PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It was a case of business as usual. But 40 years ago this month, KYW Newsradio reported the business of bribery finally caught up with the first modern-day Philadelphia City Councilman to be convicted of taking cash for favors.

Isadore Bellis, the likeable, perpetually tanned tennis champ and council majority leader was helping vendors get a spot at the new airport terminal - for a price.

But unlike others who followed him, Bellis avoided jail. He had already spent 12 years on City Council and was on the primary ballot for a fourth term.

The voters turned their backs on him, the court sentenced him to a fine and probation. But his conviction revealed what emerged as a pattern of political corruption.