WORMSCAN.&&
By David P Beiter
Continued from WORMSCAN.&
byter@mcimail.com
@@@
960120, Philadelphia, PA, Reuters. Police Officer Louis Maiier
Date: Sun Jan 21, 1996 12:38 am CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Philly Cop Sentenced
Posted by Bob Witanek 1/20/96
Officer Gets 5 Years
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 19 (Reuters) - One of six police officers who
pleaded guilty in a corruption investigation was sentenced today
to 5 years in prison, an unusually long term that the judge said
was intended to serve as a deterrent. "Criminal conduct such as
you will not be tolerated and will be dealt with severely," Judge
Harvey Bartle of Federal District Court said sentencing the
officer, Louis Maiier. He had pleaded guilty to conspiracy in
violating the civil rights of defendants by framing them on drug
charges. Federal guidelines call for a sentence of 24 to 30
months. 5 other officers pleaded guilty to similar charges and are
awaiting sentencing. As a result of the inquiry, 60 criminal cases
have been dismissed or overturned.
==========
COMMENT: While the NYT reported that the sentence was stiff, I have
to chuckle. These cops knowingly fabricated evidence that could
have sent suspects away for decades. A fitting sentence for such
criminal acts committed by cops would be, IMHO, at least 2 years
for every one year sentencing potential of the framing victim.
Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org
960126, Philadelphia, PA, Philadelphia Inquirer. Former
Date: Sat Jan 27, 1996 12:31 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Philly's Dirty Thirty-9th - Saga Continues
From: Bob Witanek
Subject: Philly's Dirty Thirty-9th - Saga Continues
Posted dadoner@chesco.com Fri Jan 26 22:33:46 1996
From: Ronnie Dadone
Subject: more on the Dirty Thirty-9th
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 96 02:04:36 -0800
From: Ronnie Dadone
To: dadoner@chesco.com
Subject: Philadelphia Inquirer: City & Region
http://www.phillynews.com/inq/city/COPS26.htm
>
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] City & Region
>
> Friday, January 26, 1996
>
> 5 officers' sentencing off again
> The reason for this 3d postponement: The probe may touch even more
> 39th District officers.
>
> By Joseph A. Slobodzian
> INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
>
> The sentencing of five former Philadelphia police officers in the
> 39th District corruption probe has been postponed a third time, and
> a defense lawyer yesterday said the reason was that the
> investigation was expanding.
>
> Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Carr Jr. confirmed that U.S.
> District Judge Robert S. Gawthrop 3d had postponed Monday's
> sentencing of former officers Thomas DeGovanni, Thomas Ryan and
> James Ryan.
>
> Attorneys for the two other former officers, John Baird and Steven
> Brown, said they, too, expect the judge to postpone their clients'
> sentencing, which is set for Tuesday.
>
> All five officers pleaded guilty to framing drug defendants and
> lying on police reports in a series of cases between 1988 and 1991.
>
> Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Goldstein, who is prosecuting the case
> with Carr, said he could not comment on the reason for the
> postponement.
>
> A. Charles Peruto Jr., the attorney for Brown, said the postponement
> was necessary because James Ryan's continuing cooperation had caused
> prosecutors to begin looking at other police officers.
>
> ``My client helped lead them to Ryan, and James then turned them
> onto something big,'' Peruto said. ``And Brown is now entitled to
> some benefit for that.''
>
> Other than ``more officers,'' Peruto declined to say into what area
> the probe was expanding.
>
> Lawyers for James Ryan and Thomas Ryan, who are not related, could
> be reached for comment, but Peruto's remarks were echoed in the
> statements of two other defense attorneys.
>
> ``There is still ongoing cooperation that has not borne fruit, as
> they say,'' said Elizabeth K. Ainslie, the attorney for Baird, whom
> prosecutors have called the mastermind of the group of corrupt
> officers who preyed on suspected drug dealers in the North
> Philadelphia district.
>
> The officers arrested or searched more than 40 individuals between
> 1988 and 1991, stealing more than $100,000 in cash and property.
>
> Baird was the first target of the federal probe, and it was his
> reluctant decision to become an informant that led to last
> February's indictment of the five officers.
>
> The fluid nature of the continuing investigation was further
> suggested by a memo filed Monday by Gerald Stein, attorney for
> DeGovanni. Stein also said DeGovanni's cooperation had helped lead
> prosecutors to James Ryan, and that it would be unfair for the judge
> to sentence the former police sergeant without knowing the results
> of Ryan's -- and, by extension, DeGovanni's -- cooperation.
>
> All three defense attorneys contacted said their requests for
> postponement had nothing to do with the five-year prison term meted
> out last Friday by U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle 3d to former
> 39th District officer Louis J. Maier 3d.
>
> Sources, however, said at least some of the five were shocked by the
> severity of that sentence. Maier was charged separately after the
> original five were indicted last year.
>
> Bartle's sentence was twice as long as that recommended for Maier
> under federal sentencing guidelines. One reason was that federal
> prosecutors said the decorated veteran officer had breached his
> agreement to cooperate fully in the ongoing corruption probe.
>
> Moreover, Maier's sentence came despite Assistant U.S. Attorney
> Carr's comments that Maier was among the least culpable of the six
> officers charged thus far.
>
> Yesterday Maier's attorney, L. Felipe Restrepo, appealed the
> sentence to the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Date: Sun Mar 17, 1996 9:08 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Philly Dirty Thirty-9th. - More Releases
Posted: Ronnie Dadone
http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Mar/16/front_page/COPS16.htm
>
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page
One >
> Saturday, March 16,
1996 >
> More falsely convicted to be released
> In the 39th District mess, the tainted cases have reached 110.
>
> [Image] By Mark Fazlollah
> INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
>
> Now it's 110, and counting.
>
> The biggest, most expensive police scandal in Philadelphia
history > has reached a new benchmark for notoriety. Eleven more
> drug-conviction cases are about to be overturned, bringing the
total > to 110 as the massive review of damage done by corrupt cops
> continues.
> The church-going grandmother who was framed and sent to prison
for > three years, the restaurant manager who was put away for two
years, > and the 18-year-old nursing student who was snatched from
her > relatives' house by police and falsely arrested.
>
> These were some of the 110.
> The 11 new cases include two defendants who are on probation for
> their 39th District drug convictions. Another has finished his
> two-year prison term and is on parole.
>
> William Davol, a spokesman for District Attorney Lynne Abraham,
said > yesterday the 11 convictions would be overturned as soon as
a judge > approved the prosecutors' motions for reversing the
cases. >
> When five former 39th District officers were indicted on Feb. 28,
> 1995, on federal corruption charges, Abraham said that any case
that > was tainted by their involvement would be reversed.
>
> All five have pleaded guilty, as has one other 39th District
officer > indicted later in the year.
>
> A year into the review of the officers' arrests, defense
attorneys > continue to send Abraham stacks of cases for
reconsideration. In > all, the six corrupt 39th District officers
made about 1,400 arrests > between 1988 and 1995.
>
> Among the cases overturned so far is the drug conviction of Betty
> Patterson, the grandmother who was arrested in July 1989. Former
> 39th District Officers Thomas Ryan, John Baird and Steven Brown
told > prosecutors that she was framed.
>
> Baird, now in a federal prison, said the only reason Patterson
was > arrested was to gather evidence against her three sons for
a murder > case that the District Attorney's Office later lost.
>
> Baird said he believed Ryan or Brown planted the drugs that were
> used to send Patterson to prison for three years.
>
> And the 110 cases includes Andre Bonaparte, who walked out of
jail > Aug. 8 after his conviction was reversed. And George
Porchea, a > restaurant manager who was released from prison July
24.
>
> And there was Denise Patterson (not related to Betty Patterson),
who > was arrested in November 1988 by Baird. She was then an 18-
year-old > nursing student who just happened to be at her
relatives' house > caring for her sick mother when the police burst
in and decided that > she was a drug dealer.
>
> The case review has become a legal nightmare for the city. As
cases > are reversed because of corrupt officers, lawsuits pile up.
> Betty Patterson has sued for $20 million. Denise Patterson and
> Bonaparte have also sued, and Porchea has told the city he is
ready > to sue.
>
> Public Defender Bradley S. Bridge said he was disappointed by the
> pace of the dismissals.
>
> Though Bridge's office and prosecutors have agreed on dropping
the > 11 cases -- and 43 other convictions that the District
Attorney's > Office last month said should be overturned -- it is
unclear when > they can be officially reversed.
>
> Last year, Common Pleas Court Judge Legrome D. Davis was assigned
to > handle all 39th District cases. He handled most of the 56 >
convictions that have been overturned.
>
> Recently, Davis moved off the 39th District beat because of >
scheduling changes. Another judge was supposed to be assigned to
the > cases.
>
> That has not happened yet, though prosecutors and defense
attorneys > said the glitch probably would be resolved quickly.
Court officials > did not respond to requests for comment
yesterday.
>
> Bridge said none of the 11 defendants, nor anyone from the 43
other > cases, is currently in jail because of 39th District
arrests. But he > said the courts should quickly overturn the
convictions.
>
> ``Everyone is in agreement about getting this done,'' Bridge
said. > ``We just can't find anyone to do it.''
Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org
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Date: Wed Mar 20, 1996 11:36 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
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TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Dirty 39th. - 60 More Tossed Convictions
Posted: Ronnie Dadone
http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Mar/20/city/COPS20.htm >
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] City &
Region >
> Wednesday, March 20,
1996 >
> 60 more drug convictions are to be reversed today >
The arrests involved corrupt police officers. 56 convictions have
> been thrown out already.
>
> By Mark Fazlollah
> INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
>
> A court today will throw out 60 tainted drug convictions in which
> corrupt 39th District officers were involved in the arrests --
more > than doubling the number of cases overturned in the ever-
widening > probe.
>
> Already, 56 convictions have been tossed out because of the >
involvement of six former 39th District officers who have pleaded
> guilty to federal corruption charges.
>
> That will bring to 116 the number of cases reversed in the year-
old > scandal. That number is certain to grow.
>
> ``It just keeps going. There's no end to it,'' said William
Davol, > spokesman for District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham.
>
> Davol said 54 cases had been scheduled to be overturned by Common
> Pleas Court Judge Legrome D. Davis today, but six more were added
> earlier this week.
>
> And, as more officers are indicted, more cases will need to be
> overturned.
>
> Last fall, for example, Mayor Rendell confirmed that a police-
FBI > investigation has expanded into the elite Highway Patrol
unit. Law > enforcement officials have said several patrol officers
stole drugs > from pushers and resold them to other pushers.
>
> ``It's incredible the damage that has been done to the system,''
> Davol said.
>
> Lawyers who have specialized in police corruption cases say there
> has never been an investigation as deep into police wrongdoing
as > the current effort.
>
> ``The feds have been very successful in spreading'' the
> investigation to include other officers, including members of the
> Highway Patrol, said L. George Parry, a private attorney who once
> headed the now-defunct police corruption unit of the District >
Attorney's Office.
>
> ``I've never heard of 60 separate cases being overturned,'' said
> Parry, who was a federal strike force prosecutor in Buffalo
before > then-District Attorney Edward G. Rendell lured him to
Philadelphia > in 1978 to head the police corruption unit.
Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org
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Date: Thu Apr 04, 1996 11:18 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
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TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: 4 More Philly Cops to be Charged
From: Bob Witanek
From dadoner@chesco.com Thu Apr 4 08:58:13 1996
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http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/04/front_page/COP04.htm
>
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page One
>
> Thursday, April 4, 1996
>
> 4 more Phila. officers face federal charges
>
> By Joseph A. Slobodzian
> and Mark Fazlollah
> INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
>
> Guns drawn, they ordered about 100 people to their knees and rifled
> through their pockets, taking all their money.
>
> Once the money was bagged, about $28,000, the thieves began to
> party, drinking the beer, eating the food.
>
> This remarkably brazen heist was the work of four Philadelphia
> police officers, law enforcement officials said yesterday in
> announcing another indictment in the city's police corruption
> scandal.
>
> The new charges stem from a Feb. 19, 1994, police raid on a
> cockfight in the basement of a North Philadelphia store -- a raid to
> cover what prosecutors called an armed robbery by the four officers,
> not an attempt to stop the illegal gambling on fighting roosters.
>
> A total of 10 officers have now been charged in the federal probe of
> police corruption that began last year with the arrest of five
> officers from the 39th District in North Philadelphia.
>
> Yesterday's indictment expanded the probe into the adjacent 25th
> District as well as the department's vaunted Highway Patrol, an
> elite spit-and-polish unit long considered beyond reproach.
>
> The two officers from the 25th District are Julio C. Aponte, 42, an
> 11-year veteran of the force, and Edward A. Greene, 38, a
> third-generation police officer who was a city prison guard before
> joining the force in 1980. Indicted with them were Highway Patrol
> officers Lester F. Johnson, 35, a 14-year veteran, and John P.
> O'Hanlon, 32, a 10-year veteran.
>
> It was a Saturday night cockfight in the basement of a store in the
> 3200 block of North Fifth Street. Booze was flowing. There was a vat
> filled with beer and bottles of rum.
>
> Soon after the fights started, the four officers barged in, weapons
> drawn.
>
> In an interview last night, store owner Ramon Nu nez, 48, said the
> officers yelled: ``Everyone freeze. Police.''
>
> The officers ordered everyone to get on the floor. Nu nez said
> Greene and O'Hanlon then went to each man and reached into his
> pockets searching for money.
>
> The two then piled the money in the center of the ring, Nu nez said.
> One of the men was ordered to pack it in a large bag that had been
> used for carrying roosters.
>
> ``When the bag was filled with money, it was two feet high,'' Nu nez
> said. ``And this wasn't loose bills. Almost everyone had the money
> bundled up with rubber bands. They didn't leave one cent. They took
> everything.''
>
> Nu nez thinks as much as $75,000 was taken that night.
>
> Hours later, at the 25th District station, Nu nez said he asked
> Aponte about the money.
>
> ``He said they were counting it,'' Nu nez said. ``But they never
> brought it back.''
>
> The four officers were charged in a 21-count indictment with federal
> robbery and attempted robbery, use of a firearm in a crime of
> violence, and conspiracy to violate civil rights.
>
> All four entered pleas of not guilty yesterday before U.S.
> Magistrate Judge Peter B. Scuderi.
>
> Attorneys for Johnson and Greene told Scuderi that they intended to
> strongly contest the charges.
>
> ``You can bet on it,'' said Johnson's attorney, Jack McMahon.
>
> The lawyer added that his client had made about 150 arrests since he
> joined the Highway Patrol in 1985 and had received ``30 to 40
> commendations and merit awards from the police commissioner and the
> mayor.''
>
> Police Commissioner Richard Neal said Aponte retired from the force
> several weeks ago; the three others were suspended yesterday with
> intent to dismiss in 30 days.
>
> Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Carr Jr. said each man faces a
> likely prison term of 14 years without parole if convicted on all
> charges because of the mandatory jail terms that accompany firearms
> convictions.
>
> Yesterday's indictment was the long-expected sequel to the Feb. 28,
> 1995, indictment of the five 39th District officers.
>
> All five pleaded guilty and are to be sentenced April 15. A sixth
> officer was later charged, pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to
> five years in prison.
>
> The ongoing federal probe has become a public dissection of the
> city's criminal justice system. The admissions by the officers
> indicted a year ago that they created bogus search and arrest
> warrants so they could shake down suspected drug dealers has
> resulted in the dismissal of charges against 116 people arrested by
> the officers.
>
> Thirteen federal civil rights suits have been filed against the city
> and the convicted 39th District officers, and more filings are
> expected.
>
> Bradley S. Bridge, a lawyer coordinating the review of the corrupt
> officers' cases for the Public Defender's Office, said he would
> review all arrests made by Officers Aponte, Greene, O'Hanlon and
> Johnson.
>
> ``The corruption of these police officers has mortgaged our
> future,'' Bridge said. ``The indictments today are a down payment,
> albeit small, toward the redemption of our future. In the months to
> come, there will be more mortgage payments in the form of more
> indictments.''
>
> All four officers charged yesterday were ordered released by Scuderi
> after their attorneys assured him that they would post personal and
> family properties to secure bail of $100,000 to $150,000.
>
> The judge denied a motion by prosecutors to have Aponte held without
> bail for allegedly trying to persuade a witness to lie to federal
> investigators in another case.
>
> Prosecutor Carr said Aponte was secretly recorded Jan. 19 by Damian
> Padilla, a suspect with Aponte and two other men in a 1991 attempted
> home burglary in Port Richmond, telling Padilla not to cooperate
> with the FBI. In a transcript of the conversation made available
> yesterday, Aponte tells the informant to tell the FBI that the two
> had not seen each other for 1-1/2 years.
>
> ``Now they're going to ask you if you talked to me,'' Aponte is
> quoted as saying in the transcript. ``If you say yes, you talked to
> me . . . you sunked me, then you buried me.''
>
> Although Scuderi said he did not believe the audiotape warranted
> Aponte's pretrial detention, he raised Aponte's bail to $150,000 and
> warned him not to contact any witnesses.
>
> All four officers have checkered histories. Johnson is a defendant
> in a federal civil rights suit that also names five officers who
> have pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges.
>
> In the last two years, the city has paid a total of at least $85,000
> to settle federal lawsuits against O'Hanlon, Aponte and Greene.
>
> The indictment -- announced at a news conference attended by U.S.
> Attorney Michael R. Stiles, District Attorney Lynne Abraham, Neal
> and Bob C. Reutter, head of the Philadelphia office of the FBI --
> alleges that the four officers signed a police property receipt
> putting the amount at $2,404, and kept the rest for themselves.
>
> To make their raid seem legal, the indictment alleges, the four also
> arrested five people from the cockfight, including store owner Nu
> nez, for cruelty to animals and conspiracy. The indictment also
> alleges that the officers later sabotaged their testimony against
> the five -- who had been complaining about the theft of the money --
> to ensure that the charges against them were dismissed.
>
> Nu nez's attorney, Harry Rubin, said Nu nez had told the FBI about
> how police stole the money and then ate the victims' refreshments.
> ``It was like a party,'' Rubin said.
>
> Federal officials were tight-lipped yesterday about the status of
> the federal probe and how many more current of former officers might
> be indicted. They also took pains to put the corruption probe into
> perspective, noting that most Philadelphia police officers are
> honest ``and deserve the public's respect.''
>
> ``In my view this does not mean that the Philadelphia Police
> Department has more corruption than other police departments,'' said
> Stiles. ``It does mean that we are more determined to do something
> about it.''
>
> That view was also taken by Mayor Rendell, who told reporters: ``We
> ought to get a grip on reality.''
>
> ``There's always a problem, if it was one officer that committed a
> corrupt act,'' Rendell said. ``But so far, in years of
> investigation, we have a very small number of police, all acting on
> their own, all doing things that are not part of a pattern.''
>
> Neal said he remains ``prepared to go wherever the investigation
> takes us'' and said the probe ``should send a very clear message to
> anyone who would have any thoughts in terms of engaging in any form
> of corruption that we're committed to come after them, we're
> committed to identify them. We will fire them and they will be
> arrested.''
>
> District Attorney Abraham also said she wanted the probe to continue
> and urged ``as many police officers as possible who do deserve and
> earn the right to wear those badges and uniforms with honor'' to
> report any police corruption they discover.
>
> Four weeks after the raid, the five men arrested in the search
> appeared at a hearing before Municipal Court Judge Michael J.
> Conroy.
>
> Three of the arresting officers testified -- Aponte, Greene and
> O'Hanlon.
>
> O'Hanlon was questioned the most extensively about money that he and
> his partner -- Johnson -- had seized. He said 40 to 50 men attending
> the cockfight were searched, but no money was taken from anyone.
>
> Question: How much money was confiscated?
>
> O'Hanlon: ``There was $2,400, $2,404 I believe is the exact
> number.''
>
> Question: From where was this money confiscated?
>
> O'Hanlon: ``Inside the ring. . . . Off to the side in the ring. Just
> a big pile of money.''
>
> All that was a lie, federal prosecutors now say.
>
> [Image]
> Inquirer staff writers Richard Jones and Vanessa Williams
> contributed to this article.
Date: Tue Apr 09, 1996 2:15 am CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Venting 'Bout Bad Cops
From: Bob Witanek
Posted nattyreb@ix.netcom.com Sat Apr 6 09:01:33 1996
From: nattyreb@ix.netcom.com (Marpessa Kupendua)
A RARE AND COURAGEOUS BREED - A BLACK MAINSTREAM JOURNALIST WHO DARES
TO SPEAK THE TRUTH FROM HIS HEART! THERE'S HOPE FOR US YET!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
YES, LET US VENT ABOUT BAD COPS - by Elmer Smith,
Columnist - The Philadelphia Daily News 4/5/96
You may be pleased to know that our cops are no more corrupt
than cops elsewhere. No? Well try this one: There are no more
bad cops than bad lawyers, bad bankers or bad reporters. That
one doesn't do much for you? Didn't do it for me either.
But the federal prosecutor probing Philadelphia police corruption
and the mayor of this typically corrupt town seemed to think these
revelations would be quite a load off your mind. And maybe they
will be, if you're into turning your dark clouds inside out in search
of silver linings.
After all, cops are reading Miranda warnings to each other in
every big city in America. I guess it's good to know that ours are
no worse then theirs. So maybe this is just a timing thing with
me. But on a day when four cops get busted, this time for pulling
a stickup at a cockfight, I'm not trying to hear that armed robbery
by people we armed is just one of those things.
"In my personal view," said U.S. Attorney Michael Stiles "the
men and women of the Philadelphia Police Department are
certainly no more corrupt than... any other police department."
The mayor took it a step further. "So, let's get a grip and
understand that there are bad policemen, bad bankers, bad
politicians and maybe bad reporters," Rendell said.
Hey, get a grip on this, guys: When cops crash through
someone's door with guns drawn, rob 21 people of $28,000 and
sit around drinking beer while their victims lie face down on the
floor, I'm not trying to understand.
I think I do understand what the mayor and Stiles are trying to do.
They just don't want us to panic. They want to let us know that
we can stop worrying because they're on this. And since both of
them have better-than-average track records for fighting police
corruption, it seems fair to say that their official response is a lot
less casual than their public shrug.
But I don't want to be calmed down when I'm paying people who
may beat me up, lock me up and now, stick me up with the gun
I bought them. So I reserve the right to be outraged. Because,
even though I know they're doing it from Dubuque to Dallas, this
is a sore spot that never gets numb for me.
Wednesday's indictment bowl raises to 10 the number of Philly
cops busted in Mike Stiles' federal probe. The other six were into
robbing drug dealers, planting drugs on innocent people and
keeping a stash of illegal drugs for fun and profit.
Which brings to mind the old joke about Philadelphia being a town
where a kid can play cops and robbers alone. But I ain't laughing.
And I ain't buying that tired old refrain about how cops get
corrupted by all the corruption they see around them. That's an
excuse, and a sorry one at that.
If 950 cops of 1,000 can go from rookies to retirees without
sticking up a craps game or collecting on both ends from the local
hooker, the others have a problem more basic than workplace
atmosphere. Sure, some of us do have trouble keeping our hands
off other people's money. But it's the job of the police to help
us. Instead, we've got this greedy monitory out here helping
themselves.
There's no excuse for it. It is outrageous. And *that* is what I
want to hear from my mayor and federal prosecutor. Instead I'm
hearing how police are under such pressure, it's no wonder they
stray off the reservation every once in a while.
Which is what we're hearing from California this week in the
aftermath of the beating of two disarmed Mexican Americans who
were caught smuggling illegal aliens across the border. This
week's episode of roadside justice features some nifty stick work
by the Riverside County sheriff's department. It follows a familiar
script:
Police signal a driver to stop. The driver continues, picking up
speed until he is leading the police cruiser on a high-speed chase
over the highway or through city streets. Finally, after a long
chase, he overtakes the fleeing motorist. What follows is a scene
that has been repeated so often it's not just predictable; it's almost
inevitable.
The scene is in continuous showing this week because a TV crew
in a helicopter chronicled the chase and the beating on their
overhead cameras. They should have pulled over. But they sped
off. Cops hate that.
It's what made half a dozen L.A. cops form a circle and whip
Rodney King like a runaway slave.
That's what pissed off a cop in an unmarked car who dragged a
woman from her car, jumped on her back, and bludgeoned her on
a South Carolina highway a few months ago. We saw that one
replayed on a TV news magazine segment last month after the
irate trooper was caught on camera by his own police cruiser as he
administered roadside justice to this woman.
In California, where most American trends have their roots, this
tendency is called high-speed pursuit syndrome.
For once, I wish someone would call it what it is, beating the hell
out of people.
And stop trying to cool us off about it. Don't hose me down. Let
me burn.
==============================
Submitted by: Sis. Marpessa
http://www.webcom.com/nattyreb
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 21:46:59 -0700
From: mregen@ix.netcom.com (Marnie Regen )
To: DRCTalk@drcnet.org
Subject: corrupt cops chronology
Message-ID: <199604110446.VAA08528@DFW-IX2.IX.NETCOM.COM>
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Thursday, April 4, 1996
Some major events of corruption probe
By Richard Jones and Mark Fazlollah
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
Yesterday's indictment of four Philadelphia police officers was the
latest blow to a department already reeling from 13 months of
scandal.
Here is a chronology of key events in the corruption probe:
Feb. 28, 1995 -- A federal grand jury indicts five former officers
in the 39th District in North Philadelphia -- John Baird, 40; Thomas
DeGovanni, 44; Steven Brown, 48; James Ryan, 39; and Thomas Ryan,
38. They are charged with planting drugs on suspects, stealing more
than $100,000 in cash and property, and falsifying police reports.
They and a sixth former officer, Louis J. Maier 3d, later plead
guilty.
March 15, 1995 -- Joe Morris, 53, in prison for a 1988 drug
conviction, is freed at the request of the District Attorney's
Office. His is the first of more than 100 convictions overturned by
the courts because of misconduct by the six former officers.
April 7, 1995 -- Two former 19th District officers -- Derrick Mayes,
31, and Kevin Daniels, 33 -- are convicted of stealing cash,
planting drugs and making false arrests of young men in West
Philadelphia. Each is sentenced to five to 10 years.
June 8, 1995 -- A former 35th District officer, Sgt. Gene Lomazoff,
39, is convicted of stopping motorists for minor infractions, then
shaking them down for cash. He is sentenced to seven to 22 years.
July 26, 1995 -- Two former 39th District officers -- Brown, named
in the February indictment, and Robert Miller, 47 -- are charged
with running a lucrative fencing operation out of a North
Philadelphia variety store.
Aug. 14, 1995 -- In the first of a series of mass transfers, Police
Commissioner Richard Neal guts the 39th District's command, shifting
the captain and 11 other supervisors to new assignments. In the 35th
District, 11 supervisors are moved to new posts.
Aug. 15, 1995 -- City Councilman Michael Nutter criticizes Mayor
Rendell's response to the widening scandal and calls for an
independent commission with broad powers to investigate police
misconduct. An existing commission is purely advisory.
Aug. 30, 1995 -- Federal investigators subpoena arrest logs in the
22d, 23d, 24th, 25th and 26th Districts and the Highway Patrol. The
logs cover up to 100,000 arrests over 10 years.
Aug. 31, 1995 -- Neal announces a 10-step plan to fight police
corruption, including beefing up the department's Internal Affairs
Division, expanding ethics training, and instituting random drug
testing. Three men who claim they were falsely arrested by corrupt
officers file the first federal class-action suit stemming from the
scandal.
Sept. 19, 1995 -- Before a packed City Council chamber, the Police
Advisory Commission opens public hearings into the case of Moises
DeJesus, a North Philadelphia man who died in 1994, three days after
struggling with arresting officers. ``He was hit, then handcuffed,
then hit again, and again, and again,'' said one witness. ``He was
thrown in [ the police van ] like a dog. That's when I said, `He's
dead. He's dead.' '' At the close of the hearing, about 200 off-duty
officers chant: ``Kangaroo, kangaroo!''
Sept. 26, 1995 -- Breaking with a traditional code of silence, the
president of the group representing the city's black officers calls
on all police to turn in corrupt colleagues and report misconduct,
past or present. ``The credibility of this police department is at
stake,'' says David E. Fisher, president of the Guardian Civic
League. ``These rogue cops are . . . tarnishing the badge.''
Nov. 16, 1995 -- The Inquirer reports that the Rendell
administration paid $20 million over the preceding 28 months to
settle more than 225 lawsuits alleging police misconduct. A
spokesman for the mayor calls the upsurge ``a statistical anomaly.''
Dec. 21, 1995 -- In its report on the death of Moises DeJesus, the
Police Advisory Commission calls for the suspension of six officers.
The report says that one officer struck DeJesus with a flashlight or
nightstick and that five others ``were not truthful in reporting
what they observed.''
April 3 -- Four more officers -- Julio C. Aponte and Edward A.
Greene of the 25th District and Lester F. Johnson and John P.
O'Hanlon of the Highway Patrol -- surrender for booking on federal
corruption charges.
---
> April 8 -- After waiting 111 days for action, the Police Advisory
> Commission calls on Rendell and Neal to punish the six officers
> cited in its report. ``Any further delay,'' panel members wrote, ``.
> . . does an injustice to the citizens of Philadelphia.''
> April 15 -- A federal judge sentences the five officers indicted in
> February 1995 -- Baird, DeGovanni, Brown and the two Ryans -- to
> prison terms ranging from 10 months to 13 years.
http://www2.phillynews.com/daily_news/96/Apr/16/local/KOPS16.htm
> Local
> [Philadelphia Online] THE PHILADELPHIA Tuesday, April 16,
> DAILY NEWS
> 1996
>
>
> Ex-cops get little pity
>
> by Jim Smith
> Daily News Staff Writer
>
> The four ex-39th District cops said they were sorry for robbing and
> assaulting dozens of suspected drug dealers and for trumping up
> reasons to search and arrest victims.
>
> One even cried.
>
> But the apologies and the tears and the ratting -- mostly on each
> other -- didn't do them much good.
>
> With stunning severity, all four were sentenced to long prison terms
> yesterday by U.S. District Judge Robert S. Gawthrop III.
>
> The judge, for the most part, refused entreaties of prosecutors and
> defense attorneys to significantly reward three of the four
> defendants for squealing on each other and, in some cases, on other
> corrupt cops.
>
> The judge, however, did show mercy on a fifth defendant, Thomas
> Ryan, the first to turn informant and the least involved, sending
> Ryan to jail for only 10 months.
>
> The leader of the corrupt officers, John Baird, whom fellow officers
> called ``Wacky Jacky'' -- a man who liked to play a sadistic form of
> Russian roulette with victims, putting a gun to their heads and
> pulling the trigger on an empty chamber -- was sentenced to 13 years
> in jail without chance of parole.
>
> The punishment was four years longer than that required by Baird's
> sentencing guidelines.
>
> If it withstands an appeal, it would be one of the stiffest
> sentences in modern times in a Philadelphia police corruption case.
>
> ``The governmental functions in this town have been disrupted
> immeasurably,'' the judge said, referring to the overturning of more
> than 100 drug convictions as a result of wrongdoing by Baird and his
> three main associates over a three-year period.
>
> Baird, 41, a trim, square-jawed man with long graying blond hair
> parted in the middle, has been in jail for several months and came
> to court in a khaki prison uniform.
>
> He showed no emotion as deputy U.S. marshals hauled him from the
> courtroom in handcuffs to begin his sentence.A jail has yet to be
> designated by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
>
> While it was important to ``loosen tongues'' of potential witnesses
> by rewarding those who inform on others, the judge said his primary
> purpose in dealing harshly with the ex-cops was ``to deter other
> police officers from committing . . . crimes in the first place.''
>
> Baird, who stole more than $100,000 for his corrupt crew, would get
> no ``silver platter'' from him, Gawthrop added, rejecting requests
> for leniency from Assistant U.S. Attorneys William B. Carr Jr. and
> Joel Goldstein, and from Baird's defense attorney, Elizabeth
> Ainslie.
>
> At one point the judge suggested that Baird's request for mercy
> ``smacked of blackmail.'' The judge noted that Baird had told a
> court probation officer, Thomas Wolfe, that other corruption cases
> ``would dry up'' if he was dealt a harsh sentence.
>
> ``Of course,'' Ainslie said, when asked if she'd appeal the stiff
> sentence.
>
> Ex-cop Steven Brown, 49, who bawled over the shame he brought to his
> family, drew 10 years from the judge, the maximum required by
> Brown's sentencing guidelines.
>
> ``I locked up drug dealers. They were drug dealers. I went about it
> the wrong way,'' Brown told the judge. ``I became a thief . . . I
> needed the money.
>
> ``Seeing the money the drug dealers had and the way they were
> living, I took it upon myself'' to steal. ``I admit it. I hope they
> know I am sorry,'' Brown added, before being returned to prison.
>
> Ex-Sgt. Thomas DeGovanni, 45, drew seven years in prison, but was
> given a week to spend with his wife and three children before the
> term begins.
>
> ``My behavior was . . . immoral,'' DeGovanni admitted.
>
> ``We all start out with good intentions. Too often we fail. I
> failed.''
>
> James Ryan, whose ongoing cooperation recently led to the
> indictments of four other cops for stealing about $30,000 from a
> cockfight -- and to other still-secret investigations involving
> members of the Highway Patrol -- was sentenced to six years.
>
> Ryan, 40, asked for 30 days to report to prison. But the judge gave
> him only about seven minutes to surrender.
>
> Gawthrop told James Ryan he had had ``enough free will'' to resist a
> cancer in the ranks of the Police Department.
>
> ``Tragically for you, you took the path of corruption,'' the judge
> added.
>
> ``I cannot factor out the ugliness with which his case abounds,''
> the judge told prosecutors, rejecting a plea for more leniency.
>
> James Ryan's sentence was two years less than the minimum required
> by his guidelines, but two years more than the four-year term the
> prosecutors had recommended.
>
> The 10-month sentence went to Thomas Ryan, who was the least
> involved and the first to inform on Baird.
>
> Prosecutors said Thomas Ryan was involved criminally with Baird only
> one time, more than five years ago in 1991, the night he and Baird
> illegally detained and roughed up a college student who had the
> misfortune of getting lost on their beat. The student, Arthur
> Colbert, resembled a drug dealer Baird wanted to roust.
>
> Baird also broke into Colbert's apartment in Cheltenham searching
> for drugs or money while the student was kept in a 39th District
> cell.
>
> In a letter to the judge, Thomas Ryan said he didn't have the
> courage that night to stand up to Baird.
>
> Baird ``had friends throughout the ranks of the Police Department,''
> Thomas Ryan told the judge.
>
> The student's complaint the next day eventually got Baird, Thomas
> Ryan and DeGovanni fired and brought in the FBI to help investigate
> corruption in the 39th District.Thomas Ryan's prison sentence was 14
> months less than the minimum required by his guidelines.
>
> Defense attorney Frank DeSimone noted that Thomas Ryan, who now
> works as a ``residential counselor'' in a group home for abused boys
> in North Philadelphia, had letters of support and a signed petition
> seeking mercy on his behalf from residents and businesspeople in the
> 39th District.
>
> One admirer, Joan Downs, a reformed crack addict, testified
> yesterday that Thomas Ryan helped convince her to get treatment.
>
> ``Tom is still there for me. He's my knight in shining armor,''
> Downs told the judge.The judge called her testimony ``gripping'' and
> said it ``drives home the particular tragedy'' of Thomas Ryan's
> case.
>
> ``You bore every hallmark of being a wonderful police officer,'' the
> judge said. ``I think this was an aberration, but it happened and
> that fact is ineradicable.''
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> [---]
http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/16/front_page/SENT16.htm
>
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page One
>
> Tuesday, April 16, 1996
>
> Corrupt Officers Get Harsh Terms
> 5 from 39th District given up to 13 years
>
> By Joseph A. Slobodzian
> and Mark Fazlollah
> INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
>
> Philadelphia's most notorious policeman, who blazed a trail of
> outrageous misconduct for 10 years and left the city with one of the
> biggest police scandals in its history, was sentenced yesterday to
> 13 years in prison without parole.
>
> Looking more like a wraith than like the flamboyant officer who
> routinely beat, framed and stole from citizens, John ``Wacky Jack''
> Baird was led away stone-faced and silent.
>
> Four other officers who helped make the 39th District a home for
> scandal received sentences ranging from 10 years to 10 months.
>
> Citing the legacy of the corrupt officers -- 116 of their criminal
> cases overturned and more coming, millions of dollars in civil suits
> filed and more coming, a justice system shaken to its roots -- U.S.
> District Judge Robert Gawthrop 3d did not just sentence the five
> officers.
>
> He knocked them out of the park.
>
> Gawthrop, 53, a former county prosecutor and a veteran of nine years
> on the federal bench, told Baird that he had ``squashed the Bill of
> Rights into the mud'' and that in his 14 years on the city police
> force he had ``erred badly, grievously and repeatedly.''
>
> He then sentenced the 41-year-old officer to almost twice what
> federal prosecutors recommended.
>
> Federal prosecutors pleaded for leniency, praising the way Baird had
> helped them root out corruption by helping expand the FBI probe.
>
> Gawthrop bristled at a prosecution suggestion that ``police
> corruption in this city is inexorable'' and said he felt the need to
> ``to deter other police officers from committing these crimes in the
> first place.''
>
> Several of the five former officers and their attorneys spoke and
> acted as if they had been betrayed by the severity of the sentences.
>
> Baird, for one, will appeal his sentence to the Third U.S. Circuit
> Court of Appeals, said his attorney, Elizabeth K. Ainslie, who told
> Gawthrop that Baird's extensive cooperation and ``prodigious
> memory'' had worked against him at sentencing.
>
> ``I think the message that this sends [ to other corrupt officers ]
> ,'' Ainslie told Gawthrop, ``is don't tell them anything they don't
> already know. . . . The message will be: Either fight it, or take
> your medicine and shut up.''
>
> Baird, whose swashbuckling style and high arrest record earned him a
> reputation as a cop's cop, showed no emotion as the judge sternly
> imposed the sentence. Baird has been in jail awaiting sentencing
> since October, and the time away seemed to have drained the officer
> once known on the streets of North Philly as Blondie for his thick
> blond hair. The Baird who faced the judge yesterday stood in an
> olive prison jumpsuit, tall, gaunt and pale, his head listing
> slightly to the right.
>
> Federal prosecutors sidestepped questions about whether the
> sentences might deter other police officers from disclosing
> corruption.
>
> ``The sentencing would have been harsher if there had not been
> cooperation,'' said Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Carr Jr.,
> adding that strong sentences might deter future misconduct. Carr
> declined to say whether more indictments were imminent.
>
> With yesterday's sentencings, the first chapter in the continuing
> federal probe of city police ended.
>
> It began in February 1995 with the indictment of the five former
> officers from North Philadelphia's 39th District on charges that
> they stole more than $100,000 from suspected drug dealers, who were
> usually searched or arrested with bogus warrants. It has grown, as
> Gawthrop described it, like ``a cancer.''
>
> Last August a sixth former 39th District officer was charged,
> pleaded guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. And on April 3
> four more officers were indicted on corruption charges: two from the
> adjacent 25th District and two from the Highway Patrol, all accused
> of stealing $28,000 from the participants in a cockfight they
> raided. All four are awaiting trial.
>
> The probe has resulted in a wholesale review of 1,800 arrests
> involving the five original officers, and the District Attorney's
> Office has since pressed for the dismissal of charges against 116.
>
> And the case review may be about to go much higher.
>
> A sentencing memo filed by federal prosecutors for yesterday's
> hearings stated that Baird's ``pattern of similar corrupt activity''
> began in 1984 -- four years earlier than alleged in the indictment.
>
> Bradley S. Bridge of the Public Defender's Office said yesterday
> that ``if the sentence reports are correct that these officers'
> corruption extends back to the early '80s, we must go back and
> extend our search for people whose lives were devastated by the
> police officers to the early '80s.''
>
> The proceedings began at 9:30 a.m. with the sentencing of James
> Ryan, 40, the officer who first protested his innocence and then
> cooperated, expanding the scope of the federal probe.
>
> Ryan's attorney, Brian J. McMonagle, urged a sentence below the
> eight-to-10-year range recommended under the federal sentencing
> guidelines, and Carr said Ryan's cooperation was so important he
> deserved no more than four years.
>
> ``He never wanted to go to that unit,'' McMonagle said of the 39th
> District, ``and when he got there he made a ton of mistakes and
> begged to get out of there.''
>
> Ryan, who boasts a series of commendations, insisted that all but
> seven months of his 17-year career were exemplary and told Gawthrop:
> ``I took a lot of pride in being a police officer. It was basically
> my life.''
>
> ``You are a grown man,'' Gawthrop told Ryan, standing ramrod
> straight below the judge. ``You could take it or leave it. . . .
> Tragically for you you took the path of corruption, and now is
> judgment day.''
>
> The sentence -- six years in prison and a $4,000 fine -- stunned
> Ryan. So did what came next. McMonagle asked that Ryan be given 20
> days to report for prison.
>
> ``I'll give you to quarter of 11 to report,'' Gawthrop said. ``Until
> then you're a free man . . .''
>
> That gave Ryan eight minutes of freedom.
>
> Ryan whirled among a contingent of family and friends, making
> hurried goodbyes. As marshals began to escort him into custody, he
> turned to one federal investigator and said he was sorry he had
> cooperated.
>
> Next up was Thomas Ryan, 39, whose criminal conduct was limited to
> the Feb. 24, 1991, incident in which he and Baird stopped and took
> into custody Temple University college student Arthur Colbert.
>
> Colbert was taken into a vacant crack house, where Baird stuck a gun
> in his face and threatened to shoot him. The pair later went to
> Colbert's Cheltenham apartment, which Baird entered and searched
> illegally, before they returned and released the shaken student.
>
> Thomas Ryan, who retired after injuring his back and now counsels
> teens in the 39th District, yesterday told Gawthrop that night was
> his first pairing with Baird and was ``like a roller-coaster.'' Ryan
> said that he reported the incident to his supervisor but that
> supervisor was Sgt. Thomas DeGovanni -- a Baird ally -- and the
> probe went nowhere.
>
> ``I have to apologize again to Arthur Colbert,'' he told the judge.
> ``What he experienced that day should not happen in this country.''
>
> Ryan's case was ``distinct from the others,'' the judge said, and he
> sentenced him to 10 months -- significantly below the 24- to
> 30-month guideline -- and fined him $1,000.
>
> Ryan declined comment after the sentencing. Gawthrop gave him 20
> days to surrender to authorities.
>
> It was the Colbert incident, and Colbert's dogged persistence in
> pressing for an investigation of what happened to him, that
> triggered the federal probe in 1992.
>
> Colbert, reached in Detroit, where he now works with juvenile
> delinquents, said he was pleased that ``justice is finally done.''
>
> ``Everybody did a good job. The FBI, the police, Internal Affairs,
> they all worked together,'' Colbert said.
>
> After Thomas Ryan, DeGovanni, 45, the 39th District supervisor who
> admitted letting Baird's crimes continue unimpeded, was next and got
> seven years.
>
> ``I'm not going to stand here and make any excuses,'' DeGovanni told
> Gawthrop. ``We all start out with good intentions, and sometimes we
> fail. I failed.''
>
> While Gawthrop acknowledged that Baird was the ``prime mover in this
> ugly chain of misery that you have visited upon a lot of people,''
> he told DeGovanni he bore much of the blame.
>
> ``It may be trite and perhaps a bit Trumanesque,'' Gawthrop added,
> ``but the buck stops with you. You could have stopped the whole
> thing if you hadn't been on the take . . . You went along with it,
> gladly lining your pockets and crumpling the Constitution in your
> fist.''
>
> The last to be sentenced was Steven Brown, 49, Baird's frequent
> partner on his late-night cruises of North Philadelphia in search of
> suspected drug dealers to shake down. He was sentenced to 10 years.
>
> Brown said he had realized that he was doing wrong and even warned
> the other corrupt 39th District officers they should stop: ``I told
> all of those guys, `You're going to bet banged.' ''
>
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page One
>
> Tuesday, April 16, 1996
>
>
> By Jeff Gammage
> INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
>
> The damage shows in the eyes of jurors who cast a wary eye on police
> testimony.
>
> It shows in the way the top police command has tightened control
> over some field units, slowing the move toward a decentralized,
> community police force.
>
> And it shows in the anger of street officers and detectives, who say
> they have been unjustly tarred by the villainous actions of a few.
>
> ``Those guys, what they did was unconscionable -- unconscionable,''
> said Homicide Detective Joseph Fischer, a 25-year veteran.
>
> ``Those guys'' are five corrupt 39th District officers who have
> admitted robbing suspects, planting drugs and lying about it in
> court. Yesterday, in a daylong series of sentencing hearings before
> a dour federal judge, several were given lengthy sentences.
>
> The unhappy results of their actions have been far-reaching: About
> 110 drug-conviction cases have been or are being overturned by the
> District Attorney's Office. Some of those people have sued,
> demanding millions of dollars in damages.
>
> Yesterday, people inside and outside the Police Department said that
> was only part of the cost of corruption, and that there were other,
> hidden costs, some of which will take years to remedy.
>
> Maybe the most serious penalty is the one that honest police
> officers are paying every day, on the street and in the courtroom --
> the loss of public confidence.
>
> ``The lawyers are having a field day on cops in court,'' complained
> one high-ranking police official. ``Every time a cop goes into
> court, they think he's lying. . . . With O.J., officers were accused
> of lying. Now here you have these guys admit they lied.''
>
> Federal and city investigators are looking into a pattern of police
> abuse, primarily against poor African American and Latino residents.
> Police have been charged with framing people, lying to obtain search
> warrants, stealing money, false arrest, and beating and threatening
> citizens.
>
> It's not just that a few Philadelphia officers have been convicted
> of corruption, several criminal justice authorities said. It's that
> the Mollen Commission uncovered very similar wrongdoing in New York.
> And that a police scandal has erupted in New Orleans. And that, on
> the other side of the country, a racist police officer named Mark
> Fuhrman lied on the witness stand in the double-murder trial of O.J.
> Simpson.
>
> Those events have hurt police in the larger public view.
>
> The five corrupt 39th District officers have hurt them locally.
> Fischer says he has felt that sting in court. ``These guys have
> damaged our credibility,'' he said. ``Anybody who says otherwise is
> kidding themselves.''
>
> Fischer said that a few years back, police testimony was invariably
> accepted as truthful. But now he says he has noticed the way some
> jurors eye him on the witness stand.
>
> ``It's almost like if you say something out of the ordinary, there's
> this automatic feeling of disbelief,'' he said. ``You have a good
> case, and then you sit there and wonder why the jury didn't believe
> you.''
>
> Some police commanders say they have noticed that headquarters has
> tightened its grip on various field units, fearful that too much
> freedom may breed corruption. Some see the department taking an
> uneasy, uncertain step away from community policing, toward a more
> centralized decision-making process. And they worry that process may
> accelerate if more officers are indicted. ``If it's just this, we'll
> be OK,'' said one supervisor. ``But how much more of this is to
> come, and how bad is it going to get? Is this the end, the middle or
> the beginning? That's the real issue, and only the people doing the
> investigation really know.''
>
> Those people aren't telling.
>
> But U.S. District Judge Robert Gawthrop 3d sent his own message to
> corrupt officers yesterday, pounding former Officer Jack Baird, who
> has been described as a ringleader, with a 13-year prison term --
> four years more than called for under federal guidelines.
>
> ``The primary purpose of today's sentence,'' the judge said, ``is to
> deter other police officers from committing those crimes in the
> first place.''
>
> Police Commissioner Richard Neal said he fully supported that. ``One
> corrupt cop is one corrupt cop too many,'' he said yesterday.
>
> There's no question that police credibility has suffered, he said.
> But people need to realize, he said, that the actions of a few
> corrupt officers are not representative of the entire force.
>
> ``You have so many honest police officers who come to work each day,
> and all they want to do is serve,'' Neal said. ``We know the vast
> majority of our police officers are honest. They need to hold their
> heads up and be proud of this organization.''
>
> Neal was not the only officer upset about Baird and the others. At
> the Police Administration Building yesterday, some officers were
> nearly gleeful when they heard about some of the lengthy sentences.
> ``That's great. That's great,'' said one former Highway Patrol
> officer. Another said he hoped Baird would be raped in prison.
>
> But they and others acknowledged that putting five corrupt officers
> in jail does not solve the Police Department's problem.
>
> ``There are many people in Philadelphia now, not only in the African
> American community but throughout the city, who believe there has
> been significant corruption in the department,'' said David
> Rudovsky, a veteran civil-rights lawyer. ``My sense is, across the
> city, there is distrust now of police testimony and credibility.''
>
> Regaining that trust is no small task, he said. It will require
> significant changes in police training, supervision and
> accountability, he said. Rudovsky said he expects that under the
> best circumstances, it could take years for the department to regain
> its standing.
>
> Fischer, who spends his days chasing people wanted for murder,
> thinks that time frame is about right. And he holds Baird and the
> others directly responsible.
>
> ``Those guys, what they did, it's a disgrace,'' he said. ``What they
> did is going to be here for a long, long time.''
Date: Wed Apr 24, 1996 2:52 am CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Re: Philly Cop News
Posted: Ronnie Dadone
http://www2.phillynews.com/daily_news/96/Apr/15/local/KOPS15.htm
Local > [Philadelphia Online] THE PHILADELPHIA Monday,
April 15, DAILY NEWS
1996 >
>
Leniency sought for dirty cops
>
by Jim Smith
Daily News Staff Writer
>
> Federal prosecutors are recommending leniency for five former
39th > District police officers who are to be sentenced today for
> conspiring to rob and violate the civil rights of dozens of >
suspected drug dealers.
>
> While acknowledging that the defendants' crimes have had ``a >
devastating effect upon local law enforcement,'' prosecutors say
the > five deserve to be rewarded for squealing on each other and,
in some > cases, on other corrupt cops.
>
> ``In practical terms, the incentive to cooperate will be crushed
. . > . by . . . imposition of a sentence which does not adequately
reward > meaningful cooperation,'' the prosecutors wrote in a
memorandum to > U.S. District Judge Robert S. Gawthrop III. > >
``The government urges the court to send the message, to all police
> officers under scrutiny, that while their corruption warrants >
substantial punishment, their cooperation will be meaningfully >
recognized at sentencing,'' the prosecutors added. >
> The memorandum was signed by assistant U.S. attorneys Joel D. >
Goldstein and William B. Carr Jr. and their boss, U.S. Attorney >
Michael R. Stiles, the area's top federal lawman.
>
> The prosecutors say the corrupt cops stole more than $100,000
from > suspected drug dealers and routinely made false statements
to get > search warrants or to justify illegal searches and
arrests. >
> The leader of the crooked cops, John Baird, turned informant and
> told authorities how he had falsified probable cause and
sometimes > added drugs to what was seized.
>
> Baird's ``candor'' and ``prodigious recall'' enabled local >
prosecutors to reverse convictions in tainted cases, the
prosecutors > noted.
>
> Baird, they say, gave ``firsthand evidence of the practice of >
systemically manufacturing legal justification to investigate, >
detain, enter premises, search and arrest.''
>
> The prosecutors disputed news accounts that suggested some of the
> defendants had admitted framing innocent people.
>
> Under federal sentencing guidelines, two ex-cops, Stephen Brown,
49, > and James Ryan, 40, face eight to 10 years, according to >
calculations by the prosecutors and by the U.S. Probation Office.
>
> James Ryan is now the government's star witness in ongoing police
> corruption probes targeting members of the Highway Patrol. > >
Two highway cops were indicted recently along with two 25th
District > officers for allegedly stealing about $30,000 at a North
> Philadelphia cockfight.
>
> While James Ryan contributed no new information to the
investigation > of corrupt 39th District cops, he provided
``valuable information'' > about Highway Patrol, the prosecutors
said.
>
> ``Indeed, there are other substantial matters which have already
> resulted from James Ryan's cooperation which we are not yet in
a > position to disclose,'' the prosecutors added.
>
> Baird, 41, the admitted leader of the pack, one who at times
pointed > a gun at suspects' heads to force them to tell where
money and drugs > were hidden, faces sentencing guidelines of seven
to nine years, > primarily because he squealed more and negotiated
a better plea > bargain.
>
> Ex-Sgt. Thomas DeGovanni, 45, is facing 6-1/2 to 8 years. > >
Thomas Ryan, 39, the first to cooperate and the least involved in
> the scheme, faces only 2 to 2-1/2 years because he was not part
of > the February 1988 to April 1991 conspiracy with the four other
39th > District crooks.
>
> The prosecutors are asking the judge to go below the minimum >
sentences for all five defendants.
>
> But the judge also has the option of going higher and imposing
> stiffer prison terms.
>
> This option is based on matters not taken into account by the >
sentencing guidelines, including ``the magnitude of harm'' caused
by > the ex-cops' conduct and how they ``significantly disrupted''
the > local criminal-justice system.
>
> So far, 116 drug convictions have been overturned, and more are
> under review by the district attorney's office.
>
> U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III doubled the maximum
guideline > sentence earlier this year for a sixth 39th District
> thief-with-a-badge, Louis Maier, 38.
>
> Bartle sentenced Maier to five years in prison when Maier's >
guidelines called for 24 to 30 months.
>
> Maier, a second-generation cop and nephew of a city judge, is >
appealing the sentence.
Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org
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To this address: majordomo@igc.apc.org
Date: Wed Apr 24, 1996 9:42 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Philly Cops
Posted: Ronnie Dadone
http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/17/city/PHA17.htm > >
[The Philadelphia Inquirer] City &
Region >
Wednesday, April 17,
1996 >
> Ex-officer's trial focuses on graft in another agency >
One PHA officer has pleaded guilty to robbing suspects. The case
is likened to the 39th District's.
>
By Mark Fazlollah
>
> INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
>
> Officers Ricardo Leon and Edward Malveiro used their badges to
rob, > planted drugs on suspects and perjured themselves on the
witness > stand, authorities said.
>
> But Leon and Malveiro were not from the 39th District. They
weren't > even from the Philadelphia Police Department. The two
Philadelphia > Housing Authority police officers were fired after
an internal > investigation concluded that they had robbed and
framed suspects. >
> Malveiro pleaded guilty last year to robbery, perjury, theft and
> other charges. Leon is on trial in Common Pleas Court.
>
> William Drummond, deputy chief of the PHA police, testified >
yesterday that suspicions focused on the two when a North >
Philadelphia woman, Theresa Brown, complained in August 1992 that
> two PHA officers had stolen $400 from her.
>
> Drummond said in an interview later that the charges against Leon
> and Malveiro sketched a pattern of misconduct similar to that in
the > 39th District, where crooked officers robbed and framed
suspects and > falsified police reports.
>
> ``It was the same thing,'' Drummond said.
>
> Leon's trial started Monday, the same day a federal judge
sentenced > five former 39th District officers to prison terms
ranging from 10 > months to 13 years.
>
> Drummond testified yesterday that on the day Brown lodged her >
complaint, she identified Leon from a photograph as one of the >
officers who had robbed her.
>
> The next day, Aug. 27, 1992, Brown returned to the PHA
headquarters > and said she had seen one of the officers who had
robbed her. She > had spotted him in a car at Sixth and Norris
Streets. Police deter > mined that it was registered to Leon, who
lives in the 300 block of > East Sheldon Street.
>
> The two officers were charged with planting drugs on three other
> people. Idella Johnson testified yesterday that Leon planted ``16
> bundles'' -- about 350 vials -- of crack cocaine on her while >
arresting her Oct. 21, 1992.
>
> Johnson, who was arrested near her home at Damien and Somerset
> Streets, said she had only about 30 vials of crack that she was
> taking to a party.
>
> After the arrest, Johnson pleaded guilty to distributing cocaine
and > was sentenced to 3-1/2 years in prison. After the misconduct
charges > against Malveiro and Leon came to light, her sentence was
reduced to > 11 months.
>
> Drummond said it was hard to build a case against Leon and
Malveiro > because the witnesses were drug dealers with long rap
sheets. He > said the two officers targeted dealers because they
were ``the most > vulnerable'' and were unlikely to complain to
police -- the same > pattern found in the 39th District.
>
> Malveiro, of the 6300 block of Sylvester Street, is scheduled to
> testify against Leon today.
>
> Leon was fired from the PHA police force in 1992, after the >
allegations against him first surfaced. An arbitrator reinstated
him > in September 1993 and ordered PHA to give him $19,028 in back
pay. > He was fired again a year ago after he was formally charged
with > robbery and other offenses.
>
> Leon's attorney, Jeremy Gonzalez Ibrahim, said the arbitrator's
> action indicated that the case against his client was flawed. >
> ``Ricardo Leon got his job back, and the investigation by PHA was
> flawed from the start and fraught with corrupt witnesses,'' he
said.
==============
http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/17/opinion/COPS17.htm
>
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer]
Opinion >
Wednesday, April 17,
1996 >
> Throwing the book A federal judge made no mistake in showing
no mercy to the 39th District's bad cops.
>
> ``Tell us the truth!'' Officer John Baird shouted at Temple >
University student Arthur Colbert.
>
> Then Baird and Officer John Ryan began whacking Mr. Colbert with
> their long-handled black flashlights.
>
> ``You stupid nigger! Stop bulls -- ing us, you pea-brained . .
. !'' >
> Baird pulled his gun. Ryan stood alongside Mr. Colbert with a
long > two-by-four, then pushed it into Mr. Colbert's head. > >
After terrorizing Mr. Colbert for denying (truthfully) that he was
a > drug dealer, Baird squatted in front of the student. > >
``We're going to give you a few seconds,'' Baird said. Then he >
pointed a gun at Mr. Colbert's head and began the countdown. > >
``If you don't tell us what we want to know, I'm going to blow your
> head away,'' threatened Baird, according to the account given by
Mr. > Colbert to Inquirer reporters.
>
> It was Feb. 24, 1991.
>
> Just imagine that Arthur Colbert, who had no police record and
had > committed no crime, was your son. How would you feel about
what > these officers in blue did?
>
> And how would you feel if prosecutors had made a deal to go easy
on > the two officers -- who faced a slew of serious charges -- in
> exchange for ratting on other crooked pals?
>
> Would you feel outraged?
>
> Well, U.S. District Judge Robert Gawthrop 3d just made your day.
>
> He properly sent a strong message to all police officers tempted
to > cross the line into a life of crime that they will get big
time > behind bars.
>
> And even if that does make it more difficult for federal
prosecutors > to make fast cases against other crooked cops, this
federal judge > may scare a few cops straight.
>
> He made it clear to Baird that police officers should not expect
to > bargain for short jail time after they've ``squashed the Bill
of > Rights in the mud.''
>
> He gave Baird the maximum 13 years without parole and gave six
years > to Ryan, who could have gotten 10, though he felt he
deserved about > four in light of his cooperation with prosecutors.
Former Sgt. > Thomas DeGovanni, who was involved in covering up
several crimes, > including the Colbert case, got seven years. Ex-
Officer Steven Brown > got the maximum 10 years for his crimes. >
> Retired Officer Thomas Ryan, who was the first in the 39th
District > to begin talking to prosecutors, did get off mildly,
with 10 months > in prison. Crimes committed by the five officers
from the 39th > caused 116 tainted convictions to be thrown out.
These cases > triggered lawsuits it's costing the city millions to
settle. >
> The case of the blond, swashbuckling, rights-smashing Baird is
not > over just because he is in jail.
>
> The city still needs to commission the special panel it has
promised > the citizens of Philadelphia. The panel will look into
comprehensive > changes in a police department that handed Baird
15 commendations > over the same years he was racking up 23 formal
citizen complaints.
Date: Wed Apr 24, 1996 11:35 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Philly Cops News
Posted: dadoner@chesco.com Thu Apr 18 07:14:38 1996
From: Ronnie Dadone
http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/18/front_page/WILL18.htm
>
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page
One >
Thursday, April 18,
1996 >
Police Sting Undercut by Ex-Chief
Williams' moves in '88 focus of probe
>
By Mark Fazlollah
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
?1996 The Philadelphia Inquirer
> A sting aimed at four Philadelphia police officers suspected of
> pocketing money from a drug raid was scotched when then-Police
> Commissioner Willie L. Williams transferred the officers the day
> before they were to be lured into a motel room and tempted with
a > pile of cash.
>
> Now, eight years later, city and federal investigators are
looking > into both the alleged theft of drug money and the sudden
transfers, > which puzzled and infuriated investigators trying to
ferret out > evidence of police misconduct.
>
> The 1988 sting, planned by the Police Department's elite
> anti-corruption team, the Ethics Accountability Division (EAD),
was > called off after Williams moved the four officers from the
Major > Crimes Unit to street patrols in districts around the city.
None of > the four was ever charged with misconduct.
>
> Williams, now chief of police in Los Angeles, said through a >
spokeswoman that he would have no comment. Williams served 28 years
> on the Philadelphia force.
>
> Two former EAD officials, both of whom asked not to be named,
said > Williams had been briefed in advance on the planned sting
and was > told that one of the four officers had been
surreptitiously recorded > talking about stolen drug money. > >
The former officials said Williams gave no indication that he was
> about to shift the officers to new assignments.
>
> A former assistant Philadelphia district attorney who worked on
the > case said the transfers stunned investigators.
>
> ``You never have a situation where everybody gets transferred,''
> said the former official, who asked not to be identified. ``That
> just blew the possibility of having video surveillance. I still
> remember we were all pretty disappointed.''
>
> Philadelphia police officials said the incident is being examined
by > the joint city-federal task force that has been probing police
> corruption for the last five years. They would not elaborate. >
> Asked about the case yesterday, Police Commissioner Richard Neal,
> Williams' successor, said: ``I can't respond to why Willie
Williams > transferred somebody.'' In an earlier interview, Neal
said he could > not comment because the matter was under
investigation.
>
> The four officers targeted for the 1988 sting came under
suspicion > because of information supplied by Officer John
``Jack'' Baird, who > would later become a key figure in the 39th
District scandal. Baird > pleaded guilty last year to beating,
framing and robbing civilians > and was sentenced Monday to 13
years in federal prison.
>
> Confidential EAD documents released by the city in civil lawsuits
> over police misconduct show that long before he was implicated
in > the city-federal probe, Baird was an informant and occasional
> undercover operative for EAD.
>
> In one 1988 case, Baird helped convict a drug dealer who had
tried > to bribe him and an undercover EAD officer. Baird was
publicly > praised by an assistant district attorney for his role
in the case. >
> Fred Westerman, a retired EAD sergeant now living in Florida,
said > in a recent interview that Baird approached the anti-
corruption unit > in April 1988 with potentially incriminating
information about > several members of the Major Crimes Unit. >
> Westerman said he was skeptical of Baird at first. Though Baird
had > not yet been charged with corruption, he was facing dismissal
from > the force for vandalizing the cars of his ex-wife and
several of her > relatives. But, Westerman said, Baird appeared to
have good > information. Baird told EAD investigators that police
had taken up > to $50,000 from the North Philadelphia home of
Gregory Tutt on March > 22, 1988. They turned in only $7,220,
police records show. Tutt, a > one-time boxer who police say was
involved in the Junior Black > Mafia, was later slain by rival drug
dealers.
>
> With Baird's help, EAD began gathering information on Officer
Leslie > Gunter, who participated in the raid on Tutt's home in the
1500 > block of West Cayuga Street.
>
> Outfitted with a tiny, hidden, Swiss-made Narga tape recorder,
Baird > secretly recorded a conversation with Gunter on May 12,
1988. Baird > talked about raiding the home of another drug suspect
-- and > complained about not getting any of the money stolen from
Tutt's > house.
>
> Baird told Gunter that he did not intend to let that happen
again, > according to a transcript of the conversation included in
an EAD > case report.
>
> ``We don't want no surprises like Cayuga Street,'' Baird said.
``We > want to whack the . . . money up in the house, and then
we're out of > there . . . So, like, the lieutenant's not going to
grab all the > money and disappear.''
>
> Later in the conversation, Gunter said that ``if there is any
whack, > you'll be calling the whack.''
>
> In a recent interview, Gunter, now a University of Pennsylvania
> security officer, rejected Baird's allegations that officers
stole > money found in Tutt's house.
>
> ``I don't know what Baird is talking about,'' said Gunter, who
said > he received numerous commendations while on the Philadelphia
force. > ``Whatever Baird says has to be taken with a grain of
salt. Anything > he says is tainted.''
>
> When told that Baird's tape recorder had picked him up talking
about > how to ``whack'' money, Gunter said he had no recollection
of the > conversation. He said that if he had made comments about
money, they > were misinterpreted by EAD investigators.
>
> Gunter said police officials never confronted him with evidence
of > misconduct. ``If that were true, it seems like the Police
Department > would say something to me,'' he said. ``I don't
recall'' Baird > ``saying anything like that.''
>
> In a written summary of the Baird-Gunter conversation included
in > the EAD case report, Joseph Murphy, then a corporal in the >
anti-corruption unit, wrote that ``the officers discussed stealing
> money from these locations and splitting it up.''
>
> Westerman, the former sergeant, said the tape recording ``showed
> some form of intent,'' but that investigators would need more >
evidence.
>
> So a trap was laid.
>
> The four officers were to be lured to a motel room on Oct. 13,
1988. > EAD officials planned to leak them a phony tip that they
would find > drug money there. A stack of cash would be left in
plain sight. A > concealed camera would capture everything. > >
On Oct. 12, Commissioner Williams issued an order, transmitted to
> police districts by teletype at 4:42 p.m., saying that 11
officers > had been transferred to new assignments, effective
immediately. > Among them were Gunter and the three other officers
(one has since > retired; the two others are still on the force).
>
> Gunter said that he, too, was baffled by his sudden transfer from
> the Major Crimes Unit. He said he thought it was ``something a
> little strange.''
> Inquirer staff writers Thomas J. Gibbons Jr. and Jeff Gammage >
contributed to this article.
====================
http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/18/front_page/COPS18.htm
>
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page
One >
Thursday, April 18,
1996 >
City seeks to seal police ethics files
> Lawyers for victims say the documents could establish a pattern
of corruption. Snippets have been made public. >
By Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
>
> The 39 pages, bare-bones excerpts from files that city officials
> want to keep secret, describe 658 city police-corruption
> investigations dating back 12 years.
>
> ``Police officer is a drug dealer and frequents drug locations,''
> reads the description of one open case from this year.
>
> ``Police officers are selling heroin,'' says another file. > >
And from the 1995 case files: ``Police officer perjuring himself
> during a deposition. . . . Police officer taking bribes from a
> speakeasy.''
>
> These summaries catalogue the case files of the Police
Department's > most secretive anti-corruption unit, the Ethics
Accountability > Division. The files have become the latest
battleground between > lawyers for the city and those representing
victims of police > corruption.
>
> Lawyers for the victims want the entire contents of the files
opened > in order to prove the city has done little to stifle
police > misconduct and has therefore knowingly allowed ``a pattern
and > practice'' of corruption.
>
> Lawyers for the city yesterday filed a motion asking that the
files > be sealed, citing the need to protect sources, shield
innocent > officers and preserve the integrity of ongoing
investigations. >
> Yet in trying to keep the files secret, the department supplied
> spare synopses that afford a rare glimpse into its most closely
> guarded anti-corruption activities.
>
> The EAD summaries show that:
> [ * ] There are more than 161 active investigations into alleged
> corruption.
> [ * ] More than a third of all the EAD investigations since the
unit > was founded in 1984 -- 236 cases -- have involved alleged
police > involvement with drugs.
> [ * ] The drug investigations centered on police allegedly
selling > narcotics, using drugs, stealing from pushers or simply
associating > with known dealers.
> Police Commissioner Richard Neal said the list represents every
EAD > investigation of a police officer, regardless of the quality
of the > evidence or its source.
>
> ``What you have there is a list of allegations,'' he said.
``People > do call in, and we conduct investigations regarding that
> information. In many instances that information that is provided
may > not be substantiated.''
>
> One veteran civil rights lawyer said the files could be a
municipal > nightmare.
>
> ``These could be the police Watergate files: What did they know,
and > when did they know it?'' said the lawyer, who asked not to
be > identified. One of the most startling disclosures in the
city's > motion divulges that John ``Jack'' Baird, who was
sentenced this > week to 13 years in prison on federal corruption
charges, was at one > time working both sides of the legal fence.
>
> He wore a wire for EAD in 1988 when he volunteered to help nail
the > dirty officer. Yet, while working for EAD, he was also
beating up > and framing citizens from the 39th District.
>
> The EAD documents do not make clear whether EAD officials knew
of > Baird's 39th District illegal activities at the time he was
> cooperating with them, or whether they were working with Baird
> because they knew he had an inside line to police corruption. >
> Legal sources say disclosure of the EAD information -- a rare >
occurrence -- would be a windfall for the plaintiffs in 13 federal
> civil rights suits growing from the 39th District scandal. > >
They say the files might disclose more information about the >
officers being sued, that they could demonstrate how city and
police > officials responded -- or failed to respond -- to reports
of > corruption among the city's 6,000-member police force. > >
City officials say they have already given lawyers involved in the
> suits the EAD files for the officers involved in those cases as
well > as 85,000 other documents.
>
> ``The massive disclosure of all EAD files on misconduct cases
would > paralyze the anti-corruption efforts of the police
department at a > time when the eradication of police corruption
is of paramount > public importance,'' said the motion filed
yesterday in U.S. > District Court by Jeffrey M. Scott, the deputy
city solicitor in > charge of the Civil Rights Division.
>
> Alan L. Yatvin, who is acting as the liaison for the group of >
lawyers representing individuals wrongly arrested or imprisoned >
because of the actions of a group of 39th District officers, >
declined to comment on the city move for a protection order. > >
It was an earlier motion by Yatvin and the plaintiffs' attorneys
to > compel release of the EAD files that triggered the city's
motion. >
> The motion contends Yatvin and the other plaintiffs' attorneys
> cannot be trusted with such confidential information and, as an
> example, includes part of an EAD file on Baird that the city says
> the plaintiffs leaked to Inquirer reporter Mark Fazlollah. > >
The Baird file starts with his telephone call to the EAD on April
8, > 1988, to discuss police corruption and ends Oct. 14, 1988,
after the > probe of four officers fingered by Baird collapsed when
they were > suddenly transferred to different police districts. >
> The document says Baird also wore a hidden tape recorder on
several > occasions while he was stalking allegedly corrupt police
for the > EAD.
>
> One source familiar with the file said Baird apparently knew he
was > the subject of a criminal investigation and decided to try
to avoid > prosecution by making himself invaluable to EAD by
naming other > corrupt officers.
>
> Baird, 41, and four others indicted with him in February 1995 on
> federal conspiracy and criminal civil rights charges, were
sentenced > to prison Monday in a federal corruption probe that has
so far > resulted in the prosecution of 10 current and former
officers. >
> Unlike the police Internal Affairs Division, which investigates
> public complaints against police officers and makes its findings
> available to the public, the EAD has always operated secretly.
EAD > findings are not available to rank-and-file police or to the
public, > and the unit reports directly to a deputy police
commissioner who > reports directly to Neal. ``These files contain
all sorts of > information,'' said Jeffrey M. Lindy, a lawyer who
represents a 39th > District officer who has been named in some
documents involving the > corruption scandal but who Lindy says is
not a target of the probe. >
> ``These files can contain interview notes from when you were
hired, > psychological writeups, somebody's marital problems -- all
sorts of > things that are inherently very personal and have
nothing to do with > the job,'' Lindy said.
>
> Inquirer staff writer Jeff Gammage contributed to this article.
========================
http://www2.phillynews.com/daily_news/96/Apr/18/local/LEAK18.htm
Local > [Philadelphia Online] THE PHILADELPHIA Thursday,
April 18, DAILY NEWS
1996 >
>
City fights disclosure of cop files
>
by Jim Smith
Daily News Staff Writer
>
> City lawyers say the Police Department's own anti-corruption
efforts > would be ``paralyzed'' by public disclosure and press
leaks of > confidential investigative files covering more than a
decade. >
> And that's why they oppose a request by private attorneys for all
> files from the department's Ethics Accountability Division back
to > 1984.
>
> The request goes beyond files pertaining to the former 39th
District > officers who pleaded guilty to robbing and violating the
civil > rights of dozens of suspected drug dealers.
>
> Although the private lawyers' civil rights complaints involve
only > misconduct in the 39th District, they contend they need the
complete > files to pursue a claim that the city fails to
adequately > investigate police wrongdoing.
>
> The private attorneys represent more than 14 individuals who are
> suing the city and several former 39th District officers for
alleged > civil rights violations.
>
> City lawyers say reporters are getting information from secret
> Ethics Accountability Division files that the city had
voluntarily > disclosed to private attorneys.
>
> The city lawyers also noted that targets of investigations would
be > ``unfairly stigmatized'' since the many files were closed
without > charges being filed, and contain ``unproven
allegations.'' >
> If the court requires production of all files, the city says it
> needs a ``protective order'' to prevent the private attorneys,
their > clients and anyone else from leaking their contents to the
media. >
> Deputy City Solicitor Jeffrey M. Scott and Assistant City
Solicitor > Marcia Berman said the secret files contained the names
of > informants and police officers who have told of police
corruption, > and of methods such as electronic surveillance and
``sting'' > operations that have been used by investigators to
gather evidence > against corrupt cops.
>
> Public disclosure of such sensitive information ``would paralyze
the > anti-corruption efforts of the Police Department at a time
when the > eradication of police corruption is of paramount public
> importance,'' city lawyers told U.S. District Judge Stewart
Dalzell > in a memorandum.
>
> In a sworn statement filed with the court, Capt. Albert Harris,
the > commander of the Ethics Accountability Division, wrote, ``The
> protection of confidential information and police officers who
> report corruption is of the highest concern.''
>
> Nine Ethics Accountability Division investigations have been
opened > this year and are still active, and there are many cases
still open > from earlier years, the city lawyers noted.
>
> The city lawyers provided thumbnail descriptions of hundreds of
the > investigative files.
>
> The more recent allegations include taking money to protect drug
> corners, visiting drug houses, selling heroin, moonlighting as
> security guards, living out of state, working for a bookmaker,
> disclosing computer information, taking money from gypsies, lying
> during a deposition, and driving prostitutes in a ``call-girl''
> operation.
>
Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org
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To this address: majordomo@igc.apc.org
Date: Thu Apr 25, 1996 7:49 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Re: Philly Cops News
Posted: Ronnie Dadone
http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/19/front_page/COPS19.htm
>
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page
One >
Friday, April 19,
1996 >
Williams denies being told of sting
> The ex-police chief had transferred four officers, foiling a
1988 probe.
>
By Mark Fazlollah
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
>
> Former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Willie L. Williams
yesterday > denied any knowledge of a 1988 anti-corruption sting
that collapsed > when he transferred the four targeted officers 24
hours before the > trap was to be sprung.
>
> Williams, now chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, said
that > if he had known a sting was planned, he never would have
authorized > the transfers of four members of the police Major
Crimes Unit on > Oct. 12, 1988. The transfers effectively killed
the investigation. >
> ``I have no knowledge whatsoever of ever being informed by the
then > first deputy of the Philadelphia Police Department or other
senior > police officials of a pending sting or other actions on
or about > 10-13-88. If I had been so informed of such a plan, no
movement of > the targeted personnel would have been made,''
Williams said in a > statement.
>
> ``I find the Philadelphia Inquirer's innuendos, including the >
headline of 4-18-96, an example of reckless journalism,'' the >
statement said.
>
> The Inquirer reported yesterday that the department planned to
lure > the officers into a motel room to tempt them into stealing
a pile of > cash that had been placed there.
>
> The sting, planned by the department's Ethics Accountability >
Division, was called off after Williams moved all four to street
> patrols in districts around the city.
>
> None of the four was ever charged with misconduct.
>
> The FBI-police task force began investigating the transfers last
> year after two corrupt 39th District officers -- Steven Brown and
> John Baird -- provided them with details of the 1988 case. > >
Two former EAD officials said Williams was informed in advance of
> the planned sting and did not tell EAD before the four officers
were > transferred.
>
> Ranking police officials say it would be highly unusual for a >
commissioner not to be informed about a planned sting, especially
an > operation in which an officer wore a wire to ensnare another
> officer, as was the case in this EAD investigation.
>
> The deputy commissioner to whom Williams' statement referred was
> Robert F. Armstrong, who died in February 1994 of a brain tumor.
> Armstrong served as the department's first deputy from 1986 to
1989. > In the 1988 investigation, EAD tape-recorded conversations
between > Baird and Officer Leslie Gunter, then with the Major
Crimes Unit. >
> Baird, who this week was sentenced to 13 years in prison on
federal > corruption charges, had volunteered to help EAD ferret
out crooked > officers in 1988. Sources say Baird volunteered his
services in > order to prevent the department from firing him after
he had > vandalized his wife's property.
>
> During his work with EAD, Baird told investigators that Gunter
was > involved in a raid in which money was stolen from a suspected
drug > dealer.
>
> In an interview last month, Gunter denied that he was involved
in > wrongdoing. He said EAD's 1988 investigation was ``tainted''
because > information came from Baird, an acknowledged perjurer and
thief. >
> In his statement, Williams said he was ``open and eager to >
participate in any discussion about this issue should the >
appropriate authorities in Philadelphia ever decide to request my
> assistance.''
>
> For the last month, The Inquirer has repeatedly requested
interviews > with Williams about the 1988 case and sent him a copy
of EAD's > detailed summary of its investigation. Through a
spokeswoman, > Williams has declined to discuss the case.
>
> Williams' spokesman said that no further statements would be
issued > about the 1988 investigation, and that Williams would not
agree to > an interview.
>
> Williams' boss, Los Angeles Police Commission President Deirde
Hill, > said in a statement yesterday that it ``would be premature
and > inappropriate for the board to comment at this time'' because
of the > current investigation.
>
> Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Neal also has said he
could > not comment because of the investigation.
>
> Fraternal Order of Police president Richard Costello, meanwhile,
> called for federal investigators to ferret out why Williams >
transferred the officers.
>
> Costello said he believed the transfers were ``a case of clear-
cut > obstruction.'' He said the focus of the investigation should
shift > from street-level cops to the leadership of the department.
>
> ``Corruption doesn't start at the street level,'' Costello said.
> ``Let's follow the corruption probe at the top.''
>
> The union president also questioned why both the U.S. Attorney's
> Office and the District Attorney's Office apparently had ignored
the > case for years, though prosecutors had worked closely with
the 1988 > investigation until it collapsed.
>
> ``When a corruption investigation reaches to a political
> appointment,'' Costello said, ``it disappears. . . . Here's a
case > where something happened in 1988 and nothing was done.'' >
> U.S. Attorney Michael R. Stiles could not be reached for comment
> yesterday.
>
> District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham's spokesman said she would not
> comment on any case that was under investigation.
= ========================
http://www2.phillynews.com/daily_news/96/Apr/19/local/KOPP19.htm
Local > [Philadelphia Online] THE PHILADELPHIA Friday,
April 19, DAILY NEWS
1996 >
>
Cop's lies cited
by Jim Smith, Daily News Staff Writer
>
> Lying on the witness stand seven years ago by a now-convicted
39th > District police officer in a federal drug case ``does not
cast doubt > on the guilt'' of the nine defendants in that case,
prosecutors > contend.
>
> At least one defense attorney, however, insists the admitted
perjury > by the former cop, John Baird, ``casts doubt on the
government's > entire case.''
>
> Defense attorney Sidney Kine said yesterday he would seek a new
> trial for his client, Derrick Howell, who is serving a long
prison > sentence.
>
> In a letter dated March 29 to U.S. District Judge Robert S.
Gawthrop > III, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Eicher disclosed
Baird's perjury > so the judge could consider it in sentencing
Baird on corruption > charges.
>
> Baird is one of several former 39th District officers who
admitted > robbing suspected drug dealers over a three-year period.
>
> The prosecutors also notified the nine defendants who were
convicted > of federal drug conspiracy charges in 1989 that Baird
has admitted > lying during their trial.
>
> In the drug case, Baird falsely claimed he had probable cause to
> raid and arrest a drug dealer inside a house on Sterner Street
near > 27th.
>
> In his letter to the judge, Eicher wrote, ``Baird's testimony did
> not directly relate to any of the defendants on trial.
>
> Rather, it was simply presented to corroborate the testimony of
> other witnesses that drugs were being sold out of 2715 W. Sterner
> St.
>
> And, in order to win a new trial, Howell and his eight
codefendants > would have to prove that the government knowingly
used perjured > testimony -- something the government didn't know
until recently, > Eicher noted.
>
> This week Baird was jailed for 13 years -- four more than
required > by sentencing guidelines.The judge cited the disruption
that Baird's > conduct caused in city courts, where more than 100
drug convictions > have been overturned so far.
====================>
http://www2.phillynews.com/sunearly/city/COPS21.htm
>
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] City &
Region >
Sunday, April 21,
1996 >
Flawed reviews give top ratings to rogues
> The weak job-evaluation system in the Philadelphia Police
Department > feeds corruption, experts say. It allows bad
officers to go unchecked.
>
By Mark Fazlollah
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
>
> From 1990 to 1995, the Philadelphia Police Department fired 82
> officers it found had committed robbery, rape, extortion, drug
> trafficking and other offenses. One was convicted of murder. >
> But almost until the moment it fired them, the department gave
those > officers top performance ratings -- including the murderer.
>
> Gene Lomazoff, a sergeant in the 35th Police District in Olney,
was > convicted of pulling over motorists for traffic infractions,
then > shaking them down for cash between November 1990 and June
1993. He > was sentenced last year to seven years in prison. > >
Throughout the period when he was abusing his badge, Lomazoff got
> glowing job evaluations from his superiors.
>
> In 1990, Lt. Joseph Kelly of the 17th District received a perfect
> rating. That same year, he and his wife ran a high-priced >
prostitution ring in Center City. Both later pleaded guilty. > >
Officer Terri Joell Harper, also of the 17th District, was a model
> officer, to judge from her performance ratings. In 1992, she
pleaded > guilty to second-degree murder in the death of a Northern
Liberties > man whom she had been robbing.
>
> Of the 82 officers fired during the five years ending Jan. 1,
1995, > 79 consistently received top ratings until the time they
were > dismissed, city records show.
>
> Experts on police conduct blame a flawed system that places
little > emphasis on honest appraisals and gives supervisors little
training > or motivation to do the job right. It is a system, they
say, that > lets rogue cops operate unchecked, often for many
years.
>
> ``It is a very detrimental system,'' said Thomas Seamon, a former
> Philadelphia deputy police commissioner who is head of the >
University of Pennsylvania security force. ``Certainly there needs
> to be a more viable system.''
>
> Job evaluations are done at varying intervals, usually at least
once > a year. Officers are reviewed by their immediate superiors
and given > a rating of satisfactory or unsatisfactory. There are
no other > choices. The scores are often accompanied by glowing
written > tributes.
>
> The evaluations are supposed to be confidential. The city has >
released some in response to civil lawsuits alleging police >
misconduct. Additional information was obtained through city >
personnel records. The material could prove costly to taxpayers >
because it may aid plaintiffs' lawyers in their efforts to show
that > the department does not police itself.
>
> John Baird, the former 39th District officer at the center of the
> latest corruption scandal, got perfect job ratings for 14 years -
- a > period during which he robbed suspects, planted drugs and
gave > perjured testimony at criminal trials.
>
> In Baird's annual evaluation in 1988, his boss wrote that he had
> ``demonstrated dedication, integrity, as well as a willingness
to > perform his duties without any supervision necessary.'' > >
The Police Department did not respond to requests for comment on
the > evaluation system. The City Solicitor's Office said officials
would > not discuss the issue because it was part of civil-rights
lawsuits > against the city.
>
> Superficial job reviews for police are a problem in many cities.
> There is even a name for it -- ``the halo effect.''
>
> Hubert Williams, president of the Police Foundation, a nonprofit
> research group in Washington, said supervisors routinely give
their > subordinates ``halos'' -- flawless performance ratings.
Sometimes, > Williams said, the halos stay in place up to the
moment an officer > is fired or jailed for misconduct.
>
> Milton Mollen, a former New York State Supreme Court judge who
> headed a task force on police corruption in New York City, said
an > ineffective rating system is a sign of weak supervision. His
task > force cited that as the major cause of police corruption in
New > York.
>
> ``Ratings, of course, are part of effective supervision,'' said
> Mollen, whose task force held hearings on corruption and
recommended > sweeping changes, many of which were implemented over
the last two > years.
>
> Seamon, the former deputy commissioner, said the lack of an >
effective rating system and police corruption ``are all
> interlocked.'' Seamon said the Philadelphia department's current
> evaluation system has not functioned properly since it was begun
> about 15 years ago.
>
> Seamon, who left the force last year after 26 years, estimated
that > 98 percent of the city's 6,000 officers receive sterling
ratings. He > said most supervisors simply were unwilling to give
an officer an > unsatisfactory rating.
>
> Most of the ratings are done by sergeants, the direct supervisors
> for the line officers. Seamon said the department gives sergeants
> little training in how to do ratings, or in their importance. >
> ``A lot of sergeants can't separate themselves from being one of
the > boys,'' said Seamon.
>
> Before the current system was implemented, the department had a
more > sophisticated program with five possible ratings. If
officers > received ratings of ``superior'' or ``exceptional,'' it
helped them > win promotions. Today, laudatory evaluations are so
common they have > little meaning.
>
> Seamon said the previous system was diluted during contract >
negotiations between the city and the Fraternal Order of Police.
>
> FOP spokesman Dale Wilcox said the union would not comment on >
performance ratings because the issue was part of its current >
contract talks with the city -- and was thus covered by a secrecy
> agreement between the two sides.
>
> At times, the rating system has weakened the city's position in
> lawsuits.
>
> Officer Rodney Hunt had perfect performance ratings until he was
> charged with first-degree murder in the off-duty slaying of Sean
> Wilson in a West Philadelphia bar in November 1990. Hunt was >
acquitted of the charge. Wilson's mother filed a civil suit against
> the city and got a $900,000 settlement.
>
> Attorney Teri B. Himebaugh, who represented Wilson's family, said
> the lack of an effective rating system made her case stronger,
> because it bolstered her contention that the department had
allowed > a ``pattern and practice'' of misconduct to persist. >
> Such a claim is key to prevailing under federal civil-rights
laws. >
> ``In civil-rights suits, that's what we call deliberate
indifference > and reckless disregard'' of civil rights, Himebaugh
said. >
> Civil liability isn't the only problem. The lack of rigorous job
> evaluations also makes it harder to get rid of bad cops.
>
> When officers are fired, the FOP routinely asks arbitrators to
> reinstate them -- and almost always cites the perfect performance
> ratings they received before they were discharged.
>
> An arbitrator ordered Hunt restored to the force and granted him
> $100,000 in back pay. He now works in the Second District. > >
Baird, the former 39th District officer, was trying to get back on
> the force until the day in 1994 when the FBI secretly recorded
him > paying an informant to lie for him at an arbitration
proceeding. >
> Other cities have begun to develop more rigorous rating systems
to > screen problem officers.
>
> Los Angeles attorney Merrick Bobb, who was counsel to two >
commissions that investigated abuse among Los Angeles police and
> sheriff's officers, said a pass-fail system like Philadelphia's
is > inherently weak.
>
> Bobb said the Los Angeles police union initially resisted changes
in > that city's rating system but agreed to accept a more
sophisticated > one in exchange for pay raises.
>
> William Geller, associate director of the Police Executive
Research > Forum in Washington, said cities must stop blaming
corruption on ``a > few bad apples.''
>
> ``We have to see these as not solely individual officers'
problems, > but as systemic problems,'' he said. ``Bad systems
cause people to > perform in ways we wouldn't want.''
Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org
To subscribe, send this message: subscribe pol-abuse
To this address: majordomo@igc.apc.org
Date: Fri Apr 26, 1996 7:58 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Re: Philly Cops News
Posted: Ronnie Dadone
http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/24/front_page/COPS24.htm
>
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page
One >
> Wednesday, April 24,
1996 >
> U.S. and city reject cases of Pa. drug unit
> Dozens of suspects have gone free since doubts were raised about
the > credibility of the task force here. Police-corruption
investigators > are now involved.
>
> By Mark Fazlollah
> INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
>
> ?1996, The Philadelphia Inquirer
> In a move that already has let dozens of drug suspects walk free
> without standing trial, city and federal prosecutors are refusing
to > go forward with drug cases prepared by the state attorney
general's > narcotics task force in Philadelphia.
>
> The U.S. Attorney's Office stopped accepting cases from the
attorney > general's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation several
months ago after > defense lawyers raised doubts about the
credibility of BNI agents > and after a federal judge said he found
``a lot of aspects'' of one > BNI case ``totally incredible.''
>
> The District Attorney's Office told Philadelphia police two weeks
> ago that it, too, would no longer prosecute cases from the BNI
> office in Southwest Philadelphia. The decision prompted the
Police > Department to withdraw five officers it had lent to the
task force. >
> A city-FBI team that has been investigating police corruption in
> Philadelphia has now turned its attention to the BNI as well and
has > been interviewing drug suspects arrested by the state agents,
law > enforcement officials said.
>
> The collapse of confidence in the BNI is part of a nationwide >
pattern in which the veracity of police has increasingly been
called > into question by judges, juries and the public. In
Philadelphia, > misconduct by officers in the 39th Police District
has led judges to > overturn 116 criminal convictions.
>
> The BNI works with state police, and until recently worked with
city > police, on major drug cases in Philadelphia and the city's
suburbs > in Pennsylvania. Since 1990, BNI agents have reported
seizing 1,000 > pounds of cocaine, 73 pounds of crack, and $13
million in cash and > assets.
>
> Allegations about the task force's office at 7800 Essington Ave.
> center on a pattern of cases in which BNI agents said they
arrested > alleged drug traffickers after seeing narcotics lying
in plain view. > Defense lawyers said the agents searched their
clients without > probable cause and fabricated their accounts of
the arrests. >
> Concerns were further heightened when a BNI agent, in recent
court > testimony, admitted that he had made false statements on
a search > warrant in a 1994 drug arrest.
>
> State Attorney General Thomas W. Corbett Jr., who took office in
> October, confirmed yesterday that city and federal prosecutors
> wanted no part of BNI cases from the Essington Avenue office. In
an > interview, Corbett said he planned a shakeup of the task force
and > would transfer some of the 25 agents.
>
> Corbett said he was reviewing complaints against the BNI that
date > back ``many years.'' He said he could not provide any
details of the > allegations.
>
> ``Almost from the point that I came in, we had heard complaints
> about the Essington Avenue office from the U.S. attorney and the
> D.A.'s Office,'' he said. ``We are taking every action we can.''
>
> Corbett said the problems in the BNI could lead to a cascade of
> challenges to drug convictions, similar to what has happened in
the > 39th Police District. Corbett said that any lawyer who had
> represented someone convicted on the basis of BNI evidence would
now > be ``obligated'' to seek reversals.
>
> District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham and U.S. Attorney Michael
Stiles > declined to comment on why they had stopped handling BNI
cases. >
> In recent months, dozens of BNI cases have been jettisoned by >
prosecutors unwilling to proceed with what they regarded as suspect
> evidence.
>
> Philadelphia lawyer Louis T. Savino Jr. said yesterday that in
the > last week alone, the District Attorney's Office had dropped
charges > against four accused drug dealers arrested by BNI agents.
>
> Savino said that in one case, three Dominican men were allegedly
> caught in Philadelphia with three ounces of crack cocaine and >
charged with drug trafficking. All three were released after the
> District Attorney's Office refused to present evidence against
them > at a court hearing.
>
> ``It made my job easier. I don't know about the general public,''
> Savino said. ``They're just letting people skate. . . . These are
> allegations of significant amounts of drugs.''
>
> In another recent case, a Common Pleas Court judge dismissed
charges > against a man allegedly caught with three pounds of
cocaine. Again, > prosecutors said they would not present evidence.
They provided no > explanation.
>
> The U.S. Attorney's Office stopped prosecuting BNI cases after
> defense lawyers pointed to a pattern of drug arrests in which the
> state agents reported finding incriminating evidence in identical
> circumstances.
>
> In those cases, BNI agents arrested suspects after supposedly >
receiving information from confidential informants. Typically, the
> agents said they searched suspects' cars and made arrests after
> seeing packages of cocaine or heroin in plain sight, such as on
a > car seat.
>
> Isla A. Fruchter, a Center City lawyer, said she found 11 drug
cases > in which a BNI agent described the same set of
circumstances > surrounding the arrests.
>
> ``It's exactly the same background,'' Fruchter said. ``We think
> there's a problem.''
>
> At a May 17 postconviction hearing for convicted drug dealer
Miguel > Tapia, U.S. District Judge John P. Fullam sharply
questioned a BNI > agent's account of how Tapia was arrested. The
agent had testified > that he saw drugs in Tapia's car across the
street from a drug > house.
>
> ``I find it almost inconceivable,'' Fullam said, ``that in what
is > alleged to be a store which was a hotbed for narcotics
trafficking, > that anyone would park a car, unlocked, catercorner
across an > intersection, with $20,000 worth of drugs in plain
view.
>
> ``I find a lot of aspects of this case totally incredible and not
> understandable,'' the judge said.
>
> Fullam is weighing a motion by Tapia's lawyer to toss out the >
conviction and grant his client a new trial.
>
> The allegations about the BNI bear striking similarities to the
> unfolding 39th District scandal, in which rogue officers robbed
and > planted evidence on drug suspects, falsified police reports,
and > gave perjured testimony that helped send the suspects to
prison. Six > former officers have pleaded guilty and been sent to
federal prison. > Four others are awaiting trial.
>
> George Craig, a deputy Philadelphia police commissioner, said in
an > interview that the Police Department had halted all
cooperation with > the BNI as of Friday because the District
Attorney's Office told him > that BNI cases would not be
prosecuted.
>
> Craig said five Philadelphia officers who were on loan to the BNI
> had been reassigned to the department's Highway Patrol. He said
> there were no allegations of wrongdoing against those officers.
>
> A state police spokesman, Charles Tocci, said several state
police > agents still were working with the BNI. Tocci said the
agents try to > get around prosecutors' misgivings by omitting any
reference to the > BNI's Essington Avenue address in their arrest
reports.
>
> Tocci said an assistant Philadelphia district attorney threw out
a > state police case last week solely because the arrest report
listed > the Essington Avenue address. He said the state police
officers > working with the BNI now list the address of the state
police's > Belmont Avenue barracks on their reports.
>
> Corbett was critical yesterday of the decision to stop
prosecuting > BNI cases, saying prosecutors were being
indiscriminate. Other law > enforcement officials, who asked not
to be named, expressed the same > sentiment.
>
> ``Let's look at this a little more intelligently,'' Corbett said.
> ``This broad-brush approach is not appropriate. . . . To cut them
> off all of a sudden doesn't make sense.''
> Inquirer staff writers Thomas Gibbons and Richard Jones
contributed > to this article.
Date: Thu May 02, 1996 8:38 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: More PA Cases Dropped
Posted: Ronnie Dadone
http://www2.phillynews.com/daily_news/96/May/01/local/DROP01.htm
>
Local > [Philadelphia Online] THE PHILADELPHIA
Wednesday, May 1, > DAILY NEWS
>
1996 >
>
> DA considers the source: Drug cases dropped
>
> by Dave Racher
> Daily News Staff Writer
>
> For the second straight day, the district attorney's office has
> dropped drug charges against a man arrested by cops working with
the > state attorney general's drug task force.
>
> Yesterday, Common Pleas Judge Murray C. Goldman granted a request
by > the district attorney's office to drop drug charges against
Karl > Hawkins, 30, of Sterner Street near 9th.
>
> Hawkins was accused of possessing 100 packets of crack, worth
about > $2,000, after being chased into a house on Sterner Street
near 9th, > on Aug. 7, 1994.
>
> When Goldman asked Assistant District Attorney Harry Speath why
he > was dropping charges, the prosecutor said it was because the
case > was related to the state's drug task force.
>
> Goldman didn't ask for a futher explanation, commenting, ``Well,
> your credibility is fine with me.''
>
> Defense lawyer James Lyons praised the DA's office for ``seeking
> justice and not a conviction'' in a retrial of the case.
>
> Lyons pointed out that last year, a jury heard the case and
couldn't > agree on a verdict.
>
> He said people inside the house testified that Hawkins was not
> chased into the house, but was sitting on a couch when police >
entered without a warrant and seized drugs.
>
> On Monday, the charges against two men allegedly arrested in >
possession of $80,000 were withdrawn by the DA's office. Agents of
> the state task force were in on that arrest.
>
> Sources in the DA's office said a probe of drug arrests made by
> state agents is underway to detemine whether they bypassed >
regulations by making seizures without warrants.
>
> Federal authorities are also said to be investigating the unit
as > part of an on-going probe of police corruption that began
after > officers of the 39th District were arrested for wrongdoing.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat May 04, 1996 10:33 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: PA State Narcs Lying?
Posted: Ronnie Dadone
Subject: PA Drug Agents Lied
http://www2.phillynews.com/daily_news/96/May/04/local/BNII04.htm
>
Local > [Philadelphia Online] THE PHILADELPHIA
Saturday, May 4, > DAILY NEWS
>
1996 >
>
> Pa. drug agents targeted
> Defense lawyer cites repeated lies in court about city cases
> by Jim Smith, Daily News Staff Writer
>
> A defense attorney claims there are compelling reasons to believe
as > many as seven members of a state narcotics unit have been
lying in > court in recent years about how they came to search and
arrest > Philadelphia drug suspects.
>
> In a motion filed in federal court, defense attorney Guy Sciolla
is > seeking to overturn the conviction of Miguel Tapia, 26,
formerly of > Fisher Street near 15th, who was jailed for 63 months
for > trafficking in 2.2 pounds of cocaine.
>
> Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Goldstein, who prosecuted Tapia,
said > he could not comment on the motion.
>
> The seven agents named in the motion have been assigned in recent
> years to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Narcotics Investigations,
also > known as BNI, a 25-agent unit headquartered in Southwest
> Philadelphia.
>
> Some 16 state prosecutions and one federal prosecution already
have > been scrapped as the result of questionable conduct on the
part of > the BNI agents, Sciolla said.
>
> Sciolla also noted in his motion that the Philadelphia district
> attorney's office and the U.S. attorney's office recently stopped
> prosecuting cases that the unit develops.
>
> A spokesman for state Attorney General Tom Corbett yesterday said
> that Corbett has been meeting with federal and local prosecutors
to > resolve any problems with the unit.
>
> Corbett also is conducting an internal investigation ``to find
out > what changes need to be made,'' the spokesman, Jack Lewis,
said. >
> Corbett ``feels the office, overall, has been doing good work.
He's > disturbed that the district attorney and the U.S. attorney
are not > taking cases,'' Lewis said.
>
> Sciolla, meanwhile, contends that BNI agents working in
Philadelphia > have a long history of concocting ``probable cause''
to search and > arrest suspects, then lying in court when
questioned about their > reasons for making arrests.
>
> In seeking a hearing, Sciolla cited in his motion ``the
background > and ongoing uncertainties of BNI investigators, the
remarkable and > repeated fact patterns of BNI arrest reports, the
findings of > various judges, of, at the least, testimonial
inconsistencies and > contradictions, and at the worst, outright
fraud and deceit.'' >
> Sciolla has succeeded once before in getting what seemed like an
> airtight federal drug case tossed out based on alleged wrongdoing
by > BNI agents.
>
> In September 1994, U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody dismissed
an > indictment against two reputed heroin traffickers, but not
before > both men spent a year in jail awaiting trial.
>
> In the 1994 case, BNI agents claimed they saw heroin packets
spill > from a paper bag that one suspect tossed into a car before
fleeing > into the building, where the pursuing agents found even
more drugs. >
> Witness accounts, however, indicated that the two suspects were
> arrested some distance from the apartment, and that the agents
> didn't chase anyone into the apartment but entered it on their
own. >
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
----->
> [---]
Date: Tue May 14, 1996 1:37 pm CST
From: Matthew Gaylor
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: freematt@coil.com
TO: Matthew Gaylor
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: freematt@coil.com
BCC: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Philadelphia Ex-Cops Call Offenses Routine
ACLU News
*From Prison, Ex-Cops Call Offenses Routine*
PHILADELPHIA -- In a front-page copywritten report, The Philadelphia Inquirer
on Sunday detailed the stories of three police officers involved in the
biggest police scandal in Philadelphia's history.
All three officers readily admit that they committed serious misdeeds in
stealing an estimated $100,000 from suspected drug dealers. the Inquirer
said. But they also say that much of their illegal activity -- including
perjury and fabricating evidence -- was part of the system that police
everywhere use in the war on drugs.
"Its the system, they say -- they only did what they believed their
commanders, politicians and yes -- you the public wanted," Inquirer reporter
Mark Fazlollah wrote. He quoted one of the former officers, John Baird: "We
didn't own and operate the system. We didn't invent it. We were just some of
the many thousands of custodians. We inherited it."
The ex-officers made a series of serious allegations, the Inquirer said,
including:
-- Hundreds of arrests were "bad." Baird told the Inquirer that he never saw
a legal drug arrest.
-- Groups of black youths hanging out on corners were routinely searched
illegally. When drugs were found, the Inquirer said, police reports were
fabricated to indicate that a drug sale had been witnessed.
The Inquirer said that the ex-officers allegations are likely to add fuel to
charges by civil rights lawyers that the Police Department has failed to
police itself.
David Rudovsky, a lawyer who is leading negotiations between city officials
and civil rights groups -- and a member of the ACLU National Board -- told
the Inquirer that what the ex-officers have said "reflects a pattern that we
have seen independently."
Rudovsky told the Inquirer that what the ex-officers said "rings true."
"It's not only individual officers," he said. "It was a department that was
indifferent to those facts."
The Philadelphia Inquirer can be found on the Web at
http://www.phillynews.com/inq/front_page/
----------------------------------------------------------------
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###
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@@@
960130, Mexico City, Mexico, Reuters. Jose Armando Cruz
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 13:22:08 GMT
From: adbryan@onramp.net (Alan Bryan)
To: drctalk@drcnet.org
Subject: Re: Mexican ``policeman of the year'' held with drugs
Message-ID: <199601311224.GAA11361@MAILHOST.ONRAMP.NET>
It happens to the best of 'em.
Tue, 30 Jan 1996 12:00:13 PST:
>
> MEXICO CITY (Reuter) - An agent who was voted ``Policeman of
>the Year'' in a northern Mexican state has been arrested on
>suspicion of drug trafficking after being detained with 436
>pounds of marijuana, the Televisa television network reported
>Tuesday.
> It said Jose Armando Cruz Gutierrez was voted policeman of
>the year just two months ago by colleagues in the Chihuahua
>state detective force who gave him a new car as a prize.
> The attorney-general's office confirmed Cruz's arrest,
>adding in a statement that three other policemen were detained
>with him including Chihuahua state detective police commander
>Gerardo Maximiliano Coronel and his wife.
> The group were traveling in two official cars and were armed
>with pistols and AR-15 assault rifles. They claimed they had
>seized the drugs as part of their police duties but were unable
>to prove that, the statement said.
@@@
960201, New York City, NY, NY Times. Police Officer Randolf
Date: Thu Feb 01, 1996 9:50 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: NYPD - Dirty Thirty - Cop Dope Pusher
Posted: Bob Witanek 2/1/96
NYPD - COP DOPE PUSHER - DIRTY THIRTY
6 MONTHS INSTEAD OF 25 YEARS TO LIFE!
(NY Times, 2/1/96)
By GEORGE JAMES
A police officer accused of attempting to sell drugs pleaded
guilty yesterday to lesser charges of conspiracy to sell drugs in
the second degree and second-degree assault. Under the terms of
a plea agreement in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Officer
Randolf Vazquez, 39, accused in the 30th Precinct corruption
scandal, will be sentenced to six months in prison and four and a
half years probation. Had Officer Vazquez been convicted of the
original charge of attempted criminal sale of a controlled
substance in the first degree, he would have faced 25 years to life
in prison. Officer Vazquez acknowledged in court that between
October 1991 and April 1992 he engaged in a conspiracy with his
partner, Officer Jorge Alvarez, to steal narcotics while on duty
and sell them to dealers. He admitted to taking crack from an
apartment in October and selling it. He also admitted to
assaulting Paul Stevens while in a police car at West 150th Street
and Broadway on Jan. 27, 1994. Mr. Stevens had been arrested for
obstruction of government administration, but when he became
verbally abusive, Officer Vazquez hit him in the face several times
with a police radio, the authorities said. Officer Alvarez, who
cooperated with the authorities, pleaded guilty to third-degree
grand larceny and faces up to seven years in prison. Of 33
officers arrested on corruption charges since March 1994, 20 have
pleaded guilty, 3 have been convicted and 2 have been acquitted.
Two cases were dismissed and six are pending.
Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org
To subscribe, send this message: subscribe pol-abuse
To this address: majordomo@igc.apc.org
@@@
960210, Mexico City, Mexico, Reuter. Up to 30 tons of cocaine
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 19:41:33 -0800
From: mregen@ix.netcom.com (Marnie Regen )
To: DRCTalk@drcnet.org
Subject: Tons of cocaine have disappeared in Mexico (Reuter)
Message-ID: <199602110341.TAA29385@IX2.IX.NETCOM.COM>
Sat, 10 Feb 1996
MEXICO CITY (Reuter) - Up to 30 tons of cocaine have
disappeared into the hands of Mexican federal police over the
last two years, the Mexico City newspaper El Financiero reported
Saturday.
The newspaper said that in the last two years more than 100
tons of cocaine has entered Mexico by air, but police have
seized and declared just a tenth of that amount.
It said much of the drug comes from Colombia, Bolivia, Peru
and Ecuador before being shipped through Mexico.
Earlier this week, the Mexican Attorney-General's office
accused 19 Mexican police officers of helping Colombia's Cali
drug cartel smuggle cocaine into the United Sates.
The officers were accused of helping to unload cocaine from
a jetliner that crashed landed in Baja California in 1994 when
the airplane exploded, injuring three of the officers.
@@@
960212, Baja California Sur, Mexico, LA Times. 19 Mexican state
Date: Tue Feb 13, 1996 8:57 am CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Mexi-Cops and Cartels
From: Bob Witanek
Posted mnovickttt Mon Feb 12 23:46:37 1996
From: Michael Novick
In the L.A. Times of Feb 12, MARK FINEMAN, Times Staff Writer
reports that Mexican prosecutors have linked an air shipment of
at least 10 tons of South American cocaine smuggled through the
Baja Peninsula into the U.S., discovered last November, to
police officials allegedly working for one of Mexico's powerful
drug cartels.
19 Mexican state and federal police officers, including the
deputy federal police chief in the state of Baja California Sur
at the time of the shipment, were ordered arrested, according to
the Mexican attorney general's office. The former commander of
the state judicial police in the Todos Santos region and one of
his agents have already been taken into custody.
Eyewitnesses said that in the November incident police met,
unloaded and then destroyed a French-made Caravelle jet that was
carrying cocaine for Colombia's Cali cartel when it broke its
nose wheel landing on a clandestine airstrip at the tip of Baja
California Sur. The top prosecutor's office there said the
officials had ties to the Tijuana cartel, one of five major
Mexican drug mafias that supply up to three-fourths of the
cocaine sold in the United States.
President Ernesto Zedillo's attorney general, Antonio Lozano
Gracia, has declared it will take years to separate his federal
police and prosecutors from a smuggling industry that earns
billions of dollars each year, according to the Times. The
attorney general's office stated that the jet was traced to a
Colombian company reportedly owned by Miguel and Gilberto
Rodriguez Orejuela, the alleged leaders of the Cali cartel now
jailed in Colombia. Copyright Los Angeles Times
@@@
960213, Daytona Beach, FL, Philadelphia Inquirer. Francis
Date: Wed Feb 14, 1996 2:36 am CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Daytona, FL - Cop Dope Deals
From: Bob Witanek
Posted dadoner@chesco.com Tue Feb 13 10:30:49 1996
From: Ronnie Dadone
Subject: Philadelphia Inquirer: Suburban North
http://www.phillynews.com/inq/pa_north/NTHOM13.htm
>
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Suburban North
>
> Tuesday, February 13, 1996
>
> Ex-officer guilty of drug deals
> He ran the police evidence room in Daytona Beach, Fla. He stole
> drugs and guns and sent them to a nephew.
>
> By Julia C. Martinez
> INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
>
> A retired Florida police officer was found guilty by a federal jury
> yesterday of stealing cocaine and guns from his department's
> evidence room over seven years and giving them to a nephew in
> Philadelphia for sale on the streets.
>
> Francis ``Frank'' Thompson, 52, of Ormond Beach, a veteran of the
> Daytona Beach Police Department, however, was cleared of two counts
> of distributing cocaine.
>
> Judge Thomas N. O'Neill Jr. of U.S. District Court in Philadelphia
> scheduled sentencing for May 21 and released Thompson on bail.
>
> Thompson and his nephew, Timothy Wardle, 35, were indicted by a
> federal grand jury last May on charges of conspiring to distribute
> 10 kilograms of cocaine in Philadelphia between 1987 and 1994,
> distribution of cocaine, and sending and receiving stolen firearms
> across state lines.
>
> Wardle, a bookbinder from the 500 block of Tyson Avenue in the
> city's Burholme section, pleaded guilty to the charges and is
> awaiting sentencing.
>
> The conspiracy count, for which Thompson was convicted and to which
> Wardle pleaded guilty, carries a mandatory minimum prison term of 10
> years.
>
> Thompson's attorney, Thomas Bergstrom, said that since his client
> was acquitted of two of the distribution counts, a mandatory
> sentence might not be warranted. Bergstrom said more than five
> kilograms of cocaine must be involved in the crime before a
> mandatory minimum sentence is imposed.
>
> Thompson retired from active duty in September, after 22 years with
> the department. By then, a joint investigation by federal and
> Daytona Beach authorities had been started.
>
> Thompson supervised the department's evidence and property room,
> where seized drugs and guns were stored. One of his jobs was to
> destroy narcotics and firearms no longer needed for evidence or
> other purposes.
>
> In August 1994, Wardle was arrested in Philadelphia on drugs and
> weapons charges. Police confiscated 2.2 pounds of cocaine, 12
> firearms, a bullet-resistant vest and $1,035 in cash.
>
> The indictment said Thompson began pilfering drugs and guns from
> materials to be destroyed in 1987, a year after he became supervisor
> of the evidence and property division.
@@@
960213, San Jose, CA, LA Times. Joseph D. McNamara, 35 year
Date: Fri Feb 16, 1996 11:48 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Why Cops Lie in Dope War
From: Bob Witanek
Posted dadoner@chesco.com Tue Feb 13 13:42:42 1996
http://www.phillynews.com/inq/opinion/MCN13.htm
>
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Opinion
>
> Tuesday, February 13, 1996
>
> Why cops lie about drug evidence
> They don't feel lying under oath is wrong because politicians tell
> them they are engaged in a ``holy war'' fighting evil.
>
> By Joseph D. McNamara
> Are the United States' police officers a bunch of congenital liars?
>
> Not many people took defense attorney Alan M. Dershowitz seriously
> when he charged that Los Angeles cops are taught to lie at the birth
> of their careers at the Police Academy. But as someone who spent 35
> years wearing a police uniform, I've come to believe that hundreds
> of thousands of law-enforcement officers commit felony perjury every
> year testifying about drug arrests.
>
> These are not cops who take bribes or commit other crimes. Other
> than routinely lying, they are law-abiding and dedicated. They don't
> feel lying under oath is wrong because politicians tell them they
> are engaged in a ``holy war'' fighting evil. Then, too, the
> ``enemy'' these mostly white cops are testifying against are poor
> blacks and Latinos.
>
> The federal government reports that more than 1.3 million drug
> arrests were made in 1994, 480,000 of which involved marijuana.
> About 1 million of the total drug arrests were for possession, not
> selling.
>
> Despite government drug-war propaganda that big-time dealers are its
> targets, only 24 percent of the total drug arrests were for selling.
> Almost all those arrested for selling are small-timers, in large
> part supporting their own drug use. Often they are inveigled by
> undercover police to up the ante. Many of the arrests for selling
> are made without search warrants and almost all the possession
> arrests are without warrants.
>
> In other words, hundreds of thousands of police officers swear under
> oath that the drugs were in plain view or that the defendant gave
> consent to a search. This may happen occasionally, but it defies
> belief that so many drug users are careless enough to leave illegal
> drugs where the police can see them or so dumb as to give cops
> consent to search them when they possess drugs. But without this
> kind of police testimony, the evidence would be excluded under a
> 1961 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Mapp vs. Ohio.
>
> I became a New York City policeman five years before the Mapp
> decision. We were trained to search people who appeared suspicious.
> I questioned the apparent contradiction posed by the Fourth
> Amendment, which guaranteed that people would be secure in their
> person and house from a search without a warrant. The instructor
> said not to worry. A suspect could sue in a civil action but no jury
> would find against a cop trying to stop dope from being sold. He
> went on to say that if the courts really meant it, they wouldn't
> allow such evidence into a criminal trial.
>
> In its Mapp decision, the Supreme Court cited this police attitude
> and the routine violations of the Fourth Amendment as reasons enough
> to establish a national rule to exclude illegally obtained evidence.
>
> Gradually, as police professionalization increased, police testimony
> became more honest. But the trend reversed in 1972, when President
> Nixon declared a war against drugs and promised the nation that drug
> abuse would soon vanish. Succeeding presidents and Congresses
> repeated this false pledge despite evidence that drug use, drug
> profits and drug violence increased regardless of expanded
> enforcement and harsher penalties. Because the political rhetoric
> described a holy war in which evil had to be defeated, questioning
> police tactics was equivalent to supporting drug abuse.
>
> Leaders of the drug war dehumanize their ``enemy'' -- not just
> foreign drug traffickers but also American users. This mentality
> pushes the police into making ever more arrests, arrests that can
> only survive in court because of perjured police testimony. The fact
> that enforcement falls most heavily on people of color also
> encourages illegal police tactics. Non-whites are arrested at four
> to five times the rates whites are arrested for drug crimes,
> regardless of the fact that 80 percent of drug crimes are committed
> by whites. The ``war'' dehumanizes the cops as well as those they
> pursue.
>
> The eroding integrity of law enforcement officers and the resulting
> decrease in public credibility are costs of the drug war yet to be
> acknowledged. Within the last few years, police departments in
> Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Boston, New Orleans, San Francisco,
> Denver, New York and in other large cities have suffered scandals
> involving police personnel lying under oath about drug evidence.
>
> Some officers in the New York City police and New York State police
> departments were convicted of falsifying drug evidence. Yet,
> President Clinton appointed the heads of those agencies to be drug
> czar and chief of the Drug Enforcement Agency, respectively, and
> they were confirmed in the Senate. The message that politicians seem
> to be sending to the nation's police chiefs is that we understand
> that police perjury is a part of the drug war.
>
> But recently a number of police leaders have conceded that racially
> disparate arrest rates and illegal police searches and testimony are
> a problem. Last year, for example, New York Police Commissioner
> William J. Bratton warned his officers not to lie about how they
> obtained evidence, saying that he would rather they lose the case
> than commit perjury. Last month, Baltimore Police Commissioner
> Thomas C. Frazier ordered his cops to stop arresting drug users and
> to concentrate on criminals committing gun crimes and other
> violence.
>
> The vast majority of police forces are still being pushed into
> waging a war against drugs by politicians who ignore history and
> mislead the public into believing such a war can be won.
> Consequently, hundreds of thousands of illegal police searches take
> place and are lied about in court while drug-war hawks pontificate
> about the immorality of people putting certain kinds of chemicals
> into their bloodstream.
>
> [Image]
> Joseph D. McNamara, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at
> Stanford University and the former police chief of San Jose, wrote
> this article for the Los Angeles Times.
@@@
960221, New York City, NY, NY Times. Two United States Customs
Date: Sun Feb 25, 1996 10:19 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: 2 US Customs Agents Face Kidnap Charges
Posted: Bob Witanek 2/25/96
2 US CUSTOMS AGENTS FACING KIDNAPPING CHARGES
(NY Times, 2/21/96)
BYDAVIDKOCIENIEWSKI
Two United States Customs inspectors have been charged with
kidnapping and beating a suspected drug dealer last year while
trying tg rob him of cash and cocaine, Federal prosecutors said.
Richard Ramos and Gerasimos Kapsaskis, who worked as inspectors at
Kennedy and Newark airports, were arrested on Friday and charged
in the kidnapping of a man on Sept. 23, 1995, on the Grand
Concourse in the Bronx, said Mary Jo White, United States Attorney
for the Southern District of New York, in an announcement issued
yesterday. Law enforcement officials said the inspectors conspired
in the plot with Jose (Tito) Aleman, who directed them to a man who
was believed to have received 220 pounds of cocaine in September,
and then received cash for selling 22 pounds. Mr. Ramos, Mr.
Kapsaskis and a 3rd man, Fernando Ramirez, put on bullet proof
vests and police badgesm according to the complaint, and stopped
the victim after identifying themselves as Federal agents.
Two witnesses identified Mr. Ramos and Mr. Kapsaskis as the
kidnappers. Mr. Ramos and Mr. Kapsaskis then beat the man,
handcuffed him, forced him into their car and drove off, witnesses
said. The victim, whom Federal officials refused to identify,
dashed from the car when it stopped at an intersection and
persuaded a motorist to take him to a Police station.
Michael E. Gertzman, an assistant United States Attorney, said
investigators traced the license number of the vehicle used in the
incident and found that the car had been rented by Mr. Ramos.
All three suspects face possible life imprisonment if convicted.
Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org
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@@@
960224, Mexico, PNS, by Beatriz Johnston Hernandez. Accused drug
Date: Sat, 24 Feb 1996 07:01:50 -0800
From: Annette French
To: drctalk@drcnet.org
Subject: #237 corrupt officials
Message-ID: <199602241619.LAA17735@MOJO.CALYX.COM>
--=====================_825173836==_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Well it certainly feels like the 237th attempt. Just as I had given up, I
noticed this little button on the toolbar that said 'text + doc. It works
when I send it to myself, so here goes.
Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on the car. Most of you were right,
it was the alternator. It is now running, alternator and something that is
attached to the battery cable having been replaced. Hopefully attached
better than my first 236 tries on this article.
--=====================_825173836==_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
U.S. Officials joined Mexican Drug Smugglers
by Beatriz Johnston Hernandez
Accused drug trafficker Juan Garcia Abrego, now awaiting trial in
Houston, is notorious for bribing high-level Mexican officials to help
turn Mexico into a major transshipment point for Colombian cocaine.
Less known is his role in bribing federal officials on the U.S. side of
the border. Information gleaned from drug trials and gang insiders
reveals that Abrego paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to
Immigration and Naturalization Service agents and National Guardsmen to
drive cocaine and marijuana in their buses past U.S. customs
checkpoints on the road between McAllen and Houston.
But Peter Lupsha, a political scientist at the University of New Mexico
who has studied drug trafficking on the border for two decades, says he
believes the true extent of Abrego's bribery of U.S. officials may
remain hidden behind a "conspiracy of silence" aimed at preventing a
meltdown of public trust. Abrego is being held without bond in the
Harris County jail on a 1993 indictment on charges of cocaine
trafficking, money laundering and racketeering. His arrest and
deportation to the U.S. by Mexican anti-drug agents last month caused
an uproar among Mexico's reform-minded elites who want him tried first
in Mexico in the hopes of gleaning information on bribed Mexican
officials. Abrego's trial in federal court, due to open on March 11,
will focus little attention on corruption in Mexico and still less on
corruption in the U.S. On the contrary, at least one star witness for
the prosecution - FBI special agent Claudio se la O - will testify how
he accepted $100,000 and a gold watch from Abrego in September 1987 as
part of an undercover scheme to gain the defendant's trust and
information on drug dealings.
Transcripts of he 1993 federal trials in Brownsville and Houston of four
Abrego underlings, however, reveal how INS drivers would transport
undocumented agents (aliens?) caught in Houston south to INS detention
centers close to the border. On their way back north, the agents would
load the empty buses with Abrego's marijuana and cocaine loads worth
millions of dollars. "Agents were corrupted for brief periods. Once
they got enough money, they decided it wasn't worth the risk, so they
would stop doing it, but others came in to take their place," Peter
Hanna, an FBI agent out of Houston who has focused on Abrego for the
last seven years, told PNS in a telephone interview.
INS bus transfers weren't the only incidence of bribery revealed under
oath. Jaime Rivas, a cocaine mule for the Abrego organization, was in
charge of delivering coke to a safehouse in Harlingen and from there on
a convoluted route through Houston and on to New York. Testifying at a
1991 trial in Corpus Christi of accused Abrego hitman Miguel Botello and
again in the 1993 money laundering trial of Maria Lourdes Reategui and
Antonio Giraldi in Brownsville , Rivas explained how the gang was able
to transport between 1,000 and 1,400 kilos of cocaine each week past
U.S. Customs checkpoints. In the 1993 trial he recalled how one
delivery went awry at the Sarita checkpoint between McAllen and
Houston. "Graciel Contreras and Juan Bananas were in the truck. The
one (agent) at the checkpoint had been paid off, and Juan Bananas was
the one who knew him, so he was the one to give the signal so the truck
with the coke could pass." But something went wrong and the shipment was
confiscated, said Rivas, who was watching from another car behind the
truck.
Although the Houston FBI investigators knew that INS agents were
involved in the drug trade since early 1991, only one agent has since
been tried and sentenced to 10 years without parole. Another, according
to a spokesperson at the U.S. attorney's office in Houston, "failed to
appear in federal court to stand trial on charges of drug conspiracy,
money laundering and bribery." Abrego's corruption of U.S.officials
"goes beyond INS," Lupsha says. "Custom officials are very sensitive
about the Abrego trial because some major corruption schemes could
surface implicating former Customs officials. And it might go higher
than local regional INS agents." Lupsha surmises many INS agents may
have been seduced by women on the Abrego payroll who would then ask the
agents to "do a favor for my uncle, or my cousin." Many agents avoided
getting caught by applying for early retirement.
"Clearly," Lupsha says, "there is a reluctance within the United States,
as in any system, to let the dirty laundry hang out publicly. To do so
would mean the drug war has not only failed in the supply side, it's
failed on the demand side and in the interdiction side as well. That's
very bad for public confidence."
--=====================_825173836==_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Annette French
mercury@gvn.net
10460 El Mercado Dr. #29
Rancho Cordova, Calif. 95670
(916) 361-4510
--=====================_825173836==_--
------------------------------
@@@
960224, New York City, NY, NY Times. Police officer in the
c.1996 N.Y. Times News Service
By CHRISTOPHER S. WREN
c.1996 N.Y. Times News Service
NEW YORK - It was one of those modest but bustling family businesses,
investigators said, in which the owner's mother minded the shop and a
brother-in-law, a New York City police officer, made deliveries on his days
off. An acquaintance pitched in, they said, dressed in his Army National
Guard uniform.
Their merchandise, the authorities said, was cocaine from Colombia.
In indictments unsealed on Friday, a Manhattan grand jury charged that
Pedro Perez, 31, of the Unionport section of the Bronx, led a drug
distribution business based in upper Manhattan, assisted by his 59-year-old
mother, Aurea Amaya, and four others. The charges, which included
conspiracy to distribute narcotics and criminal possession and sale of
illegal drugs, carry mandatory life sentences for those convicted.
The case prompted related arrests of 85 people in recent weeks in Los
Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, and Newark, N.J., and the seizure of more
than 5 tons of cocaine, a half-ton of marijuana, and nearly $12.5 million
in drug proceeds, law enforcement officials said.
In New York City alone, the authorities seized more than 457 pounds of
cocaine and $240,000 in cash.
``This is the dismantling of a nationwide, well-organized cocaine operation
that operated in major cities in the United States,'' said Robert H.
Silbering, New York City's special narcotics prosecutor.
``It shows that these organizations go beyond city and state boundaries,''
said Silbering, whose office joined in the investigation, which began last
October. ``They're national in scope.'' The task force included agents of
the Drug Enforcement Administration and New York City and state police.
The police officer arrested in the sweep, Antonio Camacho, 22, of
Unionport, who according to the indictment flashed his badge to beat a
traffic infraction while carrying cocaine, was assigned to the 48th
Precinct in the Bronx. He is the brother of Brenda Pacheco, the wife of
Perez, who was also sometimes known as Piruli, officials said. Camacho was
arrested on Dec. 10 while driving his sister's Cadillac, and the police
said that there was six and a half pounds of cocaine packed inside the
airbag.
After Camacho's arrest, Silbering said, Ms. Amaya hired a witch doctor to
put a curse on Judge Leslie Snyder, who ordered him held without bail. Ms.
Amaya was arrested early on Friday in front of her home at 45 Thayer Street
in upper Manhattan.
Another accused courier, Edward Vasquez, arrested on Friday in
Pennsylvania, spent 14 years in the National Guard and transported drugs in
his Army sergeant's uniform to reduce the odds of getting caught, officials
said.
Others indicted on Friday were Jose Cancel, 31, of the Belmont section of
the Bronx, and Noel Valentine, 23, of the Soundview section of the Bronx.
A seventh alleged ring member, Robinson Chalas, 36, was arrested a month
ago in Washington Heights, Manhattan, with a .357 Magnum pistol, a
sawed-off shotgun, and 13 pounds of cocaine, officials said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another example of our brave drug warriors at work on our behalf.
Notice the byline. Christopher Wren seems to be a reporter specializing in
drug stories for the Times.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@@
960226, FBI, Wash DC, Star Ledger. US attoney's offices
Date: Sun Feb 25, 1996 10:48 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: FBI - All Lab Cases Under Review
Posted: Bob Witanek 2/25/96
SEARCH UNDER WAY FOR TAINTED ANALYSIS AND INCOMPETENCE IN FBI CRIME
LAB (Star Ledger, 2/22/96 - Excerpted)
By ROBERT RUDOLPH
US attoney's offices throughout the nation have been directed by
the Justice Department to weed through cases in their files in an
effort to identify cases that could be tainted by allegations of
misconduct involving the FBI crime lab in Washington. The
allegations - which involve charges of slanted results, incompe
tence and improper testing procedures could have an impact on a
number of criminal prosecutions throughout the country in which FBI
lab results were used, including cases that already have been
closed.
The charges were made by a veteran employee of the crime lab, long
regarded as the top forensic law enforcement facility in the
country. A memorandum, issued by acting Assistant U.S. Attomey
General John C. Keeney and obtained by The Star Ledger, reveals
that a special Justice Department task force has been established
to review the allegations.
"As this memorandum makes apparent." the document states, the legal
issues raised by the allegations are "nationwide in scope,
affecting a substantial number of criminal cases in districts
throughout the country."
Federal authorities in New Jersey said yesterday that a preliminary
review indicates only a few cases that have a potential of being
tainted.
According to the memo, US attomev's offtces across the nation have
been asked to supply information relating to such cases. The memo
was sent to all U.S. attorneys in the country last month.
US authorities in New Jersey said tey are conducting their own
independent, in-house review as well.
"The review has not been completed," said First Assistant U.S.
Attorney Robert Cleary. Cleary said yesterday that although New
Jersey has a large number of cases in wrilch the FBI lab has
performed services, it has "very few cases handled by those people"
named or working in units specified in allegations by Dr. Frederic
Whitehurst, a supervisory special agent who has served as an
examiner in the FBI crime lab. Cleary also said it doesn't appear
that any of the specific cases cited by Whitehurst involve New
Jersey prosecutions.
The existence of Whitehurst's allegations were first spotlighted
during the trial of O.J. Simpson, when a defense attorney
unsuccessfully sought to have Whitehurst testify.
The Justice Department memo outlines the nature of Whitehurst's
charges. Specifically, the memo states, Whitehurst contends that
certain FBI. lab examiners have slanted their conclusions to favor
the prosecution; that certain FBI examiners who testify in criminal
proceedings are not qualified to analyze the evidence involved in
those cases; and that certain key units within the lab maintain
insufficient scientific controls over the testing procedures. The
memo states that the Justice' Department "is in the process of
evaluating the validity of the wide-ranging allegations raised by
Dr. Whitehurst."
At the same time, Justice Department spokesman Carl Stem confirmed
yesterday, the department is "attempting to survey what cases
are,out there" that could be affected. Stem said the survey is
part of an effort to determine if legal obligations will require
the department to notify defense attorneys of the fact that
Whitehurst's charges could affect their cases.
"While the scope of this may be unusual," Stem said, he called the
inquiry "fairly routine." To date, he said, some one-third of the
nation's 93 U.S. Attomey's offices have responded to the survey.
The results, however, were not immediately available. The Justice
Department official stressed, however, that the survey is
independent of the separate investigation into the validity of
Whitehurst's charges.
According to the Justice Department memo, "that evaluation will be
timne-consuming and will require substantial legal and scientific
resources."
The memo revealed that among the charges made by Wlttehurst are
allegations relating to specific criminal investigations in which
he alleged improprieties may have occurred in the presentation or
analysis of evidence. The memo said it plans to notify the U.S.
Attomey's ofrices directly involved about those charges and has
requested that those offices assign an attorney to review written
materials provided by Whitehurst.
The memo says the individual U.S. Attomey's offices will be asked
to analyze the significance of the laboratory evidence used in
those cases to determine whether it will be necessary to alert
defense attorneys in those matters.
In addition, the memo contains a list of 20 employees who
Whitehurst contends lack the proper qualifications, are not
competent to perform required procedures or who slant opinions to
favor the prosecution. The U.S. Attorney's offices have been asked
to determine if any of the 20 employees were involved in ongoing
cases in their districts - either pending trial, on appeal or in
the grand jury stages.
The memo notes that Whitehurst has made specific allegations
involving the FBI lab's Explosives Unit and Chemistry and,
Toxicology Units in which he says these units slant results to
favor the prsecution.
As a result, the Justice Department has asked U.S. Attorney's
offices to identify any pending cases that could have been affected
by those allegations. The FBI crime lab is involved in thousands
of cases each year. FBI analysts often wind up in court, and spent
1,470 days testifying in various trials nationwide last year alone.
One Justice Department official noted that if Whitehurst's charges
are upheld, not only could pending and closed cases be affected,
but even cases in which defendants have pleaded guilty.
According to the Justice Department official, some 90 percent of
all federal cases result in guilty pleas, but Whitehurst's
allegations could raise questions whether those pleas were induced
as a result of tainted test results.
The Washington-based FBI lab has 557 employees and operates on a
budget of $63.6 million. In addition to its work in federal
prosecutions, the lab spends about half its time performing studies
for state & local law enforcement agencies that lack their own labs
or need additional expertise. It has experts in chemistry and
toxicology, hair and fiber, explosives, documents, photography,
paint, tire tracks, ballistics and even feathers, among other
specialties.
As a result of Whitehurst's allegations, the FBI already has
reviewed 250 cases in search of any rigged or slanted testimony.
"To date, no evidence tampering, evidence fabrication or failure
to report exculpatory evidence have been found," the FBI said in
a statement issued last year.
============
COMMENT - It would appear to me that the approach of asking US
Attorneys to look through their own cases, which they were involved
in prosecuting, to see if any of their own posecutions were tainted
by this misconduct is a sham. This situation screams for an
INDEPENDENT review. There should be no question that information
about Whitehurst's charges, the names of the 20 employees he
fingers, the list of cases he cites, and EVERYTHING about this
situation MUST be made available to defense attorneys universally!
Do we really expect that US Attorneys will voluntarily throw out
their successful convictions if they inspect and find that the
evidence, its presentation and analysis were tainted? Yeah right!
- Bob
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@@@
960226, Guamuchilito, Mexico, SF Chronicle. Amado Carrillo,
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 19:12:18 -0800
From: tjeffoc@ix.netcom.com (Tom O'Connell)
To: drctalk@drcnet.org
Subject: SF Chronicle Drug Series. 1st article, 1/1
Message-ID:
The Chron revealed the reason behind yesterday's schizophrenia. Here's the
1st part of today's article, which appeared on 1st page with 2 full pages
inside, complete with color pictures.
Mexico's New Emperor of Narcotics
Amado Carillo's rise shows growing clout of drug lords.
Traffickers' Power Grows In Mexican HeartIand
By Robert Collier
Chronicle Staff Writer
Guamuchilito, Mexico
Mexico's biggest drug trafficker may be a wanted man north of the border,
but back home he walks tall and unafraid.
In the dirt streets of this tiny farming village, residents' eyes glaze
over with a mix of admiration, gratitude and fear when Amado Carrillo's
name is mentioned. From the two-story church that he built four years ago
to his family's fortresslike
two-acre compound at the other end of town the man believed to be
responsible for smuggling more than one-third of the cocaine found on U.S.
streets would be unopposed in any popularity contest. i
"He's a good man, not at all like you say he is," says Guadalupe Garcia as
she rocked quickly back and forth in a chair in her front yard. "If it
weren't for him, we wouldn't have our church."
Clasping his hands tightly and twisting them back and forth, the town
priest, the Rev. Pedro Coronado , said: "He and his family are good, quiet,
Christian people, just like anyone else here." He refused to say more.
As Carrillo has consolidated his position as Mexico's No. 1 drug lord, the
nation's i n tersecine drug war has become_ an increasingly silent one.
Largely gone are the shootouts and chaos that had brought un' wanted
headlines and police attention
Even the capture last month of Carrillo's main rival, Juan Garcia Abrego,
was strangely anticlimacticThe capo - formerly feared for his violent, gun
slinging ways-was caught , with alone-with no bodyguards and no retinue, as
if a deal had been cut with his captors.
The nation's recent economic and political troubles have al lowed Carrillo
and a new breed of allied traffickers to sink deep roots into the power
structure and the fabric of daily life. And these roots,U.S . drug
enforeement officials say, may have made Carrillo an untouchable
enemy. Aside from the strange looks given visitors when
Carrillo's name is mentioned, nothing is out of the ordinary in
Guamuchilito-
Located in the hot, irrigated plains of the northwestern state
of Sinaloa, the village is much like any other in Mexico -
the same whitewashed walls, the same dogs barking at passidg
vehicles, the same girls walking hand in hand and giggling.
The normality of Guamuchilito is the normality of Mexico's
new narcotics status quo. In the past two years, Carrillo has
taken the lead over rival traffickers by changing the business.
Known as "],ord of the Skies" because of his fleet of smuggling
planes, Carrillo has integrated his cocaine and marijuana
distribution networks to include heroin and methamphetamine,
whose popularity is surging in the United States. Feuds between
drug organizations usually are solved with negotiations, not
bullets. And shipments from Colombia now are brought into
Mexico on large cargo jets rather than light planes.
For example, in a single week end in November, Carrillo's
organization reportedly imported 20 tons of South American
cocaine destined for the United States in two clandestine cargo-jet
shipments.
The U.S.-orchestrated crackdown on the cartels inside
Colombia in recent years has pushed the center of drug
trafficking operations northward, closer to the U.S. border.
Carrillo, according to U.S officials, is the first Mexican trafficker
to become an equal partner of the Colombian cartels.
"Instead of playing their traditional role of "mules," or trans
porters for the Colombians, Carrilo and other Mexican capos
now take as payment half of the South American cocaine they
transport.
Experts say they have created their own distribution networks in the
United States, which now compete directly with the Colombians sales
networks.
And with the capture of Garcia Abrego, Carrillo is expected to
increase his share of the trade."Amado Carrillo is clearly the most
powerful trafficker in Mexico ... with resources and connections
that mark a major shift on our southern border," Drug
Enforcement chief Thomas Constantine said recently.
In Mexico, Carrillo has little to fear from the law. Although he is wanted
on cocaine charges in Texas and Florida and is the subject of more than a
dozen U.S. federal investigations, south of the border he faces only a
weapons charge-"the equivalent of jaywalking," said one U.S. official. That
charge reportedly was suspended recently when Carrillo's lawyers obtained a
restraining order against the police.
In their fight against drug trafficking, Mexican authorities appear to
focus most of their efforts on eradicating marijuana grown by poor farmers.
Military-style search-and-destroy operations swoop down constantly on the
rocky canyons of the Sierra Madre. But the officials seem less enthusiastic
about netting the cocaine octopus in their midst.
"I'm not aware of any problems with Mr. Carrillo," said Commander Jose
Barragan, federal police chief for Sinaloa. "There are no major trafficking
organizations
"It is clear that his money has penetrated high into the ranks of
politicians, police and anti-drug officials."
The attitude of the Mexican public toward drug corruption has gone from
ho-hum to scandalized in recent months, as it has become apparent that
traffickers have enjoyed protection from the nation's highest officials. A
web of revelations, allegations and speculation has implicated Garcia
Abrego in a conspiracy involving the brother of former President Carlos
Salinas and the 1994 assassinations of presidential candidate Luis Donaldo
Colosio and ruling-party chief Francisco Ruiz Massieu.
But many analysts believe that no matter what dirt is dug up about Garcia
Abrego's connections, none of it will touch Carril1o.
Unlike his erratic and violent ' rival, Garcia Abrego, who ordered a
bungled hit on him in 1993, Carrillo is known-and respected, even by U.S.
agents who track him -as a cool player
U.S. agents admit they know little about him. According to various DEA
accounts, the 40ish Carrillo is either a third-grade dropout or a law
school graduate, heavyset I or skinny, and was born in one of I three towns
(DEA officials in Mexico City and the United States claimed they had never
heard of Guamuchilito.
But according to government officials and journalists in Culiacan, as well
as Guamuchilito residents, there are no doubts about Carrillo's formative
years.
He was one of 12 children of farming parents, and as he grew up he
impressed townspeople as quiet and hard-working. "Amado used to take care
of his parents' cattle, and he often tended ours," said Garcia, smiling as
she rocked more slowly in her chair.
"He sure liked milking the cows. He did it very fast. And he liked to drink
milk, too. Sometimes he would drink milk right from the udder, like this."
She tilted her head, making a slurping sound and laughing.
When Carrillo was growing up, Sinaloa state was North America's center for
marijuana and opium poppy cultivation, and gunfire was ~heard in Culiacan
every night.
According to DEA accounts, Carrillo's uncle, Ernesto Fonseca, was one of
the country's biggest traffickers. The young Amado started at the bottom,
loading and driving marijuana to safe houses. Eventually he made contacts
with Pablo Acosta, a trafficker from the neighboring state of Chihuahua.
Acosta was the link between Mexico's old-time smugglers and the new. His
grandfather was a bootlegger who switched to smuggling marijuana after
Prohibition. By the 1980s, Acosta was moving marijuana, heroin and cocaine
across the border into Texas.
But the volatile Acosta flaunted his wealth and killed too many of his
enemies and friends, and by 1987 he had burned so many bridges that Mexican
police felt emboldened enough to ambush and kill him.
After Acosta's death, Carrillo moved to Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio
Grande from El Paso, and gradually assumed the role of peacemaker between
rival Mexican traffickers from Tijuana to Matamoros.
U.S. officials say Carrillo's style was so effective that he became the
coordinator of a loosely knit empire of traffickers-a white collar
cooperative whose members do business with Lear jets, Boeing 727s and
French Caravelles rather than bullets.
According to DEA informants, Carrillo never uses drugs or carries guns. He
has served only eight months in jail on cocaine trafficking charges, and
the Mexican government has never made public any information it may have
gleaned from him during his incarceration.
He was set free in April 1990 by a Mexico City judge, who ruled that there
was "insufficient evidence" to hold him. The ruling brought only muted
protests from U.S. officials, who at the time did not view Carrillo as a
major trafficker.
Carrillo has not spoken publicly about any of the charges against him.
U.S. officials who track Carrillo say he lives in no one location,
protection," said EduardoValle, a constantly moving between safe former
Mexican government anti-drug official. houses in central and northern
Mexico
Guamuchilito residents said that Carrillo occasionally returns home to
visit his mother, two sisters and a brother. But Barragan, the state police
commander, said Carrillo's family is "not a matter for attention or
investigation," adding: "In Mexico, we have a great respect for families."
In Guamuchilito, the Carrillo compound is ringed by high walls and
concertina wire. Four-wheel drive vehicles and pickups with darkened wmdows
come and go, giving the casual passer-by a tantalizing glimpse of
colonial-style arches, lush greenery and spraying water as the heavy, black
gatesopen and shut
I
vously warned a reporter not to linger near the compound, guards at the
entrance responded to repeated inquiries for Carrillo's mother, Aurora, by
politely saying no one was home. After the visitor left a letter asking for
an interview with Mrs. Carrillo, he received a series of cryptic phone
calls at his hotel in Culiacan from a man describing himself as an
intermediary.
On the fifth call, two days later, the man said "he has approved it"
-apparently referring to Amado Carrillo himself-adding that only the final
arrangements remained to be made. But the intermediary did not call back,
and the compound's telephone number was unlisted.
At the front gate the next day, the guards said again-grinning slightly
behind their sunglasses-that no one was home.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More tomorrow. So far a pretty generic piece, but no criticism of US policy
either, just a parroting of DEA comment.
Tom
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 13:13:06 -0800
From: tjeffoc@ix.netcom.com (Tom O'Connell)
To: drctalk@drcnet.org
Subject: Chronicle Drugs/Mexico 2nd Installment
Message-ID:
Here's the second and last part of the series:
Second of Two Parts
U.S., Mexico Stalemated on Drugs
Congress' anger has little effect south of the border
BY, Robert Collier
Chronicle Staff Writer
Mexico City
When Juan Garcia Abrego was captured by Mexican police last month, law
enforcement officials on both sides of the border congratulated themselves,
loudly proclaiming that the fall of the drug lord was a major victory
against the narcotics cartels.
But the arrest was not enough to satisfy Mexico's critics in the U.S.
Congress, who said that other Mexican drug lords appear to enjoy total
immunity from justice.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, D.,Calif., and other lawmakers charged that
Mexico has dawdled in taking concrete steps to fight the traffickers, and
they proposed legislation to cut off U.S. economic and diplomatic support
for its southern neighbor.
Mexican officials, in turn, reacted angrily, hinting that any congressional
retaliation against Mexico would result in less, not more, cooperation on
law enforcement.
As the war of words heats up on both sides of the border, many experts say
the rhetoric is simply irrelevant; Whether by using praise or taking a hard
line, the United States can do little to make Mexico's fight against drugs
more effective.
"The problem with U.S. pressure about drugs is knowing where to stop," said
Jorge G. Castaneda, a political analyst at the Nation Autonomous University
of Mexico "The corruption is so huge and. deep that if you keep digging,
you will undermine this government -and that's something the Clinton
administration clearly has no interest in doing."
The stakes for the Unite States are high: An estimated, percent of the
cocaine and 40 per cent of the heroin that reach American streets are
smuggled through Mexico. Indeed, Mexico drug lords have risen rapidly to be
come just as powerful as those who head Colombia's cartels, and the, are
now reported to spend as much as $500 million a year to bribe Mexican
government officials.
Recent setbacks in the U.S. Mexican war on drugs have been striking:
Days after Garcia Abrego capture, the drug corruption case against Raul
Salinas, brother of former President Carlos Salinas was severely damaged
when several top businessmen said they had given him most of the $100
million found in his Swiss bank accounts -money that was suspected of being
drug-related. Although Raul Salinas still faces charges relating to the
1994 assassination of a key ruling-party official, many observers say the
whole issue of drug corruption in the Salinas administration may be swept
under the rug.
* Another major graft case, against former government prosecutor Mario Ruiz
Massieu, also has crumbled. A U.S. federal magistrate in New Jersey, where
Ruiz Massieu has been jailed since last March, has rejected repeated
attempts to extradite him to Mexico to face trial on drug corruption
charges. U.S. diplomats now admit , that both governments have botched the
case.
* A broad package of legislation to reform Mexico's notoriously lax laws on
money laundering, , government corruption and the sale of so-called
precursor chemicals used in processing drugs has stalled in Mexico's
Congress since it was introduced in November.
In the past year, the widening scandal linking the former Salinas
administration with drug traffickers has left Washington and Mexico City in
a bind, experts say.
Hoping that Mexico will emerge from its 14-month old economic crisis with
no damage to NAFTA, President Clinton has thrown the economic and
diplomatic weight of the United States behind President Ernesto Zedillo's
attempts to fight corruption in the traditional Mexican way-quietly, behind
the scenes and without hurting the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary
Party (PRI).
"Because of the whole drug scandal about the Salinas brothers, there is
enormous public pressure to find the guilty," said Agustin Basave, a
leading PRI reformer and president of the Luis Donaldo Colosio Foundation,
a PRI think tank. "But we're not going to try to stop this political
disaster by carrying out a witch hunt or a lynching to satisfy the public.
We must let the legal process work . . . and that is going to be slow."
Just how slow depends, in part, on the Mexican public, which has long been
accustomed to official corruption. In recent local elections, the PR1
escaped the scandal largely unscathed.
Even among Mexico's upper class, "everyone complains about corruption, but
we all dream about getting the local narcopolitician to come to our
daughter's wedding," said Guadalupe Loaeza, a novelist whose sardonic
chronicles of high society are best-sellers.
"Almost any of them-well, anyone except maybe Raul Salinas now-would get
seated at the head table."
Getting to the bottom of what Mexicans call "narcopolitics" has proved
virtually impossible because of the code of secrecy that politicians and
drug lords obey.
When Garcia Abrego was arrested and abruptly sent to the United States,
many Mexicans angrily asked why the government id not question him about
his many alleged crimes in Mexico, including dozens of killings and his
apparent ties with the former Salinas administration. Skeptics suggested
that he was expelled so fast to keep him quiet.
U.S. officials say the drug kingpin, now jailed in Houston, has refused to
cooperate with his American interrogators.
Back in Mexico, the govern, ment does its best to keep those in the know
from talking. The Interior Secretariat refused to answer repeated Chronicle
requests to interview Miguel Felix Gallardo and Rafael Caro Quintero, two
former top drug lords now serving long sentences in a high security prison
near Mexico City.
When a reporter passed a written questionnaire to Felix Gallardo through
the drug lord's lawyer, he gave only evasive replies, concluding, "Going
public would not change things." The lawyer said Felix Gallardo had noted
privately that authorities would punish him if he talked more freely. The
interview was the first he had ever given to the press.
Last month, when a pro-government newspaper published five long essays
written by Raul Salinas, the result was virtually the same. Amid 5,000
words of eloquent philosophizing about prison existence, Salinas alluded
only vaguely to the charges against him, including those tied to politics,
corruption and drugs.
With no one willing to talk and with little hard evidence, many experts
assume the worst.
A recent study by the National Autonomous University of Mexico noted that
the annual budget of he Mexican federal attorney general-including the
federal police l agencies that fight drugs - is about $200 million, less
than half he total of annual bribes the university's researchers estimate
are paid to govern ment officials.
The Clinton administration has placed high hopes on an omnibus organized
crime bill championed by Attorney General Antonio Lozano, a member of
Mexico's conservative National Action Party who is seen as crucial to the
reform process.
The bill would impose tough controls on money laundering through banks and
exchange houses, create new rules on financial disclosure and conflict of
interest by government officials, and crack down on the sale of precursor
chemicals, which are used to make methamphetamine-a drug that has been
flooding the California narcotics market recently.
The package was proposed with great fanfare by Zedillo's administration in
November. But since then, businessmen have opposed it because it would
increase government control of the economy. The Mexican Congress has placed
the bill on a back burner and no action is expected before this fall.
The apparent lack of progress against drug smugglers has helped produce an
atmosphere in the U.S. Congress that is clearly hostile to Mexico.
Earlier this month, Feinstein and New York Republican Senator Alphonse
D'Amato proposed legislation to block the extension of the $20 billion U.S.
bailout of the Mexican economy. Feinstein charged that "Mexico's actions do
not match their words in the war on drugs" and noted that major drug lords
such as Amado Carrillo enjoy apparent immunity from justice.
ln addition to Feinstein's bill other pending legislation ranges from
anti-immigration proposals to a bill to drastically renegotiate NAFTA.
sponsored by Representative Marcy Kaptur, D Ohio, the NAFTA Accountability
Act has gathered 77 co-sponsors from the far left to the far right.
And with GOP presidential contender Pat Buchanan bashing Mexico and NAFTA
at nearly every campaign appearance, the antipathy is likely to grow.
Feeling the pressure, the administration has said it may deny certification
later this week of Mexican cooperation in anti-drug efforts-thus blocking a
wide variety of international loans to Mexico.
In December, the administration ceded to similar pressure by blocking
implementation of a NAFTA provision allowing Mexican truckers free access
to the highways of California and the Southwest.
In fact, drug enforcement officials admit that most of the narcotics
crossing the border do not come by plane, tunnel or mule across the desert,
but are hidden in truck cargo that passes openly through U.S. Customs.
Although plans have been announced to tighten up loopholes in customs
procedures that allow many high-volume importers to avoid inspection at the
border U.S. officials say ruefully that there are limits to what they can
do to intercept drugs.
"To understand this, you have to look at the reality of the border and what
our function here is," said George McNenney, the special agent in charge of
the Customs Service office in El Paso, one of the border's busiest crossing
points. "On one hand, we're a law enforcement agency. But on the other, we
have to facilitate trade. If we checked every vehicle, there would be lines
backed up clear to Mexico City."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's anothe related story in today's paper. I'll post it later.
Tom O'Connell
------------------------------
@@@
960321, New York City, NY, AP. Harlem police officer Barry Brown
Date: Sun Mar 31, 1996 10:54 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: NYPD Testilying
Posted: pinknoiz@ccnet.com (Bob Gonsalves)
3/21/96
NEW YORK (AP) - When Officer Barry Brown took the stand against a
suspected drug dealer in 1991, he raised his right hand and swore
to tell the truth.
Then he lied.
"It was part of everyday police work, unfortunately," the former
Harlem policeman said of the falsified testimony, which helped send
Samuel Victor to prison.
[Article goes on to say that NYPD has instituted 'reforms' to
combat this. And,
it's a natural growth of an environment where 'crooks' (suspects,
really) are seen to have an 'unfair' advantage.]
...
Police perjury "is not as widespread as people think," said Queens
District Attorney Richard Brown. "It's a perception. But the danger
is that perception could find its way into the jury room."
Others contend the problem is pervasive. The Mollen Commission, a
mayoral panel that investigated police corruption, concluded in a
1994 report that perjury "is not uncommon, even among those who do
not engage in other kinds of misconduct."
A quiet conspiracy to subvert the Constitution's search-and-seizure
protections begins when an arresting officer and a
prosecutor meet to review a case, said Norman Siegal, head of the
New York Civil Liberties Union.
"When a cop sits down with a D.A., there's kind of sense of what
needs to be said, of what the magic words are," Siegal said. "The
cop understands that unless he uses them, the case won't succeed."
[Among the proposed changes are increased "class time on courtroom
testimony" for new recruits, which will undoubtedly include
training in the 'magic words'.]
...
Brown - a secret informant for the Mollen Commission who used the
code name "Otto" - was forced to resign last year after being
threatened with prosecution for perjury. Only two weeks earlier,
"60 Minutes" likened Brown to Frank Serpico, the New York officer
who helped uncover a 1970s corruption scandal.
Brown testified that he saw Victor drop some drugs on the street,
then run into an apartment. He later admitted he made up the story
after searching the apartment without a legal reason.
Victor was released from prison after serving three years of a 15-
year sentence.
[Poster's comments in brackets. My reading of the article is that
Brown will not be prosecuted, in spite of the fact that Victor was
unlawfully incarcerated for three years.]
@@@
960323, San Francisco, CA, San Francisco Chronicle. Three cops
S.F. Cop in Theft Trial Unlikely to Face Agency Charges
Saturday,
March 23, 1996
Page A15
copyright San Francisco Chronicle
Susan Sward, Bill Wallace, Chronicle Staff Writers
San Francisco's police watchdog agency has made a
preliminary decision not to file theft charges against one of three
officers indicted by the grand jury for stealing from drug dealers
and other citizens, but a lawyer for two of the alleged victims is
appealing.
Lance Bayer, director of the Office of Citizen Complaints, told
the alleged victims in a February 28 letter that his
agency's investigation failed to sustain the theft charges that
the two women made against officer James Acevedo.
The watchdog agency's handling of the case is separate from the
Superior Court trial that Acevedo and two other officers, Gary
Fagundes and Steven Landi, face in connection with the theft
charges.
All three officers have entered not guilty pleas in that case.
The three were indicted by the grand jury for stealing money and
personal property from drug dealers and others. They also face
disciplinary charges before the police commission in
connection with the case. No hearing date has been set.
Acevedo, Fagundes and Landi were suspended after the
indictment.
In his letter, Bayer told Lisa Strain, 29, and Desiree Smith, 25,
that the Office of Citizen Complaints' investigation ``failed to
disclose sufficient evidence to enable us to determine the validity
of the allegation'' that police failed to book property taken after
officers entered the women's apartment.
Strain and Smith have said they had no idea why the police picked
on them. Neither woman has a criminal record.
The two women, who have filed a suit seeking $4 million in damages
against the city, said they had four nightmarish
encounters with police over a 14-month period that ended one year
ago.
Jeffrey Sloan, a lawyer who represents the women, said he has
written a letter appealing the Office of Citizen Complaints'
preliminary decision, asking for a hearing. He plans to write
another letter detailing evidence that he believes was ignored.
``This is outrageous,'' Sloan said. ``Ms. Strain and Ms. Smith
have been victimized more than once by the very officers who are
hired to protect them. Now they turn to the agency that is supposed
to protect them, and Mr. Bayer and his agency have once again
slapped my clients.
``It is embarrassing that in light of a mountain of evidence that
leads to an indictment, the OCC somehow can't find any evidence.
It just stinks of a coverup.''
If the Office of Citizen Complaints were to hold a hearing and
decide to file charges, it could recommend to Police Chief Fred
Lau that he or the police commission hear the charges.
In a related action, the office also declined to sustain charges
against Sergeant Johnny Velasquez for allegedly dressing Smith in
her
jeans in a suggestive fashion before taking both women to the
police department one night. Smith said she felt demeaned by his
behavior.
The Office of Citizen Complaints also reportedly sustained a
charge against Fagundes of failure to cooperate with
investigators. Fagundes' lawyer was not available for comment.
Landi was not named in the complaint filed with the office by
Strain and Smith.
Bayer told The Chronicle that he has not yet decided whether to
hold a hearing to consider further evidence in the case before any
final decision is issued.
The preliminary decision in the Acevedo case follows another
controversial call by the Office of Citizen Complaints, which
decided earlier this month not to sustain charges against officer
William Wohler in connection with the 1993 shooting death of Brian
Sullivan. Lawyers for Sullivan's family have asked for a hearing,
and Bayer has not yet decided what to do.
Sullivan, who lived in the Excelsior district, was shot and killed
by Wohler after Sullivan allegedly pointed a gun at him and ran
into his garage. The city later paid almost $300,000 in damages in
connection with that shooting.
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@@@
960326, Philadelphia, PA,. The Civil Rights Committee of the
Date: Mon Feb 26, 1996 9:08 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Philly Bar: Forum on Police Accountability
From: Bob Witanek
Subject: Philly Bar: Forum on Police Accountability
Posted: Barrio215@aol.com
Please let your subscribers know about this great forum
POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY: PROBLEMS, SOLUTIONS AND THE ROLE OF SPECIAL
COMMISSIONS
The Civil Rights Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association will host a
forum titled "Police Accountability: Problems, Solutions, and the Role of
Special Commissions." The forum will be held from 5:30PM to 8:00PM on March
26, 1996, in Philadelphia at the Wanamaker Conference Center, Suite 1010 of
the Wanamaker Building. The entrance is on Juniper Street between Market and
Chestnut Streets.
The panel for the forum will consist of four nationally recognized experts on
the issue of police accountability. The four speakers are: Judge Milton
Mollen, Merrick Bobb, Esq., Charles Bowser, Esq., and Leslie Seymore. The
moderator for the forum will be Prof. James Fyfe.
Judge Milton Mollen was the chair of the distinguished Mollen Commission. The
Mollen Commission investigated police corruption in NYC in 1994 and devised
extensive recommendations to reform the New York Police Department. The
Mollen Commission report and its recommendations were lauded by experts
around the country. It was before this commission that Officer Dowd testified
with graphic frankness of the depth and breadth of police corruption in the
city. His description of the brashness of some officers, included testimony
describing how he snorted cocaine off the dash board of his patrol car.
Merrick Bobb, Esq. serves as special counsel to the Kolts Commission. The
Kolts Commission investigated corruption and misconduct in the Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Department. Mr. Bobb's remarkable work at implementing the
Kolts Commission's recommendations with a team of pro-bono attorneys has
earned him national attention. Mr. Bobb was also the Deputy General Counsel
to the Christopher Commission. The Christopher Commission was created to
probe the Los Angeles Police Department in the aftermath of the Rodney King
incident. It was headed by Warren Christopher, currently the Secretary of
State in the Clinton Administration.
Charles Bowser, Esq. was a member of the Commission that investigated the
police bombing of the MOVE compound and the resulting fire that killed 11
people and destroyed 61 homes. Mr. Bowser was appointed to the country's
first Civilian Review Board in 1961 by Mayor Dilworth. He has also served as
Deputy Mayor for the city of Philadelphia, and Special Counsel to the
Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus.
Leslie Seymore is a twenty three year veteran of the Philadelphia Police
Department. She is the past National Chairperson of the National Black Police
Association. She has a long history of working to secure institutional
improvements in the Philadelphia Police Department. Her efforts started
before she became a police officer. She was one of the plaintiffs that
successfully challenged the Department's policy to exclude candidates for
such things as being a single parent, and holding more than one job. She is
currently assigned to the Community Relations Division of the Philadelphia
Police Department.
The forum's moderator is Professor James Fyfe of the Criminal Justice
Department of Temple University. Prof. Fyfe is a commissioner of the
Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. He has published 6
books and more than 75 articles on police accountability. Prof. Fyfe served
as a police officer for 16 years with the NYPD where he rose to the rank of
lieutenant.
Police misconduct is the primary civil rights issue facing American urban
communities today. In Los Angeles, the tape recorded conversations of Mark
Fuhrman exposed a police department that routinely looks the other way while
citizens are abused and racially insulted by rogue police officers. In New
York, nearly 50 police officers have been arrested since March 1994 on
charges of drug trafficking, extortion, brutality and civil rights
violations. In New Orleans, more than 50 police officers have been arrested,
indicted or convicted since 1993 on charges including rape, aggravated
battery, drug trafficking and murder. In Atlanta, six police officers were
arrested in September of last year on drug charges and extorting money from
citizens for police protection. In Philadelphia, six police officers
confessed to planting drugs on suspects, lying under oath and stealing from
innocent citizens. In December, Philadelphia's civilian review board
concluded that police used excessive force against a North Philadelphia tow
truck driver, Moises DeJesus, and then tried to cover it up. DeJesus died
while in police custody. The most far reaching finding of the report however
was that the investigation of the incident by the police was not adequate.
In September of last year, City Councilman Michael Nutter and Council
President John Street passed a resolution in City Council to create a special
commission to investigate police corruption. The proposed commission will be
in the style of the Mollen Commission and the Christopher Commission. It will
focus on the operations of the Police Department, the District Attorney's
Office and the Courts to prevent, investigate and followup police corruption
and misconduct.
This forum on Police Accountability is an opportune chance to tap the
knowledge and experiences of a nationally renowned panel of experts in the
field. The forum is co-sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union of
Pennsylvania, the Police Barrio Relations Project, the Criminal Justice
Department of Temple University, The National Lawyers Guild, and the Center
for Public Policy of Temple University.
For more information about the conference call the Philadelphia Bar
Assocation at 215-238-6300.
@@@
960327, St Louis, MO, UPI. Cop George DeLuca (55), 20 year
UPI March.27.--.A.former.New.York.City.police officer began
serving a life sentence Wednesday, after being convicted for his
role in running a drug ring that imported cocaine and heroin to
St. Louis. George DeLuca, 55, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S.
District Court in St. Louis. His sentencing followed Monday's
sentencing in the same courtroom of his wife, Elisa DeLuca, 42.
A federal jury convicted both DeLucas of drug conspiracy last
December.
Both husband and wife were sentenced to identical terms of
life in prison without parole. Prosecutors charged the couple ran
a drug ring that bought Colombian cocaine in New York and sold it
in St. Louis. After Elisa DeLuca had trouble paying her cocaine
suppliers, she began selling white heroin, authorities said.
The jury also convicted George DeLuca of laundering the
profits from the drug operation. Some of the laundered money was
used to buy a $400,000 house in the St. Louis suburb of
Chesterfield, which the couple bought after George DeLuca retired
in 1993 from the New York Police Department.
The government has seized the couple's house, and federal
marshals soon will auction it.
George DeLuca served as a police officer in New York for 20
years, including a stint as a vice detective, authorities said.
The couple's five-week trial featured the testimony of Elisa
DeLuca's daughter, Alexandra DeLuca, 17, and the girl's boyfriend,
Jorge Bustamante. Alexandra, who ran away with Bustamante in 1994,
testified that she knew her mother was dealing drugs.
Bustamante, a Colombian who met Elisa DeLuca when he went to
New York illegally, testified that he moved to the St. Louis area
with the family in 1993. Bustamante worked as a drug courier for
the ring, authorities said. Federal agents arrested him at
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport in 1994, while he was
trying to take $110,000 in cash to New York.
Because they cooperated in the investigation, Bustamante and
Alexandra DeLuca will be placed in the federal witness protection
program, authorities said. They said the witnesses planned to
marry. --
@@@
960327, Los Angeles, CA, Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Cop admits
Subject: Cop Admits Lie in R King Case
Posted: : Ronnie Dadone
To: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
Subject: U.S. & World News
http://www.phillynews.com/daily_news/96/Mar/28/national/RODN28.htm
>
National > [Philadelphia Online] THE PHILADELPHIA
Thursday, March 28, > DAILY NEWS
>
1996 >
>
> Cop admits lie in King case
> Tipsy-driving trial under way
>
> Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
>
> NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The police officer who charged Rodney King
with > drunken driving said yesterday that he lied while testifying
in the > case about a memorandum he produced detailing the arrest.
>
> The admission came in the second day of testimony in the trial
of > King, whose beating by Los Angeles police officers in 1991 was
> caught on videotape and turned the national spotlight on police
> misconduct.
>
> Clint Garver, a patrolman who charged King with drunken driving
May > 21, said a memo he had prepared about the circumstances of
King's > arrest in Union was typed by David Rishel, the district
justice who > arraigned King on the charges. Garver said Rishel
provided ``a crib > sheet'' to help Garver assemble the document.
>
> Garver said Rishel typed the memo, which he later incorporated
into > a supplemental police report detailing events surrounding
King's > arrest, on a computer at a fire hall the day after King
was > arrested.
>
> On Tuesday, Garver testified he had typed the memo on an unnamed
> friend's computer, and later threw it away. The document surfaced
> when the Lawrence County district attorney's office turned it
over > to defense attorney Carmen Lamancusa during pretrial
discovery. >
> ``You said you typed it up on a friend's computer,'' Lamancusa
told > Garver in front of the jury.
>
> ``Yes,'' Garver replied.
>
> ``Now, isn't that a lie?'' Lamancusa said.
>
> ``Yes,'' Garver said. Asked why he lied, Garver said, ``I was a
> little nervous. It was my first time up here.''
>
> Garver had been an officer for two months when he arrested King,
the > first person he had charged.
>
> Lamancusa then asked Garver why the jurors should believe
anything > else he said during the trial. ``I didn't lie about
nothing else,'' > Garver said.
>
> The admission shifted the trial's focus. Until yesterday, >
Lamancusa's main strategy had been to stress that Garver had no >
concrete evidence to place King behind the wheel other than
Garver's > contention that King told him he was the driver of the
car. King > denies it.
>
> During a court recess, Lamancusa said that if Judge Glenn
McCracken > did not dismiss the case, he would ask McCracken to
instruct jurors > to consider Garver's testimony unreliable.
>
> ``This is the first time in 28 years I've been trying cases where
I > got a police officer to say `I lied,' '' Lamancusa told
reporters. > ``I think the district attorney should look into it.''
>
> But both Robert Barletta, the prosecutor, and Garver's boss,
Union > Police Chief Mark Pelto, said they believed Garver's
admission to > lying was simply a poor choice of words to describe
a faulty memory. >
> The memo in dispute is a two-page account of King's arrest and
his > repeated refusals to submit to a blood alcohol test.
>
> Garver said he prepared it to help him in testimony. At the time
he > didn't realize he would be given legal assistance by the
Lawrence > County district attorney.
>
> Rishel's help in putting the document together came the day after
> Rishel had presided at King's arraignment on drunken driving >
charges.
>
> Pelto said it was common for district justices to help officers
put > together legal papers.
>
> The King case is expected to wrap up testimony today and jurors
> should begin deliberations tomorrow.
@@@
960330, New Castle, PA, The Philadelphia Inquirer. Rodney King
http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Mar/30/city/KING30.htm >
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] City &
Region >
> Saturday, March 30,
1996 >
> Rodney King is acquitted
> A jury found him innocent of drunken driving after an officer
> admitted lying in court.
>
> ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
> NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A jury yesterday found Rodney King innocent
of > drunken driving. The acquittal followed a trial in which a
rookie > police officer admitted lying about how he had prepared
his notes. >
> King made a number-one sign with his hand after the jury cleared
him > of being drunk while driving a rented car that became stuck
in a > muddy yard about 45 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Several
members > of King's family hugged him.
>
> Later, King thanked his attorney and ``the people of
Pennsylvania.'' >
> An amateur photographer videotaped King, who is black, being
beaten > by four white police officers after being pulled over for
speeding > in Los Angeles in 1991. The following year, the
officers' acquittal > on state charges prompted riots in Los
Angeles. Two of the officers > later were convicted on federal
charges.
>
> Lawrence County juror Tasha Anzalone, 26, said the jury was
swayed > by Union Township Police Officer Clint Garver's admission
that he > had lied. Garver, 20, testified Tuesday that he had typed
notes > about the May 21 arrest on a friend's computer. But he
admitted > Wednesday that a judge had typed the notes for him.
>
> King's arrest was the first by the officer, then on the force
just > two months. He admitted that he never saw King driving and
never > asked what he had been drinking.
>
> ``The big question was: `Why did he lie about it for a year?' ''
> Anzalone said, adding that she also was troubled by District
Justice > David Rishel's involvement in Garver's investigation of
King. >
> Garver, meanwhile, said he was glad the trial was over.
>
> The all-white jury deliberated for 6-1/2 hours in Lawrence County
> Court. Just 3 percent of the county's residents are black. >
> King, then 30, was charged after refusing to allow his blood to
be > tested for alcohol. He was in New Castle last spring for his
> father-in-law's funeral.
>
> In his closing argument, defense attorney Carmen Lamancusa said
the > state had not proved King had been driving or had been
intoxicated. > He also said King's injuries from the 1991 beating
may have made it > impossible for him to pass field sobriety tests.
>
> Lamancusa further suggested that there was an official conspiracy
> against King. He pointed out that it had been a judge who had
helped > Garver with his notes.
>
> Outside court, Lamancusa said the trial marked the first time
that > he had been able to persuade a police officer to admit
lying. >
> ``If it weren't for the high profile it is, this case would have
> been over in two days,'' Lamancusa said.
>
> At issue was King's statement to Garver that ``we'' were driving
the > stuck sedan. King said he meant that he and his friends were
riding > around the countryside, but Garver said he took the
statement to > mean that King had been driving.
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@@@
960330, Louisville, KY, Courier-Journal. Louisville Police Chief
Subject: Louisville, KY - x-Chief Gets 5
From: Bob Witanek
Posted randy@ntr.net Sat Mar 30 12:54:04 1996
From: Randy Jarnagin
Subject: Former Police Chief gets 5 yrs.
Hello, Bob,
Thought you might wish to inform your readers about this news event.
Louisville, Kentucky's ex-police chief, Richard Frey, received a 5 years
and 3 months federal prison sentence yesterday.
The local newspaper, Courier-Journal, reported the following:
"Appearing stoic and poised, Richard Frey, the ex-Marine who ran the
Jefferson County Jail with military precision, was sentenced yesterday to
five years and three months in federal prison for taking nearly $200,000
in bribes.
Standing in a courtroom where he'd appeared on many occasions in his
official capacity, Frey, 50, told U.S. District Judge Edward Johnstone:
"Your honor, I've been before this court for 15 years and at no time has
there ever been an occasion where the outcome was not a fair and
impartial one. I have no doubt that will be the case today."
After the hearing, Frey seemed upbeat and even joked about his chances of
encountering J. Clifford Todd, 67, the former chairman of U.S. Corrections.
Todd paid Frey $4,000 a month to get and keep a lucrative corrections
contract- then cut a deal with federal authorities to implicate Frey and
testified as the government's chief witness against him.
"I don't think they're going to make us cellmates," Frey said after he
left the courtroom. "Somehow, the thought of Cliff Todd lifting weights
on the yard does not come to mind."
In an interview, Frey, who'll be allowed to turn himself in May 15, said
the ordeal of the federal investigation and his indictment was worse than
going to prison. "What has gone on in the past 24 months has been far
more serious," he said.
The sentence handed down by Johnstone closes the curtain on the
corruption scandal that erupted two years ago when Frey was fired amid
allegations that he took payments from Todd, whose former company has a
$3.2 million contract to house county inmates.
Citing Todd's cooperation with the government, federal prosecutors
recommended that he serve only 4 1/2 months in home incarceration. But
Todd was shocked earlier this wek when U.S. District Judge John Heyburn
rejected his deal with prosecutors and sentenced him to 15 months in prison.
______________________________________________________
_ Randy Jarnagin, President _
_ Data Services Corporation _
_ Box 921325 _
_ Louisville, KY 40292 _
______________________________________________________
@@@
960416, New York City, NY, NY Times. Cocaine dealing cop gets 8 years
> April 16, 1996
>
> Ex-Harlem Officer Draws 8 Years for Corruption
>
> By DON VAN NATTA Jr.
>
> [N] EW YORK -- In the harshest sentence yet
> handed down in Harlem's 30th Precinct
> corruption scandal, a former police officer who
> admitted stealing drugs and then selling them
> was sentenced Monday to eight years and one
> month in federal prison.
>
> The former officer, Christopher DiLorenzo, 32,
> wept as he hugged his wife before U.S. marshals
> led him out of the courtroom to begin his term
> immediately. "Keep the faith," DiLorenzo said to
> his weeping mother and three sisters before
> heading to prison.
>
> Until Monday, the longest sentence handed down
> in the corruption case was five years, and three
> of the five officers previously sentenced in
> federal court were given sentences ranging from
> one to two years in prison.
>
> But in sentencing DiLorenzo, Judge Allen G.
> Schwartz of U.S. District Court in Manhattan
> said the nine-year police veteran deserved the
> maximum under the federal sentencing guidelines,
> declaring that DiLorenzo and his fellow corrupt
> officers "weren't protectors, they were
> predators."
>
> "This was more than a serious crime," Schwartz
> said, glaring down over his eyeglasses at the
> defendant. "It was a horrendous crime. A police
> shield is not a license to prey on others."
>
> The judge said he hoped the tough sentence would
> send a message of deterrence to all law
> enforcement officials who might be tempted to
> violate the public's trust. "These crimes attack
> the foundations of the criminal justice system
> and the law of this country," he said.
>
> DiLorenzo was arraigned two years ago Monday,
> and at the time it appeared unlikely that he
> would get the harshest sentence, given the range
> of accusations against some defendants.
>
> Yet his sentence reflected his position as the
> first officer sentenced for conspiring to
> distribute narcotics, a crime that carries a
> mandatory prison sentence of five years.
>
> "This sentence should clearly demonstrate to all
> law enforcement officers and all public
> officials that they will be severely punished if
> they cross the line and violate the oath that
> they took to protect the public and uphold the
> law," U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White said Monday.
>
> DiLorenzo grew up in Woodside and Astoria, in
> Queens. He did not begin to commit crimes until
> he was teamed with Officer Alberto Vargas on the
> midnight shift.
>
> Schwartz described a long list of crimes that
> DiLorenzo confessed to having committed from
> January 1991 to December 1992. Over all,
> DiLorenzo took nearly $50,000 from cash payoffs,
> thefts and his proceeds from the sale of more
> than four pounds of cocaine.
>
> At least five times, DiLorenzo took money and
> cocaine that he had found during his police work
> in northwest Harlem. He and his partner usually
> sold the cocaine, dividing the profits among
> themselves and a drug dealer who worked in a
> Broadway bodega.
>
> Several drug dealers, operating near West 146th
> Street, also paid DiLorenzo $500 a week for at
> least a year. The drug dealers had bought
> "protection" from other corrupt officers who
> might try to steal their drugs or money. The
> payoffs also guaranteed that the dealers would
> not be arrested themselves.
>
> DiLorenzo also admitted having committed perjury
> while testifying in criminal court proceedings
> in state court.
>
> In December, DiLorenzo pleaded guilty to one
> federal count and was promised a reduced prison
> sentence. He had faced five to six and a half
> years in a Federal prison.
>
> But DiLorenzo tried to withdraw his guilty plea
> last month. His lawyer, Cynthia W. Lobo, told
> the court that DiLorenzo had hoped to take his
> chances at trial and attack the credibility of
> DiLorenzo's former police partner, Vargas, who
> has admitted lying to investigators.
>
> Vargas has pleaded guilty and is to be sentenced
> later this year. Eleven other former officers
> from the 30th Precinct remain to be sentenced.
>
> Schwartz not only denied DiLorenzo's motion to
> withdraw his guilty plea, but he also penalized
> him, ruling that he should not receive credit
> for accepting responsibility for his crimes.
>
> Michael E. Horowitz, an assistant U.S. attorney,
> referring to DiLorenzo's motion, told the judge
> Monday, "The government believes it was meant to
> delay the sentencing." The judge agreed and
> called it frivolous.
>
> Schwartz did not soften the sentence after
> listening to DiLorenzo's expression of remorse,
> including his love for his wife and two young
> daughters. "I've lost more than I will ever be
> able to explain," DiLorenzo said softly.
>
> Last week, he said, he explained his predicament
> to his 6-year-old daughter. "Don't worry," he
> said he told her. "I'll be there for you."
>
> "I dropped her off today at school and she told
> me not to worry," DiLorenzo told the judge. In
> the first four rows of the courtroom gallery, 20
> family members and friends sobbed and gasped for
> breath.
>
> Afterward, Ms. Lobo, his defense lawyer, said
> she was not surprised at the length of the
> sentence.
>
> "Judges would be hard pressed to show any kind
> of leniency to a police officer convicted of
> corruption," she said. "There is a lot of
> pressure on federal judges in this circuit, with
> politicians calling for the heads of judges who
> don't please them."
>
> Home | Sections | Contents | Search | Forums | Help
>
> Copyright 1996 The New York Times Company
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
@@@
960425, Los Angeles, CA, LA Times. SCAN. Southeast Cities [of Los
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 1996 08:05:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jim Rosenfield
To: drctalk@drcnet.org
Subject: LA Times re:Doomed Drug Strike Force
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19960425080415.7FA71C7A@CINENET.NET>
LA Times Metro Section today:
Internal Clashes Doomed Drug Strike Force
Unit seized millions worth of narcotics in five cities, until members began
suspecting colleagues of taking evidence.
By any measure, the cops who hunted drug traffickers for SCAN -- the
Southeast Cities Against Narcotics Task Force -- made a good team.
With fewer than a dozen investigators, pooled from five local police
departments in Southeast Los Angeles County, the special unit netted $100
million in cocaine and $14 million in cash in its best year.
That also turned out to be its last year.
When SCAN disbanded last spring, it was one of the premiere local
narcotics "crews" in the nation: It landed blow after blow to the Los
Angeles drug network. Its agents seized everything from currency to
airplanes from their suspects. In the process, they collected windfalls for
their cash-craving depatments with the help of the forfeiture laws that
allow law enforcement agencies to keep a share of what they seize.
But when SCAN cops began to doubt each others honor and that of their
cheifs, it all came to a screeching halt.
@@@
960426, Norristown, PA, Phila Inq. Greaterford Prison guard Ronald
Posted dadoner@chesco.com Thu Apr 25 12:35:10 1996
http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/25/city/CGARD25.htm >
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] City & Region >
> Thursday, April 25, 1996 >
> Guard at Graterford convicted in drug case
> He claimed an official planted heroin on him during a search.
> Another guard faces trial in May.
>
> By John Murphy
> INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
>
> NORRISTOWN -- A Montgomery County jury yesterday rejected a >
Graterford Prison guard's claim that a prison official planted 43
> bags of heroin on him during a routine pat-down search.
>
> After close to five hours of deliberation, the jury found Ronald
> Shepherd, 46, of Philadelphia, guilty on contraband and
> drug-possession charges.
>
> Shepherd could face five to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine
on > the contraband charge -- a second-degree felony. The drug-
possession > charge carries a sentence of six months to one year.
>
> Authorities accused Shepherd of trying to sneak the drugs into
> Graterford by concealing them in his sock. The drugs were
discovered > during a pat-down search of Shepherd and three other
officers > returning from a lunch break on Feb. 27, 1995.
>
> During testimony yesterday, Shepherd told the jury that Lt.
Charles > Judge, a state corrections officer who conducted the
search, had > framed him.
>
> Judge performed the search alone and in a room with the door
closed, > Shepherd said. Prison rules require two corrections
officers to be > present during all searches.
>
> Judge ``picked up something off the floor and said `contraband,'
'' > Shepherd testified, describing the search.
>
> On Monday, Judge testified that he performed the search alone >
because the prison was short-staffed that day. He also told jurors
> that he left the door open.
>
> In closing arguments, Daniel Glammer, Shepherd's attorney, called
> Judge a liar who was ``covering up his own crime.'' He also
pointed > out that Judge gave contradictory reports of the drugs.
In one > account, Judge said the heroin bags were rolled up into
a ball the > size of a baseball. Later, he described the bags as
about the size > of a golf ball.
>
> Assistant District Attorney Michael S. Munger said the
> inconsistencies in Judge's testimony were minor, arguing that
Judge > had no motivation to plant the drugs.
>
> Shepherd is one of 13 guards accused of drug violations at >
Pennsylvania's largest maximum-security prison since 1989. >
> In October, 650 state and federal authorities descended on >
Graterford in a thorough search for evidence of drugs and >
corruption.
>
> The three-day raid netted hundreds of handmade weapons and some
> drugs. Officials believe many inmates flushed drugs down the
toilets > when word of the raid began.
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@@@
960501, Cincinnati, OH, KNN. Christopher Kerins (39) an Officer of The
http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/May/01/sj/CHAS01.htm >
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] New
Jersey >
> Wednesday, May 1,
1996 >
> Trenton officer is charged after holdup, chase in Ohio >
> By Lillian Micko
> INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
>
> A Trenton police officer attending a law-enforcement convention
in > Cincinnati robbed a bank yesterday and then led police on a
> high-speed chase, authorities said.
>
> Christopher Kerins, 39, is to be arraigned this morning on
charges > of bank robbery, felonious assault and eluding police,
said > Cincinnati Police Detective Ron Miller. Kerins was being
held last > night in the Cincinnati Criminal Justice Center.
>
> According to Miller, Kerins entered the Kenwood Savings Bank in
> street clothes about 2 p.m. He pulled out a gun and received an
> undetermined amount of cash from the teller, Miller said. >
> Kerins then went to the parking lot, where one of the tellers
copied > down the number of his New Jersey license plate, Miller
said. > Kerins' car was quickly spotted and a chase ensued, first
through > suburban streets and then on Interstate 71, the detective
said. >
> It was not determined how many miles the 20-minute chase covered,
> Miller said.
>
> At one point, Kerins went through the suburban town of Maderia,
> where a police officer shot out his right front tire. Kerins >
continued to drive, left the interstate and continued on local >
highways and suburban streets.
>
> About a mile from the outskirts of Cincinnati, Kerins got out of
his > car with his gun drawn and pointed it at an approaching city
police > car, Miller said. The officer rolled his car into Kerins',
knocking > over the suspect.
>
> Kerins got up and ran a short distance before he was caught, the
> detective said.
>
> Kerins, of Yardville, N.J., is a 13-year veteran of the Trenton
> police force. He was attending the conference with another
Trenton > officer who was not involved in the incident, Miller
said.
Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org
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Date: Fri May 03, 1996 4:47 am CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Trenton, NJ: Cop as Robber
Posted: Thomas Dornheck
http://www1.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/nation/050296/nationb_10131.ht
ml#10
Undercover officer charged with drug dealing, bank robbery
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- He spent his days chasing drug dealers and
lecturing youngsters about the dangers of narcotics. Now a
decorated vice squad detective is charged with robbing 5 banks and
trafficking in heroin. Christopher J. Kerins, an 11-year police
veteran, is the long-sought "Camouflage Bandit," authorities said
Wednesday. "It's bold, it's brazen, it's reprehensible and it's
tragic," U.S. Attorney Faith S. Hochberg.
Kerins, 39, was charged in 4 armed bank robberies in the Trenton
area since November, and one in Ohio. He confessed to the New
Jersey robberies, which netted about $28,000, according to a
criminal complaint. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in
prison for each robbery. He was arrested Tuesday in Cincinnati,
where police said he robbed a suburban bank and led officers on
a 6-mile chase before being captured. He was in Ohio to attend a
conference on fighting drugs and gangs. [sic! After the crime
comes the crime fighting --how noble. 'Your tax dollars at work!' -
-Th.]
Police said they found $7,500 worth of heroin in Kerins' hotel
room. "I won't believe it until he tells me he did it, and then I
still won't believe it," Kerins' 13-year-old son, Brian, said
outside the family home. The married father of two teen-age boys,
Kerins has been a vice detective since 1989 and helped train his
department's drug-sniffing dogs. But he was leading a double-life,
"dressing up in camouflage gear and robbing banks in his own
hometown," Hochberg said.
Police in New Jersey and in Bucks County, Pa., are investigating
whether Kerins was involved in other bank robberies, said Trenton
Police Chief Ernest A. Williams. Williams said there's a good
chance that Kerins was on duty when some of the robberies took
place and that he apparently used his service weapon, a 9 mm Glock
handgun, in the Ohio robbery.
Kerins showed no sign of drug abuse and had an "outstanding"
record, Williams added. [It served him well, it seems. --Th.]
FBI agents who searched Kerins' suburban Hamilton Township, NJ,
home seized two camouflage-type jackets, other military-style
camouflage garb and white latex gloves believed to have been used
in the bank robberies. None of the cash from the New Jersey
robberies was recovered. The money stolen from the Ohio bank was
recovered. Kerins, who was being held in Hamilton County, Ohio,
without bail, did not enter a plea Wednesday to charges that
included aggravated trafficking and robbery. His next hearing is
May 10.
"He is devastated," said lawyer Elizabeth Agar, who represented
Kerins. "He's been trying for a long time to hold together his
family and his job and try to avoid this kind of crash." [We're so
sorry, Ma-am. --Th.]
[Associated Press (AP) May 2, 1996]
Date: Sat May 04, 1996 10:32 pm CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Trenton Cop as Robber: Probe Widens
Posted: Ronnie Dadone
Subject: Philadelphia Inquirer: City & Region
http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/May/03/city/CCOP03.htm >
> [The Philadelphia Inquirer] City &
Region >
> Friday, May 3,
1996 >
> Probe of Trenton officer widens; heroin use cited >
The jailed officer became addicted to the drug after killing a >
suspect in 1989, his lawyer said.
>
> By John Way Jennings
> and Lillian Micko
> FOR THE INQUIRER
>
> While Christopher Kerins, the suspended Trenton detective, is
held > in Cincinnati on drug and bank robbery charges,
investigators say > they will look beyond New Jersey for other
possible bank robberies > by the ``Camouflage Bandit.''
>
> Agent Ann Todd, an FBI spokeswoman in Trenton, said yesterday
that > agents were concentrating on bank robberies in New Jersey,
where > Kerins this week confessed to and was charged in connection
with > four bank robberies. He was named as a suspect in three
others in > New Jersey.
>
> Todd said agents would later expand their investigation to
include > any travel by the 11-year-veteran of ficer, both
professional and > personal.
>
> She said investigators will then check with FBI bank robbery >
coordinators in the areas Kerins may have visited to determine if
> there were any robberies in which the robber wore camouflage >
clothing.
> Police sources said authorities were checking possible similar
> robberies in Bucks County, Pittsburgh, and Norfolk, Va.
>
> Meanwhile, Kerins' attorney, Elizabeth E. Agar, said yesterday
that > Kerins had become addicted to heroin after fatally shooting
a > suspect in the late 1980s.
> ``I think this is about as complete a devastation of a life as
> you're likely to find,'' she said in an interview with the >
Associated Press. ``This is someone who for many years was a model
> police officer, model husband and father, highly respected, a
pillar > of the community.''
>
> She said he is now going through withdrawal.
>
> Kerins, 39, of Yardville, was arrested Tuesday in Cincinnati,
where > he was attending a law enforcement conference, after
leading police > on a six-mile chase following a bank robbery in
a Cincinnati suburb. > Investigators subsequently found 346 doses
of heroin in his hotel > room.
>
> Meanwhile, investigators in Trenton quickly linked him to a
string > of puzzling bank robberies in the area. He was charged
with taking a > total of $28,241 in four robberies in Mercer
County.
>
> Three others in which he is a suspect occurred in suburban
Hamilton > Township, where Kerins lived.
>
> Trenton Deputy Police Chief Joseph Constance said yesterday that
> investigators searching Kerins' home late Tuesday seized about
$100 > that might be marked bills linked to the stickups.
Authorities also > seized two camouflage-type jackets, other
military-style camouflage > garb and white latex gloves believed
used in the bank robberies. >
> Constance said investigators have determined that Kerins showed
up > at two New Jersey banks after they were robbed, claiming to
have > heard reports on a police scanner and offering to help
investigate. >
> ``We can place him on the scene right after two robberies,'' he
> said.
>
> Constance added that the detective was able to avoid Trenton
banks > being staked out as the search for the ``Camouflage
Bandit'' > escalated because he knew his colleagues' whereabouts.
He said > Kerins may have used that strategy to make a safe getaway
from his > last alleged New Jersey holdup, on April 24 at Roma
Savings Bank. >
> ``I don't believe that his family was aware of any of his >
activities,'' said Agar, his attorney, adding that Kerins was >
``particularly careful'' to hide his addiction from his wife and
two > teenage sons.
>
> ``The [ drug ] problem dates back to the shooting that he was >
involved in in Trenton, where a suspect was killed while attacking
> him with a knife'' in 1989, she said. ``He had a lot of
> psychological problems in dealing with that and apparently did
not > receive any counseling.''
>
> Agar said Kerins began taking painkillers prescribed by a doctor
and > eventually turned to heroin.
>
> ``He never injected it. He was inhaling it. You can sniff it just
> like cocaine,'' to avoid having telltale needle marks, the lawyer
> said.
>
> She said Kerins has not yet decided whether to plead guilty to
the > bank robbery and drug-trafficking charges.
>
> [Image]
> This story contains information from the Associated Press.
Date: Fri May 10, 1996 3:12 am CST
From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org
TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Trenton Cop/Robber Tries Suicide
Posted: Ronnie Dadone
http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/May/08/city/CCOP08.htm
The Philadelphia Inquirer - Wednesday, May 8, 1996
Officer held in heists tries to kill himself In a suburban
Cincinnati jail, he cut an artery in his throat with a > razor,
police said.
By John Way Jennings and Emilie Lounsberry INQUIRER STAFF
WRITERS
A suspended Trenton police detective being held in a suburban >
Cincinnati jail on bank robbery and drug charges attempted to take
> his life yesterday morning, authorities said.
Christopher Kerins, 39, used a razor to cut an artery in his neck,
> said Col. Daniel Wolfangel of the Hamilton County Sheriff's >
Department. Kerins was rushed to the University of Cincinnati >
Hospital, where he was listed in fair condition yesterday
afternoon. Kerins, who also faces federal charges of robbing four
banks in the > Trenton area since November, has been dubbed the
``Camouflage > Bandit'' because of the military-style clothing the
suspect wore > when he allegedly robbed the banks. Authorities,
who say that Kerins > is an admitted heroin addict, allege that he
pointed a handgun at > tellers when he robbed the banks.
His arrest in Cincinnati shocked people who knew Kerins as a >
respected family man and hard-working police officer. He was in
a cell about 9 a.m. yesterday preparing for a visit by a > brother
and a brother-in-law when he used the blade from a > disposable
plastic razor to cut his neck. Wolfangel said Kerins, who is
being held on $375,000 bail, was > housed in a protective-custody
sec tion of the jail because he was a > police officer. He said the
11-year-veteran of the Trenton Police > Department had been under
a suicide watch since his arrest last > Tuesday, but that watch
ended Monday on the advice of a psychologist > at the jail. The
incident ``continues under investigation by Sheriff's Office >
personnel,'' Wolfangel said. Elizabeth E. Agar, a Cincinnati
attorney representing Kerins, said > that she saw her client early
Monday and he had seemed better > physically, and that his heroin-
withdrawal symptoms had subsided. > However, she said he still was
depressed. She said she would not > have recommended that he be
removed from the suicide watch. > ``Police officers are a high
risk for suicide at the best of times. > This is not the best of
times,'' said Agar, adding that Kerins knew > he was facing a long
prison sentence if convicted. ``Prison for > police officers is not
a bright prospect.'' Trenton Deputy Police Chief Paul J. Meyer
said yesterday that > ``things have been very trying for the Kerins
family the last week. > Now this.'' Meyer said Trenton police
investigators have found no drugs missing > from the evidence room.
``Kerins apparently told authorities that he purchased the heroin
in > New York, and at this point we tend to believe him,'' Meyer
said. > Kerins was in Cincinnati on April 30 to attend a law-
enforcement > conference when authorities said he robbed a suburban
bank. Driving > an undercover Trenton Police Department car, Kerins
was chased for > about nine miles by police, who shot out a tire
and captured him > after he ran into a vacant building.
============================================================
@@@
960502, Dallas, TX, Dallas Morning News. $50,000 in cash disappears
Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 12:00:55 -0700
From: Annette French
To: drctalk@drcnet.org
Subject: Police Corruption: One Day in Dallas
Message-ID: <199605031900.MAA26983@PATTY.LOOP.NET>
>
>From: Jay.Manifold@TXIVGRGATE.sprint.com
>
>Subject: One Day in Dallas
>From _The Dallas Morning News_, Thursday, May 2, 1996:
>
>1. "Dallas Police Chief Ben Click has called in the FBI to
> investigate the disappearance of $50,000 in cash from a
> police narcotics division safe.
> "The money, police officials say, was discovered missing
> Monday and is assumed for now to have been stolen by one or
> more of the seven narcotics unit supervisors who had access
> [to] the safe."
>
>2. "Dallas Police Chief Ben Click has rehired an officer who was
> fired last year after investigators found that he improperly
> searched the apartments of suspected drug dealers in South
> Dallas and then lied to cover up his actions."
>
>3. "The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the top federal
> drug agent in Dallas because of his request that a California
> judge reconsider a misdemeanor arson sentence against the
> agent's 21-year-old son."
>
>| "Innocence and fairness are beside the point." |
>| |
>| --- Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, |
>| United States Supreme Court |
>
>Jay Manifold, Chairman Libertarian Party of Texas
> 1-800-422-1776
>PO Box 140577
>Irving, TX 75014 http://www.io.com/~freedom/lptxhome.html
>w (214) 405-8634
>
****************************************************************************
Annette French
Media Awareness Project (MAP)
mercury7@loop.com
God grant me the ingenuity to escape the things I can not change, the
money to change the things I can, and lawyers to know the difference.
*****************************************************************************
@@@
960505, Oklahoma, Sunday Oklahoman, p1. Drug Agent Travis Palmer admits
DAs Drop Drug Task Force
The Sunday Oklahoman, May 5, 1996 p.1
By Mark A. Hutchison and Anthony Thornton, Staff Writers
Oklahoma District Attorneys are finding that paying thugs for
information and giving addicts drug money isn't easy when you have to
follow the rules.
And then there's all that paperwork.
The grants are "an administrative nightmare," said one district
attorney whose office is under investigation for possible embezzlement
of drug task force funds.
Another prosecutor whose office is under scrutiny recently decided to
eliminate his drug task force, calling it "the biggest headache we've
ever had."
At least five state prosecutors have relinquished their lucrative
federal grants and disbanded successful muticounty task forces.
Those opting to keep the task forces complain about the guidelines but
say the red tape is worth the money.
"I'll bet we've put charges on 100 people for drugs in the last 12
months because of the task force," said District Attorney Walter
Hamilton, whose district covers McCurtain, Choctaw and Pushmataha
countries. (mp note: this is SE Oklahoma which was settled by outlaws
and during Prohibition was a major producer of moonshine.)
"Some urban areas may have the resources to address their drug problems
with local and state law enforcement. We don't in fact, money's been so
tight down here that we were even buying drugs with food stamps."
Hamilton explains that the nearest state drug officers are in
McAlester, 2 1/2 hours away. Therefore, "Who's going to work the cases
in Clayton and Sawyer, Oklahoma? We are, because we get complaints, and
we realize that the people involved in this business are everywhere."
On the other side of the state, District Attorney John Wampler said his
task force has several internal controls such as one coordinator being
responsible for handling transactions and informants signing their
names for receipt of money to buy drugs.
Officers also try to maintain visual contact with informants during the
buy, but sometimes that's impossible.
"You're already dealing with guys of questionable character. If they
want to rip you off, they probably can," said Wampler, whose district
covers Jackson, Kiowa, Tillman and Washita counties.
Sate Auditor and Inspector Clifon Scott is leery of the current
accounting procedures and called on the Oklahoma District Attorneys
Council last week to develop tougher internal controls.
Otherwise, Scott said, "It's just a breeding ground for those
informants to sit in a bar and buy beer for everybody all night."
*Offices Under Scrutiny*
Especially difficult to trace is when task force agents, not the
informants, are suspected of embezzling funds. That's what happened
with District Attorney Miles Zimmerman, whose jurisdiction covers
Lincoln and Pottawatomie counties.
Zimmerman said a former task force agent, Travis Palmer, admitted to
obtaining cash with forged receipts. The agent was fired, and a state
investigation is continuing. Other members of Zimmerman's task force,
past and present, also are being investigated for possible embezzlement
and evidence tampering.
Those confidential informant funds have become an item of debate
between prosecutors and Scott. Because of the sensitive nature of
informants, prosecutors don't want to reveal their names "because it
can get somebody killed," said Bruce Walker, executive director of the
DA Council.
In one case, an investigator threw away a 1995 report book before
auditors could review it. His defense: He didn't want the book to fall
into the wrong hands.
Now, auditors and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation are trying
to reconstruct the records to account for $30,000 in grant money.
If the investigator didn't know better, Scott said, he should bave been
advised by the district attorney, Mike Sullivan, or his first
assistant, Gary Buckles, who administered the task force.
"Those boys are lawyers, and they advise the county on retention of
records," Scott said.
"It goes back to that weird (notion), 'We're the DAs; you have to trust
us,'" Scott said.
Sullivan, district attorney for LeFlore and Latimer counties, admits
that discarding the receipt book "should have never been done." But, he
said, "there's no DA in the state that can watch an employee 24 hours a
day."
Walker, with the District Attorneys Council, said state guidelines
require task forces to keep receipts of money paid to informants for
three years.
"He (Sullivan) did not do what he should have done. It was a dumb
mistake by somebody that works there," Walker said.
The investigations of Sullivan's and Zimmerman's offices come amid a
revelation that another district attorney, Paul Anderson in Payne and
Logan counties, embezzled money. Officials say $90,000 is missing so
far. Anderson has admitted responsibility.
If not for the Anderson investigation, Sullivan said, auditors probably
wouldn't have looked twice at his office.
"We do more (record keeping) than anybody else. We probably put too
much information in there," he said, referring to files on paid
informants.
Scott said he hopes the overall problem will be solved by the District
Attorneys Council's promise for better internal controls. He noted that
similar controsls were placed on the prosecutors' bogus check funds
July 1, 1993.
"Paul Anderson quit (empezzling) on July 1, 1993, fom the bogus check
stuff because of the internal controls" Scott said.
The auditor attended a special meeting of district attorneys last week
to convey this message: "If you don't believe in record-keeping, leave
the money with Bruce (Walker); somebody else might want it."
"I think Bruce Walker has heard the wake-up call," Scott said.
*Worth the Trouble*
Task forces in Oklahoma have been awarded federal grants since 1986.
They were set up with the district attorney in charge because, with the
broad geographic area they cover, they're able to get
cross--deputization agreements and share information, Walker said.
Of the federal grant money available each year, task forces receive
about 20 percent, Walker said. The remaining funds are given to
nonprofit and other community law enforcement programs.
In 1995, the state task forces split $1,390,269, Walker siad. They're
expected to get about the same amount this year. Grants will be awarded
in June based upon recommendations by a 13-ember board made up of state
agency and law enforcement heads.
Of the state's 27 districts, Walker said all but five have applied for
new task force grants. those who didn't apply are Cathy Stocker in
Enid, Sullivan in Poteau, Lantz McClain in Sapulpa, Robert Macy in
Oklahoma City and Rod Hudson in Stillwater. Hudson replaced Anderson,
who already had discontinued his district's task force.
Some prosecutors consider their task forces the last bastion of hope in
the war on drugs.
Rural law enforcement agencies don't have the manpower to wage much of
a fight, Zimmerman said.
"So while it may not be politically wise to have that albatross around
your neck, if the district attorney doesn't handle it, how are these
small police departments and sheriff's offices supposed to handle it?"
he said.
Sullivan said his office has never lost a drug case, "and 60 percent of
the crime in my district is drug related."
He recently disbanded the drug task force, however, because "it's the
biggest headache we've every had."
"We just don't have the staff," he said. "We're going to get out of the
investigative business and try to get back into the prosecuting
business."
Stocker in Enid cited similar reasons for ending the task force in her
five counties: Garfield, Blaine, Kingfisher, Grant and Canadian.
"It was taking up tremendous amounts of my staff time, and (so was) all
the paperwork that we were required to maintain," she said.
Stocker, district attorney since 1982, said she encouraged local law
enforcement agencies to take over the federal grants.
"But there were no takers," she said.
Sullivan said he tried unsuccessfuly since early 1994 to use law
officers instead of informants for drug buys.
"Down here you're dealing with scumbags in the drug business if you
don't have certified police officers working for you." he said.
Walker says the District Attorneys Council has debated whether to keep
a centralized database of informants at his office, "but we really
don't want to."
end
Date: Mon Jun 03, 1996 7:40 pm CST
From: snetnews
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: snetnews@alterzone.com
TO: snetnews
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: snetnews@alterzone.com
BCC: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: (Fwd) Tempers Flare in Arkansas
-> SearchNet's snetnews Mailing List
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1996 20:57:53 -0400 (EDT)
To: cs@oak.oakland.edu
From: djsussma@oakland.edu (David J Sussman)
Subject: Tempers Flare in Arkansas
(Basic local story now makes wire service -- and what a curious one at
that.)/wh
Courtesy AP -- 6/1/96
Lawyer Beats Up Reporter
BENTON, Ark. -- A county prosecutor was jailed Friday after
authorities said
he barged into the sheriff's office, admitted beating up a newspaper
reporter, then threatened the sheriff and had to be restrained.
Dan Harmon, the prosecutor for Saline, Grant and Hot Spring
counties, was
placed in a holding cell and later taken to a hospital for a mental
and physical evaluation, the Saline County sheriff's office reported.
He was not immediately charged.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said reporter Rodney Bowers was
attacked when
he approached Harmon to question him about property seized by a drug
task force that Harmon had controlled before it was disbanded this
year.
Harmon, 51, shoved and hit Bowers before bystanders restrained him,
the
newspaper said, then broke free and attacked him again when Bowers
tried to use a phone to call police.
The 40-year-old reporter, whose head was slammed against the floor,
was
treated at a local clinic for bruises and cuts to his head, face, hip,
chest and ribs.
"This is deplorable," said Executive Editor Griffin Smith Jr. He
added the
newspaper was consulting its attorneys about possible legal action.
Soon after the incident, authorities said Harmon arrived at the
sheriff's
office, yelling and swearing.
"I was in my office when I heard all the commotion," said sheriff's
Capt.
Gene Donham. "He yelled something like `I just beat the s--- out of
Rodney Bowers, and I've come to do my duty."
When Harmon advanced toward him, Donham said, he unsnapped his gun
holster
and Harmon screamed, "Go ahead. Pull it. Shoot me."
Later, when Harmon saw Sheriff Judy Pridgen, he threatened her and
had to be
restrained, Donham said.
^
<<<<<<|>>>>>>
<<<<< STEVE@LINEX.COM>>>>>
<<<<<<< HTTP://WWW.LINEX.COM/UFO>>>>>>>
<<<<<<<<< UFO AND IMAGES FILES ANOMALOUS>>>>>>>>>
<<<<<< BBS CITIZENS 415.927.2435 ACCESS INTELLIGENCE>>>>>
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<*>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
-> Send "subscribe snetnews " to majordomo@alterzone.com
-> Posted by: "Steve Wingate"
@@@
960821, San Jose, CA, San Jose Mercury News. Profits from tons of
Date: Wed Aug 21, 1996 12:39 pm CST
From: bigred
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: bigred@duracef.shout.net
TO: Conspiracy Nation
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: CN-L@cornell.edu
BCC: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Report: CIA Profited from Crack Plague
Found at USA Today website
http://www.usatoday.com
today, Aug. 21, 1996
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 12:27:03 -0500
Subject: ncs10.htm
[Washington News]
08/20/96 - 08:57 PM ET - Click reload often for latest version
Report: CIA profited from crack plague
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Throughout the 1980s, a San Francisco Bay area drug
ring sold tons of cocaine to Los Angeles street gangs and funneled the
profits to some of the CIA-run Contras in Nicaragua, a newspaper
reported.
Repeated attempts to prosecute the ring's kingpin were thwarted by the
CIA, possibly to cover up ties between the traffickers and Contra
leaders, the San Jose Mercury News reported in a series of articles
after a yearlong investigation.
The newspaper's report, based on recently declassified federal
reports, court testimony and interviews, also alleges that the drug
network was partially responsible for the ongoing "crack" problem in
Los Angeles.
The money pipeline was created after the CIA combined several armies
to create 5,000-member anti-communist FDN Fuerza Democratica
Nicaraguense (Nicaraguan Democratic Force) in mid-1981, the newspaper
reported.
The same year, the drug ring sold almost a ton of cocaine to the Crips
and Bloods, notorious Los Angeles gangs, for $54 million, former FDN
leader and government informant Oscar Danilo Blandon Reyes said.
"There is a saying that the ends justify the means," Blandon testified
in 1994. "So we started raising money for the Contra revolution."
The Mercury News identified the primary buyer as Ricky Donnell Ross,
or "Freeway Rick," a notorious South-Central Los Angeles dealer who
bought powder cocaine, turned it into crack and sold it wholesale
throughout the city and the nation.
Blandon spent 28 months in U.S. prison for dealing drugs, the Mercury
News said. He was released from prison in 1994 to become a full-time
informant for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, a job which
has since paid him more than $166,000.
How much of the drug ring's profits went to the FDN before it
disbanded in 1988 still is unclear. But in his testimony, Blandon
said, "whatever we were running in L.A., the profit was going to the
Contra revolution."
Blandon's boss, Juan Norwin Meneses Cantarero, was a major drug dealer
and smuggler who ran the FDN operation out of his homes in Burlingame
and Pacifica in Northern California, the paper reported.
Although records show that the U.S. government was aware of Meneses'
dealings since 1974, the Mercury News reported that he has never been
in a U.S. prison. Meneses currently is serving time in Nicaragua after
being arrested in connection with a 750-kilo shipment of cocaine.
Federal prosecutors blame the CIA and other federal departments for
Meneses' relatively sweet treatment in the U.S., the Mercury News
said.
"The Justice Department flipped out to prevent us from getting access
to people, records - anything that would help us find out about it,"
said Jack Blum, former chief counsel to the Senate subcommittee that
investigated alleged cocaine trafficking to the Contras. "It was one
of the most frustrating exercises that I can ever recall."
Agents from four other agencies, including the DEA, U.S. Customs, the
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the California Bureau of
Narcotic Enforcement, also have complained that the CIA hampered
investigations, the Mercury News reported.
The reason might well be Meneses' own connections to the CIA, the
Mercury News said. One piece of evidence - a picture taken in June
1984 - shows Meneses with Adolfo Calero, a longtime CIA operative and
FDN political boss.
But efforts to trace the government's knowledge of the drug ring have
similarly been thwarted, the newspaper reported.
Freedom of Information Act requests that reporters filed with the CIA
and DEA have been denied on national security and privacy grounds. A
FOIA request filed with the FBI has so far been ignored, the Mercury
News reported.
While Blandon has never said he was selling cocaine for the CIA, his
lawyer, Los Angeles defense attorney Bradley Brunon, said he has drawn
his own conclusions from the CIA's clandestine behavior.
"Was (Blandon) involved with the CIA? Probably. Was he involved with
drugs? Most definitely," Brunon said. "Were those two things involved
with each other? They've never said that, obviously. They've never
admitted that. But I don't know where these guys get these big
aircraft."
By The Associated Press
_________________________________________________________________
* Go to Washington news
* Go to News front page
_________________________________________________________________
[ISMAP]
Brian Redman | bigred@shout.net | ftp.shout.net pub/users/bigred
Editor-in-Chief | ---------------Phone: 217-356-4418----------------
Conspiracy Nation | "The perfect slave thinks he's free."
970208, Tuscon, AZ, Albuquerque, NM, THE LIBERTARIAN, Vin
Date: Wed Feb 05, 1997 4:33 am CST
From: Matthew Gaylor
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: freematt@coil.com
TO: Matthew Gaylor
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: freematt@coil.com
BCC: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: Vin Suprynowicz On the DEA's "License to kill"
From: vin@intermind.net (Vin Suprynowicz)
Subject: Column, Jan. 24
FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED JAN. 24, 1997
THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz
License to kill
David Aguilar, 44, retired from the military after 20 years and decided
to live on his pension so he could be a "stay-at-home dad" to his five
youngest children, aged 3 to 15, according to Beth Cascaddan, his neighbor
in the Three Points area, 22 miles west of Tucson, Ariz.
"He was extremely devoted to his children," Ms Cascaddan told reporter
Melissa Martinez of the daily Tucson Citizen. Aguilar also coached youth
football and baseball.
But on the early afternoon of Friday, Jan. 10, David Aguilar sensed
something wrong. A man was sitting in a car parked alongside the road
bordering Aguilar's property, just sitting and watching.
Only a few days earlier, residents of the neighborhood had been informed
by law officers that a convicted sex offender was moving into the area,
Cascaddan recalls.
The man's behavior was unusual. "Out here," Cindy Dowell, another
neighbor, told reporters for the competing Arizona Daily Star, "people just
don't sit" in cars.
Aguilar's children, including his 15-year-old son, later recalled that
their father approached the man in the parked car, asking whether he was
lost.
Whatever the man said, it led to an argument. Seeing that the stranger
was not going to move along, Aguilar went back to the house and returned
with a gun. The children told neighbor Bonnie Moreno their father was
simply trying to scare the man away.
There is no indication David Aguilar ever fired. When the man in the car
saw Aguilar returning, he drew his own gun and, at 2:45 that Friday
afternoon, fired multiple times through his own windshield. David Aguilar
died that evening in a Tucson hospital, of a single gunshot wound to the
chest.
The good news is, local police know who did the shooting.
The bad news is, they won't release his name, and he has not been charged.
Detectives with the Pima County Sheriff's Office politely asked the
fellow to drop by and meet with them Sunday, Jan. 12, but the newspapers
reported the next day that the shooter "postponed the meeting because he
had not spoken to his lawyer."
Why the incredible deference to this known killer?
It turns out the shooter is an undercover agent of the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration.
Although David Aguilar and his family were not the target of any drug
investigation, the unnamed agent was staking out their neighborhood.
"Investigators did not say yesterday whether the agent identified
himself" to Aguilar before opening fire, the Tucson newspapers report.
Although a funeral was held Jan. 14, burial will not take place until the
family raises $3,213 in funeral costs.
# # #
Ralph Garrison, 69, a video store owner, lived in downtown Albuquerque, N.M.
In a lifetime of owning small businesses, he put away enough to buy a
second house next door, which he rented out.
Before sunrise on Monday, Dec. 16, 1996, Ralph Garrison awakened to hear
the sounds of someone breaking into his rental property next door.
His tenants apparently were not at home.
Garrison went outside to ask who these people were and what they were
doing. The men -- dressed in black with no visible identifying marks,
wearing black "balaclava" hoods which may have been pulled down to conceal
their faces, shined lights in his eyes, brandished rifles and yelled at him
to get back in his house.
Ralph Garrison called 911. The daily Albuquerque Journal printed a
transcript of the call on Dec. 18.
Dispatcher: "Emergency center operator 90. What is your emergency?"
Garrison: "They're breaking into my house -- a whole bunch of people."
Dispatcher: "They're backing into your house?"
Garrison: "They're breaking in. Hurry up. Please hurry up."
Dispatcher: "Who's breaking in?"
Garrison: "I don't know. There's a whole bunch of people out there. ..."
Garrison gives his address.
"How many people are there?"
"Oh, about four or five."
"How are they trying to get in?"
"Oh, they're breaking in with uh, axes and all kinds of stuff."
"With axes?"
"Yes. They're breaking in hammers, and all kinds of things. Please. I've
got a gun. I'm gonna go up there and shoot them."
"OK. Stay on the phone with me. I'm getting somebody out there, OK?"
Garrison reports that when he went outside the men shined flashlights in
his face, repeating that he has no idea who they are.
Reporter Jeff Jones of the Journal writes that when the actual 911 tape
was played at press conference later that day, Garrison's voice was "filled
with fear and panic."
"Please hurry up," Garrison says. "They've got flashlights, and cars, and
trucks, and all kinds of stuff back there. Please, please hurry up. I'm
gonna go out there now."
"Can you take the phone with you?"
"Yes."
"OK. Take the phone with you."
Next week: Albuquerque's finest.
Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas
Review-Journal. Readers may contact him via e-mail at vin@lvrj.com, or
vin@intermind.net. The web site for the Suprynowicz column is at
http://www.nguworld.com/vindex/. The column is syndicated in the United
States and Canada via Mountain Media Syndications, P.O. Box 4422, Las Vegas
Nev. 89127.
***
Vin Suprynowicz vin@lvrj.com, (OR:) vin@intermind.net
Voir Dire: (n), A French phrase which means "jury tampering."
+++++++++++++
FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED JAN. 26, 1997
THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz
License to kill, Part II
Last week, I recounted the tale of how David Aguilar, a 44-year old
veteran from Tucson, Ariz., came to be shot to death on his own property by
an undercover drug cop, who has not been charged with any crime as of this
writing.
We then prepared to deal with the case of Ralph Garrison, 69, a video
store owner from Albuquerque, N.M., who dialed 911 before dawn on Dec. 16,
1996 when a gang of black-clad men started breaking into his rental
property next door, using sledge hammers and axes.
On Dec. 18, the daily Albuquerque Journal printed a transcript of that
911 call. I delete some repetitions and pauses:
Garrison: "They're breaking into my house -- a whole bunch of people. ...
Please hurry up."
"How are they trying to get in?"
"Oh, they're breaking in with uh, axes and all kinds of stuff. ...
Please. I've got a gun. I'm gonna go up there and shoot them."
"OK. Stay on the phone with me. I'm getting somebody out there, OK?"
Reporter Jeff Jones, of the Journal, writes that Garrison's voice was
"filled with fear and panic" as he described lights being shined in his
eyes, and insisted he had no idea who the invaders were.
"Please hurry up. Please hurry up," Garrison says. "I'm gonna go out
there now."
"Can you take the phone with you?"
"Yes."
"OK. Take the phone with you."
As Garrison moves toward his back door, his dog begins barking, and he
complains he still can't see what's going on because of lights shining in
his face. "I've got my gun," he says. "I'll shoot the sons of bitches."
Police report that Albuquerque Police Officer H. Neal Terry and county
deputies James Monteith and Erik Little -- displaying no badges, dressed in
unmarked dark SWAT gear and possibly wearing their black hoods pulled down
over their faces -- saw Garrison come to his back door with a gun in one
hand, a cellular phone in the other. All three officers opened fire with
their AR-15 assault rifles, discharging at least 12 rounds.
Police Chief Joe Polisar said it isn't department policy to notify 911
dispatchers before serving a warrant -- in this case one under which police
hoped to find "counterfeit items including checks, driver's licenses and
birth certificates."
Garrison was not suspected in connection with the "fake ID" ring. No one
was arrested that day. Local papers were not told whether any false
documents were found.
Officers did find it necessary to shoot and kill Garrison's Chow dog,
when the animal tried to protect his master after he was down.
Garrison's wife, Modesta, was inside the home at the time police killed him.
Albuquerque police officer Howard Neal Terry, one of the three "lawmen"
involved, has been a defendant in three federal excessive-force lawsuits in
the past six years, the local daily reports. The city of Albuquerque has
paid more than $375,000 to settle the three lawsuits.
In one case, Terry kicked an unarmed man in the head, causing permanent
brain damage, and then contended the 64-year-old Mexican man "resisted
arrest." In another case, the city argued (before paying up) that another
Mexican man, whose home Officer Terry has invaded, was responsible for his
own injuries since he failed to obey the officer's orders. In March 1993,
Terry was one of two officers involved in the fatal shooting of Randy
Libby, a 30-year-old man who supposedly threatened them with a
locomotive-shaped cologne bottle. The city paid off the Libby family to the
tune of $100,000.
Polisar and County Sheriff Joe Bowdich said they believe the officers
shot Garrison in accordance with departmental policies.
The officers "couldn't look into his heart and mind," Polisar said. "They
simply had to make a split-second decision."
Why do I doubt that if Mr. Garrison had shot and killed the deputies,
Sheriff Polisar would be holding a similar press conference to explain why
Mr. Garrison was not being charged with any crime, since "He could not look
into the hearts and minds of the unidentified, black-clad men brandishing
AR-15s at him on his own property. He simply had to make a split-second
decision"?
# # #
Pro-government extremists will argue that, in each case, if these
citizens had docilely allowed armed strangers to have their way, they might
still be alive.
But this does not constitute a rebuttal to my contention that we are now
living in a police state. Rather, it merely constitutes advice on how we
might behave if we hope to survive a little longer (start ital)in(end ital)
a police state.
Short-sighted advice.
The Jews of Eastern Europe figured their best course was to passively
obey the authorities in 1942. We all know where that got them.
Our judges are now issuing search warrants which allow police to invade
private property without notice, and murder any law-abiding citizen they
find there, on as flimsy a pretext as "searching for fake ID."
The mistake made by David Aguilar and Ralph Garrison was not in taking up
arms to defend their homes, families, and neighborhoods. That is the right
of every American.
They made their mistakes when they allowed themselves to be outgunned,
when they failed to wear Kevlar, and when they decided to confront their
violent assailants directly, rather than waiting with longer-range weapons
in positions of concealment.
The people will re-learn these lessons eventually ... if only through
genetic selection.
Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas
Review-Journal. Readers may contact him via e-mail at vin@lvrj.com, or
vin@intermind.net.
***
Vin Suprynowicz vin@lvrj.com, (OR:) vin@intermind.net
Voir Dire: (n), A French phrase which means "jury tampering."
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970524, Mexico, NYTimes via RISKS. Mexican General Gutierrez arrested
Date: Sat, 24 May 1997 10:27:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: pcw@access.digex.net (Peter Wayner)
Subject: Eavesdropping tools used by drug barons
The top story in the 24 May 1997 edition of *The New York Times* describes
how one of the top Generals in the Mexican army apparently sold his services
to a drug dealer. The good news is that he rounded up some of the
traffickers on the street. The bad news is that he only rounded up the
competitors of his client who rewarded him well for such service. The story
also notes that the General has denied the charges.
RISKS readers will be interested in these quotes:
* General Gutierrez's subordinates, working with Mr. Carrillo Fuentes's
eavesdroppers and gunmen, detained and interrogated dozens of suspected
Areliano Felix associates, the testimony indicates. ...
* Before one joint operation [sic], the traffickers briefed one of the
general's subordinates, showing him a file of reconnaissance photos of
Arellan Felix associates and their residences, as well as tape recordings
of telephone conversations the traffickers had intercepted, the testimony
indicates. ...
* Last October, the mutual trust was so high [sic] between General Gutierrez
and the Carrillo Fuentes organization that the traffickers delivered a set
of computerized, encrypted cellular phones that allowed Mr. Carrillo
Fuentes and his aides to talk freely with the general, his driver and
other military officers without being overheard, the testimony indicates.
So, the debate is what to do about the eavesdropping and encryption in this
story. Obviously, cheap and easy encryption would have allowed the rival
organization a fighting chance to move its drugs into America and prevent a
monopoly from developing. But encryption also allowed the allegedly corrupt
General to speak freely with his partners, the drug barons. Could it be
that the RISKS of technology may be the least of our RISKS?
------------------------------
Command: GET "06_1997&2668302"
(TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=1 CELLSPACING=0)
(TR)
(TD)(img src="/gif/415group/clear.gif" alt=" " width=10 height=1)(/TD)
(TD COLSPAN=3)
(img width=468 height=2 src="/gif/415group/horzline.gif"
alt="[--------------------------------------------------]")
(/TD)(/TR)
(TR)(TD)
(TR)
(TD)(/TD)
(TD HEIGHT=1 WIDTH=468 ALIGN=CENTER)
(a href="/cgi-bin/pn/show_ad.py?type=URL&random_number=0.061061
&group_list=misc.activism.progressive")
(img width=468 height=60 border=0 src="/
cgi-bin/pn/show_ad.py?type=GIF&random_number=0.061061&group_list=
misc.activism.progressive" alt="Ad Banner")(/a)
(/TD)(/TR)(/TABLE)
Subject: Corruption: Arkansas Justice
From: lar-jen@interaccess.com (Larry-Jennie)
Date: 14 Jun 1997 14:52:00 GMT
Message-ID: <5NUB6G$1ANM$1@NEWS.MISSOURI.EDU>
Organization: InterAccess,Chicagoland's Full Service Internet Provider
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
The Wall Street Journal
Editorial Page
June 13, 1997
Review & Outlook
Arkansas Justice
Once again a jury of ordinary Arkansans has weighed the evidence
against a powerful state official and returned with guilty verdicts.
While pundits in Washington and elsewhere yawn over anything connected
to the swamp of corruption known as Whitewater, the people of Arkansas
are busy draining the muck.
On Wednesday, the jury in Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen
Reasoner's Little Rock courtroom convicted former county prosecuting
attorney Dan Harmon of using his office as a criminal enterprise to
extort narcotics and cash, handing in guilty verdicts on five counts
of racketeering, extortion and drug distribution. Witnesses testified
about drug deals and payoffs to a man perceived to have wide influence
in the state. "I was afraid of Dan Harmon," one witness testified. "I
thought Mr. Harmon controlled most of the counties of the state."
--------------------------------------------
See related articles:
"The Lonely Crusade of Linda Ives"
http://www.idmedia.com/crusade.htm
"Big News From Arkansas"
http://www.idmedia.com/wsj-harmon-big-news.htm
--------------------------------------------
The wife of a drug dealer testified she brought Mr. Harmon $10,000 in
his office for the release of her husband, but Mr. Harmon asked for
more money and a night of sex. His former wife, Holly DuVall,
testified she took cocaine and shot methamphetamine with him. U.S.
Attorney Paula Casey, who brought the case against Mr. Harmon together
with a reinvigorated Little Rock FBI office under Special Agent I.C.
Smith, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that she hoped the case
would send a "signal" that federal authorities in Arkansas "take the
administration of justice very seriously."
Mr. Harmon was twice elected on the Democratic ticket as prosecuting
attorney for Arkansas's Seventh Judicial District, serving from 1990
until his resignation in July 1996. Earlier, he had insinuated himself
as a volunteer investigator and later a special prosecutor in the
controversial "train deaths" case of teenagers Kevin Ives and Don
Henry, unsolved since 1987. And while Mr. Harmon is not directly
connected to President Clinton, his conviction is proof that elements
of Arkansas law enforcement were corrupted by drugs during Mr.
Clinton's tenure as governor.
A number of controversies attached themselves to Mr. Harmon, including
the train deaths case reported on these pages by our Micah Morrison on
April 15 this year and April 18, 1996. The matters deserve to be
reconsidered within the context that Dan Harmon is now a felon
convicted of running a drug racket.
When the Ives and Henry boys were found dead on railroad tracks
southwest of Little Rock in August 1987, Governor Clinton's medical
examiner, Fahmy Malak, quickly ruled the deaths "accidental," saying
the teenagers had fallen asleep next to each other on the tracks after
smoking too much marijuana. After a public outcry, a second autopsy
concluded the boys had been murdered, and Mr. Clinton's solicitude for
Dr. Malak became a subject of controversy. In time Mr. Harmon
involved himself in the case, and in 1989 he came under scrutiny in a
federal probe of drug distribution, money laundering and political
payoffs. In June 1991, then-U.S. Attorney Chuck Banks cleared Mr.
Harmon, saying there was "no evidence of drug-related misconduct by
any public official."
The history of corruption probes in Arkansas isn't promising. A
stonewall of events at remote Mena airport went on for more than a
decade. Recently, Rep. Jim Leach forced a concession from the Central
Intelligence Agency that it had been active at the airfield, though it
denies any association with illegal activities. This only adds to the
mystery of what was going at that remote airfield.
Kevin Ives's mother, Linda Ives, has waged a decade-long battle for
the truth in the train deaths and believes Mr. Harmon, Mena and senior
Arkansas officials played some role in events connected to her son's
murder. In a statement issued on her web site
(http://www.idmedia.com), Mrs. Ives called the Harmon conviction a
"bittersweet" victory and vowed to press on with a civil lawsuit as
the only way to get the train deaths in court.
For years, Mrs. Ives has been the only one complaining about Mr.
Harmon. With Mr. Harmon convicted by a jury and soon to be
incarcerated, new witnesses might come forward. Or Mr. Harmon's
associates--several of whom are slated to go on trial in
January--might decide to talk in exchange for leniency, as might Mr.
Harmon himself.
After years of struggle, there's a lot of bad blood between the Ives
camp, the Arkansas media and the controlling legal authorities. But
the fact remains that Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Stripling working
with FBI agents under the direction of I.C. Smith put together a case
and put Dan Harmon in jail. The evidence suggests that if they can get
a case into court, the courage of Arkansas judges and juries will give
them a fair shot at justice.
Copyright 1997 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
For a free subscription to the CIA Drugs mailing list:
email: ciadrugs-request@mars.galstar.com
In the "Subject," write: SUBSCRIBE
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$ $$
$$ The CIA cocaine smuggling on behalf of the Contras $$
$$ through Mena, Arkansas corrupted the Presidencies $$
$$ of Bill Clinton, George Bush and Ronald Reagan. $$
$$ For details, see: $$
$$ ftp://pencil.cs.missouri.edu/pub/mena/ $$
$$ $$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
[end of message ... text also available at ]
Date: Mon Jun 30, 1997 9:10 pm CST
From: ciadrugs
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: ciadrugs@mars.galstar.com
TO: ciadrugs
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: ciadrugs@mars.galstar.com
BCC: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: ciadrugs] Agent Accused of Stealing Mob Money
Agent Accused of Stealing Mob Money
By TOM BAYLES
Associated Press Writer
MIAMI (AP) An FBI agent who headed an organized
crime squad that nabbed John Gotti's heir apparent was indicted
Thursday on charges of stealing more than $400,000, including
mob money he helped seize. He was also fired.
Jerome R. Sullivan, a 25-year FBI veteran who has
been on administrative leave since early this month, led an
operation that last December netted Nicky "The Little Guy"
Corozzo and eight of his reputed Gambino operatives.
Now defense lawyers, who three months ago were on
the verge of a plea agreement with the government, are claiming the
entire case may be compromised.
The FBI said the indictment should not tarnish the
investigation. "I don't think Mr. Sullivan's actions jeopardized
any cases that are ongoing," said FBI spokeswoman Anne Figueiras.
Sullivan stole $196,000 during an FBI investigation
into a Colombia drug smuggling ring and $100,000 from an unnamed case
involving an informant, according to the indictment. It also
covers $99,260 seized from a check cashing service that the FBI says was
acting as a front for Gambino loansharking, and $5,240 seized during the
investigation of Anthony Ruggiano, Jr., one of those arrested in the
Gambino case.
None of the money has been recovered, Figueiras said.
Sullivan, 42, known to have alcohol and gambling
problems, is broke and seeing a psychiatrist, his lawyer Mark Schnapp said.
Schnapp claims the FBI knew about Sullivan's drinking problem and
even put him in a treatment program in 1989, but didn't do enough to
make sure there weren't other problems.
"It's critical for people to understand that Jerry
had documented psychological problems known to the FBI that went
untreated," the lawyer said. "His psychological disorder has put him
in this position."
Figueiras wouldn't comment on whether the agency
knew about Sullivan's personal problems.
In December, agents swooped in to a Key Biscayne
beach resort and arrested Corozzo and his purported right-hand man,
Ralph Davino.
Prosecutors announced a 20-count racketeering
indictment, including conspiracy to commit murder, arson, and extortion,
and named key Gambino figures.
Agents also arrested Sydney Alwais and his son
David, who ran EZ Check Cashing, the store that prosecutors said
operated the Gambino loansharking operations in South Florida. The
disappearance of money seized from Alwais' store prompted the investigation
of Sullivan.
Corozzo, who grew up with Gotti in Brooklyn, was
poised to take charge of the Gambino family when he was arrested,
federal agents said.
Gotti is serving a life prison sentence.
Sullivan was released on bond Thursday pending a
Friday arraignment. Schnapp said Sullivan was going to plead innocent.
(27 Jun 1997 00:31 EDT)
---
For list service help, send a message to
ciadrugs-request@mars.galstar.com with a subject of HELP.
970709, Congressional Record, ph4994+, Rep Waters.
Date: Sun Jul 13, 1997 7:08 am CST
From: ciadrugs
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: ciadrugs@mars.galstar.com
TO: ciadrugs
EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414
MBX: ciadrugs@mars.galstar.com
BCC: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762
Subject: ciadrugs] Clandestine Drug Study Commission Act
---------------------------------------
AMENDMENT NO. 7 OFFERED BY MS. WATERS
---------------------------------------
House of Representatives, U.S. Congress
Wednesday, July 9, 1997
---------------------------------------
Congressional Record
---------------------------------------
From pages [ph4994] - [ph4999]
The CHAIRMAN. Are there further amendments to title III?
AMENDMENT NO. 7 OFFERED BY MS. WATERS
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I offer amendment No. 7.
The Clerk read as follows:
Amendment No. 7 offered by Ms. WATERS:
Page 10, after line 15, insert the following new section:
SEC. 306. CLANDESTINE DRUG STUDY COMMISSION.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.-There is established a commission to be known as
the "Clandestine Drug Study Commission" (in this section referred to as
the "Commission").
(b) DUTIES.-The Commission shall-
(1) secure the expeditious disclosure of public records relevant to the
smuggling and distribution of illegal drugs into and within the United States
by the Central Intelligence Agency or others on their behalf or associated
with the Central Intelligence Agency;
(2) report on the steps necessary to eradicate any Central Intelligence
Agency involvement with drugs or those identified by Federal law enforcement
agencies as drug smugglers; and
(3) recommend appropriate criminal sanctions for the involvement of
Central Intelligence Agency employees involved in drug trafficking or the
failure of such employees to report their superiors (or other appropriate
supervisory officials) knowledge of drug smuggling into or within the United
States.
(c) MEMBERSHIP.-The Commission shall be comprised of nine members
appointed by the Attorney General of the United States for the life of the
Commission. Members shall obtain a security clearance as a condition of
appointment. Members may not be current or former officers or employees of
the United States.
(d) COMPENSATION.-Members of the Commission shall serve without pay but
shall each be entitled to receive travel expenses, including per diem in lieu
of subsistence, in accordance with sections 5702 and 5703 of title 5, United
States Code.
(e) QUORUM.-A majority of the Members of the Commission shall constitute a
quorum.
(f) CHAIRPERSON; VICE CHAIRPERSON.-The Chairperson and Vice Chairperson of
the Commission shall be elected by the members of the Commission.
(g) OBTAINING OFFICIAL DATA.-The Commission may secure directly from any
department or agency of the United States information necessary to enable it
to carry out this section. Upon request of the Chairperson or Vice
Chairperson of the Commission, the head of that department or agency shall
furnish that information to the Commission.
(h) SUBPOENA POWER.-
(1) IN GENERAL.-The Commission may issue subpoenas requiring the
attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of any evidence
relating to any matter which the Commission is empowered to investigate by
this section. The attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence may
be required from any place within the United States at any designated place
of hearing within the United States
(2) FAILURE TO OBEY A SUBPOENA.-If a person refuses to obey a subpoena
issued under paragraph (1), the Commission may apply to a United States
district court for an order requiring that person to appear before the
Commission to give testimony, produce evidence, or both, relating to the
matter under investigation. The application may be made within the judicial
district where the hearing is conducted or where that person is found,
resides, or transacts business. Any failure to obey the order of the court
may be punished by the court as civil contempt.
(3) SERVICE OF SUBPOENAS.-The subpoenas of the Commission shall be served
in the manner provided for subpoenas issued by a United States district court
under the Federal Rules of Civil procedure for the United States district
courts.
(4) SERVICE OF PROCESS.-All process of any court to which application is
to be made under paragraph (2) may be served in the judicial district in
which the person required to be served resides or may be found.
(i) IMMUNITY.-The Commission is an agency of the United States for the
purpose of part V of title 18, United States Code (relating to immunity of
witnesses). Except as provided in this subsection, a person may not be
excused from testifying or from producing evidence pursuant to a subpoena on
the ground that the testimony or evidence required by the subpoena may tend
to incriminate or subject that person to criminal prosecution. A person,
after having claimed the privilege against self-incrimination, may not be
criminally prosecuted by reason of any transaction, matter, or thing which
that person is compelled to testify about or produce evidence relating to,
except that the person may be prosecuted for perjury committed during the
testimony or made in the evidence.
(j) CONTRACT AUTHORITY.-The Commission may enter into and perform such
contracts, leases, cooperative agreements, and other transactions as may be
necessary in the conduct of the functions of the Commission with any public
agency or with any person.
(k) REPORT.-The Commission shall transmit a report to the President,
Attorney General of the United States, and the Congress not later than three
years after the date of the enactment of this Act. The report shall contain a
detailed statement of the findings and conclusions of the Commission,
together with its recommendations for such legislation and administrative
actions as the Commission considers appropriate.
(l) TERMINATION.-The Commission shall terminate on upon the submission of
report pursuant to subsection (k).
(m) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.-There is authorized to be
appropriated $750,000 to carry out this section.
Ms. WATERS (during the reading). Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent
that the amendment be considered as read and printed in the RECORD.
The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from
California?
There was no objection.
Mr. MCCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order against the
amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Florida [Mr. MCCOLLUM] reserves a point
of order against the amendment.
Under the previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from
California [Ms. WATERS] will be recognized for 30 minutes in support of her
amendment and a Member opposed will be recognized for 30 minutes.
The CHAIRMAN. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California [Ms.
WATERS].
MODIFICATION TO AMENDMENT NO. 7 OFFERED BY MS. WATERS
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to modify the
amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will report the modification.
The Clerk read as follows:
Modification to amendment No. 7 offered by Ms. WATERS of California:
In subsection (h), strike paragraphs (2), (3), and (4), and strike "(1) IN
GENERAL.-''.
Strike subsection (i) and redesignate subsections (j), (k), (l), and (m)
as subsections (i), (j), (k), and (l), respectively.
In subsection (k) (as so redesignated), strike "subsection (k)" and
insert "subsection (j)".
The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from
California?
Mr. MCCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, reserving the right to object, I would like
to know from the gentlewoman, if she can explain, is the modification
designed to correct the germaneness problem with the underlying amendment?
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. MCCOLLUM. I yield to the gentlewoman from California.
Ms. WATERS. Yes, it is, Mr. Chairman. I was advised that any reference
to "immunity" would not be appropriate in this legislation, and it is
designed to delete all references to "immunity" in this amendment.
Mr. MCCOLLUM. And is it further my understanding from the gentlewoman, if
I might continue the reservation, that the agreement would be that she would
have the 1-hour time limit that we have agreed upon to apply to this? I
believe that is the Chair's understanding of this, regardless of the
modification, is that not correct, 30 minutes to a side? Or is it 15 to a
side? What is the time limit, Mr. Chairman?
The CHAIRMAN. The Chair would inform the gentleman that under the previous
order of the House, the gentlewoman from California [Ms. WATERS] is entitled
to 30 minutes and a Member opposed thereto is entitled to 30 minutes.
Mr. MCCOLLUM. And that would be applicable, Mr. Chairman, to this
modification if the unanimous consent is agreed to?
The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman is correct.
Mr. MCCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the modification offered by the
gentlewoman from California [Ms. WATERS]?
There was no objection.
The CHAIRMAN. The amendment is modified.
Mr. MCCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, I withdraw my reservation of a point of
order.
The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Florida withdraws his point of order.
The gentlewoman from California [Ms. WATERS] is recognized for 30 minutes.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I offer this amendment to establish a clandestine drug study
commission. This commission would be composed of nine members appointed by
the U.S. Attorney General and would be required to report on the following:
Report on the steps necessary to eradicate any CIA involvement with drugs
or those identified by Federal law enforcement agencies as drug smugglers.
No. 2, secure disclosure or the gathering of Government public records
relevant to the smuggling and distribution of illegal drugs into and within
the United States by the CIA or others on their behalf or associated with the
CIA.
In addition, my amendment would authorize funds to be appropriated in the
amount of $750,000.
Mr. Chairman and Members, I am sure there are those both within this House
and within the sound of my voice who would wonder why would we need such an
amendment, why would I take this floor and talk about taking steps to make
sure that the CIA is not involved in drugs or drug smuggling.
Mr. Chairman, I do this because over the past year I have learned more
than I have ever wanted to know about the CIA and drugs. How did it get
started? It got started with a revelation about drug smuggling and drug
trafficking that ended up in South Central Los Angeles back in the 1980's.
Oh, there has been a lot of controversy about the report. Many are aware
that the San Jose Mercury News revealed that there was a drug ring and the
basic points of that report remain uncontested. There are some points in the
report that are contested. For example, the report said that as a result of
the drug trafficking, millions of dollars were funneled to the Contras from
the sale of drugs, crack cocaine in particular.
The exception that was taken to that identification simply was an
exception that said instead of saying millions of dollars, they should have
said they estimated there were millions of dollars. I can accept that. I
maintain there should not have been $1 from the sale of drugs to support the
Contras.
But this revelation got me involved, and I have spent a lot of time
looking at the CIA and the allegations of their involvement in drug
trafficking in south central Los Angeles. It has taken me to many places, all
the way to Nicaragua, where I have gone up to a place called Grenada and
interviewed a prisoner who is well known to have been connected with the Cali
cartel and sold drugs both for the Sandanistas and the Contras.
Since my visit there, I made it known to the Inspector General, who is
involved in an investigation, and the Inspector General further has sought
out information from this individual. Even members of the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence fold followed me to Nicaragua and
interviewed the same person that had been revealed to me.
But that is just a small part of the information that has come to me. As a
result of my involvement, a lot of things have happened. The sheriff's
department of the county of Los Angeles filed an extensive report about many
of the allegations. The investigations continue.
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is involved. The
Inspector General of the CIA, the Inspector General of the Justice
Department, they are still doing interviews, and I do not know what is going
to happen. Hopefully there will be a report. Hopefully there will be
hearings. But I have learned enough to know that the CIA has come too close,
rubbed shoulders with, and been involved in some ways that should make us all
uncomfortable, with drug dealers.
Mr. Chairman, I have been involved for a long time and taken a closer look
at the Central Intelligence Agency and these allegations that CIA operatives
or assets have been involved in or had knowledge of drug trafficking in the
United States. I mention South Central Los Angeles, but one need look no
further than the current newspaper to find there are recent occasions of CIA
involvement with drugs.
Let us look at Venezuela. Earlier this year, there was a general named
Gen. Ramon Guillen Davila, Venezuela's former drug czar, who was indicted by
Federal prosecutors in Miami for smuggling cocaine into the United States.
And according to the New York Times, uncontested by the CIA, this article
that appeared as early as November 1993, they talked about the CIA and its
so-called antidrug program in Venezuela and guess what? They concluded, and
it is documented, that our CIA shipped a ton of nearly pure cocaine into the
United States in 1990. That is a fact, uncontested.
When you unravel this story, you find that the CIA concocted some scheme
to talk about the only way it could apprehend drug dealers was to get
involved in shipping this cocaine and selling this cocaine. They went to the
DEA to get their permission to do it, and the DEA turned them down flat and
said they would not be involved in this scheme in any shape, form, or
fashion.
But the CIA defied the DEA and they shipped this pure cocaine into the
United States in 1990, and they have since acknowledged that they defied the
laws of this government and allowed the drugs to be sold on the streets of
the United States of America. I challenge anybody to tell me that it did not
happen, because it is documented.
Now let me tell you what unnerves me about this. We spend a lot of money
in this House, we spend a lot of money in this Government to apprehend drug
dealers, to try to get rid of drug trafficking. We spend a lot of money on
drug education and prevention. We even spend money on alternative crop
development in countries that we want to get out of the business of raising
the coca leaf. We spend billions of the taxpayers' dollars.
Knowing this and being involved in this struggle, it really unnerves me to
find out that my own CIA brought cocaine into the United States and allowed
it to get on the streets and be sold. Do you know what that means? We are
representing communities where drugs are devastating our communities. People
are becoming addicted. Oh, and it is not simply in inner cities, it is in
rural communities, it is in suburbia, it is everything, everywhere. It is
swallowing us up.
I do not know what kind of cockamamie scheme they could have cooked up to
talk about this would help them to apprehend drug dealers by allowing drugs
to be sold on the streets of the United States of America. How many more
people became addicted? How many more people got involved in crime? How many
more people became a part of the destruction that we all hate so much? I do
not like it and I am not going to get off this business about who they are
and what they do and their involvement with drugs until this body has the
guts and the nerves to do something about it.
The joint CIA/Venezuela force was headed by General Davila and the ranking
CIA officer, I am going to call the names, was Mark McFarlin, who worked with
the antiguerrilla forces in El Salvador in the 1980's. Not one CIA official
has ever been indicted or prosecuted for this abuse of authority. I will give
it to my colleagues again. General Davila and Mark McFarlin. Look it up.
What happened? Why can we not ask the questions? Why are we not outraged
that these drugs found their way into our cities?
Let me go a little bit further and talk about this alignment, this
association, the CIA being involved, coming too close to people who traffic
in drugs. In a March 8, 1997, Los Angeles Times article, it was reported that
Lt. Col. Michel Francois, one of the CIA's Haitian agents, and I defy anybody
to tell me he was not, a former army officer and a key leader in the military
regime that ran Haiti between 1991 and 1994, he was indicted in Miami and
charged with smuggling 33 tons of cocaine into the United States. The article
detailed that Francois met face to face with the leaders of three Colombian
cartels to arrange for drug shipments to pass through Haiti via a private
airstrip that he helped to build and protect. The CIA was right there in
Haiti while he was building this airstrip. He was trained by the CIA.
Francois is the CIA's boy.
Lieutenant Colonel Francois was trained by the U.S. Army in military
command training for foreign officers in Georgia. He was a senior member of
the Service Intelligence Agency, a Haitian intelligence organization founded
with the help of the CIA in 1986.
After the 1991 coup put Francois in power, the cocaine seizures in Haiti
just plummeted to near zero. He could do whatever he wanted to do. He built a
strip. He met with the cartels. All of this is in DEA reports. U.S.
prosecutors have requested the extradition of Francois from Honduras, where
he has been living under a grant of political asylum. When I tell my
colleagues our own CIA is documented as having brought cocaine in, in the
Venezuelan fiasco, and when I tell my colleagues that Francois is a creation
of the CIA and that the apprehension of drugs and drug smuggling and
trafficking went down once he took charge, I am accusing the CIA of being too
close, of being too involved, for turning its head.
Mr. Chairman, let me just wrap up my comments by saying I have pointed out
today on several occasions some of the problems with the Central Intelligence
Agency. I have pointed out the fact that some of our allies and our friends
around the world have been sending us this quiet but stern message. They are
asking us to leave. I have talked about something that none of us are proud
of, the fact that there is a breakdown in this agency and we have people that
we pay to protect and serve literally endangering us all with the selling of
information. I have pointed out that not only do we have all of this
occurring, but that our own soldiers were put at risk because something is
wrong in this CIA. I am disturbed that we could not get much support in
trying to slap them on the wrist, cut the budget just a little bit, but I am
convinced that the American people will join us in the struggle because this
is a struggle and a battle that we are going to have to wage for a long time.
I am not accusing the Members who have taken this floor in efforts to
protect the CIA. I understand. There are responsible Members of this House
who really believe, despite the problems of the CIA, everything should be
done to protect them, to make sure they have all the money they need to
operate with, that somehow if we question them, we are going to put at risk
their ability to gather the intelligence information we need.
We need to redefine the role of the CIA in this post-cold-war era. Who are
they and what do they do? Someone pointed out to me today that in every
aspect of our society, with the new technology we have been able to reduce
personnel, we have been able to put in systems and processes to better manage
information, we have been able to reduce cost, and many on the opposite side
of the aisle have made these arguments time and time again as they have gone
about cutting and redesigning and privatizing and all of those things that we
hear about on the floor.
Why is it the CIA escapes any of this? Why has the new technology not
caught up with the CIA? Why can we not shine the light in ways that we
understand, where the money is going? Why can we not redesign the ways in
which we relate to them and still respect some of the secrecy and privacy
that is needed?
I say to my colleagues, today I have been afforded the opportunity to take
this floor and talk about this issue in the hopes that we can focus, we can
really put this on our radar screen and begin to raise questions and get the
American public involved in raising questions. I hope that this debate will
allow that.
I am under no illusions about everything that I want being embraced by the
protectors of the CIA, right or wrong. But I know one thing: This platform
that is afforded to me by the voters on this floor of Congress is an
important tool to be used to create a discussion. I see my responsibility to
create discussions that maybe others will not. I am not afraid of the CIA, I
am not going to run from the CIA, I am not going to tuck my tail and duck my
head and talk about their untouchables. This day we unveiled some of the
problems, along with other Members who have taken this floor.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GOSS. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the gentlewoman's
amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Florida [Mr. GOSS] is recognized for 30
minutes.
Mr. GOSS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 10 minutes to the distinguished gentleman
from California [Mr. DIXON].
Mr. DIXON. I thank the chairman of the committee for yielding me this
time.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in reluctant opposition to the Waters amendment,
reluctant for several reasons. The gentlewoman from California [Ms. WATERS]
is the chairman of our Congressional Black Caucus. She represents a community
that I represent, Los Angeles County, cities in that community, but probably
most importantly because I think we, both of us, as well as most Members of
this House, are seeking accurate and truthful information as it relates to
the CIA involvement in crack cocaine in Los Angeles, or any other community
of this country, and any involvement it has had with members or assets of the
community in either aiding or abetting or having knowledge of the CIA
involvement in the distribution of drugs.
The reason I rise in opposition to it, this commission that is being
offered here as an amendment suggests that the process that we have here is
either not operating in good faith or is broken. As most of the Members know,
the inspector generals of the CIA and the Justice Department are
investigating this matter at this point in time. Both gentlemen have
reputations for not only being independent but calling it like it
is, and I doubt if anyone here feels that if they find some wrongdoing or
some culpability on the part of the CIA that in fact they will not include it
in their reports.
It has been my experience as a member of the Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence that no member of that committee is an apologist or tries to
represent the interests of the CIA, but as the gentlewoman from
California [Ms. WATERS] does, represents the interests of the citizens of
this country. And so I stand here not as an apologist for the CIA, but with
the same goal that the gentlewoman from California [Ms. WATERS] has, to get
to the facts in this matter.
Mr. Chairman, we all know that facts that are suggested or alluded to in
newspaper articles, there may be some truth to them, they may be entirely
true, or they may be entirely untrue. But I think it is the responsibility of
the House and the inspector generals to take the first cut at sorting out
those facts.
The gentlewoman from California [Ms. WATERS] is right, that other than the
publisher of the San Jose Mercury, no one has contested the points made in
the article. No one has contested those points at this point in time because
factually no one knows exactly what has occurred. This committee is about
verifying facts in that report. I daresay we would be derelict if we came to
the House on a bit-by-bit basis to either sanction what was in the article or
criticize it, the point being that the investigations, if they are to go
forward, will come to some conclusions about the validity of the arguments
and the points made in the article.
As it relates to the CIA and drug trafficking, I can say that I think the
CIA has made some terrible blunders in the past. I do not think that there is
anyone here that would deny that. But the issue before us is whether or not
they were either involved in trafficking by aiding and abetting, or knew of,
had knowledge of, drug traffickers.
The reports that I have read thus far do not lead me to that conclusion at
this point in time. Let me say that again: The reports that I have read thus
far do not lead me to that conclusion at this point in time.
I have read the newspaper articles, I have read other materials and
interviewed people, and at some point in time I may be joining the
gentlewoman from California [Ms. WATERS] on this floor asking for some type
of public commission. But now is not the time, I suggest to the members of
this committee. Now is the time to let the structure of the Justice
Department, the CIA inspector general and the House to move forward in an
objective evaluation.
I am not naive enough to think whatever this committee finds and whatever
the Inspector Generals find, that in fact there will be a consensus opinion.
And if there is not a consensus opinion and there is fault to be found with
either a lack of thoroughness or professionalism or even covering up, that
would be the time to move forward with some commission. I have reservations
about the composition of the commission and some of the structure, but I am
sure that the gentlewoman from California [Ms. WATERS] and I at the
appropriate time could work that out.
For example, there is a prohibition in here that any employee of the U.S.
Government, past or present, could not be a member of that commission. I
think that there are many people who have been employed by the U.S.
Government who have expertise and abilities that could appropriately serve on
the commission, and I would feel it is certainly insulting to say that anyone
who has ever worked for Government could not be objective in this issue.
As it relates to the issue of people who have been assets of the CIA,
whether they be in Venezuela or Haiti, there is no doubt that some of the
assets should never have been employed by the CIA. There is no doubt that
some of them have been involved in drug trafficking. But that is like saying
some Member of Congress being arrested for drugs, that the Congress of the
United States is responsible for it.
Let us sort through the facts without emotion. Then let people come
forward and criticize the report, scrub it, examine it, and then at that
point in time I may be joining the gentlewoman from California [Ms. WATERS]
on some outside citizens panel to review that material and to carry the
investigation forward, but now is not the time.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire as to how much time I have
remaining?
The CHAIRMAN. The gentlewoman from California [Ms. WATERS] has 12-1/2-
minutes remaining, and the gentleman from Florida [Mr. GOSS] has 16 minutes
remaining.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, let me just say that I hold the gentleman from
California [Mr. DIXON] in the highest esteem and respect, and I have worked
with him, and we do share this area of Los Angeles where the drug trafficking
took place, where the CIA is alleged to have been deeply involved in
trafficking in drugs and the profits of which, some of them, went to fund the
contras, the contras having been created by the CIA. That was their body, and
the FDN, the army of the contras, was a creation of the CIA's.
And I am working to get to the bottom of this, but my commission that I am
asking for is not only about that. This is more generic, and it encompasses
the question of drug trafficking, period, by the CIA.
And I would like to raise a question of the gentleman from California [Mr.
DIXON] so that I can help make a determination about his representations
regarding the investigations that are going on and the possibility that he
may join me, depending on what he has discovered or they discovered as a
result of the House intelligence investigation.
Has the gentleman's committee investigated the Venezuelan dope dealing of
the CIA where I have in no uncertain terms identified on the floor of
Congress the fact that they were responsible for tons of cocaine coming into
the United States that got sold on the streets of America? Has the gentleman
done anything about that? Has he looked at that?
Mr. DIXON. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?
Ms. WATERS. I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. DIXON. Mr Chairman, yes, there has been testimony before the
committee. There has not been a thorough investigation, but there has been
testimony before the committee by the CIA.
The CIA, as I recall their testimony, one, denied that they ever approved
it because they recognized that in fact it would be hard to trace once it got
into the United States and also DEA rejected it.
It is true that this man was an operative in form at some point in time
with the CIA, but they deny ever having approved or sanctioned this activity,
and this activity, according to them, was taken on independently by the
general.
Ms. WATERS. May I ask of the gentleman whether or not there has been any
report on it, and since this exposure was given to this in the New York
Times, we have not seen a response of any kind, we have not seen the work of
the gentleman's committee answering this in any way.
Mr. Chairman, we cannot have the New York Times or any other newspaper
documenting and court records documenting trafficking in cocaine by the CIA
and CIA operatives, and we just sit mum and not tell the American public
anything.
So is there a report on this in any way? If there is no report, would the
gentleman be willing to issue some kind of report between him and the
chairman? Could the gentleman from California make some representation about
what he will be willing to do, given we know this information about drug
trafficking by the CIA?
Mr. DIXON. Yes. The staff informs me that in fact there has been a report
to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence by the inspector
general, and I am sure with certain permission that the gentlewoman from
California could review that report. But I will indicate to her since she has
raised it and created the inference that the CIA was involved, I feel duty
obligated to go forward and look at this once again.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, yes, let me be clear about this one, and I do
not go this far even in the South L.A. one. I am accusing the CIA on this one
based on the information that I have of having been responsible for tons of
cocaine coming into the United States that got sold on the streets of
America. That is an accusation that I am making clear, simple, and without
any reservations.
So what I am saying to the gentleman:
It is not enough for me to see the report. What can we do to share this
information with the American public? Is there anything that can be done to
shed some light on this?
Mr. DIXON. If the gentlewoman will continue to yield, first of all I
think that it would be good for her to read the report.
Ms. WATERS. I will do that.
Mr. DIXON. So that the CIA's perspective on this is there, and perhaps
the committee chairman or others, since this issue has been raised that the
report can be scrubbed and that some materials could be released; but I do
think, Mr. Chairman, that we have a responsibility with the charge made just
on the floor that the CIA was responsible for the Venezuelan drug
transaction, to either refute or make some statement about this based upon an
investigation in the materials that we have already collected. I think that
is a very serious allegation.
Mr. GOSS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield to me?
Ms. WATERS. I yield to the gentleman from Florida.
Mr. GOSS. As far as I am concerned, if the gentlewoman has some new
information that is additional or supplemental or complementary to any of the
previous work that has been done on this, that she would bring it to the
committee's attention, that we will obviously attend to it forthwith. My
understanding is that there has been some work done on this; I do not know
the exact status, because we are dealing with somewhat of a new subject that
is just a little bit off the record here of what I thought we were talking
about, but I am certainly willing, as we have been all along the way on this,
with the gentlewoman, with the gentleman from California [Mr. DIXON], and as
seen with the gentlewoman from California [Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD] earlier in
our colloquy.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I do not want to be snowed, I do not want to be
patronized, I do not want to be talked to in that way. I have asked. I have
made an accusation on the floor of Congress about the CIA and the Venezuelan
drug deal, and I am asking the gentleman based on the information that he
has, is there any way that he can shed some light or share this information
with the American public?
I want to know.
Mr. GOSS. If the gentlewoman will continue to yield, the gentlewoman is
referring, I think, to events that transpired before I was privileged to be
on this committee, and that is why, since I had no forewarning that that was
going to be a subject today, I am simply not prepared to give her any
specific information.
I am certainly welcome to assure that we will attend to her request to see
if there is anything into it, as we would with any Member who brings forward
that type of a serious allegation.
Ms. WATERS. Could the gentleman be a little bit clearer about what it is
he is committing to? The gentleman said he would attend to it. Could the
gentleman tell me how he can satisfy the concerns that I have raised, and I
am not being facetious at this point, but I have made a specific charge, and
I am asking the gentleman, even though he was not the Chair, the records did
not leave with the last Chair; I want to know what can the gentleman do to
shed some light on this information?
Mr. DIXON. If the gentlewoman will yield and if I could suggest to the
gentleman from Florida [Mr. GOSS], one, that a lot of this evidentiary
material will come out in the trial. As I understand, he is on trial in
Florida. Second, I do think, Mr. Chairman, we have an obligation to go back
and look at the inspector general's report, and, as I recall it, it did not
in any way involve the CIA and the transportation or distribution of the
drugs that the gentleman is being charged with.
But this is a very serious accusation that the gentlewoman from
California [Ms. WATERS] is making, and I want to emphasize it. She is
alleging that the CIA was involved with the Venezuelan general in bringing
drugs into the country. I assume that means either aiding, abetting, or being
a sponsor of those drugs.
Ms. WATERS. That is right.
Mr. DIXON. And I think that we have a responsibility to, once again, go
back and look at this case, notwithstanding the prosecution that is going on
in Florida and notwithstanding what the inspector general has said.
Ms. WATERS. And also would the gentleman add to this discussion whether
or not the former drug czar who worked with the CIA is going to be extradited
for this case? Is there an extradition problem?
Mr. GOSS. If the gentlewoman will yield to me, I presume these questions
are being directed to me.
Ms. WATERS. The gentleman from Florida or anybody else who can answer
that.
Mr. GOSS. Let me clearly tell the gentlewoman that I have tremendous
respect for the gentleman from California [Mr. DIXON], and I think Mr. DIXON
has said exactly the right thing.
The specific facts that the gentlewoman is basing her allegation on, I
would like to know what they are. I will then deal with those facts, and I
will advise the gentlewoman of relevant information, and the gentleman from
California [Mr. DIXON] will be part of that process, as he has been, because
he has been doing stellar service for our committee on this matter in Los
Angeles because it is clearly part of his representation.
Ms. WATERS. The gentleman from California [Mr. DIXON] said that he felt a
responsibility to answer my charge. What the gentleman from Florida is saying
is if I can bring him more information--
Mr. GOSS. No, I am saying, if the gentlewoman will continue to yield, I
will be very happy to join Mr. DIXON in responding as exactly as he has done.
But it would be helpful to me to know all of the details of what the
gentlewoman knows.
I take very seriously, living in Florida, which is not unlike the problem
in California, of drug smuggling and the impact we see on our streets. We
have a problem. We are not insensitive to this, I assure my colleague, and I
assure her that there are unfolding events every minute in the war on drugs,
every minute, and the intelligence part of that we are attending to. We are
committing dollars, and we hope we have the gentlewoman's support for our
budget for those dollars.
Ms. WATERS. Oh, no. I have been to every budget committee, every
appropriations committee where there are appropriations for drugs to talk
about the Black Caucus' No. 1 priority of eradicating drugs in this Nation.
It is not only our No. 1 priority, we have come, we have testified before the
committees, we have supported the drug czar, we have supported the
President's budget, we have even asked for more money, and we have come up
with ways by which to work closer with the drug czar on this issue.
So we are serious about this, but let me just say this:
Given my friend and my colleague's representations, along with the
gentleman from Florida, about feeling a responsibility to respond to the very
serious accusation that I have made here today, I accept that as not only a
representation for himself, but for him and others, and the committee; and
even though we are clear that my bringing forth new information is not a
condition for his moving forward, if I have or can locate new information, I
will be happy to work with the gentleman on it. But I do expect that this
commitment on the House of the floor that has been made about shedding light
per the gentleman from California [Mr. DIXON] and supported by the gentleman
from Florida [Mr. GOSS] is something that we can rely on.
So let me just say this:
My colleague whom I have worked with not just since I came to Congress 6
years ago, but about 30 years now, having served with him in the State of
California in the assembly and prior to that when I managed campaigns and all
of that, I accept--
The CHAIRMAN. All time of the gentlewoman from California [Ms. WATERS] has
expired.
Mr. GOSS. Mr. Chairman, I am very happy to yield 1 more minute to the
gentlewoman from California to wrap up.
Ms. WATERS. I thought when the gentleman heard the word "accept" he would
be generous, and I thank him very much.
I accept his representations that these investigations are going on now,
and I know that. And I do think that perhaps it is a little premature, and
maybe that is something we will do after if, in fact, we do not believe that
the information is credible, the work has been good, or we learn more about
it.
I do think that that would be the correct order of things. Today provided
us with the opportunity to shed more light, to get something moving. I accept
that he rejects, he does not accept, my amendment. He believes the commission
is premature. He will work with me. I will work with the gentleman, I will
work with the other gentlemen, and everyone else.
Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from
California?
There was no objection.
---
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