from the onset, and took place amidst the backdrop of the January 10, 1974, revelation that Cahn was under investigation by the office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where Dillon served as Organized Crime Task Force chief, for alleged grand jury tampering in relation to the revocation of indictments against three Republican Oyster Bay municipal officials involved with parking meter kickbacks. The investigation was opened in August 1973, when Dillon was approached with the allegations by Norman E. Blankman, an independent candidate for County Executive on the Integrity line, but the matter was quickly reassigned to another assistant by US Attorney Robert A. Morse because it lacked a nexus to organized crime. The investigation proceeded privately, but was upended on December 4 when Morse committed suicide by jumping from his fifth story apartment. Morse's death left the US Attorney's office vacant, pending the recommendation of a new appointee to President Richard Nixon from New York's two Republican senators, Jacob Javits and James L. Buckley. Much influence in filling the vacancy was expected to be held by Nassau County Republican chairman Joseph Margiotta, who as the boss of Nassau County's political machine became one of the foremost Republican power brokers statewide. Prior to Christmas, Margiotta approached Cahn's Chief Assistant District Attorney, Edward Margolin offering a recommendation for the vacancy, which was accepted. Margiotta proceeded to contact state Republican chairman Richard Rosenbaum, recommending Margolin for appointment; Rosenbaum then forwarded the recommendation, with his own endorsement, to Javits and Buckley. Concurrent to these events, Dillon had begun to himself seek the appointment, contacting Buckley to recommend himself for the position, and receiving the unsolicited recommendation of United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Henry E. Petersen. When word of Margiotta's recommendation that Margolin fill the vacancy reached assistants in the US Attorney's office, they contacted Department of Justice officials in Washington to express their concern that he could interfere with the investigation of Cahn. Margolin was soon dropped from consideration upon the disclosure that he had been subpoenaed to appear before the federal grand jury investigating Cahn, with the appointment instead going in late March to David G. Trager, a professor at Brooklyn Law School. Dillon first suggested that he was considering a campaign on May 14, the same day Trager was confirmed by the Senate to serve as US Attorney, and announced his