By now, District residents have been well versed on the heroics of Taxicab Commission Chairperson Leon Swain Jr. in the bribery scandal, and the alleged failings of Jim Graham’s Chief of Staff Ted Loza. But the majority of the defendants aren’t well known.

They are parking lot attendants, gas station workers, people who struggle in the service economy to make ends meet. These defendants are the ones who allegedly bribed Swain for under-the-table taxicab licenses. You can find the indictments here.

We decided to do a piece on these anonymous men. Who are they? What did they really know about the bribery scheme?

The answers surprised us. You can read the full story which details what they did, what they knew, and how they were arrested.

One defense attorney framed the government’s case as a really weak RICO case: “It would be as if in the Kevin Gray prosecution, the government charged the two top kingpins and 35 addicts as their co-defendants.”