Another high-ranking official recalls trying to brief Wilson on the welfare issue.

"All of our great minds said they didn't have any evidence against him," one official at the meeting recalled.

The Mayor found out about the problem on television, the officials recalled.

"We were trying to abort the deal," one official recalled.

Some officials in Washington recalled that moment this weekend.

"It was not exactly traditional for the Helms clan," one official recalled.

Some officials recalled the detainees' premonition about three of them having to die.

His suggestion that everyone bring a check to the next meeting, one official recalled, was greeted with amusement.

But several officials could not recall a case in which an officer's questionable behavior was caught on video.

"People felt that was a turning point," the official recalled.