Stern and the undercover FBI agent led the politicians involved to believe that they were wealthy
developers looking for to curry favor and would use their
economic resources to help Smith bribe his
way into City Hall in exchange for political favors that would pave the
way for their upstate development projects.
The court sided with New London, Conn., city officials whose
economic development plan calls for taking homes in a working class neighborhood to make
way for private
developers.