schoumacher: robert bicks was the assistant attorney general who oversaw the justice department's investigation. we came across part by accident a very small company in the industry, and an official that was known to somebody in the antitrust division who told the story with regard to one particular product in a meeting after his company had been subpoenaed to produce data. building on that, when he told the story about conspiracy in a series of meetings there, the first one or two cases were put together. schoumacher: the first few confessions prompted more executives to come forward, executives from big firms like ge, westinghouse, and allis-chalmers. soon prosecutors began to unveil the intricate design of the conspiracy. they used assumed names, registered under false names called each other at home rather than at the office, used unmarked envelopes. as identical bids became suspect they developed a rather complex formula known colloquially as "phase of the moon," whereby, to avoid detection, the bids were disparate, subject to a formula which enabled a rotating low bidder, so that everybod