On 11 September 1979 Lederer met Weinberg and Amoroso, posing as Tony DeVito. He said he could not promise other members but could promise himself: “I can give you me.” The indictment said $50,000 was paid at the meeting and passed to Howard Criden, who took $5,000 out of a safe deposit box for Lederer. [1][2]
His voters did not abandon him. He won re-election in November 1980 while under indictment. A jury convicted him on 9 January 1981. The House ethics committee voted on 28 April 1981 to recommend his expulsion, and he resigned on 29 April. [1][3]
His defense was entrapment and the same claim of government overreach that the other defendants pressed. It failed at trial and on appeal.
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