the committee. The committee held four hearings between May 5, 1971, and July 29, 1971. After the final hearing, McKee was afraid that his company would lose its contract. William Harding, MBM's head of sales, then talked to his friend, Senator Ronald MacKenzie, about the probable results of the investigation. According to Harding, MacKenzie told him that a favorable committee report would cost between $30,000 and $40,000. McKee and Mansueto concluded that the only way for MBM to keep their contract would be to pay the money. Harding made the first payment on October 11. Because the company was having cash flow problems, the payment was only $5,000. After the payment was made, MacKenzie gave Harding a draft copy of the committee's report, which he gave to McKee. McKee found the report to be ambiguous and dictated a memo about the good work MBM had done on the project, which Harding delivered to MacKenzie for inclusion in the final report. The next month, the committee issued its report, half of which was McKee's memo. A second $5,000 payment was made by Harding on November 20. McKee made a $10,000 payment on January 20, 1972. Harding made the fourth payment ($10,000) on February 18 and Jack Thomas, head of MBM's Boston office, made the final payment (also $10,000) on May 12. All of the payments were made to MacKenzie, several of which were made at a bar near MBM's Boston office. On July 6, DiCarlo and MacKenzie visited McKee in his New York City office. According to McKee, DiCarlo chastised him, saying that "They shouldn't have to chase MBM like creditors" and that the delayed payments had caused him "difficulty and embarrassment because he had to share them with others". Investigation, indictment, and trial In the spring of 1975, Federal investigators were looking into corruption in Pennsylvania. While under interrogation by a Federal prosecutor during a grand jury, an MBM official was asked if he knew of any similar corruption in any other state. He replied that he was aware of corruption in Massachusetts. The testimony was then forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Boston field office. Special Agent in Charge James O. Newpher assigned Agent Robert Sheenhan to the case, who investigated it in conjunction with U.S. Attorney James N. Gabriel. On August 13, 1976, a grand jury indicted DiCarlo and MacKenzie on charges of extortion, conspiracy, and other