Thread by @CassBasler

Story time 🫖 — The 90s and early 2000s were wild times in Connecticut. Several public officials were convicted on corruption charges. So many convictions grabbed headlines that it earned the state the nickname “Corrupticut”. 🧵1/9 @wnpr

@wnpr Republicans got convicted…

@wnpr Democrats got convicted…

@wnpr Cases were brought against everyone from city aldermen… to even CT Governor John Rowland. 🧵 4/9

@wnpr So what made Connecticut a hotbed for all these corruption cases back then? Well, it starts with a kid growing up in Jersey, who became obsessed with a TV show. He loved this show so much, he wrote a fan letter to the director of the FBI… 🧵5/9

@wnpr …and he got a reply. 🧵6/9

@wnpr Decades later, that kid became FBI Special Agent Mike Clark. He says he was part of a “dream team” of federal investigators sent to CT to look into regional bank failures – one tied to a scheme that brought down a mayor in Waterbury. 🧵7/9

@wnpr The team had such a talent for “following in the money”, they got sent to the FBI Academy in Quantico to teach other investigators how to sniff out corruption. And Clark says they were introduced as “The team from ‘Corrupticut’”. 🧵8/9

@wnpr Hear what Clark says led to this corruption – and the origin story of one of Connecticut’s infamous nicknames – in Episode 1 of @wnpr podcast In Absentia . You can catch the latest episodes on Tuesdays.🧵9/9ctpublic.org/bpt
tinyurl.com/InAbentiaPod

@wnpr @threadreaderapp unroll pls :)