On the February 11 edition of ABC Radio Networks' Imus in the Morning, while discussing the recent arrests of members of the Gambino crime family, frequent guest of the show Richard “Bo” Dietl, a former New York City Police Department detective and Fox News contributor, said he was “pissed off” because the FBI is expending too many resources prosecuting mob criminals while ignoring the northern border of the United States, saying, “Now, what bothers me is our borders up near Canada are opened up. It looks like the pilgrimage in to Mecca, the amount of 'Aba Dabba Doos' that are coming in from Canada in to the United States.” Dietl continued: “These are the cells -- these are the Arabic, fanatic Muslims that are coming through Canada into our country. We should take some of our friends from the -- I love the FBI. I've got great friends out in the FBI. It's great. We should take some of our great FBI agents and station them up there so they can make some oberservationtations [sic] about these guys, Al Swawahiwi [sic] and all his brothers and cousins coming through there.” When host Don Imus asked: “What's wrong there? What's wrong with arresting the people from the Gambino crime family?” Dietl responded: “No, no, no. You know what, I'm not saying crime is good or anything like that. I'm saying they should use some of this energy,” later adding: “Point in case is, we should use some of our excellent energy to captivate and to consolitate [sic] some of these people who are coming in to our country who are going to do something in the near future.”

Imus and Dietl continued their discussion until Charles McCord, the show's news anchor, attempted to explain Dietl's point, claiming that “His objection is, in his estimation, we haven't prioritized correctly the resources to investigate.” Dietl then added: " I want to get the guy who could blow my country up. I want to get the guy who could take down an airliner. I'm not worried about Spaghetti John, who ate too much meatballs or spaghetti 25 years ago. I'm worried about my family. I'm worried about my children. I'm worried about your children and your children." Bernard McGuirk, the show's executive producer, interrupted by saying: “We want to get these meatball-sucking thugs and put them away as well.” Dietl then challenged McGuirk, accusing him of making a “racist comment” and adding, "[A]ll Italians are not meatball thugs."

This is not the first time that Dietl has used demeaning language in reference to Muslim names. As Media Matters for America noted, on the August 7, 2007, edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto, Dietl stated: "[I]f I see two guys that look like Aba Daba Doo and Aba Daba Dah, I'm gonna pull 'em over, and I wanna find out what you're doing." Dietl and host Neil Cavuto were discussing the arrest of two college students from Kuwait and Egypt who were allegedly found with pipe bombs in their car near a Navy base in South Carolina.

On the March 14, 2007, edition of Your World, Dietl stated that instead of flying, six Muslim imams who were removed from a US Airways flight at St. Paul-Minneapolis International Airport in 2006 should “call your cousin up there, Ali Baba Boo, and go by cab.”

From the February 11 edition of ABC Radio Networks' Imus in the Morning:

IMUS: Good morning, Mr. Dietl.

DIETL: Good morning, Don. How are you, sir?

IMUS: I'm fine. So, all of your friends -- how many of these people, like Mike the Electrician, or Bobby the Jew, or the Greaseman, or Tommy Sneakers, or these people from the Gambino crime family do you actually know?

DIETL: All of them.

IMUS: Really?

DIETL: Yeah. I just was a little disturbed about what happened. You know, a lot of these cases, they built up 30 years ago. A lot of these guys have been prosecuted. They named my friend Joe Scopo on the indicted list. Joey's been dead since 1992. What, are they gonna get him -- take him out of the coffin and cuff him? My point is this. There's a lot of energy that's expelled by the FBI against vowels with, you know, with spaghetti last names. It kinda pisses -- can I use “pissed off”?

[...]

IMUS: So what are you pissed off about now?

DIETL: Now, what bothers me is our borders up near Canada are opened up. It looks like the pilgrimage into Mecca, the amount of “Aba Dabba Doos” that are coming in from Canada into the United States. These are cells --

IMUS: Abba Dabba Doos? I don't quite understand that.

DIETL:-- these are the Arabic, fanatic Muslims that are coming through Canada into our country. We should take some of our friends from the -- I love the FBI. I've got great friends out in the FBI. It's great. We should take some of our great FBI agents and station them up there so they can make some oberservationtations [sic] about these guys, Al Swawahiwi [sic] and all his brothers and cousins coming through there.

IMUS: What's wrong there? What's wrong with arresting the people from the Gambino crime family?

DIETL: No, no, no. You know what, I'm not saying that crime is good or anything like that. I'm saying --

IMUS: Oh, good.

DIETL: -- they should use some of this energy --

IMUS: That's good, isn't it, Bernie?

MCGUIRK: Yeah.

DIETL: -- do you remember in 2000 --

MCGUIRK: It sounds like he's apologizing for these rocket scientists.

DIETL: No, no, no. Do you remember in 2000 -- hold on a second -- in 2000 when Mohamed Atta and all his boys there were flying around with lessons up and lessons without landing the planes. I mean, come on. The FBI knew about --

IMUS: What does -- what does one have to do with the other?

DIETL: Point in case is, we should use some of our excellent energy to captivate and to consolitate [sic] some of these people who are coming in to our country who are going to do something in the near future.

MCGUIRK: We can multi-task.

DIETL: Thank you.

MCCORD: His objection is, in his estimation, we haven't prioritized correctly the resources to investigate.

DIETL: Thank you. Thank you both. I want to get the guy who could blow my country up. I want to get the guy who could take down an airliner. I'm not worried about Spaghetti John over there, who ate too much meatballs or spaghetti 25 years ago. I'm worried about my family. I'm worried about my children. I'm worried about your children and your children.

McGUIRK: We want to get these meatball-sucking thugs and put them away as well.

DIETL: Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa. That's a racist comment. That's a ra -- all Italians are not meatball thugs. First of all --

IMUS: He didn't say they were.

DIETL: -- there are a lot of good Italians. We got great Italians. My friend used to head up Pepsi-Cola, Roger Enrico. Great American. How about little [former New York Stock Exchange chairman] Dickey Grasso? Great American. [UBS Financial Services chairman] Joe Grano, great American.

McGUIRK: Don't put him in that category.

IMUS: Grano? Dick Grasso? Dick Grasso? Everybody on the planet knows Dick Grasso --

DIETL: [Venture capitalist] Ken Langone from Home Depot, great Americans.

IMUS: I understand that. Ken Langonzo [sic] is a lovely guy. Dick Grasso is -- but Dick Grasso, on the other hand, is a made member of organized crime. What are you talking about?

DIETL: Why would we have to focus --

IMUS: Grasso's a bigger thug than the Gambino.

DIETL: Why would we have to just focus on the negativity --

IMUS: No, but I mean --

DIETL: - of the Italian-Americans -- you know --

IMUS: -- this defense of these thugs --

DIETL: -- that's sexist and racism.

IMUS: -- who, by the way, were committing every crime that the --

DIETL: Whoa. Did they do anything to you?

IMUS: Pardon me?

DIETL: Did they do anything to you?

IMUS: Don't involve me with the mob. I have nothing to do with the mob.

DIETL: OK.

McCORD: I don't even think -- I've never heard of it.

DIETL: Did they do anything to you? Did -- do you -- did they do anything to you where you live over there [unintelligible]? They didn't do anything to you. So why would you worry about my friends --

[crosstalk]

IMUS: What were you going -- trying to say, you son of a -- what were you going to say? I don't know anything.

DIETL: All I can say is that Italian-Americans --

IMUS: In my view, there is no such thing as organized crime. I don't know what the hell they're talking about.

DIETL: -- Italian-Americans are --

IMUS: I'm just wondering who these people are they arrested.

DIETL: Italian-Americans are some of our great people, and --

IMUS: Who said they weren't?

DIETL: -- they're family. They're loving people. They're great Americans. A few of them -- a few people go astray.

IMUS: You're saying that Bernie can't say “meatball-sucking thugs”?

DIETL: No. I think that's very racist and ethniticitized [sic].

IMUS: It's not racist. It's not even close.

DIETL: Ethniticitized.