By courtesy of E. Hughes.
How Much of The Hustle Actually Happened?
Francois Duhamel/Columbia Pictures
Like many films, The Hustle addresses its relationship to fact with a message that appears on screen before the action begins.
But rather than the customary (and intentionally vague) “based on a true story,” the claim is more modest:
"Some of this actually happened"
which abounds in what Grice calls 'implicatures'!
A viewer may be surprised, then, to learn how much of the farfetched storyline is true.
Spoilers follow.
Spoilers follow.
The FBI really did enlist a career swindler from the Bronx who had been arrested for running scams to serve as the key player in an undercover operation.
With the con artist leading the way, the Feds dangled the lure of a fictitious Arab sheikh named "Abdul", who supposedly wants to use his millions to buy things that can not legally be bought—such as a fast-track citizenship and an approval to invest in new Atlantic-City casinos.
A number of public officials happily respond that, in exchange for cash, they would ensure that various official bodies did the sheikh’s bidding.
The operation, revealed to great media fanfare in 1980, was called Abscam (for “Abdul scam”) and resulted in the conviction of 19 people, including:
-- the mayor of Camden, N.J.
-- six U.S. congressmen, and
-- a U.S. senator, Harrison A. Williams of New Jersey.
It was the LARGEST bribery scandal in the history of the American Congress.
With the con artist leading the way, the Feds dangled the lure of a fictitious Arab sheikh named "Abdul", who supposedly wants to use his millions to buy things that can not legally be bought—such as a fast-track citizenship and an approval to invest in new Atlantic-City casinos.
A number of public officials happily respond that, in exchange for cash, they would ensure that various official bodies did the sheikh’s bidding.
The operation, revealed to great media fanfare in 1980, was called Abscam (for “Abdul scam”) and resulted in the conviction of 19 people, including:
-- the mayor of Camden, N.J.
-- six U.S. congressmen, and
-- a U.S. senator, Harrison A. Williams of New Jersey.
It was the LARGEST bribery scandal in the history of the American Congress.
The most complete account of Abscam is "The Sting Man", written by the long-time Newsday journalist Robert W. Greene in close co-operation with the con artist himself, Melvin Weinberg.
The film is based to some degree on "The Sting Man".
The film is based to some degree on "The Sting Man".
So which events in the movie actually happened?
And how closely are the characters modeled on real people?
What follows is a breakdown of fact and fiction, based primarily on news accounts and Greene’s "The Sting Man".
And how closely are the characters modeled on real people?
What follows is a breakdown of fact and fiction, based primarily on news accounts and Greene’s "The Sting Man".
Mel Weinberg and Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale)
'60 Minutes' clip on YouTube; Columbia Pictures
Rosenfeld is based on Mel Weinberg.
Weinberg did in fact start out as an owner of dry-cleaning and glass-installation businesses.
Yes, Weinberg really did smash windows to drum up demand.
Like Rosenfeld, Weinberg soon moves on to front-end scams, whose general strategy will be familiar if you’ve ever replied to an e-mail from a stranger overseas:
I’ve got big money for you if you pay me small money first.
Using the name "The London Investors", Weinberg opens a lavish office and cultivated an air of exclusivity and legitimacy with the help of his mistress, Evelyn Knight, who posed as an English aristocrat.
Weinberg tells customers they can reach him and his associates in international capitals at fancy hotels — which happened to be the ones that would accept phone messages without indicating whether anyone of that name was registered there.
Targeting clients desperate for loans they can’t get otherwise, he offers to help them secure one for a nonrefundable upfront fee.
You know the rest.
Weinberg did in fact start out as an owner of dry-cleaning and glass-installation businesses.
Yes, Weinberg really did smash windows to drum up demand.
Like Rosenfeld, Weinberg soon moves on to front-end scams, whose general strategy will be familiar if you’ve ever replied to an e-mail from a stranger overseas:
I’ve got big money for you if you pay me small money first.
Using the name "The London Investors", Weinberg opens a lavish office and cultivated an air of exclusivity and legitimacy with the help of his mistress, Evelyn Knight, who posed as an English aristocrat.
Weinberg tells customers they can reach him and his associates in international capitals at fancy hotels — which happened to be the ones that would accept phone messages without indicating whether anyone of that name was registered there.
Targeting clients desperate for loans they can’t get otherwise, he offers to help them secure one for a nonrefundable upfront fee.
You know the rest.
Weinberg, like Rosenfeld, grew nervous when Abscam begins to implicate not just public officials but "the mob".
The dirty middle men who offers to secure approval for casino licenses on the sheikh’s behalf gradually reveal that the mob is coming to control the gambling business in Atlantic City, as it had in Las Vegas.
Weinberg does not savor the notion of testifying against the Mafia.
But the investigation does not result in indictments for any organized-crime figures — and none of those mobsters, so far as I can tell, knew Arabic, as one (played by Robert de Niro) does in the film.
Weinberg isable to show his face in the Abscam trials as the star witness.
Weinberg is alive and resides in Florida.
The dirty middle men who offers to secure approval for casino licenses on the sheikh’s behalf gradually reveal that the mob is coming to control the gambling business in Atlantic City, as it had in Las Vegas.
Weinberg does not savor the notion of testifying against the Mafia.
But the investigation does not result in indictments for any organized-crime figures — and none of those mobsters, so far as I can tell, knew Arabic, as one (played by Robert de Niro) does in the film.
Weinberg isable to show his face in the Abscam trials as the star witness.
Weinberg is alive and resides in Florida.
Evelyn Knight becomes Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams).
American Hustle’s version of Weinberg’s mistress is named Sydney Prosser and played by Amy Adams.
Her story in the Hustle diverges further from historical fact.
Weinberg’s girl-friend, Evelyn Knight, plays a bit part in his scams — she was NOT a full partner.
And she NEVER impersonated a well-born Englishwoman.
She was ACTUALLY English.
Evelyn Knight really is threatened with prosecution when Weinberg was busted.
Weinberg pleads guilty to save her.
Weinberg is sentenced to prison before being approached by the FBI to lend his expertise in sleaze.
American Hustle’s version of Weinberg’s mistress is named Sydney Prosser and played by Amy Adams.
Her story in the Hustle diverges further from historical fact.
Weinberg’s girl-friend, Evelyn Knight, plays a bit part in his scams — she was NOT a full partner.
And she NEVER impersonated a well-born Englishwoman.
She was ACTUALLY English.
Evelyn Knight really is threatened with prosecution when Weinberg was busted.
Weinberg pleads guilty to save her.
Weinberg is sentenced to prison before being approached by the FBI to lend his expertise in sleaze.
English Evelyn Knight does not actually participate in Abscam.
History does not record any love triangle that left her caught in the middle between Weinberg and an FBI agent on the Abscam team.
Richie Di Maso (Bradley Cooper) and Antonio Amoroso
Columbia Pictures; CSPAN
Cooper’s undercover agent and his supervisor does not have direct real-life counterparts.
But they do reflect a composite of the various Federal officials Weinberg works with.
Some were too tightfisted and square for Weinberg’s taste.
Others are clumsy at playing undercover roles.
There are actually two fictitious sheikhs, but one agent muffed his impersonation and was promptly shelved.
A few officials, like DiMaso in the film, push to give Weinberg and the investigation a freer hand.
No one is quite so aggressive as Di Maso is — though the closest analog would be the similarly named Antonio Amoroso, who impresses Weinberg with his toughness and foul mouth.
Amoroso, like DiMaso, is present for filmed payoffs that seal the sting operation.
He reportedly serves as a consultant on American Hustle.
But they do reflect a composite of the various Federal officials Weinberg works with.
Some were too tightfisted and square for Weinberg’s taste.
Others are clumsy at playing undercover roles.
There are actually two fictitious sheikhs, but one agent muffed his impersonation and was promptly shelved.
A few officials, like DiMaso in the film, push to give Weinberg and the investigation a freer hand.
No one is quite so aggressive as Di Maso is — though the closest analog would be the similarly named Antonio Amoroso, who impresses Weinberg with his toughness and foul mouth.
Amoroso, like DiMaso, is present for filmed payoffs that seal the sting operation.
He reportedly serves as a consultant on American Hustle.
Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) and Angelo Errichetti
Columbia Pictures; Vimeo
The film cultivates some sympathy for the mayor of Camden, N.J., played by Jeremy Renner and fairly closely modeled on the late real-life mayor Angelo Errichetti.
American Hustle portrays Errichetti as a man of the people (that part is true) who only hopes his illegal maneuvers would create jobs and prosperity in the state.
That latter bit is a stretch, as Errichetti is arguably guilty of more outrageous and greedy conduct than anyone else.
This did not dissuade Weinberg from developing a certain fondness for Errichetti, as Rosenfeld does in the movie.
It is a flight of Hollywood fancy, though, that Weinberg sought to give Errichetti immunity and dupe the Feds.
American Hustle portrays Errichetti as a man of the people (that part is true) who only hopes his illegal maneuvers would create jobs and prosperity in the state.
That latter bit is a stretch, as Errichetti is arguably guilty of more outrageous and greedy conduct than anyone else.
This did not dissuade Weinberg from developing a certain fondness for Errichetti, as Rosenfeld does in the movie.
It is a flight of Hollywood fancy, though, that Weinberg sought to give Errichetti immunity and dupe the Feds.
The Sheikh
FBI photo
One of Abscam’s more outlandish chapters is not depicted in the film.
At one point, Weinberg invites some politicians and a cornucopia of hustlers and low-lifes to take a party cruise on a power yacht in Florida allegedly owned by one of the sheikhs but actually the property of the FBI.
On the yacht, several political figures actually posed for photos with the phony sheikh, played by a Lebanese-born FBI agent (who had much better Arabic than the agent of Mexican descent we meet in the film).
In a great twist, Weinberg gets around the FBI’s tight budget by elaborately smooth-talking guests into supplying the liquor, food, and cash that makes the party an enticing attraction in the first place.
At one point, Weinberg invites some politicians and a cornucopia of hustlers and low-lifes to take a party cruise on a power yacht in Florida allegedly owned by one of the sheikhs but actually the property of the FBI.
On the yacht, several political figures actually posed for photos with the phony sheikh, played by a Lebanese-born FBI agent (who had much better Arabic than the agent of Mexican descent we meet in the film).
In a great twist, Weinberg gets around the FBI’s tight budget by elaborately smooth-talking guests into supplying the liquor, food, and cash that makes the party an enticing attraction in the first place.
In one scene in the film, the alleged sheikh (played by Michael Peña) gives the mayor of Camden a knife that supposedly has great symbolic significance.
Later the fallen mayor guesses that the knife was a mere toy.
The ceremonial knife did indeed change hands, and Weinberg had retrieved it from a box in his cellar, having bought it as a souvenir at a flea market in Athens, for $2.75.
In the movie, the payoffs to politicians, captured on video, occur rapid-fire at the Plaza Hotel.
Though Abscam did use the Plaza Hotel in New York to impress marks, the filmed payoffs occurred at several less impressive hotels and, most often, at a town house at 4407 W Street in Washington, D.C.
The FBI had rented the townhouse from a Washington Post reporter temporarily posted elsewhere; the reporter had no idea of the story he was missing, nor even the true identity of his tenant.
Video recordings of these bribes eventually go public and become enduring symbols of public corruption.
In the most egregious tape, Rep. Michael “Ozzie” Myers takes $50,000 and says, “You’re going about this the right way … Money talks in this business and bullshit walks.”
Though Abscam did use the Plaza Hotel in New York to impress marks, the filmed payoffs occurred at several less impressive hotels and, most often, at a town house at 4407 W Street in Washington, D.C.
The FBI had rented the townhouse from a Washington Post reporter temporarily posted elsewhere; the reporter had no idea of the story he was missing, nor even the true identity of his tenant.
Video recordings of these bribes eventually go public and become enduring symbols of public corruption.
In the most egregious tape, Rep. Michael “Ozzie” Myers takes $50,000 and says, “You’re going about this the right way … Money talks in this business and bullshit walks.”
Abscam has some interesting postscripts that don’t get aired in the film.
A debate that became central to the trial outlasted the case:
Had the targets been "entrapped"?
Didn’t Weinberg put words in Senator Williams’s mouth on that one tape?
Apart from trying to impeach Weinberg’s character, crying "entrapment" was just about the only defense that anyone could muster given the hard evidence.
The Justice Department ends up overhauling the rules for under-cover work to clarify what constitutes fair play.
A debate that became central to the trial outlasted the case:
Had the targets been "entrapped"?
Didn’t Weinberg put words in Senator Williams’s mouth on that one tape?
Apart from trying to impeach Weinberg’s character, crying "entrapment" was just about the only defense that anyone could muster given the hard evidence.
The Justice Department ends up overhauling the rules for under-cover work to clarify what constitutes fair play.
Some politicians who never take payoffs but are alleged to have been amenable to it have to answer tough questions thereafter, in some cases for years.
The legendary Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha had a lengthy meeting on tape in the D.C. Townhouse, during which he said in response to an offer of money,
“I’m not interested … at this point.”
The episode dogged him and made appearances in obituaries when he died in 2010.
The legendary Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha had a lengthy meeting on tape in the D.C. Townhouse, during which he said in response to an offer of money,
“I’m not interested … at this point.”
The episode dogged him and made appearances in obituaries when he died in 2010.
YouTube; Columbia Pictures
In a strange and sad note, Weinberg’s wife, whose rivalry with the mistress was more prosaic than the heated show-down depicted in the movie, comes forward in 1982 to claim that Weinberg accepted gifts and cash from targets of the investigation.
Weinberg denies this charge on the stand.
On ABC’s 20/20, she supplies some suggestive evidence that the microwave oven they owned was not a purchase of Weinberg’s as he claimed, but a gift from an Abscam mark.
The film has the Camden mayor giving it to him.
One week after that episode aired, Marie Weinberg was found dead, of an apparent suicide.
Weinberg denies this charge on the stand.
On ABC’s 20/20, she supplies some suggestive evidence that the microwave oven they owned was not a purchase of Weinberg’s as he claimed, but a gift from an Abscam mark.
The film has the Camden mayor giving it to him.
One week after that episode aired, Marie Weinberg was found dead, of an apparent suicide.
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