The kickbacks were discovered when newly appointed MBTA General Manager James O'Leary accidentally opened an envelope meant for Locke that contained the proceeds from one of the schemes.
[5] On April 30, 1981, Walters was unable to meet with Locke to deliver a kickback payment from a company that had been granted an advertising contract.
Inside were four progressively smaller envelopes, with the smallest containing ten $100 bills and a note instructing Locke to use a lower price when determining how much a Belmont man would have to pay for abandoned MBTA land.
That evening, O'Leary went to the home of Massachusetts Attorney General Francis X. Bellotti and turned over the money and the envelopes to him.
When O'Leary left, assistant attorney general Stephen R. Delinsky and two state troopers entered through another door and requested permission to search the office.
Walters' statement led to the Attorney General's office questioning dozens of people, including MBTA employees and business executives.
[8] Walters agreed to cooperate with the Attorney General's office because he did not want to jeopardize the finalization of his and his wife's adoption of a baby boy.
He and his lawyer negotiated an agreement in which he was promised that the Attorney General would not recommend incarceration in his case, the Attorney General's office would help him obtain employment, the Massachusetts State Police would provide him with protection during the investigation, and, if he so desired, he would be provided with a new identity and relocated to another part of the country.
[10] On July 17, 1981, Locke and eight others, including his brother Alan, were indicted in connection with the Attorney General's investigation into kickbacks at the MBTA.
Gail and Gary Lockberg testified that they entered into an agreement with Buckley, Harwood, and Snelders in which the five of them would be partners in a pharmacy at South Station and that Walters had sought $15,000 in exchange for the concession.
At the sentencing hearing, Judge Rudolph Pierce described Locke as having an "insatiable appetite" for payoffs and stated that for him "greed was seemingly the all-consuming virtue".
[25][26] Tatel pleaded guilty to three counts of bribery and was sentenced to one year in prison, with four months to be served and eight to be suspended.
[23] Buckley, Harwood, and Snelders pleaded no contest to conflict of interest charges and each received a six-month suspended sentence.