Casino Jack

Jack Abramoff was the central figure in the biggest American scandal since Watergate. Abramoff was a political operative who had worked the back alleys of Republican administrations around the globe from Nicaragua to Angola with the likes of Oliver North. His story, in many ways, is that of the Bush era. Motivated by an odd mix of fundamentalist religion and kitsch movie culture, he may well be regarded by history as the era’s most dramatic figure.

This true story starts with Abramoff’s arrest by the FBI in Los Angeles in 2005 and the Mafia-style murder of the Florida casino owner Gus Boulis in Ft. Lauderdale. We then go back to the time of George Bush’s inauguration in 2000 which Abramoff celebrates with the powerful House Leader, Tom DeLay, who envisions single party rule in America. To that end, DeLay initiates his K Street Project, whereby industries and associations will only be able to hire Republicans such as Abramoff as lobbyists. Aided by DeLay’s former spin doctor, a glib and Machiavellian ex-surfer from Delaware, Michael Scanlon, Abramoff gains a multi-million-dollar fortune lobbying on behalf of dodgy Asian sweatshop owners and the gullible Indian casino proprietors.

Wining and dining the big players in Washington, Abramoff is determined to found a political and business empire. To this end, he uses his connections to force Boulis, a corrupt and violent casino operator, to sell his gambling boats. Enlisting a mob-connected buddy, Adam Kidan, to help him destroy Boulis, Abramoff finds himself in a world of Mafia assassins and labyrinthine deception, putting his life and that of his family at risk.