For the duration of the investigation McNally wore a wire and cultivated the trust of bingo lobbyists and other insiders so they would talk freely in front of him and offer him bribes.
"Donnie" Walker, a one-time bingo regulator in the state government who later became a lobbyist, pleaded guilty to offering McNally a $10,000 (equivalent to $27,796 in 2023) bribe in exchange for his vote on a measure to legalize horse racing.
[1] At the height of activity there were nearly 300 bingo operations in the state with estimated annual revenue of $31 million.
[1] The investigation resulted in more than 50 convictions[2] and the incarceration of several politicians, most notably Tennessee House of Representatives' majority leader, Democrat Tommy Burnett.
[3] Two other targets of the investigation committed suicide before testifying, Tennessee Secretary of State Gentry Crowell, in December 1989, just before he was scheduled to testify for a third time before a federal grand jury, and State Representative Ted Ray Miller of Knoxville, after being charged with bribery.