The checks came by FedEx, delivered directly to his front door. The money was good - $50,000, $25,000, $10,000 a pop.

They were bribes, the feds say, and they allegedly fattened the bank account of the man in charge of one of America's largest public works projects, the $5 billion expansion of Miami International Airport.

Ricardo "Richard" Mendez, MIA's one-time point man for construction, goes on trial next month on charges that he sold his public perch to line his pockets. His wife, Mirta, will stand trial, too, accused of helping him collect the money.

The trial promises to expose not only one couple's alleged crimes but also a culture of profiteering that has tainted the airport.

Mendez, 50, was hired in 1995 to help turn MIA from a cluttered, claustrophobic mess into a first-class hub for travel. But Mendez, the assistant director of facilities development, retired suddenly in early 1999 as investigators chased tips that he doled out contracts for cash.

In all, court papers detail about $300,000 that went from airport bidders to the Mendezes. Some came in the mail, some in cash, some in checks passed through a relative, the papers say.

"At its core, this is a case where the crimes were motivated by greed, " Barry Sabin, then the first assistant U.S. attorney for South Florida, said after the August 2001 indictment. "Miami International Airport is too important to this community to be tarnished by those who are driven by greed."

The alleged bribes at the heart of the case involve two contracts that were the subject of Herald investigative reports since 1999. Both times, politically connected insiders were handed no-bid work with help from Mendez. Both times, the work was of questionable merit to the traveling public, The Herald found.

34 COUNTS

Mendez faces 34 counts of mail fraud, bribery, money laundering and tax crimes, a case that could land him in prison for years. His wife, accused as an "aider and abettor" for some of his actions, faces 23 counts and also the prospect of prison.

The Mendezes deny the charges. Their lawyers say they will fight the case, set for trial as early as the week of Jan. 13 in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan.

"They've pled not guilty, " said Bob Josefsberg, one of the couple's attorneys. "What they say, they'll say in court."

Court papers filed by federal prosecutors Thomas J. Mulvihill and Anita J. Gay indicate that the couple are facing an uphill battle.

The government has compiled stacks of evidence, gathered by agents from the FBI and IRS and detectives with the Miami-Dade police public corruption unit.

Some evidence will likely come in testimony from two contractors who have already pleaded guilty to paying bribes to Mendez. Other evidence will come through a paper trail of bank deposits and transactions.

The government says it has audio and video recordings of Richard Mendez, and has examined loans to him and his wife. Also examined: Mendez credit-card accounts, including one at Lord & Taylor and another at Mayor's Fine Jewelers.

Mendez is the highest-ranking official charged to date in an ongoing probe of how publicly run MIA does business.

Specifically, court papers assert:

* Mendez was paid $145,000 in 1997 and 1998 by Engineering & Construction Services Inc., a Florida firm headed by Marilyn J. Parker, a major donor to Democratic campaigns who once flew on President Clinton's Air Force One.