While early press reports of Jack Abramoff's arrest on charges of wire fraud made the affair seem fairly innocuous as white-collar crime goes, it is quickly emerging that this bit of skulduggery may prove more embarrassing to the Republican power structure than the unrelated ripoff of various Indian tribes. And the case has links to the mob, murder and, of course, Tom DeLay.

Top Republican legislators are having trouble remembering who Jack Abramoff is. Here's how James Grimaldi describes it for the Washington Post—

Federal authorities sidestepped specific mention of Abramoff's high-powered political connections. At an afternoon news conference here, Acosta did not mention Abramoff's use of congressional contacts to seal the SunCruz deal. The closest officials came to doing so was when Delaney said that, "regardless of position, status, wealth or associations, fraudulent activity will not be tolerated."

But Abramoff's dealings with SunCruz were intertwined with his relationships with powerful members of Congress and their staffs. As the negotiations warmed up, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's office -- he was the House minority whip then -- gave Boulis a flag that had flown over the Capitol. And as the SunCruz deal was closing, Abramoff brought his lead financier to a DeLay fundraiser in the lobbyist's box at FedEx Field during a Monday Night Football game between the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys.

To help land the deal, an Abramoff associate, Michael Scanlon, persuaded Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) to officially criticize Boulis in the Congressional Record; later, Ney praised Kidan1 in the official publication of Congress.

Abramoff listed Tony Rudy, a top DeLay aide at the time, and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) as personal references on his loan papers. And he flew key members of DeLay's staff -- including his current chief of staff -- on a SunCruz jet and took them for a night of gambling on a SunCruz boat at the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa. The Super Bowl trip came just days before Boulis's slaying.

Ney has said he was duped by Abramoff and Scanlon. DeLay's spokesmen have said he does not remember meeting the banker or sending the flag. His spokesman declined to comment. Rudy has declined to comment. Rohrabacher has said he gladly served as a reference for Abramoff.

For background on Abramoff I highly recommend Stephen Pizzo's piece "DeLay's godfather" at the Smirking Chimp.

You would think the Democrats could reap a great deal of benefit from this and so many other examples of moral turpitude in the Republican Party. But they are remarkably silent. I wonder why.