Yes, there were the bogus real-estate transactions and fancy toilets. But what really brought down Randy "Duke" Cunningham? Gay prostitutes. At least that's what Marcus Stern says. And he ought to know. Seven months ago, the D.C.-based journalist's story in the San Diego Union-Tribune inspired the federal probe that led to Cunningham's downfall. Stern started looking into Cunningham because of a pair of $10,000 Saudia Arabia junkets the California congressman went on to allegedly "promote discourse and better relations." Having seen Cunningham in heated bipartisan action, however, Stern had never thought of the antique-loving flyboy as particularly diplomatic:

Stern remembers an incident he witnessed in 1996 between Duke and Congressman Barney Frank, the gay congressman from Massachusetts, embroiled at the time in his own scandal involving a former male companion who had been caught running a prostitution ring from the congressman