Senate's most controversial member has become one of the country's most important political figures, even though his name has been repeatedly associated with political scandal and his friends and personal associates so often end up in jail. Senator Pothole describes the deals and betrayals that resulted in his election to the Senate in 1980, defeating the venerable Senator Jacob Javits. The book shows how - for a price - D'Amato has set banking policy, determined whether leveraged buy-outs will be allowed, decided which part of society will bear the heaviest tax burden, and whether criminals would be put in jail or become the hidden manipulators of power. D'Amato's ties to organized crime; at one point D'Amato pleaded with then U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani not to prosecute Godfather Paul Castellano. How D'Amato committed perjury before a grand jury and then admitted it ten years later when the statute of limitations had run out. His involvement in the savings-and-loan scandal. How D'Amato intimidated the Senate Ethics Committee members into slapping him on the wrist instead of expelling him from the Senate. How D'Amato let his brother Armand use his office to peddle influence in selling an obsolete Unisys weapons system to the Navy, which didn't want it. As a result, his brother was convicted of mailfraud in 1993. And much more. The author conducted over four hundred interviews with Senator D'Amato's family members, enemies, friends, and political associates. He also made extensive use of court records and transcripts. The result is the most explosive, eye-opening book written about probably the most corrupt member of Congress of our day.