Confessions of an American PI

Detective Story

2012-01-20T16:39:00.002-07:00

Even more than writing in other genres, the detective story, often called a whodunit, tends to follow standard rules. This is because readers of detective mysteries seek a particular experience: they want the intellectual challenge of solving the crime before the detective does, and the pleasure of knowing that everything will come together in the end.

The detective's investigation is based on motive, opportunity, and means, and the detective arrives at solving the crime by, of course, eliminating suspects who do not fulfill these criteria.

The detective questions suspects, sifts through clues, and tracks down perpetrators. The detective shares all the clues with the reader but withholds their significance until the end.

To make the case interesting to the reader, the writer often puts complications, and twists and turns in the detective's way: several suspects, additional murders, red herrings.

Only at the end does the detective unmask the culprit and plot, and present the deductive reasoning used in solving the case.

Detective mysteries evolved in the early part of the 20th Century from stories about detectives in which the reader wasn't a participant, but rather a witness, looking over the detective's shoulder, so to speak.

Early Detective Stories

The originator of the early stories of investigation was the American poet and short-story writer Edgar Allen Poe, creator of the world's first known fictional detective C. Auguste Dupin.

Dupin's methods of deduction and his strange personal habits provided the model that many detective story writers have followed since.

Dupin made his debut in April 1841, when Graham's magazine published Poe's classic horror story: The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Dupin appeared thereafter in 'The Mystery of Marie Roget' (1842-43), 'The Purloined Letter' (1845). It is believed that Poe's Dupin character was modeled after real-life crook-turned-cop French detective Eugene Francois Vidocq (1775-1857).

Charles Dickens ventured into writing detective stories with The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870), but the novel was unfinished at the time of Dickens' death and his ending for it remains unknown.

English author and playwright Wilkie Collins, contributed The Moonstone (1860) and The Woman in White (1860) featuring Detective Sergeant Cuff.

Sherlock Holmes and Followers

Detective stories didn't become truly popular, however, until Beeton's magazine published in 1887 'A Study in Scarlet', introducing to England and the world the most famous detective of all time – real or fictional – Sherlock Holmes.

Obviously influenced by Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, the English writer who created Holmes, gave Holmes Dupin's mental traits and equally strange habits, and he narrated his detective's exploits, as did Poe, from the vantage point of a close companion, in Holmes' case Dr. Watson.

Altogether, the original Sherlock Holmes mysteries consists of 4 novels and 56 short stories. Holmes is the hero, even today, of detective adventures written by other writers.

Sherlock Holmes popularized the detective story and brought it to its present form. Since Conan Doyle, writers have sought to develop detective heroes who echo both Holmes' unique character and omniscience.

In 1911, the English writer G.K. Chesterton developed the character of Father Brown, a priest-detective.

In 1920, during what is often called the golden age of the detective story, the English writer Agatha Christie introduced her hero, Hercule Poirot (1920-75), a dapper Belgian detective.

In the U.S., the Ellery Queen detective series began in 1928, created by Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manfred Bennington Lee (1905-1971); and S.S. Van Dine (1888-1939), under the pseudonym of Willard Huntington Wright, began writing about the dilettante detective Philo Vance in 1926.

Meanwhile, another American writer, Earl Derr Biggers (1884-1933) wrote about his famed Chinese detective, Charlie Chan (1919).

Other authors who emerged in the 1930s are American writer Rex Stout (1886-1975) with his famous gourmet detective Nero Wolfe (1934), and the scholarly English writer Dorothy Sayers, whose detective hero was an aristocrat, Lord Peter Wimsey (1921).

Authors of the 1930s, in their efforts to outwit the reader, concocted elaborate ingenious puzzles such as the locked-room mysteries of American writer John Dickson Carr (1906-77). The aim was to produce as the murderer the least likely of all suspects, which Agatha Christie excelled at.

Private Eye Tales

Meanwhile, in the U.S. during the 1920s, another type of detective story was emerging – shaped by the pulp magazines of the time, notably Black Mask, which wanted hard-hitting detective heroes and tough language.

Authors who wrote this style of detective story include Erle Stanley Gardner, creator of Perry Mason, the most famous lawyer-detective; Dashiell Hammett, creator of Nick Charles and Sam Spade; and Raymond Chandler, creator of phillip Marlowe.

In these hard-boiled private detective novels, sleuths worked for money instead of intellectual fun, and the style was on action and the puzzle was underplayed. The story's physical activity, which sometimes degenerated into rough sex and sadism, rather than the puzzle, held the reader.

The Police Procedural

In the early 1950s, a trend away from the sex and sadism type of detective novel and away from the private detective tale in general, developed. The "police procedural" – stories about how real police detectives go about solving real crimes – was born.

The difference offered by the police procedural detective novels from its predecessors is that the reader consorts, not with genius, but with fallible, ordinary people, specially trained in investigation.

The most prominent writers of this type of detective novel are John Creasey (1908-73) writing under the pseudonym J.J. Marric, with his tales of Gideon of Scotland Yard; Evan Hunter (1926-2005) and his 87th Precinct series under the pseudonym Ed McBain; and former New York City transit police detective Dorothy Uhnak (1930-2006) with her series featuring Detective Christie Opara and others.

The detective story is sure to endure as staple reading fare even with its pendulum swings in popularity. Its strength is that it provides excitement and satisfaction. The detective story novel deals with evil, which is generally fascinating, at the same time promising that good will triumph over evil, and that the ending will be relatively happy and complete.

Brian Blackwell

The Book Project

2012-01-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

For as long as I can remember, all I have wanted to do is be a writer. But then life happened, and like for many people, events occurred altering the course of my life, and like most people do, I did the practical thing and pursued jobs that provided a much more steady, stable income, putting my aspirations of being a writer aside.

During this time, I wrote short stories and poems, published articles occasionally, hoping that one day I would be able to write a book and have it published. I have accumulated a vast body of poems that is ever expanding, which I hope I can have published.

In 2009, I began posting on Facebook a collection of poems I wrote and soon developed a following of fans of my writing who encouraged me to have my poems published in book form.

In seeking a publisher for my book, I soon discovered that when the financial crises hit in 2008, as with many other industries, the book publishing industry was deeply affected financially, and a person attempting to get their first book published went from being difficult to nearly impossible, especially for an unknown individual.

As a result of the current economic climate, most publishers are not willing to gamble on the success of a book written by a (first book) author, and on the rare times when they do, they are requiring (first book) authors to share in the cost of production.

Even with self-publishing, the cost of publishing a book is considerably high. Even on a small-to-medium scale, the pre-production and printing costs are very high to produce a tastefully done book, which I in no way have the financial means to cover the cost.

Rather than giving up on my goal, I am seeking financial backing from the public. As a backer, you are guaranteed to receive an advanced copy of my book of poems with any donation of $45 or more (limited to 250 copies) and every supporter will have their name included in the book in a special "partner" section. It's really important to me to list the names of the backers who made the book a reality. If you'd like to be an anonymous backer, I will not list your name in the book.

My poetry book will be 200 pages, and there will be an explanation with each poem of my motivation for writing the poem, which is very rare and unique for a poet to do. I can assure you, my book will be a quality read and very tastefully done.

I am also writing a suspense thriller novel while getting my poetry book published.

To help, please go to: http://www.BrianBlackwell.com

Rembrandt Drawing Stolen From Calif. Hotel

2011-08-15T00:52:00.005-06:00

A drawing by Rembrandt, valued at $250,000, was stolen from a hotel in Marina del Rey, California in what Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators say was a well-planned heist.

The pen-and-ink drawing, believed to be called "The Judgment," was stolen Saturday night while a curator was distracted by a guest at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey, L.A. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Investigators believe the theft occurred during a 15-minute window starting at 10:20 p.m.

"When the curator turned back to the Rembrandt, it was gone," Whitmore said, adding that it "was a well-thought-out, well-executed theft."

Investigators were studying surveillance video from the hotel. The footage was unlikely to be made public, Whitmore said.

Officials asked anyone who spotted anything suspicious to contact the sheriff's department. Sheriff's investigators were working with security officials from the hotel.

"The Ritz-Carlton has some of the best hotel security in the nation," Whitmore said. "We're confident that our leads, and the surveillance video will help us solve this."

Whitmore said the work by the Dutch master was valued at $250,000.

The drawing was part of an exhibit at the hotel sponsored by San Francisco's Linearis Institute. A call to the institute was not immediately returned Sunday.

Brian Blackwell

Casey Anthony Found Not Guilty

2011-07-05T12:43:00.012-06:00

Jurors in Orlando, Florida have found Casey Anthony not guilty in her murder trial. The jury was out for just 10 hours after getting instructions on Monday.

Anthony was also found not guilty on manslaughter and child abuse charges. Anthony was found guilty on four counts of providing false information to law enforcement.

Casey Anthony in court

Prosecutors argued the woman killed her 2-year-old daughter Caylee because the toddler interrupted her carefree partying and love life.

Jurors in the murder trial ended their first day of deliberations on Monday without reaching a verdict.

Anthony was charged with first-degree murder and six other charges. If convicted of first-degree murder, she would have been sentenced to death or life in prison.

The seven women and five men of the jury were chosen from the Tampa Bay area because of pretrial media coverage of the case and have been sequestered in an Orlando hotel. They have listened to 33 days of testimony and another two days of closing arguments.

Anthony's attorneys say the girl drowned in the family's pool.

They have said Anthony panicked and that her father, a former police officer, decided to make the death look like a homicide by placing duct tape over the child's mouth and dumping the body in some nearby woods. George Anthony has denied that.

The state contended Anthony was a party girl who killed Caylee because the toddler got in the way of her love life.

Brian Blackwell

Legendary Mobster Whitey Bulger Arrested

2011-06-23T07:56:00.013-06:00

Organized crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger, once one of the most powerful mobsters in the nation, has been captured after 16 years on the run.

One of the FBI's Top 10 most wanted fugitives and the inspiration for the 2006 Martin Scorsese film, "The Departed," Bulger -- once head of Boston's Winter Hill Gang -- was sought in connection with 19 slayings and a slew of other crimes.


Crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger with his longtime girlfriend Catherine Elizabeth Greig.

He was arrested Wednesday at a Santa Monica, California, home along with his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Elizabeth Greig, who was also wanted for harboring him.

Bulger was an FBI informant before he fled in 1995 after being tipped off by an FBI agent about an impending racketeering indictment. The agent was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his involvement.

The 81-year-old -- known to alter his appearance through disguises -- was "considered armed and extremely dangerous," according to the FBI. "He has a violent temper and is known to carry a knife at all times," the FBI said in an official description of him.

The FBI offered a $2 million reward for information leading directly to his arrest.

Authorities credit a new publicity campaign for the tips that led them to the fugitives.

On Tuesday, the FBI began airing a 30-second public service announcement, buying about 350 spots in 14 U.S. cities.

The ad focused on Grieg, 60, and targeted female viewers around the same age. It described her as loving dogs and other animals and frequenting beauty salons. it said she had worked as a dental hygienist, likes to maintain her teeth, and has had multiple plastic surgeries.

Bulger was sought for his role in numerous murders committed from the early 1970's through the mid-1980's in connection with his leadership of an organized crime group that controlled extortion, drug deals, and other illegal activities in the Boston area.

An "avid reader with an interest in history," he was known to frequent libraries and historic sites, the FBI said.

Bulger has been in hiding since 1995. The FBI put him on its Most Wanted list in 1999 and had a special task force devoted to his capture.

He will make his first court appearance Thursday, the FBI said. Bulger is charged with 19 counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, narcotics distribution and money laundering charges, the FBI said.

Before the arrest, the last confirmed sighting of Bulger and Grieg was in London in 2002.

Brian Blackwell

FBI "No Probable Cause Required" Powers

2011-06-13T03:41:00.005-06:00

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its 14,000 agents — allowing them to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people without needing to worry about probable cause rules.

The FBI soon plans to issue a new edition of its manual, called the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, according to an official who has worked on the draft document and several others who have been briefed on its contents.

The new rules add to several measures taken over the past decade to give agents more latitude as they investigate for possible signs of criminal or terrorist activity.

The FBI recently briefed several privacy advocates about the coming changes. Among them, Michael German, a former FBI agent who is now a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, argued it was unwise to further ease restrictions on agents’ power to use potentially intrusive techniques, especially if they lacked a firm reason to suspect someone of wrongdoing.

"Claiming additional authorities to investigate people only further raises the potential for abuse," German said, pointing to complaints about the bureau’s surveillance of domestic political advocacy groups and to an inspector general’s findings in 2007 that the FBI had improperly used "national security letters" to obtain information like people’s phone bills.

Valerie E. Caproni, the FBI general counsel, said the bureau had fixed the problems with the national security letters and had taken steps to make sure they would not recur.

She also said the bureau — which does not need permission to alter its manual so long as the rules fit within broad guidelines issued by the attorney general — had carefully weighed the risks and the benefits of each change.

Since December 2008, FBI agents have had the power to look into people and organizations "proactively" and without firm evidence for suspecting criminal or terrorist activity.

Under current rules, agents must open such an inquiry before they can search for information about a person in a commercial or law enforcement database. Under the new rules, agents will be allowed to search anyone's database without needing to follow probable cause rules nor making a record of their decision.

Brian Blackwell

Denver Prostitution Ring Records Stolen

2011-06-08T01:21:00.002-06:00

Hundreds of documents, including a client list with the names of Denver's elite and politicians, kept by the former owner of a high-profile prostitution ring in Denver were stolen Monday in a home break-in, according to police.

Scottie J. Ewing, who once owned Denver Players and Denver Sugar escort services — identified by federal agents as a prostitution ring — told Denver police that thieves broke into his home Monday between 6 and 8 p.m., entered an upstairs office and took off with his computer and a large container of files.

"Both computer and files contained sensitive material," the police report says.

The files included a client list and appointment sheets.

The thieves gained entry by cutting a hole in the back screen door, knocking out a Plexiglass panel and unlocking it.

Ewing is presently serving a six-month home detention after a plea bargain with the IRS over unpaid taxes associated with the businesses. He was ordered to pay a fine of nearly $80,000 earlier this year.

Reached by telephone this afternoon, Ewing said: "I don't have any comment."

The detention allows him to work at his business, Sugar House, a restaurant and bar that caters to the swinger community.

Between early 2004 and mid-2005, Ewing's escort businesses charged customers $300 an hour, and escorts who worked for the service told 9News in 2008 that the business' client list included the city's elite.

Then-Chief U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham resigned from the bench that year after a 9News report alleged that Nottingham's name appeared on the escort service's client list.

Police investigated the scene of the crime Monday, tested for fingerprints and surveyed the neighborhood, according to the police report.

Brian Blackwell

Addicts Putting Pharmacies Under Siege

2011-06-06T00:11:00.006-06:00

Less than two hours after picking out a man in a Seattle, Washington police lineup who held up his drugstore, pharmacist Mike Donohue was being robbed. Again.

The new robber's face was hidden under the hood of a bulky black sweatshirt. He rocked back and forth anxiously, with his right hand planted in his pocket.

Like the other five robbers who had held up Donohue's store before, the man demanded OxyContin, a popular painkiller known for its high abuse potential.

"My technician came back and showed me the note that said, 'Give me your OxyContin. I have a gun,' " Donohue said.

Instead of handing over the drugs, Donohue unholstered the Glock 19 handgun he wore beneath his white lab coat and sprinted to the front of the small pharmacy.

The pharmacist pointed the firearm loaded with 15 hollow-point rounds at the head of the hooded man.

"Down!" Donohue yelled.... http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/06/03/drugstore.robberies/index.html?hpt=ju_t3

Brian Blackwell

Casey Anthony Trial Resumes

2011-05-28T20:16:00.005-06:00

Caylee Anthony's grandmother gave jurors in her daughter's capital murder trial a detailed glimpse of her efforts to connect with the 2-year-old girl in the weeks following her disappearance, recounting reason after reason her daughter gave for keeping the toddler away from home for nearly a month.

The reasons included work meetings, a car accident and sudden plans to hang out at a hotel with a wealthy suitor Cindy Anthony said she had long heard about, but had never met, jurors in the Orlando woman's capital murder trial heard Saturday.

Casey Anthony in court

Testimony from Cindy Anthony dominated the abbreviated Saturday session, which ended just before 1 p.m. in Orlando.

Casey Anthony, 25, is charged with seven counts, including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and misleading police in the death of her daughter, who was last seen June 16, 2008. Her skeletal remains were discovered were found in a wooded field in December 2008.

Prosecutors say Anthony used chloroform on her daughter and then put duct tape over her nose and mouth, suffocating the girl.

Anthony's attorneys argue that she did not kill Caylee, but rather that the girl accidentally drowned in the Anthonys' pool. They say Anthony and her father discovered her body, panicked, and kept the death a secret. George Anthony denied that claim in testimony Thursday.

After describing her last day with Caylee, spent visiting the girl's ailing great-grandfather in a nursing home, swimming at home and then looking at pictures and videos, Cindy Anthony testified about her efforts to talk to Caylee between June 16, the next day, and July 15, when she was finally reported missing to police.

"There was always a reason I missed her," Cindy Anthony said.

At first, Cindy Anthony said, she believed Caylee was staying with her nanny, Zanny, while her daughter attended work meetings. Then, Anthony told her mother that she was taking the girl to Tampa, Florida, for an outing with a co-worker and her child.

When they didn't return as expected, Cindy Anthony testified her daughter told her a serious car accident had left Zanny injured, and that she felt obligated to stay and care for her.

When her father, George Anthony, ran into her at home on June 24, when she was supposed to be nearly 80 miles away in Tampa, Casey Anthony explained she had returned to get insurance information for Zanny and get some things from home, Cindy Anthony testified.

When asked why she didn't bring her daughter home, Casey Anthony said she "didn't think about it," her mother testified.

After that, Casey Anthony told her mother that she, Caylee and Zanny were staying at an Orlando hotel with a wealthy suitor, according to Cindy Anthony's testimony. When she failed to return home as expected, Casey Anthony then explained the delay by saying she was working on a closed Make-A-Wish event that Caylee could attend, but Cindy Anthony could not.

On July 3, Cindy Anthony testified, she went to Universal Studios -- where she believed her daughter worked -- to confront her over a money issue. That's when Casey Anthony told her she wasn't in Orlando, but rather in Jacksonville, Florida -- at the suitor's condo.

Despite what she was telling her mother, Casey Anthony was actually spending time in Orlando with numerous friends, attending parties, going shopping and hitting nightclubs, according to previous testimony and evidence in the case.

For instance, on June 20, when Casey Anthony was telling her mother she was working and taking Caylee to an amusement park in Tampa with a co-worker, she was instead participating in a "hot body" contest at an Orlando night club, according to previous testimony in the case. Photos of the event shown at the trial show her dancing at the club.

Casey Anthony's attorneys explain her behavior in June and July 2008 by saying she had been sexually abused by her father and was trained from a young age to hide her pain. George Anthony denied abusing his daughter in previous testimony.

Cindy Anthony broke down on the stand early in her testimony, while look at pictures of Caylee's Winnie the Pooh-themed bed, depictions of her backyard playhouse and an image of her visiting the nursing home. At one point, she interrupted prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick's qustioning to ask that Caylee's image be taken off a computer screen in front of her.

"I'm trying not to cry," she said.

During a break following testimony in which Cindy Anthony was discussing how she and her husband, George, bought and installed an outside playhouse for Caylee, Casey Anthony could be seen crying and gesturing angrily as she spoke with her attorneys.

Earlier Saturday, Casey Anthony's former boyfriend took the stand to discuss text messages between the two on July 16, the night after Anthony's daughter was reported missing to police by Cindy Anthony.

In the messages, Anthony told the boyfriend, Anthony Lazarro, that she had been driving around with police looking for her daughter.

"If they don't find her, guess who gets blamed and spends an eternity in jail?" Anthony texted.

Anthony called herself "the dumbest person and the worst mother.

"The best person in my life is missing and God only knows if I'm ever going to see her again," read another text.

Prosecutors began questioning Lazarro the day after Judge Belvin Perry questioned their attempts to introduce another set of instant messages that Assistant State's Attorney Frank George said showed Anthony believed her daughter was in the way of their relationship.

"Only a few more days and you can bring your ass over anytime you want and stay any night you want," read one text message that prosecutors said was sent June 10. George said the message and others like it would help prove Anthony's motive for killing Caylee. The instant messages showed that Caylee's presence was stifling her lifestyle, which prosecutors have tried to paint as hard-partying and carefree.

"She couldn't do what she wanted to do," George told Perry in a discussion held without the jury present in the courtroom.

But Perry questioned the logic, asking why Anthony did not also plot to kill her parents.

After Perry said he did not believe the evidence was relevant and would be excessively prejudicial even if it was, prosecutors withdrew their attempt to have it introduced into evidence, for the time being at least.

Testimony Friday focused largely on Casey Anthony's car, a white Pontiac Sunfire found abandoned in a parking lot and later towed to an impound lot where her parents, George and Cindy Anthony, picked it up two weeks later.

George Anthony and a tow company manager testified that Casey Anthony's car reeked of the unmistakable odor of a decomposing body.

In all, Anthony is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and four counts of misleading police. If she is convicted of capital murder, she could be sentenced to death by the seven-woman, five-man jury.

Anthony has pleaded not guilty and denies harming her daughter or having anything to do with her disappearance. Baez has said that once all the facts are known, it will become clear that his client is not guilty.

The trial will resume Tuesday after a break for the Memorial Day holiday. It is expected to last another five to seven weeks.

Brian Blackwell

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2010/04/casey-anthony-jailhouse-letters-i.html

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2010/07/judge-allows-911-tapes-in-casey-anthony.html

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2010/07/caylees-family-to-square-off-in-court.html

California Prison Overcrowding

2011-05-24T12:10:00.005-06:00

So How’s That "War on Drugs" Working Out?

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that California prisons violated the U.S. constitution – their cramping of prisoners in overcrowded conditions constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

California’s public finances are also in terrible shape, which means two things:

One, they’re in no position to build more prisons. Two, having so many prisoners is a key reason for their bloated budget in the first place.

California spends over $10 billion a year jailing and taking care of prisoners. Furthermore, for every prisoner incarcerated, they had to be pursued and arrested by police officers and tried in courts. All these things cost a lot of money.

Furthermore, most prisoners aren’t rehabilitated in prison. Instead, they become more hardened. When they are released, they have trouble integrating into society because it’s extremely difficult for ex-convicts to secure long-term gainful employment.

Given California’s insane parole violation laws, many first-time offenders become repeat-offenders and simply cycle through the prison system for the rest of their lives.

Then there is the funding of gangs.

That’s right, the ‘war on drugs’ funds gangs – something clueless California lawmakers don’t seem to comprehend.

Gangs exist for one reason: to make money.

In the beginning, they were largely limited to theft. If prostitution was illegal, they were involved in that. When alcohol became illegal in the U.S., they hit pay-dirt. In fact, alcohol prohibition is by far the biggest factor that gave rise to large-scale organized crime in the U.S.

When the U.S. started its ‘war on drugs,’ gangs – in the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, and many other countries – hit the jackpot.

The logic is simple. Because drugs are illegal, they’re a highly desired and "scarce" -- that is, not easily obtainable through legal means -- and monopolized by criminals. Any business executive will tell you that monopolizing such a product will guarantee the supplier riches and secure funding for expanding operations.

Moreover, the ‘war on drugs’ has stupidly moved drugs to a shadow society, to the detriment of the public and drug users.

First, there is the missing tax revenues. More importantly, there is a complete lack of regulation and law in the "drug shadow" world. For example, there are very few safe procedure (e.g. preventing the spread of diseases) and screening (e.g. for age) practices.

Basic laws regarding violence and theft also go out the window. For example, it’s ridiculous to imagine rival licensed alcohol stores carrying out assassinations against each other.

However, drug-dealing gangs commit violent crime all the time.

California’s overcrowded prisons and bloated budget are just two symptoms of the insane and failed policy of the "war on drugs."

Having a saner drug policy would solve those problems and much more.

Brian Blackwell

California must cut prison population by 30,000

IMF Chief Used Eliot Spitzer Madam

2011-05-20T02:09:00.003-06:00

Kristin Davis, 35, admitted to providing young women for International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2006 as he ran for the French Socialists' presidential nomination, and said that one complained about his "aggressive" behavior.

"He was a client of my agency," she said. "When men abuse women, I'm no longer going to protect their identities".

Strauss-Kahn, 62, has been charged with sexually attacking a 32-year-old hotel maid at the Manhattan Sofitel on Saturday. He denies the claims and is being held in Rikers Island prison.

Kristen Davis, 35, who has a long list of celebrity clients, said Strauss-Kahn called her directly on her mobile phone and paid $1,200 cash for two-hour sessions in hotel rooms.

"He asked for an 'All-American girl', with a fresh face, from the midwest," she said. "A girl in January 2006 complained he was rough and angry, and said she didn't want to see him again".

In September 2006, Strauss-Kahn travelled to New York for a conference hosted by Bill Clinton. That month Davis, sent Strauss-Kahn a Brazilian-born prostitute who reported that "he was rough", said Davis, adding: "She told me not to send any new girls to him."

Davis was jailed in 2008 for promoting prostitution. She named Eliot Spitzer, who resigned that year over disclosures that he used prostitutes, as one of her clients.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers declined to comment on the allegations. They came as the maid told a New York court of her ordeal and the IMF chief was alleged to have assaulted a maid in Mexico.

The maid, a Guinean widow with a 15-year-old daughter, told a grand jury that the head of the IMF locked her in his suite, violently groped her and forced her to perform a sex act on him.

Her attorney, Jeffrey Shapiro, said beforehand that she would explain to the hearing, which took place in secret, that "there is nothing consensual about what took place in that hotel room."

"This is nothing other than a physical, sexual assault by this man on this young woman," Shapiro said.

Attorneys for Strauss-Kahn, 62, say forensic evidence from the hotel, near Times Square, will "not be consistent with a forcible encounter", indicating that he will allege she agreed to sex.

He faces seven charges, including attempted rape, unlawful imprisonment and an illegal sex act. His next court hearing is expected on Friday.

A judge at Manhattan's criminal court will be told whether or not the grand jury has decided there is sufficient evidence to indict Strauss-Kahn for prosecution.

The married father of four filed a request with New York's supreme court to be freed on bail. He offered to waive extradition rights and remain under electronically-monitored home detention 24 hours a day.

He is expected in court for the hearing. on Friday, a judge at Manhattan's criminal court is expected to be told whether or not the grand jury has decided there is sufficient evidence to indict Strauss-Kahn for prosecution.

Meanwhile press reports in Mexico say that Strauss-Kahn also assaulted a maid in the country while making an official visit there in recent years.

The claim originated in the 2010 French book 'DSK: Secrets of a presidential contender', by an author using the pseudonym Cassandre, who said she had close knowledge of Strauss-Kahn.

The incident in Mexico was not described at any length. It had not been reported to the local authorities, and had gone unpunished. The book has been the source of several allegations of improper behaviour towards women by Strauss-Kahn.

It also emerged on Wednesday that the maid, who has not been named due to the nature of the crimes, lives in a New York City apartment that houses people with HIV and Aids. Shapiro denied she was HIV-positive.

Brian Blackwell

Police Enter Homes Without Owner Knowing

2011-05-18T02:38:00.002-06:00

A special type of government search warrant that allows authorities to search homes without informing the owner for months is becoming more common.

Imagine someone walking through your neighborhood, coming into your home and rifling through your intimate belongings.

Delayed-Notice Search Warrants Increasing

"They search through your home, your dresser drawers, your computer files," Peter Simonson, with ACLU New Mexico, said.

These search warrants don’t involve knocking on doors or any type of warning at all. Delayed-notice search warrants, or "sneak-and-peek" warrants, allow federal agents to enter your home without telling you they’ve been there until months later.

The warrants have always been around, but their use has spiked since the revamped Patriot Act in 2005. The number of delayed-notice search warrants spiked nationally from nearly 700 in fiscal year 2007 to close to 2,000 in 2009.

Upwards of 200 approved during that same three-year stretch came out of the 10th Circuit Court, which covers a handful of states including New Mexico.

The majority of those delayed search warrants aren’t even for terrorism-related cases. According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s figures, the majority of the warrants are for drug cases.

"While billed as an anti-terror tool, (a sneak-and-peek warrant) had no requirements on it that it precluded it from being used in standard criminal investigations," Simonson said.

The warrants are so secret that the New Mexico U.S. Attorney’s Office won't tell the news media about them.

The ACLU said it expects delayed-notice warrant numbers to keep growing each year as long as certain parts of the Patriot Act remain on the books.

Brian Blackwell

No Right To Resist Illegal Police Entry

2011-05-14T15:04:00.003-06:00

Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes.

In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer's entry.

"We believe ... a right to resist an unlawful police entry into a home is against public policy and is incompatible with modern Fourth Amendment jurisprudence," Justice David said. "We also find that allowing resistance unnecessarily escalates the level of violence and therefore the risk of injuries to all parties involved without preventing the arrest."

Justice David said a person arrested following an unlawful entry by police still can be released on bail and has plenty of opportunities to protest the illegal entry through the court system.

The court's decision stems from a Vanderburgh County case in which police were called to investigate a husband and wife arguing outside their apartment.

When the couple went back inside their apartment, the husband told police they were not needed and blocked the doorway so they could not enter. When an officer entered anyway, the husband shoved the officer against a wall. A second officer then used a stun gun on the husband and arrested him.

Professor Ivan Bodensteiner, of Valparaiso University School of Law, said the court's decision is consistent with the idea of preventing violence.

"It's not surprising that they would say there's no right to beat the hell out of the officer," Bodensteiner said. "(The court is saying) we would rather opt on the side of saying if the police act wrongfully in entering your house your remedy is under law, to bring a civil action against the officer."

Justice Robert Rucker, a Gary native, and Justice Brent Dickson, a Hobart native, dissented from the ruling, saying the court's decision runs afoul of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

"In my view the majority sweeps with far too broad a brush by essentially telling Indiana citizens that government agents may now enter their homes illegally -- that is, without the necessity of a warrant, consent or exigent circumstances," Justice Rucker said. "I disagree."

Justices Rucker and Dickson suggested if the court had limited its permission for police entry to domestic violence situations they would have supported the ruling.

But Dickson said, "The wholesale abrogation of the historic right of a person to reasonably resist unlawful police entry into his dwelling is unwarranted and unnecessarily broad."

This is the second major Indiana Supreme Court ruling this week involving police entry into a home.

On Tuesday, the court said police serving a warrant may enter a home without knocking if officers decide circumstances justify it. Prior to that ruling, police serving a warrant would have to obtain a judge's permission to enter without knocking.

Brian Blackwell

Feds To Auction Unabomber Items Online

2011-05-13T23:50:00.002-06:00

Following a lengthy court battle, the U.S. Marshals will auction off "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski's personal effects online beginning later this month, with proceeds to compensate some of his victims.

The online auction will begin May 18 and run through June 2, the Marshals said in a statement Thursday. Among about 60 items up for sale are personal documents such as driver's licenses, birth certificates and checks; academic transcripts; typewriters, and "more than 20,000 pages of written documents, including the original handwritten and typewritten versions" of Kaczynski's manifesto, authorities said.

The auction will be conducted by the General Services Administration, the Marshals said. A catalog of the items will be available on the GSA's auction website when the sale begins.

Kaczynski, now 68, killed three people and wounded 23 others in a string of bombings from 1978 to 1995. He was arrested in 1996, pleaded guilty in 1998 and is now serving a life term in the federal "Supermax" prison in Florence, Colorado.

The FBI dubbed him the "Unabomber" as shorthand for his early targets -- universities and airlines.

Four of his victims are owed $15 million in court-ordered restitution; the others opted not to seek restitution from him.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approved the auction plan in 2009, said Steve Hirsch, a San Francisco attorney who represented the four victims in the court proceedings regarding the auctions.

The nearly two-year delay is due to two factors, Hirsch said. First, "the auction plan tries to protect the privacy of not only the named victims, but the other victims," and Kaczynski's writings had to be redacted to delete the victims' names and the details of their injuries, he said.

In addition, Kaczynski was furnished with copies of the writings, and filed motions in both the 9th Circuit and a lower court about them with objections including that he didn't have time to "quality check" the copies, Hirsch said. "We pretty much designed the auction around his objections," to prevent him from raising any potential First Amendment claims in court, he said.

Kaczynski has been "cycling through lawyers" throughout the court fight, he said, sometimes firing his appointed attorneys and opting to represent himself.

"I have not filed a petition to the Supreme Court ... because I have not been able to find representation for such an effort," says one neatly-handwritten motion Kaczynski filed in June 2009. "My experiences in the federal courts to date have convinced me that any pro se effort on my part is futile, no matter how strong its legal basis may be, and that I can hope for success only with the help of a lawyer who has the skill to influence judges on other than legal grounds."

"He's been fighting a losing battle," Hirsch said of Kaczynski, but fighting it "adroitly."

The items to be auctioned were seized from the Montana cabin where Kaczynski lived for years with no running water or indoor plumbing. The cabin has since been rebuilt and is now exhibited at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

"I regard him as the essence of evil," Dr. Charles Epstein, one of the four victims, told CNN in 2009. "He has no compassion." Epstein, a medical geneticist, was 77 when he died in February after battling pancreatic cancer, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Epstein was injured in 1993 when a bomb went off in a piece of mail he opened at his home. The blast destroyed both his eardrums and he lost parts of three fingers.

"That's one of the sad aspects of this," Hirsch said -- that Epstein didn't live to see the auction take place. His estate, however, is still owed the restitution, he said.

The 35,000-word manifesto itself led to a break in the investigation, according to the FBI. The essay claimed to explain the bomber's motives and railed against modern society. A task force recommended it be published, in hopes it would lead to the bomber's identity.

After it appeared in The Washington Post and The New York Times, authorities were contacted by David Kaczynski, the FBI said, who provided letters and documents written by his brother. "Our linguistic analysis determined that the author of those papers and the manifesto were almost certainly the same," authorities said.

Prior to David Kaczynski contacting the FBI, authorities had no idea who Ted Kaczynski was. He was not on a list of possible suspects.

The documents provided the basis for a search warrant for Kaczynski's cabin. There authorities found "a wealth of bomb components; 40,000 handwritten journal pages that included bomb-making experiments and descriptions of Unabomber crimes; and one live bomb, ready for mailing," the FBI said.

U.S. Marshal Albert Nájera of the Eastern District of California pointed out the irony of selling Kaczynski's belongings online.

"We will use the technology that Kaczynski railed against in his various manifestos to sell artifacts of his life. The proceeds will go to his victims and, in a very small way, offset some of the hardships they have suffered," he said.

Brian Blackwell

Deal Made In Rutgers Bullying / Suicide Case

2011-05-09T11:04:00.007-06:00

A former Rutgers University student who watched a web video secretly taken of a male student's sexual encounter with another man has been admitted to a pretrial intervention program.

Molly Wei pleaded not guilty Friday to two counts of invasion of privacy, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

A grand jury indicted Wei's classmate Dharun Ravi for secretly streaming online the encounter between his roommate, Tyler Clementi, and another man in September 2010.

Molly Wei

Clementi's body was recovered from the Hudson River on September 30, more than a week after he jumped from the George Washington Bridge, which spans the Hudson River separating New York and New Jersey.

Should Wei complete the three-year program without additional legal troubles, the invasion of privacy charges for watching the video will be dropped.

Wei will be required to complete 300 hours of community service and must participate in counseling associated with cyberbullying and alternate and cultural lifestyles.

The deal also requires that she testify against Ravi, who set up the camera.

A grand jury indicted Ravi on 15 counts including invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, tampering with physical evidence, witness tampering and hindering apprehension or prosecution.

Authorities said Ravi secretly placed a camera in the room and accessed it remotely.

He "then provided others an opportunity to view the encounter," Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan said in a written statement.

Two days later, Ravi attempted to view a second encounter between Clementi and the same male, alerting others on Twitter of the planned meeting, the statement said.

Ravi is accused of then deleting the tweet and replacing it with a false tweet in an effort to mislead investigators, according to the statement.

http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2010/10/rutgers-students-suicide-shows-dire.html

Brian Blackwell

Teens Plead In School Bullying-Suicide Case

2011-05-06T03:52:00.008-06:00

Three teenagers admitted Thursday that they participated in the bullying of a 15-year-old girl who later committed suicide, with their attorneys complaining that they had been unfairly charged.

Sharon Chanon Velazquez, 17, and Flannery Mullins and Ashley Longe, both 18, were sentenced to less than a year of probation after they admitted to sufficient facts to misdemeanor charges in the bullying of Phoebe Prince, a freshman at South Hadley High School who hanged herself in January 2010.

Phoebe Prince

Prosecutors said Prince, who had recently moved from Ireland to South Hadley, about 100 miles west of Boston, was hounded by five teens after she briefly dated two boys.

Her death drew international attention and was among several high-profile teen suicides that prompted new laws aimed at cracking down on bullying in schools.

By admitting to sufficient facts, the three teens acknowledged that prosecutors could win a conviction if the case went to trial. The charges against the girls were continued without a finding and will be dismissed if they successfully complete their probation.

Under a plea deal approved by Prince's family, prosecutors agreed to dismiss more serious charges against them.

Two other teens finalized similar deals with prosecutors in court on Wednesday, and prosecutors announced Thursday they had dropped a statutory rape charge against a sixth defendant, effectively ending the case.

Alfred Chamberland, a lawyer for Mullins, said it was not a "relentless" three-month bullying campaign, as retired District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel alleged when the teens were charged last year.

In a statement he read to reporters, Chamberland said prosecutors had "overcharged" the girls and the media had unfairly portrayed them as "mean girls and bullies."

District Attorney David Sullivan denied that Scheibel's office had brought inflated charges against the teens. He said his office reached the agreements with strong support from the Prince family.

"The defendants in these five cases have accepted responsibility for their actions and admitted that they engaged in criminal conduct toward Phoebe Prince in the weeks, days and hours before she took her life," Sullivan said during a news conference.

He said the "most positive message" to come from the Prince case is that "it has put an international spotlight on bullying and its devastating consequences. He added "The era of turning a blind eye to bullying and harassment is over.

In court, Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne said that Mullins, after hearing rumors at school that Prince had had "some sort of romantic relationship" with her boyfriend, told at least one classmate that "someone ought to kick her ass," referring to Prince.

Then, during gym class, several students heard her and others making "disparaging and vulgar" comments about Prince, Gagne said.

He said Velazquez, Mullins' friend, then approached Prince in a "loud and threatening manner" and called her disparaging names. Velazquez also was overheard telling Mullins that she was willing to hit Prince or get someone else to do it, Gagne said.

"Word quickly spread around the school that Mullins was angry at Prince and that Mullins planned on fighting her," Gagne said. "Prince became fearful, skipped class and went to the school nurse several times. She was frightened to go to class and was unable to focus on her studies."

Mullins admitted to sufficient facts to a misdemeanor civil rights violation, which was continued without a finding until she turns 19 in January 2012, and to a charge of disturbing a school assembly, which was continued without a finding for three months.

Prince's mother, Anne O'Brien, delivered an emotional victim impact statement, recalling her daughter's "kind heart" and the compassion she showed to others. "School for Phoebe became intolerable," O'Brien said.

Mullins showed no emotion as Prince's mother spoke and did not offer an apology in court.

Velazquez cried softly as she listened to Prince's mother describe her daughter and the pain she felt from the bullying.

Her attorney, Colin Keefe, called the plea agreement "an appropriate disposition" and said Velazquez has been subjected to an "endless public reprimand."

"My client has very much endured a very significant punishment for the last year," he said.

The third teen, Longe, cried as a prosecutor described how she yelled disparaging remarks at Prince in the school library just hours before she committed suicide and threw a beverage can at Prince as she walked home from school that day.

Longe admitted to sufficient facts to a charge of criminal harassment. The charge will be dismissed if she successfully completes nearly a year of probation.

Longe and Mullins were ordered to complete 100 hours of community service to help at-risk or underprivileged youths. Velazquez was ordered to complete 50 hours and was asked by Prince's family to voluntarily complete an additional 50 hours.

After the court hearings, prosecutors announced they had dropped a statutory rape charge against Austin Renaud, the boyfriend of Mullins who also dated Prince.

Renaud, 19, was not charged with bullying Prince as the other teens were. His attorney, Terrence Dunphy, said the dismissal of the charge is a relief.

Brian Blackwell

Cult Film Actress Yvette Vickers Remains Found

2011-05-05T21:50:00.005-06:00

The mummified remains found last week in a Los Angeles home are that of actress Yvette Vickers, who starred in the 1950s cult horror movies "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" and "Attack of the Giant Leeches," according to the L.A. County Coroner's Office.

Vickers, 82, was also a Playboy Playmate centerfold in July 1959.

Yvette Vickers

A neighbor checked on Vickers April 27 and discovered the remains in the bedroom of Vickers' home in Los Angeles' Benedict Canyon community, said Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter.

Vickers was last seen alive at least four months ago, and investigators have contacted her family.

Vickers lived alone, Winter said. It's not uncommon for Los Angeles County authorities to find mummified remains within homes or outdoors, Winter said. "We find a few every year," Winter said. "Usually they are shut-ins and people that are reclusives."

Playboy magazine was a 6-year-old scandalous sensation when Hugh Hefner chose Yvette Vickers to appear as Miss July 1959, with a centerfold photo of her lying on a sofa flashing her bare behind.

Brian Blackwell

Man Wanted For 3 Decades Apprehended

2011-04-29T16:14:00.006-06:00

A 63-year-old man wanted for sexually assaulting and impregnating his young relative is in federal custody, following his arrest three decades after and about 1,800 miles from where the alleged crime occurred.

Deputy U.S. Marshals and law enforcement officers in Kentucky arrested James David Gibson on Wednesday, about two years after his alleged 13-year-old victim came forward to authorities.

James David Gibson

She waited several decades to tell her story until her daughter became an adult and she felt that both were old enough to defend themselves, U.S. Marshals said Thursday.

The assaults occurred in the late 1970's and early 1980's in Benson, Arizona, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Authorities said that, after learning that the victim was pregnant, Gibson kidnapped her and together they fled to Tennessee.

It was not until 2009 that the victim came forward and law enforcement authorities opened their case. By then, she was back in Arizona, more than 1,500 miles from Gibson. It wasn't immediately clear when the two separated.

Soon thereafter, Gibson was tracked down in Tennessee. After the he refused to provide a DNA sample, law enforcement tried to serve him a court order demanding as much. But by then, he'd fled the state -- prompting a warrant, issued in March 2009, charging him with kidnapping and sexual assault of a minor -- according to the U.S. Marshals.

Gibson was eventually found again in Jenkins, Kentucky, where he was living with a granddaughter.

By Thursday, authorities were awaiting clearance to extradite Gibson back to Arizona. The U.S. Marshals' office was not aware if, at that point, he had yet retained or been assigned an attorney.

Brian Blackwell

Obama Kenyan-Born News Report

2011-04-22T03:46:00.008-06:00

The following is a Sunday, June 27, 2004 AP news report about Barack Obama's Illinois U.S. Senate run

Sunday June 27, 2004 - AP
Kenyan-born Obama all set for U.S. Senate

Kenyan-born U.S. Senate hopeful, Barrack Obama, appeared set to take over the Illinois Senate seat after his main rival, Jack Ryan, dropped out of the race on Friday night amid a furor over lurid sex club allegations.

The allegations that horrified fellow Republicans and caused his once-promising candidacy to implode in four short days have given Obama a clear lead as Republicans struggled to fetch an alternative.

Ryan’s campaign began to crumble on Monday following the release of embarrassing records from his divorce. In the records, his ex-wife, Boston Public actress Jeri Ryan, said her former husband took her to kinky sex clubs in Paris, New York and New Orleans.

"It’s clear to me that a vigorous debate on the issues most likely could not take place if I remain in the race," Ryan, 44, said in a statement. "What would take place, rather, is a brutal, scorched-earth campaign – the kind of campaign that has turned off so many voters, the kind of politics I refuse to play."

Although Ryan disputed the allegations, saying he and his wife went to one ‘avant-garde’ club in Paris and left because they felt uncomfortable, lashed out at the media and said it was "truly outrageous" that the Chicago Tribune got a judge to unseal the records.

The Republican choice will become an instant underdog in the campaign for the seat of retiring Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald, since Obama held a wide lead even before the scandal broke.

"I feel for him actually," Obama told a Chicago TV station. "What he’s gone through over the last three days I think is something you wouldn’t wish on anybody."

The Republican state committee must now choose a replacement for Ryan, who had won in the primaries against seven contenders. Its task is complicated by the fact that Obama holds a comfortable lead in the polls and is widely regarded as a rising Democratic star.

The chairwoman of the Illinois Republican Party, Judy Topinka, said at a news conference, after Ryan withdrew, that Republicans would probably take several weeks to settle on a new candidate.

"Obviously, this is a bad week for our party and our state," she said.

As recently as Thursday, spokesmen for the Ryan campaign still insisted that Ryan would remain in the race. Ryan had defended himself saying, "There’s no breaking of any laws. There’s no breaking of any marriage laws. There’s no breaking of the Ten Commandments anywhere."

— AP
June 27, 2004

Brian Blackwell

U.S. Files Huge Human-Trafficking Lawsuit

2011-04-22T01:53:00.006-06:00

The federal government is calling a human-trafficking lawsuit against a California-based farm labor contractor and eight farms the largest case of alleged forced labor of farm workers in the United States.

The lawsuit, made public in Los Angeles by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accused Global Horizons Manpower Inc., based in Beverly Hills, California; and eight farms in Hawaii and Washington state of luring more than 200 men from Thailand to work at farms where they were subjected to abuse.

Global Horizons Manpower Inc., Beverly Hills, CA., and
eight farms in Hawaii and Washington state are being
sued by the U.S. government in a forced-labor case.

The government alleges that between 2003 and 2007, Global Horizons promised hundreds of workers lucrative jobs in the United States, and then charged the workers exorbitant recruitment fees that they were expected to work to pay off. In some cases, according the lawsuit, the workers owed tens of thousands of dollars.

"I did not earn 70-80,000 baht (about $2,340 to $2,680) per month while working on the farm, as the recruiters had promised," said one Thai man, identified as "Ken," in a statement provided by the Thai Community Development Center, which filed the complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

"Instead, I was paid $9.03 per hour and my hours were very inconsistent," said Ken, who said he borrowed money using his parents' home and land as collateral to pay the 550,000 baht (about $18,430) recruitment fee.

The men were brought to the United States under a federal H2-A visa program, which places foreign workers on U.S. farms.

But once the men arrived, the suit says, their passports were confiscated and they were not paid for their work. It also alleges that many of the workers were barred from leaving the farms and were forced to live in cramped, dirty conditions.

In many cases, the Thai workers were threatened with deportation if they complained about the conditions, the lawsuit said.

"Some were left without water. Others were given inadequate food to eat," said EEOC attorney Anna Y. Park, who filed the lawsuit Tuesday against Global Horizons Manpower and the farms. "In some cases, bodyguards were stationed around the farms so they could not escape."

The government named six farms in Hawaii and two farms in Washington in the lawsuit, alleging the companies not only ignored abuses but participated in the "obvious mistreatment, intimidation, harassment, and unequal pay of the Thai workers."

The lawsuit alleges the workers endured screaming, threats and physical assaults by their supervisors and were threatened with deportation if they complained.

"I feel what my traffickers did to me was not right and I do not want them to be able to do this to other people," said another man, "Sawat," in his statement. "I hope that justice is brought against them." Sawat said he borrowed 650,000 baht, or $21,000, to pay the recruitment fee.

Federal criminal charges were brought last year against Global Horizons' owner, Mordechai Orian, and others for the alleged trafficking of more than 400 Thai workers. But this week marked the first time the federal government implicated farms in the case. None of the farms faces criminal charges.

The farms in Hawaii include: Captain Cook Coffee Co., Del Monte Fresh Produce, Kauai Coffee Co., Kelena Farms, MacFarms of Hawaii and Maui Pineapple Farms. The farms in Washington state were identified as Green Acre Farms and Valley Fruit Orchards.

Del Monte denied the allegations, saying in a written statement to CNN that it "did not engage in or support any alleged mistreatment of Thai workers, nor did it receive complaint from the Thai workers." It also said the company had already sued Global Horizons for breach of contract based on the EEOC charges filed on behalf of the Thai workers.

The Captain Cook Coffee Co. also denied the allegations, saying it fully cooperated with the EEOC investigation and that the federal agency has refused to identify any specific wrongdoing by the company. "The complaint filed this week again offers no factual basis for any of the allegations against Captain Cook," the company said in a written statement.

Kauai Coffee Co.'s owner, Alexander and Baldwin, said in a statement, "We are disappointed that the EEOC continues to include our company in their claims against Global Horizons, Inc., despite years of our cooperation with their investigation against Global and without any evidence of wrongdoing by Kauai Coffee Company, Inc."

The company said it had never been informed by any workers from Thailand, the government or anyone else that the Thai workers were mistreated while at Kauai Coffee. It said it assisted with the government investigation and conducted its own investigation, which "confirmed a strongly positive working relationship between the Thai workers and Kauai Coffee employees. We made multiple requests of the EEOC to identify specific acts of wrongdoing and have not received any information."

The federal lawsuit accuses Global Horizons and the farms of violating the Civil Rights Act. It is seeking back pay and monetary damages of between $50,000 and $300,000 for each worker. The EEOC said that the case could potentially involve hundreds of victims and witnesses.

The first allegations of mistreatment of Thai farm laborers was brought to light in late 2003 when a worker escaped a farm in Hawaii, said Chanchanit Martorell, executive director of the Thai Community Development Center -- the agency that first brought the case to the attention of the government.

Martorell said the man was the first of more than 260 Thai workers who made their way to the nonprofit agency. All she said recounted similar stories: A poor Thai farmer is approached by a labor contractor, offered what is said to be a lucrative job on a farm in the United States and then arrives only to find he owes thousands of dollars in recruiting fees.

"They end up getting their passports confiscated," Martorell told CNN. "They are completely restricted in their freedom. They are not allowed to move around. In some cases, they are under surveillance."

"Ken" said he eventually bought a bus ticket to Los Angeles, where he has worked at restaurants. He said he now earns about $500 a week and sends money to his family in Thailand "to support them and to pay off the large amount of debt that I still owe for my Global Horizons recruitment fee." He said he still owes 90,000 baht, or nearly $3,020.

The Geneva-based International Labour Organization, which tracks forced-labor statistics, estimates the world's current "human trafficking stock" is 2.4 million people.

While many associate stories of forced labor with the trafficking primarily of women and children as sex workers, analysts say labor trafficking involves as many men as it does women and children.

"The workers who are trafficked for labor purposes tend to work in sectors that are isolated from the mainstream," said Kathleen Newland, the director of the Migrants, Migration and Development and Refugee Protection Programs at the Migration Policy Institute.

Brian Blackwell

Tobacco Tax Increases Lure Violent Criminals

2011-04-18T04:25:00.003-06:00

A recent wave of state tobacco tax increases, designed to pump revenue into cash-strapped local governments, is inspiring an increasingly dangerous cigarette smuggling industry where big profits lure violent criminal gangs and drug traffickers into the booming illegal market, according to law enforcement officials and court records.

Larry Penninger, acting director of the tobacco diversion unit of teh Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), says investigations and prosecutions involving tobacco trafficking have been increasing as smugglers flood high-tax states with cigarettes from low-tax states.

From 2007 to last year, 27 states raised their cigarette taxes, according to Michigan’s Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which closely tracks tobacco tax rates across the country. Mackinac describes tobacco smuggling as an "unintended consequence of high cigarette taxes."

There is so much illicit money to be made, according to Penninger, that some drug and weapon trafficking organizations are adding tobacco to their product lines to boost profits.

For example, in low-tax states such as Virginia, where cigarettes cost about $4.50 a pack, smugglers can sell a truckload (typically 800 cases) in New York at $13 a pack. New York is the highest tobacco taxing jurisdiction in the country.

Smuggling costs states and the federal government about $5 billion, according to U.S. government estimates. "Everybody out there (involved in illegal trafficking operations) is tapping into tobacco," according to Penninger.

Since 9/11, much of federal law enforcement has focused on terrorism, but tobacco smuggling is attracting fresh interest.

• Last year, the ATF reported 357 open cases involving tobacco smuggling, compared with a handful a decade earlier.

• During the 2010 fiscal year, the Justice Department reported 71 new prosecutions referred by the bureau, a 39% increase from the year before, according to records compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University in New York.

• Seizures of cash and property also have been rising, from $11 million in the 2007 fiscal year to $31.5 million in the 2009 fiscal year.

Brian Blackwell

ATF Fast and Furious Gun Running

2011-04-18T04:05:00.004-06:00

Federal agents and prosecutors last year encouraged Arizona gun dealers to sell firearms to buyers for Mexican cartels even after the store owners told them that weapons might be used to kill Border Patrol agents, according to e-mails obtained by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder that the e-mails refute earlier Justice Department denials.

The e-mails were exchanged by a federal agent and an Arizona gun dealer last April and June.

"In light of this new evidence, the Justice Department’s claim that the ATF never knowingly sanctioned or allowed the sale of assault weapons to straw purchasers is simply not credible," Grassley wrote in the letter sent Wednesday.

The letter and e-mails were made public Thursday.

The controversy stems from Operation Fast and Furious, an Arizona investigation in which agents monitored weapons and buyers after suspicious sales in an effort to track guns to cartel members.

After U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in a December shootout near Nogales, Ariz., two AK-47s found at the scene were traced to Operation Fast and Furious. They had been purchased in Glendale 11 months earlier.

U.S. authorities previously denied that gun-store owners were encouraged to continue selling firearms to cartel operatives, some of whom visited shops repeatedly, purchasing dozens of assault rifles.

The e-mails released by Grassley contradict those statements. In correspondence with an unidentified gun dealer last April, ATF Supervisor David Voth wrote: "I understand that the frequency with which some individuals under investigation by our office have been purchasing firearms from your business has caused concerns for you.... However, if it helps put you at ease, we are continually monitoring these suspects using a variety of investigative techniques which I cannot go into (in) detail."

The firearms vendor responded by asking for a letter to ensure that he would not face repercussions for selling dozens of weapons to a suspected criminal: "I want to help ATF with its investigation, but not at the risk of agents’ safety because I have some very close friends that are U.S. Border Patrol agents in southern Arizona."

Agent Terry was killed six months later in a firefight with suspected border bandits. No one has been charged in the slaying.

In the letter to Holder, Grassley said the Justice Department’s depiction of Operation Fast and Furious "is simply not credible" and rebuked the Justice Department for failing to provide records that he began seeking in February.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix on Thursday issued a statement that said federal prosecutors are restricted from commenting about ongoing cases.

U.S. and Mexican justice authorities have complained for years that cartel bloodshed is fueled in part by the illegal flow of weapons, mostly AK-47s, purchased in the United States and smuggled unlawfully across the border.

Operation Fast and Furious culminated three months ago with 34 arrests and 700 gun seizures.

At the time, Bill Newell, special agent in charge for Arizona, insisted that no guns had been intentionally allowed to enter Mexico.

In addition to claiming the ATF allowed straw buys, agency whistleblowers and some critics also have alleged that agents knowingly allowed hundreds of firearms out of the country, hoping to track the weapons to cartel bosses in Mexico rather than to low-level players in the United States.

Justice Department and ATF officials previously discounted allegations that agents intentionally let weapons be smuggled into Mexico on their watch.

Weapons linked to the Fast and Furious investigation entered Mexico, officials said, because the guns were purchased before suspects came under surveillance or because straw buyers managed to slip away while being monitored.

An investigation is being conducted by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General.

Fast and Furious was part of a larger ATF campaign, Project Gunrunner, launched in 2006 to combat the weapons trafficking.

An inspector general’s report last year criticized the bureau for catching only straw buyers, or minnows.

Reports that hundreds of guns were allowed across the border in pursuit of bigger fish have generated outrage among some Mexican lawmakers and a demand for information from the government’s Foreign Ministry.

More: http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2011/03/atf-agent-i-was-ordered-to-let-us-guns.html

Brian Blackwell

Decades Old Murder Mystery Solved

2011-04-17T06:42:00.018-06:00

Three men have been charged with the murder of a 15-year-old boy, bringing to a close a more than four decades old Massachusetts murder mystery.

Edward A. Brown, 59, Walter Shelley, 60, and Michael Ferreira, 57, face charges in the asphyxiation murder of John McCabe on September 27, 1969, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said in a written statement Friday.

"These charges are the result of an incredible turn of events in what has been an unsolved case for over 40 years," he said.

Police found McCabe's body in an abandoned car in Lowell. He was bound with rope and his eyes and mouth were taped shut, Leone said.

Edward A. Brown, Walter Shelley
and Michael Ferreira

"Suddenly they said we had to meet at the police department to discuss and my parents and I were almost in shock," Roberta McCabe-Donovan, who was 6 years old when her brother was killed, told CNN Friday.

The men were 18, 17, and 16 at the time of the crime.

Prosecutors say Shelley faces murder charges. Brown is charged with manslaughter. Ferreira was a minor at the time and will be charged with murder in juvenile court, Leone added. He also faces perjury charges outside of juvenile court for lying to the grand jury.

"They were persons of interest for a long time," said district attorney spokeswoman Jessica Venezia Pastore. New witness statements combined with old evidence enabled the break in the case, she said.

Investigators say McCabe disappeared after leaving a dance at a Knights of Columbus hall in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. His parents reported him missing hours later when he did not arrive home.

The three men abducted McCabe and "bound and gagged him in such a way that it led to his death," Leone said.

McCabe was left in the trunk of a car in a deserted field, where he ultimately died. The medical examiner determined McCabe died from "asphyxia due to strangulation."

"There was no reason known for 42 years and then Friday we found out it was because of a girl," said McCabe-Donovan, who saw the perpetrators for the first time Friday at the courthouse. "I don't believe John even knew the three of them."

Authorities believe McCabe was targeted because the other young men were upset about him speaking to a girl at the dance.

The three men made a pact with one another to never talk about the murder, according to the Associated Press, and thus went without punishment for their alleged crime for more than 41 years.

But while Leone credits "recent evidentiary developments" for the recent arrests, a childhood friend of McCabe's said she was at least partially responsible for cracking the cold case.

Maggie Coffey, who grew up with McCabe, said she was supposed to go to the dance with him the night he was killed. Ever since, the mystery surrounding his death has spurred her to keep on top of the local authorities to continue the investigation.

"[We were in art class together], and he had startling blue eyes and red, red hair, and he came right up to me and showed me his poster and said, 'I made this for you.' Then he asked me to the school dance," recalled Coffey, now 56. "I, of course, said yes. But my mom made me stay home and babysit. I cried and cried and pissed and moaned about the whole thing.

"John never came back from the dance that night," she said. "The case never went away in my mind. I kept it going. I would email old school friends, and anything I heard I just shot it immediately to the police.

"Today, the investigative machine is getting all the attention," she added, "but what I firmly believe is that John's friends and the impression John made on us and the fact that we could never forget him -- it was that kind of resilience that kept the heat up all those years. ... It renewed efforts and, finally, I think it got done.

"All we wanted was for the truth to come out and to know what happened before John's parents died," said Coffey. "Think about it all those years they never knew what happened, who was responsible. And now they do."

At a press conference today, McCabe's sisters thanked authorities for their hard work. Their parents did not speak.

Shelley and Ferreira are being held on $500,000 cash bail while Brown was released on his own recognizance. Shelley and Brown's next court date is scheduled for May 26 and Ferreira will be back before a judge on April 18.


Scene of a cold case: Maple Street in Lowell, Mass. as it looks today. Police say John McCabe, 15, was left to die on this quiet street in 1969 by older boys.

On the night of the killing, Shelley, Ferreira, and Brown were driving around looking for John Joseph McCabe to "teach him a lesson" because the blonde, thin youth had caught Shelley’s girlfriend's eye, according to a police report.

The three defendants found McCabe thumbing a ride home along Route 38 and Ferreira dragged him into Shelley’s 1965 Chevrolet Impala and punched and threatened him in the back seat as they drove to a secluded lot, police said.

They bound his wrists and ankles, then ran a rope from his neck to his feet and covered his mouth and eyes with tape, police said, telling him all the while this is what he got for “messing with Marla.” The three returned to the lot an hour later and found him dead, police said. The three vowed there to tell no one.

Lowell police were called to a field off Maple Street on Sept. 27, 1969, where two 9-year-old boys found McCabe, the Middlesex District Attorney’s office said. Bill McCabe, the boy’s father said the family stayed up all night and he was called the next day by Lowell police who put him in the back of a police car and began to drive.

Several years ago, Lowell police set up a "cold case" project. Initial suspects and witnesses were spoken to again in 2008, including Ferreira.

Brown was the person who finally talked. The Lowell Sun said Brown told police of a vow of silence the three young friends took in the aftermath of finding McCabe dead.

"Brown told police they were fearful they would be caught, so they took a vow of silence. Ferreira threatened to kill anyone who broke that vow," according to court documents.

Shelley, who lives just a couple of miles from McCabe’s parents, pleaded not guilty to murder on Friday and was ordered held on $500,000 cash bail. Brown also pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance. Ferreira faces a fugitive warrant in New Hampshire before he can appear in a Massachusetts courtroom.

Brian Blackwell

Man Gets 34 Years For Honor Killing

2011-04-15T23:45:00.017-06:00

An Arizona judge sentenced an Iraqi immigrant on Friday to more than 34 years in prison, about two months after his conviction for running over and killing his 20-year-old daughter because he claimed she had become "too Americanized."

A Maricopa County, Arizona, jury in February convicted Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 50, of one count of second-degree murder in the death of Noor Faleh Almaleki.

He was also found guilty of aggravated assault for causing serious injuries to Amal Edan Khalaf, the mother of Noor's fiance, as well as two counts of leaving the scene.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki

On Friday, Judge Roland Steinle sentenced Almaleki to a total of 34½ years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for his crimes.

That includes 16 years -- less than the maximum possible sentence of 22 years -- on the murder charge, which will be served concurrently with a 15-year aggravated assault sentence. In addition, Almaleki will get consecutive 3½-year terms for leaving the scene.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery applauded the judge's decision and told reporters: "Mr. Almaleki will have an appropriately long time in prison to ponder this truth."

"The killing of one's own child is more than just a violation of the law," Montgomery said. "It is an offense against parenthood itself and the awesome responsibility parents have for nurturing and protecting their children."

Noor Faleh Almaleki died in November 2009 at an Arizona hospital, nearly two weeks after being run over by a Jeep in a parking lot in the Phoenix suburb of Peoria, authorities said.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki believed his daughter had become "too Americanized" and had abandoned "traditional" Iraqi values, Peoria police said. The family moved to the Phoenix area in the mid-1990s, and Almaleki was unhappy with his daughter's style of dress and her resistance to his rules, according to police.

Khalaf testified that Almaleki made no effort to stop before she and Noor Almaleki were struck.

Defense attorneys said Faleh Almaleki was trying to spit on Khalaf, but swerved and ended up running down both women, KTVK reported. Almaleki chose not to testify in his trial.

After the incident, Almaleki drove to Mexico, abandoning his vehicle in Nogales, police said. He then made his way to Mexico City and boarded a plane to Britain, where authorities denied him entry into the country and put him on a plane back to the United States.

Brian Blackwell

More:
http://www.brian-blackwell.com/2011/02/iraqi-convicted-in-arizona-honor.html

1943 Missing Airman Remains Found

2011-04-14T00:21:00.004-06:00

The remains of a Massachusetts airman missing in action from World War II have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.

Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Martin P. Murray, 21, of Lowell, Massachusetts, took off on October 27, 1943, from an airfield near Port Moresby, New Guinea, with 11 other crew members aboard a B-24D Liberator.

At the time, plans were being formulated to mount an attack on the Japanese fortification at Rabaul in Papua New Guinea's New Britain Province, the Defense Department's POW/Missing Personnel Office said in a statement.

The crew was assigned to conduct reconnaissance on nearby shipping lanes in the Bismarck Sea. During the mission, however, the crew was told to land at a friendly air strip nearby due to poor weather.

The last radio transmission from the crew did not indicate their location. Multiple search missions in the following weeks did not locate the aircraft.

After World War II, the Army Graves Registration Service searched for missing airmen, including Murray, in the area, but concluded in June 1949 all of them were unrecoverable, the department said.

In August 2003, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command received information on a crash site from a citizen in Papua New Guinea while investigating another case, according to the statement. The citizen gave the team an identification card from one of the crew members and said there were possible human remains at the site.

Other teams attempted to visit the site twice in 2004, but were unable to because of poor weather and hazardous conditions at the helicopter landing site, authorities said. "Another team was able to successfully excavate the site from January to March 2007 where they found several identification tags from the B-24D crew as well as human remains."

Scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used forensic identification tools, circumstantial evidence, dental comparisons and mitochondrial DNA to identify Murray's remains, the statement said.

Murray's remains will be buried Saturday in Marshfield, Massachusetts, the Defense Department said.

At the end of World War II, the U.S. government was unable to recover and identify 79,000 Americans, the statement said. Now, that number has decreased to 74,000.

Brian Blackwell