Americana: Sting Gets Stung

For five years the Bridgeport, Conn., city government and police force had been under extensive federal investigation. Apparently frustrated by the lack of results, the FBI decided to try an old-fashioned sting. The bait was Thomas Marra Jr., 28, a convicted car thief awaiting sentencing. Marra's father and uncle held a $100,000-a-year contract from Bridgeport to tow stolen cars—or did until last May, when motorists complained that equipment had been pilfered from the recovered autos. The FBI plan: Marra would offer Police Superintendent Joseph Walsh $30,000 to reinstate the contract. Walsh agreed to talk about it last week in a...

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