......... NEWS
of the Day - October 30, 2009
on
some LACP issues of interest ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEWS
of the Day
- October 30, 2009
on
some issues of interest to the community policing and neighborhood
activist
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following group of articles from local
newspapers and other sources constitutes but a small percentage
of the information available to the community policing and neighborhood
activist public. It is by no means meant to cover every possible
issue of interest, nor is it meant to convey any particular
point of view ...
We present this simply as a convenience to our readership ...
From the LA Times
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sixth arrest made in Richmond gang rape
October 29, 2009 | 11:32 pm
The Associated Press is reporting a sixth arrest in the case of a 15-year-old girl who was gang raped in the Bay Area. Here is the story:
RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) — Police have made a sixth arrest in the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside a high school dance.
Richmond police say 18-year-old Jose Carlos Montano was arrested about 5 p.m. Thursday outside his San Pablo home.
Richmond Police Lt. Mark Gagan described Montano as having played a “significant role in the rape of the victim.” Gagan said Montano was being held in lieu of $1.3-million bail on suspicion of rape, rape in concert with force and other charges.
The arrest comes after three other teenage suspects appeared for the first time in court Thursday. A 19-year-old and a 21-year-old have also been arrested in the case.
Police say the victim was attacked after leaving a homecoming dance at Richmond High School on Saturday night.
The class warfare behind the story of his 1915 lynching keeps it tragically relevant.
On Aug. 17, 1915, Leo Frank, a Cornell-educated Jewish industrialist, was lynched just outside Atlanta. The atrocity marked the culmination of an ugly conflict that began with the 1913 murder of a child laborer named Mary Phagan, who toiled for pennies an hour in Atlanta's National Pencil Factory. Frank, the plant superintendent, was convicted of the crime and sentenced to death, though he always maintained his innocence. He appealed his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, losing each time, whereupon Georgia Gov. John Slaton commuted his sentence to life imprisonment. The decision so angered the general populace that a mob organized by a Superior Court judge, the son of a U.S. senator and a former governor abducted Frank from a well-guarded state prison and hanged him from an oak tree.
The lynching of Frank seems like an incident out of another America, one of gray-bearded Civil War veterans and Jim Crow, Model Ts and ragtime. Woodrow Wilson was president. "The Birth of a Nation" was playing in theaters. The story, however, remains very much alive. Throughout the fall, "Parade," the Alfred Uhry musical inspired by the affair, has been drawing crowds to the Mark Taper Forum. On Nov. 8, KCET will broadcast "The People v. Leo Frank," the first full-length documentary to explore the topic.
There are many reasons why the Frank case continues to command attention. For one, both the murder of Mary Phagan and the lynching of Leo Frank are crimes as puzzling as any Arthur Conan Doyle ever invented. Strange notes, racial paradoxes (an all-white jury convicted the factory boss on the testimony of a black witness) and an intricate conspiracy played a part. But finally the story is still relevant and intriguing because the conflict at its core foreshadows today's red-state/blue-state hostilities.
The raw material for class warfare was, of course, there from the start -- a lovely Southern girl found murdered at a business run by a Northern Jew. But it wasn't until after Frank's conviction that matters exploded. At the urging of the rabbi of Atlanta's Reform synagogue, a nationwide campaign to exonerate the condemned man was inaugurated by Adolph Ochs, publisher of the New York Times, and A.D. Lasker, the advertising genius behind Sunkist orange juice and Lucky Strike cigarettes. They believed that Frank had not been so much prosecuted as persecuted.
To attract attention to what he viewed as an injustice, Ochs launched the Times' first -- and to this day only -- journalistic crusade. Over an 18-month period, the paper published not just dozens of editorials demanding a new trial for Frank but scores of news articles slanted in his favor. For his part, Lasker orchestrated public relations stunts and hired William Burns, the private detective who solved the 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times, to turn up new evidence. Although Ochs and Lasker were convinced that anti-Semitism had poisoned Frank's trial, they and their supporters in New York and other urban areas did not take into account how their efforts would come across in the South or in working-class heartland neighborhoods.
Articulating the populist response was future U.S. Sen. Tom Watson, a Georgia lawyer and polemicist of such superior rhetorical gifts and inexhaustible vitriol that Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck pale in comparison. Week after week in his widely circulated paper, the Jeffersonian, Watson rebutted Ochs and Lasker, arguing to his vast readership that self-appointed elites representing money and privilege had decreed that a child laborer's life was not equal in value to that of a Jewish industrialist. "The agrarian rebel," as historian C. Vann Woodward dubbed Watson, gave voice to a constituency that felt excluded from the halls of power in Washington and on Wall Street. When Slaton commuted Frank's sentence, Watson called for the lynching.
No one involved in Frank's death was ever convicted or even indicted. (The chief prosecutor of the county in which the incident occurred helped to plan it.) The polarizing impact of the affair made itself felt almost immediately. On Thanksgiving eve 1915, a few months after Frank was hanged, the Ku Klux Klan held its first modern-era cross-burning atop Stone Mountain, several miles east of Atlanta. (Three members of the lynching party were present.) Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League, which had been founded in 1913, took up the fight against religious intolerance in earnest.
The Frank case, however, was about more than racism and anti-Semitism. It was also about the conflicting perceptions of the nation's haves and have-nots, the chasm between the people who appear to run things and those who feel they lack a say. While it's doubtful that a mob could break into a state prison in 2009 and lynch an inmate, it's not difficult to imagine a scenario in which something almost as bad transpired. In an era of escalating home foreclosures and rocketing unemployment, endless bank bailouts and hefty bonuses to Goldman Sachs traders, the Frank saga says as much about current events as it does about history.
Steve Oney, author of "And the Dead Shall Rise," is chief consultant to "The People v. Leo Frank."
ATTACK: Two men are wounded; teen questioned, released.
By Susan Abram, Staff Writer
Updated: 10/29/2009 10:45:44 PM PDT
NORTH HOLLYWOOD — A shooting that left two men wounded as they arrived for morning prayers at an Orthodox Jewish synagogue Thursday raised questions about security and sparked worries about similar acts elsewhere.
Police continued to search for the gunman who shot the two men after each parked his car in an underground parking structure at Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic Congregation, at 12405 Sylvan St.
Both men were shot in the legs and treated at local hospitals. The victims were identified by media reports as Maor Ben-Nissan, 38, and Allen Lasry, 53, but neither hospital would confirm their names.
The motive for the crime remains murky, with some possibilities listed by police as a random act of violence, a business deal gone wrong, or a possible robbery. But police hesitated to call it a hate crime, though the area remained on tactical alert hours after the shooting.
"As far as we know, no words were exchanged," said Lt. John Romero, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman. "Just a very angry man with a gun."
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, City Controller Wendy Greuel and other officials gathered with religious leaders at the site to offer support.
Villaraigosa also stressed there was no proof that the shooting incident was a hate crime targeting the Jewish community.
"None of us should presume or speculate more about this crime other than it was a random act of violence," Villaraigosa said at a news conference at the scene.
One of the victims was near a stairwell around 6:19 a.m. when he was approached by the suspect. Police said the gunman tried to shoot the man without warning, but his gun malfunctioned. As he tried to get the gun to work, a second man heard and saw what was happening and approached the gunman.
Both men were then shot and the suspect, described as a young black man in a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt, then ran on foot from the synagogue's parking garage.
One victim was taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center and the other to Valley Presbyterian Hospital.
Police detained a 17-year-old male soon after the shooting, but the teen was later released. A weapon was not recovered, but police said they are reviewing security video of the incident.
LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore, the Valley's commanding officer, said detectives with the North Hollywood station were working with state and federal investigators to determine if the shooting was motivated by the victims' faith or ethnicity.
"We recognize the times in which we live," said Moore, who is one of three finalists to become the next LAPD chief.
"We are always concerned" about that possibility, he said. "We are going to assume that the synagogue did play a role in this."
Residents in the area described a hectic scene early in the morning. Michelle Vargo said she was driving her 16-year-old son to school when she heard three shots fired and saw a man running down Sylvan Street.
"It was frightening," she said. "I couldn't see a lot, but I knew something was going on."
Vargo said the area is typically quiet.
The North Hollywood area has attracted a large Orthodox Jewish population in recent decades, with kosher stores and Jewish families from a variety of countries ranging from Morocco to Israel to Argentina.
Despite assurances that the act was not a hate crime, some members of the Jewish community called for more security, especially since the synagogue also serves as a school for young children.
The incident sparked some fears of a repeat of the North Valley Jewish Community Center shooting on Aug. 10, 1999, when white supremacist Buford O. Furrow Jr. opened fire at the center's child care facility, wounding five people, including three young children. He later shot and killed a Filipino-American letter carrier in Chatsworth. Furrow is serving a life sentence in federal prison.
"I'm really concerned and I feel really bad" for those wounded, said Shlomo Yaghobi, 18, of Encino.
Yaghobi drove his 11-year-old brother to school when he saw the heavy police presence and became fearful, thinking the worst.
"I want to ask police to put security in the school, to protect the children," he said. "We don't want war, we don't want to fight. We just want peace."
But Matthew Friedman, associate regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, said while hate crimes against Jews have increased, Thursday's incident seemed isolated because there was no vandalism or hate speech involved.
Still, each incident is a reminder to the community to review their security in place, he said.
"We usually see an uptick during hard economic times, because people need a scapegoat," Friedman said. "But this is very rare. People shouldn't assume it's a hate crime."
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Wiesenthal Center praised the LAPD's response.
"The two words that come to mind are gratitude and vigilance," Cooper said. "The response of the mayor and the LAPD has been incredible, but expected. We live in a difficult world today where hate crimes and violence are part of our reality."
News of the shooting sparked a network of communication between Orthodox rabbis from all over California.
Rabbi Nachman Abend of Chabad of North Hollywood said he and others rushed to the synagogue as soon as they heard what had happened.
Abend said no additional security is planned, but he and other religious leaders will discuss the issue in the next few days.
"We are cautiously monitoring the situation," he said.
What this council woman wants to see in the next LAPD chief
By Jan Perry
Updated: 10/29/2009 04:51:26 PM PDT
AS a member of the Los Angeles City Council, my cell phone is always ringing. When it buzzes in the middle of the night - which happens too often - it's usually with the sad news that someone in my district has been hurt or murdered.
The City Council will soon grapple with one of our most important decisions in years: who will be the next chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.
The council's decision to approve a candidate for the job has huge implications for my district, which covers parts of downtown and South Los Angeles. Police officers in these parts of town are often the most visible public safety representatives.
They must keep the peace, be diplomats and act as social workers - and do all these things in a multi-lingual environment. At their best, the police don't just protect and serve, they empower residents to make their lives and neighborhoods better.
There is a lot to commend in the LAPD as we now have many fine senior officers and command staff who have built trusting relationships with community members.
But the next chief will inherit many serious issues involving the LAPD. My decision to approve the next chief will be determined by his view on those matters.
I expect the next chief to:
Report crime statistics accurately. Although crime is down, numbers should not be aggregated to create a rosier picture of what's really happening in Los Angeles. Statistics can ultimately work for or against us and prevent the city from effectively competing for more federal funding for a variety of programs.
Embrace and even expand the Safer Cities Initiative to reduce crime on Skid Row. By focusing on all types of offenses, Safer Cities has helped reclaim a community in recovery and protected the people who live there, most notably the homeless, many that are frail and disabled. The initiative has also given many people a choice: face punishment for crimes or seek the social services they desperately need.
Continue to deploy more officers to high-crime areas. Crime ebbs and flows in many parts of Los Angeles, and we need a police chief courageous enough to be flexible and put officers in areas that need the most protection. This requires a chief who can respond to crime strategically and one who can also rise above the politics that too often tries to dictate police strategy.
Stay out of elections. As the Christopher Commission wrote years ago, we do not need a chief or elected official put in a position where they owe each other favors. Being chief is hard enough and I want a chief who is there for everyone. That means leaving partisan feelings at the door.
Be willing to accept that the city may not be able to continue expanding the size of the police force. These are very tough financial times for cities everywhere and we're trying our best in Los Angeles to maintain core services.
I want a chief who will be forthright about the police budget, deliberative in his management of resources and recognize his department is one of many that keep the city operating and serving the needs of our residents.
I went to a community block party not so long ago and a young man walked up and asked "Do you remember me? You visited me in the hospital when I got stabbed."
I didn't know what to say. I'm happy he recovered - unlike so many others who have not survived their wounds.
It goes without saying that reducing crime and improving quality of life will continue to be the city's foremost goal. We've made a lot of progress in recent years.
But progress hardly guarantees a bright future. This is a complex, large, multi-layered city with a fragile economy and diverse communities, competing for shrinking resources. Things can go wrong in the blink of an eye.
And that is why when I vote for our next police chief, I'll be thinking of the many victims of crime I've met or seen over the years. The best way to honor them is to keep pushing the LAPD to find ways to be better at what they do every day on our behalf.
PEORIA, Ill. (AP) | An al Qaeda sleeper agent who admitted contact with the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was sentenced to more than eight years in prison Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm could have sentenced Ali al-Marri to as much as 15 years. But he handed down the lighter sentence of eight years and four months in consideration of what defense attorneys called harsh treatment during the almost six years al-Marri was held without charges in a U.S. Navy brig.
The judge's decision could have far-reaching consequences because the United States still holds more than 200 people without charge at the detention facility at the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. If convicted, those detainees also could argue their time in custody should be considered at sentencing.
Al-Marri, a 44-year-old Qatar native, pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.
He wept through his 10-minute testimony Thursday, telling Judge Mihm he was sorry he ever helped the terrorist organization and glad his actions never led to any harm.
Judge Mihm said he did not believe al-Marri renounced al Qaeda and thought he was likely to attack the United States if given the chance. But he also said al-Marri deserved credit for the time he'd spent in isolation in the Navy brig in South Carolina. While Judge Mihm couldn't directly credit al-Marri for that time, he had the option of giving him a lighter sentence.
Al-Marri quietly thanked God in Arabic when Judge Mihm delivered the sentence. Al-Marri's relatives heard the news about 11:20 p.m. in Saudi Arabia. They had been hoping al-Marri would receive probation, and his brother said previously he hoped to see al-Marri soon.
"I don't know what to say," brother Naji al-Marri said by telephone. "Did they count the years he spent in prison?"
During the two-day sentencing hearing, defense attorneys showed videos and presented testimony to show al-Marri had endured cruel treatment - including sensory deprivation, lengthy interrogations and threats to harm his family - during almost six years in the Navy brig. In court documents, they argued that amounted to a sentence "beyond what our nation stands for and tolerates as a matter of respect for the law."
Prosecutors had argued for the maximum sentence, presenting testimony to try to prove al-Marri would still try to inflict harm on the United States if he had a chance. They have 10 days to appeal the sentence but said no decision on that has been made yet.
Al-Marri admitted that he trained in al Qaeda camps and stayed in safe houses in Pakistan between 1998 and 2001, learning how to handle weapons and communicate by phone and e-mail using code.
He also acknowledged having regular contact with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks, and with Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, who helped the Sept. 11 hijackers with money and Western-style clothing.
He was arrested in December 2001 while a graduate student at Bradley University in central Illinois. In 2003, President George W. Bush declared al-Marri an enemy combatant, one of three held on U.S. soil since the 2001 attacks.
After the U.S. Supreme Court agreed in December 2008 to consider al-Marri's challenge of his enemy combatant status, President Obama ordered him surrendered to civilian authorities in Peoria, where Bradley University is located and he was indicted.
Luqman Ameen Abdullah put a sick new twist on the American Dream.
The radical Muslim imam, who was gunned down by FBI agents in Michigan on Wednesday, dreamed of carving separate Islamic states out of the Midwest, where he and his friends could enforce strict Sharia law, according to court documents. To prepare, he stockpiled guns, trained his cohorts in sword fighting and fantasized about nuking Washington, DC.
"America must fall," he told a confidential informant, according to court papers.
Abdullah, 53, vowed to die rather than be taken by the government, and advocated "offensive jihad, rather than a defensive jihad," according to court papers.
"[He] told his followers it is their duty to oppose the FBI and the government," said FBI Agent Gary Leone, according to an affidavit in the case.
Despite his anti-American rhetoric, when an undercover informant asked if he wanted to "do something" during the 2006 Super Bowl, Abdullah said he didn't want to hurt innocent people.
"It there's something going to be done . . . it's going to be legitimate," he said.
When the feds went to arrest him on charges that included gun trafficking and mail fraud, Abdullah -- born Christopher Thomas -- opened fire. An FBI dog was killed in the crossfire.
Abdullah was the imam for a chapter of a group called Ummah, allegedly headed by H. Rap Brown, an infamous Black Panther leader in prison for the murder of a cop in 2000.
Abdullah allegedly traded and sold guns with this underground army.
"[He] told his followers that they need to be with the Taliban, the Hizbollah and with Sheikh Bin Laden," according to the affidavit.
The FBI had its eyes on him for about two years and used undercover agents to record him.
"If they are coming to get to me, I'll just strap a bomb on and blow up everybody," Abdullah said, according to FBI documents.
Abdullah was forced out of his Detroit mosque last January because of delinquent taxes, the feds said.
There, investigators found a cache of firearms, knives, martial-arts weapons and a "shooting range."
In his new enclave in Dearborn, Abdullah prepped his members for battle.
He and his followers trained in "kickboxing, boxing, sword fighting and other types of self-defense," Leone wrote.
Disturbingly, he also allegedly disciplined children by "beating them with sticks on their hands, knees, and legs until they were covered with bruises," the documents said.
The FBI said Abdullah, who was convicted for felonious assault and carrying a concealed weapon, and his group were planning "action against the government."
According to informants, he fantasized about nuking DC after seeing a TV show about a bomb.
Remarks by Attorney General Eric Holder at Press Conference Following:
Tribal Nations Listening Session
ST. PAUL, MINN. ~ Thursday, October 29, 2009
Remarks as prepared for delivery:
Thank you all for joining us today. Joining me on stage are Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli, the United States Attorney for Minnesota Todd Jones, and three representatives from the Native American community: Theresa Pouley of the Colville Confederated Tribes, Zackeree Kelin of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, and Ted Quasula of the Hualapai Tribe.
As many of you know, we have just completed the Department of Justice's Tribal Nations Listening Session, which was the beginning of a government-to-government dialogue between Tribal Nations and the Department.
This has been a priority for me – not just because the crime statistics in Indian Country are staggering, but because tribal communities touch nearly every aspect of the Department. In fact, nearly 100 Department of Justice officials representing more than 20 different components have joined us in St. Paul, to listen and engage in discussions about concrete proposals that we can take back to Washington to implement.
We have two goals for our work in Indian Country. One is to find immediate solutions to bring down the crime rates, including homicide, drugs, and violence against children and women, and to put policies in place to help tribal communities make a difference for themselves. The other is to develop long term answers to the problems facing tribal communities.
It is simply impossible to exaggerate the severity of this issue. Based on data reported by tribes to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, we've seen violent crime rates in some parts of Indian Country that are two, four, and sometimes over ten times the national average.
Some tribal land counties have rates of murder against women that are more than 10 times the national average. Congressional findings show that 1 out of every 3 American Indian or Alaska Native women is raped in her lifetime, and that Native American women experience the violent crime of battering at a rate of 23.2 per 1,000, compared with 8 per 1,000 among Caucasian women.
This situation is completely unacceptable to me – both as the Attorney General, and as an American. We cannot afford to wait another minute to address it. We already know what violent crime, substance abuse, and a lack of resources for law enforcement is doing to tribal communities. And yet for everything that we've learned, we are still far behind where we should be – not only in funding and staff, but in infrastructure and procedures to ensure consistency and longevity.
I was incredibly impressed by some of the initiatives that were proposed today. Tribal leaders have given significant thought to the problems that dominate Indian Country. But they are tired of talking – they now want to see action. And from this Listening Conference I have come away with a set of realistic, specific, and concrete concepts for initiatives we will begin rolling out as soon as possible.
And while I came here to listen, I also have a few announcements that I shared with the more than 400 tribal leaders and representatives who joined us. I am creating a Tribal Nations Leadership Council to advise me on matters critical to Indian Country. The Council will meet twice a year and will help continue the dialogue between the Department and tribal governments. Representatives on the Leadership Council will include one tribal leader from each of the 12 regions identified by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and will be selected by their regional peers.
I will make several visits to tribal communities over the next year and beyond. I want us to keep working together as we take action on many of the proposals laid out today.
We have already started accelerating resources to affected communities. This year alone the Justice Department's Community Oriented Policing Services Office, the Office on Violence Against Women, and the Office of Justice Programs have distributed more than $397.4 million through more than 25 grant programs to tribal communities. These resources by themselves are not the answer, but they can help us address one critical piece of the puzzle.
We will also continue to work with Congress to pass important legislation such as the Tribal Law and Order Act, which takes a significant step forward in enhancing public safety in tribal communities, and the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, where we can turn the spotlight on violence against women and children in tribal communities. And last but not least, we will work to ensure that tribal youth are included as a priority as Congress considers the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act.
The truth is that justice in Indian Country will not be solved by a single grant, a sole piece of legislation, or any other quick fix. These problems are deep-seated, and they will require a multitude of approaches and a sustained commitment from law enforcement, from tribal leadership and from the inhabitants themselves of the tribal communities.
None of us can solve this crisis alone. But I believe the cooperation and coordination that we started here today is the first step in bringing some relief to these communities that are so affected by violence. By working together, by using every tool at our disposal, by facing up to hard truths and by refusing to ever back down or give up, we can make a real difference – and we will.
Attorney General Eric Holder Delivers Remarks at the:
Tribal Nations Listening Session
ST. PAUL, MINN. ~ Thursday, October 29, 2009
Remarks as prepared for delivery:
I'd like to thank all of you for taking the time and energy to participate in this Listening Session. The perspectives and proposals you presented today reflect your hard work and dedication. Those of us from the Department of Justice have a lot to think about, and I'm grateful for that.
I'd like to extend special thanks to the tribal leaders and representatives who traveled great distances and dedicated two days to this Listening Session. I know how valuable your time is and I truly appreciate your willingness to share it with us. I would also like to thank my colleagues from the Department of Justice who are here today. And I'd like to single out Tracy Toulou, Director of the Office on Tribal Justice, both for his hard work helping to organize the Listening Session and for moderating our conversation today. Thank you, Tracy.
I also want to thank our federal partners for their participation. I am grateful that representatives from the Departments of Interior, Health and Human Services, Education, and Housing and Urban Development could join us here. It's critical that we work together across the federal government to confront issues of public safety in Indian Country. We cannot retreat to our respective agencies and work in isolation. Accordingly, you have my commitment that the leadership of the Department of Justice will work with our counterparts in other agencies to ensure that the proposals we discussed today are considered at the highest levels. We must put the lives and the livelihoods of tribal communities ahead of bureaucracy.
Our commitment to open, frank communication among our governments will not end this evening. There will be additional opportunities for us to speak – and to listen – to one another in the months and years ahead. But make no mistake: the time has come for us to act, for us to develop enduring solutions to the public safety challenges we face. Families and communities across Indian Country are counting on us. Your proposals will guide us as we find the way forward together. And as I said earlier today, this Justice Department's policies will reflect the principles of tribal sovereignty and Indian self-determination – today, tomorrow, and always.
In the short-term, we need to better coordinate federal efforts so that you receive the resources you need as part of our trust obligation. But we also need to look at long-term solutions and programs. You know best what policies and enforcement strategies will work in your own tribal communities, but you need the resources to implement them. We must learn from the lessons of the past as we make decisions about how to allocate the resources we have now, and the resources we will continue to fight for in the future.
Many of you here have worked over the past decade to maintain a dialogue with the Department of Justice, and your contributions over the last two days have been invaluable. This includes the Tribal Justice Advisory Group, the Section 904 Task Force on Violence Against Women in Indian Country, and the tribal law enforcement experts who have been at the table with the Deputy and Associate Attorneys General leading up to this event.
Will those representatives please stand now and be recognized?
I know that you have been working hard to help the Justice Department understand and address the needs of tribal communities for a long time. We are here today in large part because of your contributions, and I thank you. We in the Department of Justice must continue to listen, and to learn, from our partners in tribal governments. The following steps will, I think, strengthen our existing relationship and make our dialogue even more productive.
First, to ensure that we continue the progress we made today, I am announcing the creation of a Tribal Nations Leadership Council. The Council will meet twice a year, and will help coordinate efforts between the Justice Department and tribal governments. The members of the Leadership Council will be chosen by the tribes. Specifically, one tribal leader will be selected by his or her regional peers from each of the 12 regions identified by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Second, to ensure that the Justice Department's senior officials continue to develop first-hand experience with the challenges facing Indian Country, I am announcing my intention to visit several tribal communities during the next year and beyond. As I said earlier, this Listening Session is the beginning. Our dialogue will not end when we leave here this evening, and your continued input will be critical as we work together in the months and years ahead.
We know one thing already. Money alone cannot fix the public safety problems in Indian Country. In many cases, the federal government hasn't done an effective job with the money it's had. This is one reason why coordination across the federal government will be so important.
But while money alone isn't the answer, adequate financial resources are a critical part of a comprehensive solution. We are determined to fight for additional funding for tribal justice initiatives – this year, next year, and in the years to come. I'm pleased to announce that the Department's grant components – the Community Oriented Policing Services Office, known as COPS, the Office on Violence Against Women, and the Office of Justice Programs – have distributed available funds from both our fiscal year 2009 accounts and our Recovery Act dollars to provide almost $400 million to tribal communities through more than 25 grant programs.
This funding means more than $29 million in funding to hire 87 new tribal law enforcement officers, to purchase crime-fighting technology systems and basic equipment, and to secure training and technical assistance.
This funding means almost $71 million to build the capacity to combat violent crimes against Native women and to enhance victim safety and prevention strategies for tribal governments and tribal nonprofit organizations.
This funding also means more than $295 million to support critical needs, including resources to:
construct and renovate correction facilities and tribal courts;
create sex offender registries to protect children from predators;
address the impact of alcohol abuse and substance abuse on tribal communities;
improve tribal juvenile-justice systems, including prevention and mental health services; and,
comprehensively address infrastructure needs to create safer communities.
I don't have to tell you how significant this funding is. But alone, it isn't enough. We must also consider using memoranda of understanding between federal agencies where they could make a difference. And we must explore opportunities for legislative solutions when we must.
We know, for example, that the Violence Against Women Act is scheduled to be reauthorized next year. We have an opportunity not just to adapt the legislation to match the needs of tribal communities, but also to ensure increased funding to combat violence against women and children in tribal communities.
We're working closely with Congress to pass the Tribal Law and Order Act. I know that many of you are also working to ensure the passage of this important legislation. The Justice Department fully supports the bill and we look forward to the day that President Obama signs it into law.
With or without this legislation, we must act now to protect youth in Indian Country. Violence against children doesn't just impact the child, or the child's family. It devastates entire communities, because it leads to so many other forms of violence. When children witness or experience violence in the home, it affects how they feel, how they act, and how they learn. Without intervention, children who are exposed to violence are at higher risk for school failure, substance abuse, repeat victimization, and, perhaps most tragically, committing violence later in their own lives.
As a father of three children, I recognize that change has to come from within families as well. We all need to be role models for our children so that they have the best chance of living in families and communities free from violence. Let me be clear- there is no excuse, NONE, to allow violence to be a part of our children's lives wherever they live. And no woman, wherever she lives, should ever be a victim of violence. We must work together to eradicate these twin plagues.
The public safety challenges we face in Indian Country will not be solved by a single grant, or a single piece of legislation. There is no quick fix. We need to continue listening to you and to your proposals. We need to continue learning about the particular challenges you face in your communities and about your ideas to address those challenges. In short, we need to keep working together to identify solutions and to implement them.
We must be open to new ideas and new approaches. We must learn from each other what has worked – and what has not. We must acknowledge the cultural diversity among tribal communities and embrace the challenge of providing services that are culturally and linguistically tailored. We must dare to think differently.
I am grateful that so many of you took the time to share your experiences and your ideas with me. I – and my colleagues in the Justice Department – learned a great deal from you today. As we prepare to conclude this Listening Session, let us resolve to continue our communication, and our collaboration. The immediate task is to transform proposals into policy, ideas into implementation.
Although the challenges we face are daunting, do not doubt our capacity to address them. Always remember that man made problems are susceptible to man made solutions. And do not doubt our commitment to see this job done. Alone, none of us can solve the public safety crisis occurring in our nation's tribal communities. But if we work together, if we use every tool at our disposal and refuse to back down or give up, if we are prepared to ask ourselves hard questions and face difficult truths, we can make a real difference in the lives of everyone. This is my aim. This is my pledge to you.
U.S. Citizen Indicted in Florida for Traveling to the Philippines for Sex Tourism
Donald Mathias, 64, has been indicted for allegedly traveling to the Philippines in 2007 and 2008 to engage in sexual conduct with minors .
Mathias, whose last known residence is in the Southern District of Florida, was arraigned today before Magistrate Judge Barry S. Seltzer in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Mathias was charged in an indictment filed on Oct. 27, 2009, with one count of conspiring to engage in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and traveling in foreign commerce for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct; six counts of offering to buy a child in order to depict the child in child pornography; six counts of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity; three counts of traveling in foreign commerce for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct; and four counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place.
Mathias allegedly arranged with the mother of two minor females in the Philippines to travel to the Philippines in April 2007 and December 2007 to engage in sexual conduct with the minors and did so. Mathias also allegedly arranged to travel again to the Philippines in December 2008 to engage in sexual conduct with the minors. However, Philippine authorities received information about the arrangements and rescued the children before they met Mathias again.
If convicted, Mathias faces up to life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Charges in an indictment are merely accusations and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with assistance from the Philippines Department of Justice. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Anitha Ibrahim of the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marlene Rodriguez of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.
International agencies partner to crackdown on northern border crime
DETROIT - As part of its ongoing effort to combat cross-border crime, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) partners on Thursday highlighted their commitment to security on the northern border.
"The BEST's mission is clear - to collaboratively identify and disrupt transnational criminal organizations exploiting our shared border," said Brian M. Moskowitz, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Michigan and Ohio. "The Detroit BEST brings together the people and organizations with the collective experience, authority, and shared determination to make the Michigan-Ontario border, and the communities around them, safer and more secure."
The Detroit BEST - the 17th BEST group initiated in the nation and third on the northern border -focuses its efforts on the following priorities:
National security and terrorist threats
Human smuggling and trafficking
Contraband smuggling
Money laundering
Bulk cash smuggling
Transnational gang activities exploiting the border region
Other public safety-related cross-border criminal acts
The Detroit BEST team covers 721 miles of international border with Canada. The partnership will synergize the efforts of law enforcement on both sides of the border and create an operating model which will better identify, attack and neutralize the threats identified, whether person, place, or organization. In early October, the Detroit BEST played an integral role in identifying and seizing a large quantity of high-potency marijuana en route to Detroit from British Columbia.
The ICE-led task force is made up of officers from federal, state, local and Canadian law enforcement agencies, including: the U.S. Attorneys Office; U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Border Patrol and Field Operations; the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Services; the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Michigan State Police; Macomb and Oakland Counties sheriffs' offices; Trenton and Troy police departments; the Detroit Police Department. Canadian law enforcement agencies include: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canada Border Services Agency, Ontario Provincial Police and the Windsor Police Service.
In fiscal year 2008, BEST teams nationally seized contraband and other items, including: 1,803 lbs. of cocaine, 52,420 lbs. of marijuana, 121 lbs. of methamphetamine, 25 lbs. of crystal methamphetamine, 850 lbs. of ecstasy, 66 lbs. of heroin, 46 lbs. of hashish, 20 lbs. of opium, 432 weapons, 299 vehicles, four boats, four properties; and more than $8.8 million in U.S. currency and monetary instruments.
There are currently 17 BEST teams based in the following cities: Laredo, Texas; El Paso, Texas; San Diego, Calif.; Rio Grande Valley, Texas; Blaine, Wash.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Yuma, Ariz.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Tucson, Ariz.; Imperial Valley, Calif.; Deming, N.M.; Las Cruces, N.M.; New York/New Jersey; Miami, Fla.; Los Angeles/Long Beach, Calif.; Mexico City, Mexico, and now Detroit, Mich.
United States Attorney's Office
Eastern District of Kentucky
Contact: (859) 233-2661
More Than 30 Defendants Indicted on Prescription Pill Charges in Historic Drug Sweep
LEXINGTON, KY— The U.S. Attorney's Office announced today that 36 individuals face various federal prescription pill charges as part of the largest drug sweep operation in Kentucky's history.
“To execute an operation of this magnitude required unprecedented cooperation and collaboration between law enforcement entities in Eastern Kentucky,” said U.S. Attorney's Office Criminal Chief Bob McBride.
Law enforcement at the state, local and federal level have arrested 322 individuals on prescription pill violations.
USAO unsealed several federal indictments earlier today that alleges defendants obtained thousands of pills primarily in Florida and then distributed them in Pike, Johnson, Martin, Magoffin, Fayette, Floyd and Menifee counties.
The indictments also allege there were more than 50 counts of distribution of controlled substances (oxycodone, methadone), conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and money laundering among other charges. As part of the indictment, the United States is seeking the forfeiture of approximately a million dollars worth of assets that include the defendants' vehicles, real estate, a boat, and a bank account which were properties or entities used to facilitate the illegal activity.
Of those charged federally, 52-year-old James Marsillett II faces the most serious charge. The indictment alleges that Marsillett organized and managed a criminal enterprise that lasted from 2005 to 2008 which involved 13 other defendants who traveled to Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida to obtain methadone and oxycodone pills to sell in Pike, Johnson and Floyd counties. If convicted, Marsillett faces at least 20 years and possibly life in prison.
“As demonstrated by this particular indictment, law enforcement isn't just concentrating its efforts in Florida as a source of prescription pills, but also is pursuing suspects bringing prescription pills from areas like Pennsylvania and Ohio,” said McBride.
The U.S. Attorney's Office, FBI, Kentucky State Police, Operation Unite, Appalachian HITDA, Attorney General's Office and the Office of National Drug Control Policy jointly made the announcement today.
The indictment of a person by a grand jury is an accusation only, and that person is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
FBI Cleveland
Contact: Special Agent Scott Wilson
(216) 622-6611
Members of International Criminal Organization Arrested
C. Frank Figliuzzi, Special Agent in Charge of the Cleveland Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), for the Northern District of Ohio, announces the arrests of Pavlo Mostranskyy, age 45, Ukrainian National from Cleveland, Ohio; Sonya Hilaszek, age 45, of Cleveland, Ohio; and Vitaly Fedorchuk, age 40, of Cleveland, Ohio on October 29, 2009. Mostranskyy, Hilaszek, and Fedorchuk have been charged with a Federal Conspiracy to Commit Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Identification Documents and Information. Mostranskyy, Hilaszek, and Fodorchuk were charged and arrested after a lengthy investigation conducted by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Ohio Department of Public Safety-BMV Investigations Section, Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the United States Department of Homeland Security, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigative Division, Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General, and the Cleveland Office of the FBI.
Also charged in connection with this investigation are Johongir Masudov, age 27, Uzbekistan National from Cincinnati, Ohio; Azamjon Asodov, age 43, Uzbekistan National from Cincinnati, Ohio; Valentina Denisova, age 30, Russian National from Cincinnati, Ohio; Artak Serobyan, age 25, Armenian National from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Petro Vytvytskyy, age 45, Russian National from Newark, New Jersey; Galina Dobrova – Volochiy, age 49, Ukrainian National from Newark, New Jersey; Dmytro Karabinovych, age 47, of Newark, New Jersey; Ivan Volochiy, age 40, Ukrainian National from Newark, New Jersey; Roman Matveev, age 32, Russian National from Newark, New Jersey; Vasyl Yatskiv, age 30, Russian or Ukrainian National from Chicago, Illinois; Michael Slepyan, age 41, Israeli National from Chicago, Illinois; Hennadiy Vaskevych, age 43, of Chicago, Illinois; Bohdan Borsuk, age 48, Polish National of Chicago, Illinois; Zdzislaw Kowalczyk, age 52, of Chicago, Illinois; and Martynas Bojarcius, age 29, of Chicago, Illinois.
This investigation started in December of 2007 when information was received that individuals in the Cleveland Ukrainian community were involved in a scheme to bring foreign nationals to Cleveland, Ohio and help them fraudulently obtain real Ohio driver's licenses for a fee, issued by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) by a Deputy Registrar working for this criminal organization. The investigation focused on Vitaly Fedorchuk who was identified as the leader of the criminal organization; Sonya Hilaszek, a corrupt employee at the Deputy Registrars Office in Parma, Ohio; and Pavlo Mostranskyy, who acted as a middle-man bringing the foreign nationals to Cleveland. Other members of the organization were based in several cities throughout the United States and worked with and for Fedorchuk and Mostranskyy to identify and facilitate customers through the operation.
An undercover FBI agent was able to fraudulently obtain a real Ohio Driver's License in August of 2008 for $3000 from this criminal organization. The investigation showed that this criminal organization operated for at least four years, charging foreign nationals, most of whom are unlawfully present, between $1,500 and $3,000 for Ohio driver's licenses, and Ohio state identification cards using either fraudulent documentation or none at all.
During the course of the US-based investigation, the investigators here in Cleveland discovered evidence that the criminal group in Ohio were working with criminal counterparts in Ukraine. Together, they fraudulently obtained United States non-immigrant visas for Ukrainian nationals who then traveled to Ohio and other points in the United States. The visas were obtained from the United States Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, allegedly through corrupt Ukrainian national employees of the US Embassy. The investigative team from Cleveland, the FBI's Legal Attaché's Office in Kyiv, and Diplomatic Security Service Special Agents assigned to the US Embassy in Ukraine investigated the Ukrainian criminal group jointly with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Organized Crime Department over the course of many months. The criminal group allegedly charged each visa applicant $12,000.00. As a result of the joint international investigation, seven members of the Ukraine-based criminal organization, including two Embassy employees, were officially detained today in Ukraine by investigators of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs for violation of Ukrainian laws.
Fedorchuk, Hilaszek, and Mostranskyy will appear today in United States District Court for their initial appearance on these charges.
Any questions regarding this news release can be directed to SA Scott T. Wilson at the Cleveland Office of the FBI, 216-522-1400.
Albany's Safe Street Task Force Arrests 25 Members of the Original
Gangsta Killers - OGK
OCT 29 -- ALBANY, NY - JOHN P. GILBRIDE, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York Field Division (“DEA”) and United States Attorney Andrew T. Baxter announce that twenty four (24) Albany men and one (1) Albany woman were charged in a federal indictment unsealed today.
Twenty-three (23) were charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering activity and all twenty-five (25) were charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base (crack cocaine), cocaine and marijuana. The Indictment alleges that twenty-three (23) defendants were members of, and conducted racketeering activity through, a criminal organization known as the Original Gangsta Killers (also known as the “OGK”) gang. The Indictment further alleges that the gang has operated within the City of Albany from approximately 2000 through the present. The 23 defendants were charged with conspiring to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity which includes multiple acts of drug trafficking, robbery and attempted murder.
The Indictment further alleges that members of the OGK gang: (1) maintained control over a specific geographic territory, located generally in the South End of the City of Albany, within which they and their associates conducted their primary income producing venture, which included the distribution of crack cocaine, cocaine and marijuana; (2) protected their narcotics distribution territory with violence if necessary, including physical assaults and shootings; (3) possessed and engaged in acts of violence with firearms, including robberies and shootings of rival gang members and associates; (4) traveled out of state to obtain firearms and transported them back to Albany, New York so that they could be made available to other OGK members; (5) participated in the production of music CDs, videotapes and DVDs, some of which were posted on the Internet, that communicated their violent methods and warned of their intention to commit violent acts and retaliate for violent acts committed upon their own members; and (6) utilized telephones and written correspondence to communicate with each other regarding gang related matters, request assistance from other gang members and update each other on the status of the members of rival gangs.
The charges carry maximum penalties of imprisonment for life, supervised release for life, and a fine of $4,000,000, and statutory minimum penalties of imprisonment for ten (10) years and supervised release for five (5) years. If convicted, the defendants with prior drug felony convictions face statutory minimum penalties of imprisonment for twenty (20) years and supervised release for ten (10) years.
Law enforcement authorities arrested 13 defendants at various locations in the Albany area early this morning. Ten (10) defendants were previously incarcerated. Two (2) defendants, Kolby J. Martin and Kenyan D. Poole, remain at large. Defendants began appearing before United States Magistrate Judge David R. Homer at 1:30 p.m. today for initial appearances.
Searches were conducted by the authorities at various locations in the City of Albany this morning. Among the items of evidence seized were quantities of crack cocaine (approximately two ounces), .22 caliber ammunition, drug paraphernalia, including a scale used for weighing narcotics, and gang related material, including photographs, DVDs, CDs, and clothing.
This prosecution resulted from an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and Safe Streets Task Force investigation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Albany District Office; Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Albany Field Division; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; the City of Albany Police Department; the Albany County Sheriff's Department; the New York State Police; the New York State Department of Corrections; the New York State Division of Parole; and the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Department, with the assistance of the United States Marshal, Northern District of New York, Albany Office; U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, Department of Homeland Security; the Albany County District Attorney's Office; and the Rensselaer County District Attorney's Office.
John P. Gilbride, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration stated, “With unprecedented law enforcement coordination and investigation, this drug trafficking gang has been shut down. Over 25 gang members and associates who were responsible for distributing crack cocaine throughout the Albany area have been taken off the streets. This effort proves law enforcement's commitment to keeping our communities safe from the perils of drugs and the violence associated with drug trafficking.”
United States Attorney Baxter praised the cooperative efforts of the federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies who participated in this investigation and prosecution. U.S. Attorney Baxter noted that his Office will continue to work closely with all law enforcement participants to investigate and prosecute gangs which engage in gun violence, narcotics trafficking, and other criminal activity throughout the Northern District of New York.
John F. Pikus, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Albany Field Division, said, “Individuals arrested today have preyed upon our community for the last time. The FBI, along with our law enforcement partners, will continue to work towards making the City of Albany a safe place for our citizens.”
Ronald B. Turk, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, New York Field Division, stated that “Violent gangs are a plague on our neighborhoods and these gangs need to be eliminated quickly. One of ATF's roles in combating these gangs is to deny them access to firearms. Working with our federal and local law enforcement partners, we have been able to identify sources of firearms for this particular gang and have shut down that supply. ATF remains committed to protecting the public, and along with our partners, will continue to target violent crime to make our streets safer.”
Mayor Gerald D. Jennings said, “Today's arrests reinforce the City of Albany's commitment to working with law enforcement on all levels to rid our City of violent criminals and gangs. I would like to thank Deputy Chief Steven Krokoff and the men and woman of the Albany Police Department, together with all of the federal, state and local agencies that played a role in this Safe Streets initiative.”
Brian Fischer, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Correctional Services, stated, “The cooperation of law enforcement agencies at multiple levels of government made today's actions possible. The combined and coordinated efforts of this task force should underscore the seriousness of our efforts to fight criminal activity both inside and outside prisons.”
The defendants named in the Indictment include:
Terrence ANTHONY “T-Black”; “Blacc” 29 Previously incarcerated
Elijah D. CANCER “Sleeze”; “Sleezy” 23 222A Sherman Dorm, SUNY Oneonta, Oneonta, NY
Mundhir S. CONNOR “Major”; “Montana” 29 93 Morris Street, Albany, NY
Wister J. FARMER “Wist Daddy”; “Wisk”; “Wister” 24 170 Ida Yarborough, Albany, NY
Eric D. FOSTER “E-Nasty 30 50 North Swan Street, Albany, NY
Owen Z. FURTHMAN “Diz” 23 26 Barker Street, Colonie, NY
Justin P. GADDY “J-Black” 22 52 North Swan Street, Apt. 3, Albany, NY
Ladawn H. HARRIS “Nana”; “Nash” 26 Previously incarcerated
Anairian R. KITTLE “AK” 23 130 4th Avenue, Albany, NY
Michelle P. KNICKERBOCKER 43 313 2nd Avenue, Albany, NY
Kwon S. LILLARD “K”; “Killah” 21 103 A Lark Street, Albany, NY
Kolby J. MARTIN “HG”; “Holly G” 25 Not yet apprehended
Jomeek L. McNEAL “Streets”; “Meek Meek” 22 Previously incarcerated
Winfield C. NICHOLSON “Champ”; “Bamp” 19 333 Elberon Place, Albany, NY
Alfonso PARKER “Fat Fat”; “Phat Phat”; “Phatz14" 25 Previously incarcerated
Marcel D. PERRY “Juxx”; “Jooks” 22 Previously incarcerated
Kenyan D. POOLE “KP” 29 Not yet apprehended
Dushawn J. POUGH “Sixx”; “Six” 24 Previously incarcerated
Derrick D. RUFFIN “D-Black” 29 Previously incarcerated
Elijah J. SIMS “E”; “E-Head” 24 146 Franklin Street, Albany, NY
Nahmel C. STRATTON “Kidco”; “Kid”; “Biddy” 27 Previously incarcerated
Nakeem B. STRATTON “Bayshon”; Little Bay”24 Previously incarcerated
Dyjuan S. TATRO “DY” 23 Previously incarcerated
Kanan D. TATRO “D-Black”; “Kanya”; “Kane” 22 Previously incarcerated
Charles M. THOMPSON “Chuck”; “Bula” 23 202 Delaware Avenue, 2nd Floor, Albany, NY
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carlos A. Moreno and Daniel Hanlon. Further questions or inquiries may be directed to Assistant United States Attorney Richard Hartunian at (518) 431-0247.
