An American Indian tribe in Massachusetts with direct ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff is trying to bypass the federal courts and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to jumpstart a stalled casino project underway near the Massachusetts border with Rhode Island. Ironically, the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe has enlisted an unlikely ally, Senator Elizabeth Warren, to carry its water on Capitol Hill. The Mashpee Wampanoag began its quest to become a federally recognized Indian tribe in 1975. Such recognition is necessary for a tribe to operate a gaming institution on off-reservation land. In 2007, after hiring Jack Abramoff to
