How would you interpret ‘the whole works’ here?
“So you would think. But this guy Matus has acquired for himself a certain cachet. He used to be a member of the Communist Party. Twenty years ago, when everybody including your Aunt Frances was a member of the Communist Party. Now he comes to the FBI, offers to come clean. Before you know it they’ve got him in front of the HUAC, the whole works. So far he’s remembered hundreds of former associates who now work in government and the media, and for an additional fee he will remember more. Amazing, his memory. The New York Times is a major employer of Communists, he says. Time and Life also. This guy is a star.”

How would you interpret ‘the whole works’ in the sentence: Before you know it they’ve got him in front of the HUAC, the whole works?
Thanks! And it’s from The Lacuna by Kingsolver.

Question

How would you interpret ‘the whole works’ here?
“So you would think. But this guy Matus has acquired for himself a certain cachet. He used to be a member of the Communist Party. Twenty years ago, when everybody including your Aunt Frances was a member of the Communist Party. Now he comes to the FBI, offers to come clean. Before you know it they’ve got him in front of the HUAC, the whole works. So far he’s remembered hundreds of former associates who now work in government and the media, and for an additional fee he will remember more. Amazing, his memory. The New York Times is a major employer of Communists, he says. Time and Life also. This guy is a star.”

How would you interpret ‘the whole works’ in the sentence: Before you know it they’ve got him in front of the HUAC, the whole works?
Thanks! And it’s from The Lacuna by Kingsolver.

Answer

HUAC refers to the House Unamerican Activities Committee, which was a committee established by Congress during the "McCarthy Era" when communism was seen as a major threat to the US. "The whole works" here means that the FBI made a major situation out of his admitting that he was a communist, and treated him as if he were a major threat to the country by taking him before the HUAC.