ABC News identifies Stephen Bing, a wealthy California film producer last seen running away from his pregnant girlfriend, Elizabeth Hurley, as the single biggest contributor to Democratic candidates. ABC did a bit more digging into Bing's background than the Democrats and discovered a nasty skeleton in his closet -- or, more accurately, in federal prison:

As Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards arrived in Boston today for the Democratic National Convention, so did the California man who is their single biggest contributor. He is Stephen Bing, a wealthy film producer who, with little fanfare, has managed to steer a total of more than $16 million of his money to Democratic candidates and the supposedly independent groups that support them. ...

In fact, Democratic Party officials said they knew nothing about the man who law enforcement officials tell ABC News is Bing's friend and business partner — Dominic Montemarano, a New York Mafia figure currently in federal prison on racketeering charges.

Montemarano has a long criminal record and is known to organized crime investigators by his street name, Donnie Shacks.

"Donnie Shacks' main activity was murder. No question about it. That was his main function for the Colombo family and for organized crime in general. He was one of the top hit men in the New York area," said Joe Coffey, a former NYPD investigator.

It turns out that Bing paid all of the legal fees for his business partner on the way to Club Fed for racketeering and murder. How much of that money actually belonged to Donnie Shacks in the first place? And how much mob money has gone to Democratic candidates?

I applaud ABC for running this story. I doubt we'll hear much about it after this. (via The Corner)

UPDATE: Tom Maguire jumps ahead of the meme.

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The Washington Post notes Sen. Kerry and the Democrats have redefined Democratic fundraising and has amassed record sums from disparate groups opposed to Bush. Through June 30, the machine amassed $186.2 million, five times as much as any previous Dem... [Read More]

Tracked on July 28, 2004 7:56 PM