Operation Rocky Top

Operation Rocky Top was the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI's) code name for a public corruption investigation into the Tennessee state government in the late 1980s.

Operation Rocky Top was launched in 1986 as an FBI and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation undercover investigation into illegal activities in charity bingo, including the illegal sale of bingo licenses.

A first-year member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, Randy McNally of Oak Ridge, became a secret participant in the investigation in 1986 after he reported to authorities that a bingo lobbyist had offered him bribes and had boasted about bribing other lawmakers. 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. Operation Rocky Top became public in January 1989 when Donnie Walker pleaded guilty to offering McNally a $10,000 bribe in exchange for his vote on a measure to legalize horse racing.

The investigation resulted in the December 1989 suicide of the Tennessee Secretary of State, Gentry Crowell, and the incarceration of several other politicians, most notably state House Majority Leader Tommy Burnett.

The code name for the investigation was derived from Rocky Top, one of the state's official songs. Years later, another investigation of Tennessee public corruption was code-named Operation Tennessee Waltz, after another state song.

Sources

• Sandra Roberts, Before Tennessee Waltz, there was Rocky Top, The Tennessean, June 5, 2005.