A videotape played at the first Abscam trial on Oct. 14, 1980, showing Pennsylvania Congressman Michael "Ozzie" Myers accepting an envelope containing $50,000 from undercover FBI agent Anthony Amoroso. Looking on is Camden Mayor Angelo Errichetti and con man Mel Weinberg.
The producers of "American Hustle" call it a work of fiction.
The film is already attracting Oscar buzz, described as “a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that’s as dangerous as it is enchanting ... hinging on raw emotion, and life and death stakes ...”
Directed by David O. Russell, “American Hustle” stars Christian Bale as a fast-talking con man being squeezed as an informer, and Bradley Cooper as the FBI agent who uses him.
But while names have been changed, and many of its characters transformed or wholly invented by the screenwriters, it is no secret that the highly awaited film, which opens later this month, is based on the infamous Abscam case.
