8 For his troubles … Interviews with Langston, confidential sources.
9 Balducci had first … Interview with Langston.
10 An investigation … Interview with Mike Moore.
11 After assessing … Interview with Langston.
12 “I introduced … Deposition given by Steve Patterson in connection with Eaton v. Frisby, June 18, 2009.
13 Jim Hood … “Plenty of Fireworks in First-ever Held Local Political Forum,” Desoto Times Tribune, Aug. 1, 2007.
14 But Billy Quin … Interview with Billy Quin.
15 With Hood … “Hood Defends Allegations He’s Influence Peddling,” Madison County Journal, Sept. 27, 2007.
16 Ever since … Interview with Langston.
17 Langston and Balducci … Interview with Dick Scruggs.
18 Peters was familiar … Interviews with confidential sources.
19 He was reelected … “Ex-DA Leaves Scandal in Wake,” Jerry Mitchell, Clarion-Ledger, Jan. 11, 2009.
20 With his connections … Deposition given by Patterson.
21 Peters and DeLaughter … Wilkie, Dixie.
22 DeLaughter … Never Too Late, Bobby DeLaughter (Scribner, 2001); Ghosts of Mississippi, film directed by Rob Reiner, 1996.
23 The movie … “Hollywood Gave Peters’ Big Scene to DeLaughter,” column by Sid Salter, Meridian Star, Feb. 14, 2009.
24 The idea … Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Langston.
25 Peters asked … Deposition given by Patterson.
26 Langston … Interview with Langston.
27 Scruggs said … Interview with Johnny Jones.
28 Zach Scruggs … Email from Zach Scruggs to Jones, May 29, 2006.
29 Jones replied … Email from Jones to Zach Scruggs, May 30, 2006.
30 By this time … Interview with Dick Scruggs.
31 Besides, he … Interview with Diane Scruggs.
32 Even as he implicated … Affidavit for search warrant for Langston Law Firm, filed by FBI agent John Quaka before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills, Northern District of Mississippi, December 9, 2007.
33 Lott’s call … Interview with Dick Scruggs.
34 Still, there … Interview with Charles Merkel.
35 Balducci … Interview with Tom Dawson.
36 On a dreary Saturday … Interview with Langston.
37 (The government … Information charging Langston with one count of violation of Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 371, filed by U.S. attorney Jim
Greenlee in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Mississippi, Jan. 7, 2008.
38 Against this backdrop … Interview with Langston.
39 Instead of protecting … Interview with Dawson.
40 At one point … Interview with confidential sources.
41 Peters seemed relieved … Interview with Dawson, confidential sources.
42 Patterson, who … Deposition given by Patterson.
43 Throughout December … Interview with Langston.
44 On the flight … Interview with Quin.
45 Back home … Interviews with Langston, Zach Scruggs.
46 While Langston … Interviews with Langston, Dawson.
47 All that … “Mid-South Super Lawyers 2007,” advertising supplement to The New York Times, autumn 2007.
48 Langston drove … Interview with Langston.
49 The prosecutors … Interview with Dawson.
Chapter 22
1 Joey Langston’s … Transcript of Waiver of Indictment/Filing of Information, Plea of Guilty to Count One of the Information, Hearing before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills, U.S. District Court, Northern District of
Mississippi, Jan. 7, 2008; interviews with confidential sources.
2 Langston’s associate … Interview with Billy Quin.
3 Langston’s plea … Interview with Zach Scruggs.
4 Farese would insist … Personal and confidential letter from Anthony L. Farese to Zach Scruggs, Jan. 9, 2008.
5 Farese, Farese … Website of Farese, Farese and Farese law firm.
6 When students … Interviews with confidential sources.
7 Just months … “Mary Winkler Gets a Week in Prison, 60 Days in Mental Health Facility,” Clay Bailey, Commercial Appeal, June 8, 2007.
8 After learning … Interview with Zach Scruggs.
9 Instead, he called … Interview with Mike Moore.
10 During the ordeal … Interview with Zach Scruggs.
11 Farese protested … Letter from Farese to Zach Scruggs; exchange of communications between Curtis Wilkie and Tony Farese: Memo from Wilkie to Farese, July 28, 2009; Farese letter to Wilkie, July 30, 2009; email from Cal Mayo to Farese authorizing Farese “to provide truthful responses to Curtis Wilkie’s questions about the subject matter areas identified in his memo of July 28,” Aug. 12, 2009; letter from Farese to Wilkie, Aug. 17, 2009; email from Farese to Wilkie, Aug. 20, 2009; interview with Farese.
12 They settled … Interviews with Zach Scruggs, confidential sources.
13 Zach remained … Undated ten-page document detailing Zach Scruggs’s account of “my dealings with my former attorney Tony Farese …”
Chapter 23
1 The morning … Interview with Tom Dawson.
2 The investigators … Interviews with confidential sources.
3 At the meeting … Interview with Dawson.
4 In the councils … Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Zach Scruggs, Sid Backstrom.
5 Zach hired … “The Scales of Justice,” Murray Waas, National Journal, May 31, 2007.
6 Steve Patterson … Interviews with confidential sources.
7 Appearing before … Transcript of hearing on Change of Plea to Count One of the Indictment Before U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers, U.S. District Court, Northern District, Jan. 15, 2008.
8 In testimony … Deposition given by Patterson, June 18, 2009.
9 With Patterson’s plea … Interview with Dick Scruggs.
10 In the thirty … John W. Keker, Lawyer Profile, Martindale.com; “The Man Who Will Prosecute Oliver North; John W. Keker, Ready for the Courtroom Showdown,” Washington Post, Jan. 31, 1989; “High Profile Corporate Defendants Turn to Keker,” Edward Iwata, USA Today, Feb. 3, 2004; “Help, I’m in Legal Trouble. Get Me John Keker,” Northern California Super Lawyers 2005; “Barry Bonds Begins Assembling Legal Dream Team; Eyes Famed Attorney Keker,” Christian Red, Michael O’Keefe, and Teri Thompson, New York Daily News, Nov. 29, 2007.
11 In a lengthy motion … Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the Indictment for Outrageous Government Conduct with Combined Memorandum of Law, filed in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Mississippi, Feb. 11, 2008.
12 The case had been … Interviews with confidential sources.
13 Balducci said … Transcipt of hearing on Defendants’ Motion Before U.S. District Judge Biggers, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Mississippi, Feb. 20, 2008.
14 Watching from … Interview with Zach Scruggs.
15 Balducci recounted … Transcript of hearing, Feb. 20, 2008.
16 It was Backstrom’s … Interview with Backstrom.
17 “I advised … Transcript of hearing, Feb. 20, 2008.
18 One involved … Confidential Human Source (CHS) Reporting Document of the FBI giving Tim Balducci’s account of bribe to Judge Lackey, Nov. 2, 2007.
19 In a later 302 … Confidential Human Source (CHS) Reporting Document of the FBI giving Balducci’s explanation of previous interview, Nov. 14, 2007.
20 Keker approached … Transcript of hearing, Feb. 20, 2008.
21 Scruggs and the others … Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Zach Scruggs.
22 Keker made … Transcript of hearing, Feb. 20, 2008.
Chapter 24
1 Disheartened by the setbacks … Interviews with Edward “Chip”
Robertson, Mike Moore, Frank Trapp.
2 Faced with the unhappy … Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Zach Scruggs, Sid Backstrom, confidential sources.
3 Scruggs had hired … Confidential memo to David Fechheimer, Feb. 6, 2008.
4 Scruggs was tormented … Interview with Robertson.
5 Scruggs’s sleep … Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Diane Scruggs.
6 Scruggs’s decision … Interviews with Tom Dawson, John Keker, Jim Greenlee.
7 After the Shreveport … Interview with Backstrom.
8 “He’s in a posture … Telephone conversation between Tim Balducci and Backstrom, recorded by the FBI, Nov. 13, 2007.
9 Scruggs broke … Interview with Diane Scruggs.
10 Zach was meeting … Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Moore, Keker.
11 Elsewhere … Interview with Trapp.
12 Scruggs had wanted … Interview with Dick Scruggs, Moore.
13 To Zach … Interview with Zach Scruggs; conversation between
Balducci and Backstrom, recorded by the FBI, Nov. 1, 2007; invoice from
Balducci, Oct. 18, 2007.
14 Keker reported … Interview with Tom Dawson.
15 By Thursday night … Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Moore.
16 On Friday morning … Interview with Zach Scruggs.
17 Bruce Newman … Conversation with Bruce Newman.
18 Diane had always … Interview with Diane Scruggs.
19 There had been … Interview with Jere Hoar.
20 Backstrom’s day … Interview with Backstrom, Trapp, confidential sources.
21 With new resolve … Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Moore, Dawson, Keker.
22 Despite his father’s … Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Moore.
23 “Greenlee wouldn’t … Interview with Dawson.
24 Zach told Moore … Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Moore, Dawson, confidential sources.
25 It sounded … Interview with Moore.
26 No one … Interviews with confidential sources.
27 Moore worried … Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Zach Scruggs, Moore.