Jim Wedick

Join the chase! Get "CHASING PHIL: The Adventures of Two Undercover Agents with the World's Most Charming Con Man," by David Howard [Crown/Oct 2017]. A true crime drama, "Chasing Phil," is the story of FBI undercover agents, James J Wedick & Jack Brennan, infiltrating the world of Phil Kitzer, a globetrotting swindler, who fleeced millions, setting up "offshore" banks, selling "bogus" securities, and "laundering" money for Organized Crime [OC] figures in New York, including the Luchese, Genovese and Gambino crime families. Framed in exotic locales, "Chasing Phil" details the FBI's initial efforts to use sophisticated long-term undercover operations and White-Collar-Crime [WCC] violations to investigate/prosecute OC figures. Code named, "OPFOPEN [an acronym for Operation Fountain Pen], Major Case #1," circa 1976-78, the investigation targeted OC figures in the US and Europe, and members of Geneva, Switzerland's famed financial underworld using FBI undercover agents. CHASING PHIL also details the true origins of the FBI's famed ABSCAM case, with agents Wedick & Brennan working with Myron Fuller, CFE, FSO in NY resulting in the development Mel Weinberg, the confidential source whose information caused 6-members of Congress and 1 US Senator to be prosecuted for soliciting bribes in exchange for supporting legislation favorable to an Arab Sheik.