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Irv and Edith/Syd's final con: Implausible?

posted 9 years ago by SeemsSensible
3 replies | jump to latest

I barely remember ABSCAM, but have read some things since seeing this movie (an interview with the guy Irving is based on, for one), so the fact that a lot of that stuff really happened made the movie more interesting to me.

But the stuff that was made up, Irv and Edith's con re: the fake mob lawyer and the $2 million, to be specific, seemed pretty far-fetched and highly unlikely to me.

It's unimaginable to me that in real life, the FBI would just take Irv and Edith's word for who the lawyer is, his location, etc. and especially so since they were going to be wiring $2 million. (And how would they even know it anyway? It was never established that they were the contacts for Telligio; in fact, Irv didn't want to have anything to do with the mob, and Telligio said, "What are you, a farmer?" The FBI would know all that stuff, not Irv and Edith. Unless I missed something—and please explain if I did—that particular angle, while making a good addition to the story, just seemed preposterous.

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

It's unimaginable to me that in real life, the FBI would just take Irv and Edith's word for who the lawyer is, his location, etc. and especially so since they were going to be wiring $2 million.

But remember they weren't so much taking their words, as taking Richie's word, he was the one driving it and he's an FBI operative. Irv and Syd even "try to pull out of the deal" when Telligio doesn't show up for the "meeting", but are urged back to the table by Richie. It's important to remember this is supposed to be happening back in the 70's and not now, when modern technologies would see it a lot less likely to occur.🐭

[–] ricky_says_hi 9 years ago

Richie is also on a nasty coke habit and a power trip. He's so desperate to pull this scam off that he's not exactly thinking rationally. And he never thought to consider that Irving and Sydney would try to con him again.

[–] rubirub 8 years ago

I didn't get it, why did they fake the meeting? Did the FBI want them in prison after they have helped them with the case?

On the other hand, why Telligio didn't kill Irv and Edith when everything was a set-up and even his man John ended up dating Irv's ex-wife?