A room with a view to one big mystery

Why did a counterfeiter's setup face L.A.'s Federal Reserve office?

By Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times

April 30, 2010

It started 11 days ago when a resident at an upscale downtown L.A. high-rise tower smelled fumes coming from a neighboring apartment.

Firefighters knocked on the neighbor's door but he refused to let them in. They called police, who broke down the door of the penthouse just as the man inside was escaping through a back window and down a fire escape carrying duffel bags.

"He escaped like Jason Bourne," said LAPD Deputy Chief Mike Downing of the Counter-Terrorism Bureau, referring to the movie spy character.

What they found next began a weeklong mystery.

The apartment contained sophisticated counterfeiting equipment as well as a cache of weapons including an AK-47. They also found stacks of counterfeit $100 bills totaling $15,000 and a camera tripod.

But detectives' interest was really heightened when they looked outside the window and saw that the penthouse balcony had a spot-on view of the U.S. Federal Reserve building on Grand Avenue.

Detectives now are searching for the suspect, who leased the $3,400-a-month penthouse, paying one year in advance using stacks of cash.

Detectives are not sure what Brian Alexik, a 33-year-old New Jersey man, was up to and what role, if any, the Federal Reserve might have played in his schemes. They are not exactly sure whom they are dealing with because detectives found multiple identifications, including passports, listing different aliases for the man.

"The curiosity in this case is the strategic location in which he chose to operate," Downing said.

Photos found at the apartment show Alexik with significantly different looks. In one photo, he's clean-shaven, holding up a glass of wine and smiling. Another shows him somewhat heavier, with a beard and bandanna covering his forehead.

Police are now working with the U.S. Secret Service. Experts who have reviewed the counterfeit money say it's of extremely high quality.

It appears Alexik kept to himself. The apartment manager declined to comment on the case.

The LAPD served search warrants at several downtown locations and Thursday announced the arrest of a man whom officials describe as an "associate" of Alexik. Gregory Koller, 32, was booked on suspicion of narcotics possession. Police said a search of his home and a downtown warehouse found evidence of "items consistent with manufacturing weapons."

LAPD Capt. Steven Sambar, head of the department's major crimes division, said there evidence was also found linking Koller to Alexik.

Detectives said they were puzzled about many aspects of the case. Sambar said it appeared that the pair were involved in weapons and drugs as well as counterfeiting — but it was unclear how large the operation was or whether it was connected to a larger criminal enterprise.

Sambar said the location of Alexik's apartment overlooking the Federal Reserve "causes me great concern."

The Federal Reserve bank in downtown L.A. is one of several branches of the 12th District of the Fed, which is based in San Francisco. According to the Fed's website, the L.A. branch has 316 employees and serves financial institutions in Southern California, Arizona and southern Nevada.

The 12th District as a whole processed 17.2 billion currency notes in 2008, or about 68.4 million notes per business day. No breakdown was available for currency handled specifically by the L.A. office.

It all leaves many intriguing possibilities.

"There were many levels of criminality," Downing said. "He's funding a criminal enterprise. He's dabbling in narcotics, he's manufacturing weapons parts. But what is it? Was there a bigger plan? What was his intent? We have a lot of questions for him when he is arrested."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0430-federal-reserve-20100430,0,1185469,print.story

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Obama administration considers challenges to Arizona immigration law

Federal attorneys are examining legal options to prevent the strict new rules from taking effect this summer.

By Richard A. Serrano and Peter Nicholas, Tribune Washington Bureau

April 29, 2010

Reporting from Washington

A team of top government lawyers has quietly begun studying legal strategies for the Obama administration to mount a challenge to Arizona's new illegal immigration law, including the filing of a federal lawsuit against the state or joining a suit brought by others who believe the bill unfairly targets Latinos.

President Obama and Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. have denounced the law, leading to expectations that the administration will take action soon. Obama said Wednesday that the law, which allows police to demand proof of citizenship, threatens the "core values that we all care about."

Attorneys from the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security are examining legal options and hope to make suggestions by mid-May, before the Arizona law takes effect sometime in midsummer, officials said.

As lawyers weigh the legal options, the White House voiced concern that other states may adopt laws like Arizona's, adding urgency to the process. A Utah lawmaker already has proposed such a measure there.

Grounds for a possible U.S. challenge could include charges that the Arizona measure unlawfully preempts the federal government's role in securing the country's borders, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the issue. Or federal officials could file a civil rights challenge asserting that the law encourages racial profiling.

"There are multiple options that the administration has," Omar Jadwat, a staff counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrants' Rights Project, said Thursday. "They can and should pursue every option within their authority."

The legal deliberations come as the Obama administration and congressional Democrats hash out plans to overhaul federal immigration laws. Democrats on Thursday outlined their own approach, proposing that benchmarks for securing borders be followed by steps to allow undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States.

The administration believes that a court challenge in Arizona would send a message that Arizona should reverse course, and that other states should not follow Arizona's lead.

"In the absence of some sort of coherent national policy, there's always going to be an impetus for this kind of thing — particularly in states that are border states or near the border where there's been a great deal of activity," White House senior advisor David Axelrod said in an interview.

Asked whether the White House was considering steps to head off similar state legislation, Axelrod said: "The best thing we can do is to develop and enforce a rational, thoughtful, consistent immigration policy that holds everybody accountable in the system. And that's what we're working toward."

Yet Obama expressed pessimism over prospects for passing a sweeping immigration overhaul this year. Speaking Wednesday to reporters on Air Force One, the president conceded that Congress may not have the "appetite immediately to dive into another controversial issue."

Still, Senate Democrats are eager to show they have not dropped the matter. Under pressure from Latino advocates, they held a news conference Thursday to outline a new blueprint for an immigration overhaul, combining border security with steps to allow illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S.

But substantial obstacles remain, chiefly the absence of Republican support. A Democratic Senate aide said the new plan would dare Republicans to opt out, likely upsetting Latino voters before the midterm election in November.

The popularity of the Arizona law among many state residents there has prompted other states to consider similar legislation.

In Utah, state Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, a two-term Republican up for reelection this year, is pushing a bill that mirrors the Arizona legislation. He says his state needs to get tough because whenever Arizona attempts to restrict immigration, illegal immigrants simply move to Utah.

"We are becoming a kind of sanctuary state," he said.

Sandstrom also wants to eliminate a program in Utah that allows anyone without proper papers to obtain a driving privilege card, which they often use to start bank accounts and secure loans. "It gives them the mechanism to operate openly in the state of Utah. We certainly have to change that," he said.

Sandstrom added that a recent investigation by Utah's attorney general found that the Social Security numbers of 50,000 local children had been stolen, with many turned over to undocumented workers. And he said Utah was paying about $100 million a year to educate the children of illegal immigrants.

With Utah a conservative state and Republicans having solid majorities in the state House, he expects to start holding hearings this summer. "There is overwhelming support for this right now," Sandstrom said. "Why? Because the word is out that Utah is a state that is pretty soft on illegal immigration."

In Arizona on Thursday, two lawsuits were filed challenging the legality of the new bill.

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders filed suit in federal court in Phoenix, saying the measure usurps federal enforcement responsibilities. They also contended that it amounts to racial profiling. The second suit was filed in Tucson, where a local police officer asked the federal court to keep the law from going into effect.

Republican officials, including Gov. Jan Brewer, said that support for the new law was running high, and that proponents were pushing for a statewide referendum in November to express their support for the measure.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-immigration-20100430,0,5157904,print.story

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China school attacks leave 1 dead and 33 children burned or slashed

Five kindergartners are critically wounded in two assaults in as many days. The incidents are the latest in a string of similar attacks in which 10 people died and dozens were injured.

By Barbara Demick and Lauren Hilgers, Los Angeles Times

April 29, 2010

Reporting from Beijing and Taixing, China

A man armed with a hammer and gasoline burst into an elementary school Friday morning, attacked five children with the hammer and then set himself on fire in yet another of the mysterious attacks on Chinese schools that have terrorized parents and children around the country.

The latest attack took place in the small city of Weifang, in the eastern province of Shandong, at 7:40 a.m.

The assailant, identified as Wang Yonglai, a 45-year-old farmer, burned to death, according to the official New China News Agency. Teachers managed to rescue two children he had been holding in his arms when he set himself ablaze.

Five children, ages 5 and 6, were taken to the hospital but were reported to be in stable condition.

The attack at a Chinese elementary school was the fifth since last month and the third in the last three days. All of the assailants were middle-aged men, apparently unemployed, leading to speculation that the assaults were a form of social protest against rising income disparity in China.

So far, 10 people have died and more than 60 injured, most of them children.

An unemployed insurance salesman on Thursday slashed 28 kindergartners with a kitchen knife in Jiangsu province, critically wounding five children.

That attack took place in the eastern city of Taixing, 120 miles northwest of Shanghai. The 46-year-old assailant overpowered a security guard at the front gate of the Zhongxin Kindergarten and entered a classroom, authorities said.

"It was a terrible scene. He was waving the knife as though he was daring us to come in and stop him, but nobody would dare," said restaurant owner Gu Xudong, 41, who ran across the street to the school when he heard screaming. He said the attack was stopped by a deliveryman who grabbed a fire extinguisher and smashed it into the assailant's head. "That guy is the people's hero," Gu said.

The suspect was identified as Xu Yuyuan, out of work since 2001. No motive was disclosed.

"This man was obviously sick," said a 28-year-old factory worker who was at the Taixing People's Hospital, where most of the victims were being treated. "But our society is very complicated. The economy has changed so quickly. It is hard to know where you are.''

Hundreds gathered at the hospital, as well as outside the locked gates of the school, some of them friends and family, others just curious. Everywhere, raucous debates could be overheard about what had happened and the assailant's possible motive.

One woman at the hospital, accompanying the mother of a victim, said the school catered to privileged children. "The kids all come from families with money,'' said the woman, who gave only her family name, Ji.

The first and deadliest of the recent attacks, in which eight children were killed, also took place at an elementary school said to cater to children from well-to-do families. The assailant in that case, Zheng Minsheng, a community health worker who had been laid off, reportedly said in court that he had been upset because he had been jilted by a woman from a wealthy family. He was sentenced to death and executed Wednesday in Fujian province.

The publication Legal Daily in a story this month raised the issue of social inequality leading to violence and cited an online survey in which 64% of respondents attributed Zheng's actions to "the widening gap between rich and poor in China."

"Will there be another Zheng Minsheng?" the writer queried.

On April 12, a 40-year-old man used a meat cleaver to attack students and bystanders outside an elementary school in the southern province of Guangxi. An elderly woman and a second-grader were killed. On Wednesday, a man with a knife stabbed 18 children and a teacher in Leizhou city in the southern province of Guangdong. China has strict gun-control laws, so most attacks with weapons tend to involve knives or, occasionally, homemade explosives.

"This is like domestic terrorism,'' said Ni Jianping, director of research at the Shanghai Institute of American Studies. "In China, because of the one-child policy, the child is the dearest thing to society, so these people are trying to make as big a shock to society as possible."

In late 2004, there was another cluster of knife rampages at elementary schools, and similar attacks have taken place in the past, but these received little or no news coverage. The latest incidents garnered perfunctory mentions in the Chinese news media, which used reports by the official New China News Agency that were devoid of lurid details that might be expected if such attacks took place in the United States.

Only on a few blogs were there photographs showing small children, most appearing to be about 4 years old, with blood-spattered bandages around their faces.

Hao Bin, a Beijing-based psychiatrist, said it was preferable that the attacks did not get much publicity.

"From my professional point of view, we should reduce the impact of such suffering. If there is overexposure, it might scare people more," Hao said. He discounted the theory that social inequity played a role in the stabbings. "These cases don't have anything to do with politics, the gap between rich and poor. When a person is psychologically ill in this way, he might do something to hurt people — just maybe if he is rich, he would do it differently."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/asia/la-fg-china-school-stabbings-20100430,0,7741123,print.story

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First lawsuits filed to challenge Arizona illegal-immigrant law

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders seeks an injunction, saying the law intrudes on the federal role in regulating immigration. Two police officers also file suits.

By Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times

April 30, 2010

Reporting from Phoenix

Attorneys on Thursday filed the first lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of a new Arizona law that makes it a state crime to lack proper immigration papers and requires local police to determine whether people are in the country legally.

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders sued in U.S. District Court, arguing that the law is an unconstitutional intrusion into the federal government's ability to regulate immigration and that it would lead to racial profiling. Two police officers — one from Tucson, one from Phoenix — filed separate suits.

And the American Civil Liberties Union and Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, or MALDEF, which successfully overturned California's 1994 anti-illegal-immigrant ballot initiative Proposition 187, held a raucous news conference outside the state Capitol promising their own lawsuit.

The clerical coalition seeks an injunction to keep the law from going into effect this summer.

"The national clergy felt it was time to move immediately," attorney Ben Miranda, representing the religious group, said at a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Phoenix. "There's a need to calm fears that are out there."

The law's authors scoffed at the challenge. State Rep. John Kavanagh noted that the ACLU and MALDEF had so far failed to overturn two prior Arizona laws, one requiring proof of citizenship for voting and the other dissolving any business that knowingly hires illegal immigrants more than once. The latter case is before the U.S. Supreme Court.

"These are hollow arguments," Kavanagh said. "It's wishful thinking that this law is unconstitutional."

Signed by Gov. Jan Brewer last week, the measure is scheduled to take effect 90 days after the end of Arizona's legislative session. On Thursday night, legislators debated various revisions to the law.

Thursday's legal offensive was partly aimed at assuring the state's panicked immigrant community that the law will never take effect.

"We have seen laws like this before, in other states, and they have been struck down," Thomas Saenz of MALDEF said at the news conference, surrounded by cheering supporters who included singer and Arizona native Linda Ronstadt.

At one of the news conferences, longtime Latino civil rights activist Dolores Huerta spoke in Spanish directly to fearful Arizona immigrants. "Don't leave," she said, promising a political backlash that would unseat politicians who passed the bill. "Stay here."

Tensions continued to rise over the law, the toughest state measure against illegal immigration in the country. A New York congressman said Major League Baseball should move its 2011 All-Star game out of Phoenix. Denver's public school system banned travel to Arizona, saying it feared employees could be racially profiled. Legislators in Oklahoma and Texas said they would introduce similar measures in their states. And about 40 demonstrators gathered outside Wrigley Field in Chicago, where the Arizona Diamondbacks began a four-game series, and called for a boycott of Arizona sports teams.

The law makes it a state crime to lack proper immigration documents and requires police to enforce it if they form a "reasonable suspicion" that someone could be in the country illegally. There are exceptions to allow officers to ignore this mandate if it is impractical or impedes an investigation.

Kavanagh accused civil rights groups of exaggerating the impact of the law. A former police officer, he contended it would be used only as part of an officer's normal questioning during routine events like traffic stops. "This law is the application of a nearly half-century policing tool," the ability to ask simple questions during stops, Kavanagh said. "We're only extending it to illegal immigration."

But critics note that the law allows citizens to sue if they believe police are not enforcing it and that its sponsors, including Kavanagh, touted it as a way to drive illegal immigrants from the state.

Arizona law enforcement is divided. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a prominent supporter, on Thursday launched one of his regular "sweeps," with deputies fanning out in high-immigrant neighborhoods, stopping people for minor infractions and asking about their immigration status.

At a news conference, Arpaio said his deputies caught 26 illegal immigrants in a car being driven out of Phoenix and 10 other people on outstanding warrants or other violations. He called criticism of the new law "hype."

But the sheriff in Pima County, which includes Tucson, has attacked the law as "stupid" and "racist."

"If I were a Hispanic person in the state, I would be humiliated and angered," Clarence Dupnik said at a news conference Wednesday.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-arizona-immigration-20100430,0,2162792,print.story

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Confessed killer says he was in uncontrollable rage when he murdered Chelsea King and Amber Dubois

Confessed killer John Albert Gardner III says he was in an uncontrollable rage about his unhappy life when he killed two teenage girls in northern San Diego County.

In a telephone interview from jail with San Diego television station KFMB-Channel 8, Gardner said he did not stalk Chelsea King, 17, or Amber Dubois, 14, but was overtaken suddenly by "a major rage."

"I was aware of what I was doing, and I could not stop myself," he said. "I was in a major rage and pissed off at my whole life and everyone who had hurt me and blew up and hurt the wrong people."

Gardner said he is consumed with self-loathing.

"I hate myself, I really do," he said. "There is no taking back what I did, and if I could, yes I would, are you kidding me? But I was out of control. If I was able to stop myself in the middle of it, I would have, and I could not. I was out of control."

Gardner, 31, is set to be sentenced May 14 in San Diego Superior Court for the murders, committed during rape attempts. In a plea bargain, he will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Gardner said that the idea of a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty was designed by the defense attorneys and the district attorney's office. "I didn't care," he said. "I still don't."

He suggested that he will be killed in prison where inmates who have victimized children are often targetted by other inmates. "II'll be dead in five years," he said.

Gardner served five years in prison for attacking a 13-year-old. He also confessed to the attempted rape in December of a woman in a San Diego park. He said he would provide details of the King and Dubois killings to the families if they want.

Asked by the television reporter if "there are other victims," Gardner declined to answer. "Nice try," he said, with a laugh.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/confessed-killer-says-he-was-in-uncontrollable-rage-when-he-killed-chelsea-king-and-amber-dubois.html#more

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California unveils new lethal injection execution rules

Corrections officials on Thursday announced new procedures for executing prisoners by lethal injection, beating a May 1 deadline by a day and clearing a major obstacle to resuming capital punishment after a hiatus of more than four years.

The proposed changes in the death chamber procedures are intended to address concerns expressed by a federal judge in 2006 that the state's previous three-drug formula may have exposed some of the 13 people executed in the last two decades to unconstitutionally "cruel and unusual punishment."

Although the new procedures could get final approval from the state Office of Administrative Law within a month, executions are unlikely to resume soon as state and federal judges must first review the largely minor changes and decide whether they address the constitutional questions and procedural complaints by death penalty opponents. Those reviews are likely to extend at least through the end of the year.

California has 703 inmates on death row, and a handful of capital convicts are making their way to San Quentin State Prison, where the lethal injection chamber is located

Despite having the nation's largest population of condemned inmates, there hasn't been an execution in the state since January 2006, when convicted killer Clarence Allen was put to death.

"This is the final step in the rule-making process," said Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that has spent the past year combing through public comments on the proposed revisions. The department was facing a May 1 deadline to finish the reforms.

At least six of the more than 700 inmates on death row have exhausted all appeals and could be scheduled for execution as soon as the legal reviews are completed, said Kent Scheidegger of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation that supports the resumption of executions.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/state-submits-new-procedures-for-lethal-injection-executions.html#more

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Mexican teen gets 40 years in prison for killing Border Patrol agent

A Mexican teenager convicted in the execution-style murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in July was sentenced to 40 years in prison Thursday after an emotional hearing in a courtroom packed with family members and dozens of Border Patrol agents.

The defendant, Christian Daniel Castro-Alvarez, 17, appeared to hold back tears as prosecutors recounted the grisly details of how Castro-Alvarez and two other assailants ambushed Agent Robert W. Rosas Jr., 30, on a remote border trail east of San Diego.

Castro-Alvarez, who was 16 at the time, was spared a life sentence in part because he turned himself in and accepted responsibility for the crime, pleading guilty in November, according to federal prosecutors who recommended the 40-year term.

The shooting prompted a wide-ranging search and border crackdown that is continuing. The whereabouts of Castro-Alvarez's companions, men in their mid- to late 20s, are unknown. The FBI, the lead agency on the case, would not comment on the status of the investigation.

Castro-Alvarez and the two men, after crossing the border on the night of July 23, held up Rosas and took night vision goggles and other items from his vehicle. When Rosas, a father of two, tried to take the gun from Castro-Alvarez, a struggle ensued.

Rosas was shot multiple times in the head. Castro-Alvarez was shot in the hand. The teenager, who said he fired only one round, claimed that the other two men executed Rosas. All three escaped by fleeing over the border.

In his comments, U.S. District Judge M. James Lorenz, mentioned Castro-Alvarez's harsh upbringing, saying he had been abandoned by his mother and father and was raised by his sister in a one-room shack.

But the crime was a "cold-blooded killing," said Lorenz, and anyone aiding and abetting it was equally guilty. The tough sentence, he said, was meant to deter future violence against agents. The shooting, he said, had changed the dynamics at the border.

"It makes it difficult to help people when [agents] might be shot over night vision goggles," Lorenz said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/mexican-teen-gets-40-years-in-prison-for-killing-border-patrol-agent.html#more

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LAPD officials expect crowd of up to 100,000 at immigration march on Saturday

The Los Angeles Police are preparing for as many as 100,000 marchers to rally for immigration rights in downtown Los Angeles during the annual May Day event Saturday.

LAPD officials are preparing for a surge in the number of participants in the wake of an outcry over a controversial new Arizona law that requires police to check the legal status of people they suspect of being illegal immigrants.

Deputy Chief Jose Perez Jr. said that police initially estimated no more than 60,000 people would participate in the May Day march to Los Angeles City Hall. But Perez said those numbers were revised after organized labor and immigrant rights groups informed authorities they expect far more people.

“We are looking for an orderly crowd," Perez said. "Organizers are also looking for an orderly crowd for this to be a success.”

Marchers are permitted to walk north on Broadway from Olympic Boulevard and eventually gather at City Hall. In addition to the downtown march, police are preparing for small gatherings in MacArthur Park and Westwood.

Perez said the department does not provide details about the number of officers it would have on hand, but said it would be a citywide maximum deployment.

The LAPD wants to avoid any repeat of the May Day 2007 melee in MacArthur Park. That year a contingent of the department's elite Metro Division officers were videotaped wielding batons and shooting less-than-lethal rubberized bullets in an attempt to disperse the mostly peaceful crowd after a small group of agitators confronted police.

Dozens of protesters and journalists were injured as officers cleared the park. In the aftermath, the department issued a scathing report and the city settled litigation for more than $13 million.

Planning for this year's march has been in the works for months, police said. With a tight budget the department had to insure that a massive number of officers were available to work the May 1 rally.
In this year's planning, march organizers and other groups have expressed concern about how the LAPD will approach the marchers, who would include illegal immigrants.

Police, however, have assured marchers that the department will continue to be guided by Special 40, which prohibits officers from initiating action against people solely to discover their legal status. “It shows the fear and emotion behind this [the Arizona law], Perez said.

First established three decades ago by then-Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, the order has been embraced by Chief Charlie Beck, who calls the rule an important key to build trust and relationships with immigrant communities.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/lapd-officials-expect-crowd-of-up-to-100000-at-may-day-rally-on-saturday-.html#more

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Life has never been so good for our species

Sure, the future looks gloomy if you focus on environmental problems or world hunger, but in many ways, things have never been better for us.

Michael Shermer

April 30, 2010

It is fashionable among environmentalists today to paint a gloomy portrait of our future. Although there are many environmental issues yet to be solved, too many species endangered, more pollution than most of us would like and far too many people still going hungry each day, let's not forget how far we've come, starting 10,000 years ago.

Before that time, all people lived as hunter-gatherers in relative poverty compared with today. How poor were they? If you walk into a Yanomamö village in Brazil today — a good analogue for how our ancestors lived — and count up the stone tools, baskets, arrow points, arrow shafts, bows, hammocks, clay pots, assorted other tools, various medicinal remedies, pets, food products, articles of clothing and the like, you would end up with a figure of about 300. Before 10,000 years ago, this was the approximate material wealth of each village on the planet.

By contrast, if you walk into the Manhattan village today and count up all the different products available at retail stores and restaurants, factory outlets and superstores, you would end up with an estimated figure of about 10 billion (based on the UPC bar code system count). Economic anthropologists estimate the average annual income of hunter-gatherers to have been about $100 per person and the average annual income of big-city dwellers to be about $40,000 per person.

If ever there was a great leap forward, this is evidence of it. It has been estimated by Eric Beinhocker in his book, "The Origin of Wealth," that the $100-per-person annual income rose to only about $150 per person by 1000 BC and did not exceed $200 per person until after 1750 and the onset of the Industrial Revolution. Today the average is $6,600 per person per year for the entire world. Of course, the magnitude of the increase is much higher for the wealthiest people in the richest nations.

As Gregg Easterbrook shows in "The Progress Paradox," over the last 50 years, standards of living have risen dramatically. The 1950 gross domestic product per capita, computed in 1996 dollars, was only $11,087, compared with the 2000 figure of $34,365. And more people are moving up the economic hierarchy. Way up. In 2000, 1 in 4 Americans earned at least $75,000 a year, putting them in the upper middle class, compared with 1890, when only 1% earned the equivalent of that figure. That is a 25-fold expansion of the upper middle class, redrawing class boundaries and redefining what it means to be average. And rich. Since 1980, the percentage of people earning $100,000 or more per year, in today's dollars, has doubled. What we can buy with that money has also grown significantly. A McDonald's cheeseburger cost 30 minutes of work in the 1950s, three minutes of work today, and in 2002, Americans bought 50% more healthcare coverage per person than they did in 1982.

We also have more material goods — SUVs, DVDs, PCs, TVs, designer clothes, name-brand jewelry, home appliances and gadgets of all kinds. The homes in which we keep all of our goodies have doubled in size in just the last half a century, from about 1,100 square feet in the 1950s to more than 2,200 square feet today. And 95% of these homes have central heating, compared with 15% a century ago, and 78% have air conditioning, compared with the number in our grandparents' generation — zip.

That's not all. Crime is down. Most crime rates everywhere tumbled throughout the 1990s. Easterbrook found that homicides, for example, plummeted between 50% and 75% in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Baltimore and San Diego. Domestic violence against women dropped 21%, while teen criminal acts fell by more than 66%.

Americans also now enjoy a shorter workweek, with the total hours of life spent working steadily declining for the last 15 decades. In the mid-19th century, for example, the average person invested 50% of his waking hours in the year working, compared with a mere 20% before the current recession. Fewer working hours translates into more leisure time. In 1880, the average American enjoyed just 11 hours per week in leisure time, compared with the 40 hours per week average today. And those working environments are cleaner, safer and more pleasant.

And despite the environmental impact of our more prosperous lifestyle, on balance things really are getting better, as documented by Matt Ridley in his forthcoming book, "The Rational Optimist." For instance, over the last half a century, pollution is down in most cities, even in my own Los Angeles. When I took up bicycle racing in 1979, the air was so bad that summer training rides had to be completed well before noon to avoid the pain caused by fine particulate matter — dirt, dust, mold, ash, soot, aerosols, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides — becoming deeply embedded in your lungs. Today, I can ride practically any time of the day on most days of the year and feel no ill effects.

Despite the American Lung Assn.'s report this week that L.A. is the smoggiest city in America, thanks to the Clean Air Act and improved engine and fuel technologies, the trend line has been and continues to be moving in the direction of cleaner air. In fact, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, during the 1980s L.A. averaged 150 "health advisory" days per year and 50 "stage one" ozone alerts, but in 2000 there were only 20 health advisory days and zero stage one ozone alerts.

Given these facts, and many more quantitative measures, it would be perfectly sane to decline a trip in a time machine to any point in the past if you had to actually live out your life there. These are the good old days, and without neglecting problems that still need solving, it's high time we recognized that it is a better life for more people in more places more of the time.

Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine and a monthly columnist for Scientific American, is an adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University and the author of "The Mind of the Market."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-shermer-20100430,0,5636327,print.story

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What Arizonas immigration law really says

It's not about racial profiling; it's about upholding the law.

Dan Stein

April 30, 2010

"As we exercise the right to advocate our views, and as we animate our supporters, we must all assume responsibility for our words and actions before they enter a vast echo chamber and reach those both serious and delirious, connected and unhinged." Those words were written by former President Clinton in a New York Times op-ed marking the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.

While Clinton's finger-wagging was directed at critics of the Obama administration, his caution against overblown rhetoric might also be heeded by the vast echo chamber bent on whipping up hysteria in response to a recently passed Arizona law designed to effectively address illegal immigration.

Arizonans have endured decades of federal neglect of immigration enforcement. Half of illegal border crossings now occur in Arizona, and our study found that state taxpayers spend more than $2 billion a year on education and healthcare for illegal immigrants and their children. The porous border is virtually a welcome mat for criminal organizations that run drugs and other contraband through the state. Kidnappings in Phoenix are at an all-time high, and the killing last month of rancher Robert Krentz -- police suspect by an illegal immigrant -- is only the latest graphic example of the impact that rampant illegal immigration has on ordinary Arizonans.

Faced with an ongoing crisis and little help from Washington, Arizona has been forced to respond to protect its residents and its financial resources. This month, the legislature passed and Gov. Jan Brewer signed SB 1070. Among other things, this law requires all law enforcement officers in Arizona to act on reasonable suspicion that an individual is in the country illegally.

The reaction from advocates for illegal immigrants to SB 1070 -- which, according to opinion polls, is supported by some 70% of Arizonans -- can only be described as incendiary and irresponsible, not to mention patently inaccurate. Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony invoked images of Nazi Germany and Soviet totalitarianism. Reform Immigration for America, an umbrella coalition of pro-amnesty groups, warned ominously that "it's racial profiling, and it encapsulates the hatred we are fighting." ACORN's Bertha Lewis declared, "If this bill passes, Arizona is declaring itself an apartheid state."

SB 1070 is not a mandate for Arizona police to seek out illegal immigrants. It conforms fully with the Constitution's 4th Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. Under the law, Arizona police are prohibited from racially profiling or stopping anybody merely because of appearance or ethnicity. They may inquire about immigration status only if there is justification for the stop under the Constitution -- such as investigating a possible crime -- and there is reasonable suspicion that the individual is in the U.S. illegally.

And what is reasonable suspicion? Reasonable suspicion might include the lack of any sort of valid U.S. identification documents that police officers routinely request from anyone who is lawfully stopped. The law expressly states that race, color or ethnicity does not constitute reasonable suspicion of illegal presence in the U.S. In reality, SB 1070 does nothing more than require police in Arizona to protect the citizenry and uphold responsibilities abrogated by the federal government.

A ruling by the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals this year provides firm legal footing for Arizona's law. In Estrada vs. Rhode Island, the court affirmed that the failure of an alien to possess alien registration documents represents probable cause for state or local police to arrest the person for a federal misdemeanor committed in the officer's presence, or detain that person until the individual's status can be verified.

Predictably, those who have consistently opposed all efforts to enforce U.S. immigration laws are resorting to a campaign of lies and distortions to fight implementation of the law.

SB 1070, plain and simple, will allow police to identify and detain people because of the laws they violate, not because they happen to meet a particular racial or ethnic profile. What it demands is that state law enforcement officers no longer turn a blind eye in situations in which they reasonably suspect that an individual they have encountered is violating U.S. immigration laws.

Dan Stein is president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-stein-20100430,0,4696955,print.story

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From the Daily News

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Freedom to pray: National Day of Prayer not a slight, nor does it violate the Constitution

EVEN if President Obama had canceled the National Day of Prayer - which he did not - there's no stopping anyone from praying on Thursday.

And that is the point of a National Day of Prayer, to remind people of all faiths to stop and reflect on this day, to pray for their families, fellow human beings, their nation, their world. And if they believe in God, to make that connection.

The history of the National Day of Prayer goes back to 1952, when President Harry Truman signed a bill establishing a day in which "people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals."

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan affixed the "day" as the first Thursday in May. The U.S. has celebrated every year since, including last year, even though Obama did not hold a service in the White House as had other presidents prior, including President George W. Bush.

Rumors circulating on the Internet incorrectly state Obama did not want to offend anyone so he canceled the day. Not true. In fact, the president's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said the president "understands in his own life and in his family's life the role that prayer plays."

Perhaps the rumors come from the fact that U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb in Madison, Wis., ruled last week that the Day of Prayer established by Congress 58 years ago was a call to religious action and therefore unconstitutional.

At the urging of several members of Congress, including Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, the Obama Justice Department said it will appeal the ruling. Also, the White House said the president will issue a proclamation for the day of prayer regardless of the ruling.

Atheists and agnostic groups have said they feel injured by the National Day of Prayer because it leaves them out and causes them psychological harm. But the Justice Department argued the proclamation simply acknowledges the role of religion in the United States.

The National Day of Prayer does not "establish religion" because it doesn't require any American to join a religion or practice a religion. And it certainly doesn't establish a government religion. Federal employees are given religious holidays off, such as Christmas, and that doesn't mean they must celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Anyone can celebrate Dec. 25 in any way, including not celebrating. Remember, the First Amendment is not about freedom from religion, but freedom of religion.

Atheist and agnostic groups have been criticized by others on the same side of the separation of church and state issue for taking this on. Some have said the case brought by the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation weakens their battle to keep church and state separate, something we agree should be maintained.

In addition, Wednesday's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, allowing a cross to remain on federal land in the Mojave Desert, lends support to our position and that of the Justice Department.

"The Constitution does not oblige government to avoid any public acknowledgment of religion's role in society," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is not to the left or right but rather positions himself in the center on this issue.

Also, the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the Freedom From Religion Foundation had no standing and could not sue over federal funds given to religious charities. Indeed, those nonprofits are part of the American fabric. They should get federal dollars, just as other nonreligious charities when qualifications and standards are met.

Likewise, banning an acknowledgment of religion in our society - whether a proclamation for prayer or a cross erected as a war memorial - goes against our people and traditions and now, against the judgment of the Supreme Court.

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_14988286

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Right to know: Public should get crime information

CITIZENS are right to worry about the invasions of privacy that go hand in glove with our Internet age. Our security can be compromised in cyberspace. Our financial security, especially, has never been more open to invasion by sophisticated crooks.

Citizens are being misled, though, if they think California law enforcement is releasing more data about both victims and perpetrators of crimes as electronic records become more common.

The reverse is true. Even what previous generations of "cop-shop" reporters have known as the police blotter - the simple list of crimes reported and requests for aid made in a community - is getting harder to access in many California cities, especially in Los Angeles.

There is, in fact, a clampdown on information the public has traditionally had a right to know from law enforcement. The latest attempt to go in reverse was a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Norma Torres, D-Ontario, that would have allowed police to withhold information about crime victims.

AB 1682 seemed to come out of nowhere. There has been no untoward release of victims' information that led to any problems. But the bill was written at the behest of Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who said he feared deputies' safety could be compromised (he didn't say how) or victims could be re-victimized. It hasn't happened, he acknowledged, but it is "only a matter of time."

The measure would have restricted information about a crime victim's address to the city in which they live. That hurts our ability to let the public know about dangers in their own neighborhoods - while not by any means endangering anyone else. Newspapers, including this one, don't publish the addresses of crime victims, but we do give the block on which they occurred, such as "the 1200 block of North Main Street." This provides valid information to readers about the location of crimes. They have a right to know their street is the site of a crime, and news organizations, on readers' behalf, ought to have access to that information. The Torres bill would have stopped our ability to do that.

Fortunately, the bill was defeated in the Public Safety Committee last week. Torres threatens to bring it back. She should be dissuaded from that misguided attempt.

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_14978751

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From the New York Times

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America's Multiethnic Military

The French Foreign Legion is famous for taking recruits of any nationality and molding them into premier soldiers. If recruits complete the arduous training , they not only join the ranks of a prestigious military unit but also become French citizens. The United States  military has, in many ways, also adopted this method of immigration.

Throughout my time in the military, whether it was in garrison or overseas, I have served with many soldiers who had yet to attain American citizenship. Many joined the military precisely because military service offered an opportunity to become a United States citizen. These soldiers came from countries across the globe, including Afghanistan, Ghana, Haiti, Mexico, Somalia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Perhaps some of the soldiers I have served with stood in formation at the White House Rose Garden last week when President Obama spoke at a naturalization ceremony for active-duty service members . Although the military force in Iraq is no longer called a coalition, wherever it is deployed, it is a multiethnic force that includes many soldiers who are seeking citizenship.

In the late 1990s, when the Army failed to meet its annual recruitment goals, it adopted a new slogan: Army of One. Realizing that many recruits were Spanish speakers, the Army translated the slogan to “Yo Soy El Army” in order to better target and recruit Spanish-speaking immigrants.

Even senior military officials have weighed in on immigration's positive impact. In 2006, Gen. Peter Pace, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave an emotional speech to the Senate Armed Services Committee about the benefits of immigration on the military and noted that noncitizens had earned 200 awards or medals for their service in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Besides the many immigrants who have served and are serving in the military, there are many service members whose spouses are immigrants. The first time my wife was at a military base, she noticed  the diversity of the community. While stationed in Germany, some soldiers in my unit got engaged to and then married local Germans. This is common on many military bases, including those in Japan and Korea. In my unit, there is a master sergeant, a senior noncommissioned officer, of Filipino descent who has been deployed more than four times and is currently struggling to get American citizenship for his Filipino wife.

A sergeant first class who is a Mexican immigrant told me that America is a dream for many non-Americans. “The upper class in most parts of the world has the same quality of life as the lower class in America,” he said. “We take so much for granted in America: tap water, public services and safe communities.” This sentiment, though, is not exclusive to immigrants in the military but a perspective shared by all service members who have been deployed overseas. The first thing one observes when deployed is the disparity of living conditions between people in war zones and people in the United States.

If I had to summarize my thoughts on immigration and the military, and the pursuit of the American Dream, I would quote General Pace:

“My dad came here, sometimes worked three jobs, but the jobs were there for him and the opportunities were there for him. …There is no other country on the planet that affords that opportunity to those who come.”

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/americas-multi-ethnic-military/?pagemode=print

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In Abuse Crisis, a Church Is Pitted Against Society and Itself

VATICAN CITY — As the sexual abuse crisis continues to unfold in the Roman Catholic Church , with more victims coming forward worldwide and three bishops resigning last week alone, it is clear the issue is more than a passing storm or a problem of papal communications.

Instead, the church is undergoing nothing less than an epochal shift: It pits those who hold fast to a more traditional idea of protecting bishops and priests above all against those who call for more openness and accountability. The battle lines are drawn between the church and society at large, which clearly clamors for accountability, and also inside the church itself.

Uncomfortably, the crisis also pits the moral legacies of two popes against each other: the towering and modernizing John Paul II , who nonetheless did little about sexual abuse; and his successor, Benedict XVI , who in recent years, at least, has taken the issue of pedophile priests more seriously.

He has had little choice, given the depth of the scandal and the anger it has unleashed. But when supporters defend Benedict, they are implicitly condemning John Paul and how an entire generation of bishops and the Vatican hierarchy acted in response to criminal behavior.

“The church realizes that it doesn't have a way out, at least not until it confronts the entirety of its problems,” said Alberto Melloni, the director of the liberal Catholic John XXIII Foundation for Religious Science in Bologna, Italy.

This latest eruption of the scandal, nearly a decade after the costly turmoil in the American church, may just be beginning. Last week, a bishop in Ireland resigned, acknowledging he had covered up abuse, while one in Germany and one in Belgium also stepped down, admitting that they themselves had abused children. Other resignations are expected in Ireland after two government reports documented decades of widespread abuse and a cover-up in church-run schools for the poor.

The question, Mr. Melloni said, is whether the Vatican will hew to old explanations that pedophilia is the byproduct of a sexual revolution it had always fought, or whether it will confront the failures in church leadership that allowed sexual abuses to go unpunished.

Benedict expressed both views in a pastoral letter to Irish Catholics released March 20, his most complete remarks on the sexual abuse crisis. He said that secularism and “misguided” interpretations of the reforms of the liberalizing Second Vatican Council contributed to the context of the abuse.

But he also strongly decried “a tendency in society to favor the clergy and other authority figures; and a misplaced concern for the reputation of the church and the avoidance of scandal.”

Last weekend, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi , said, “secrecy and reserve, even in their positive aspects, are not values cultivated in today's culture. We have to be able to have nothing to hide.”

Yet the culture of the church was for decades skewed against public disclosure and cooperation with the civil authorities.

That secrecy was made bluntly clear in a 2001 letter written by a top cardinal, who contended that this was a policy supported uniformly from John Paul on down. Only this month did the Vatican affirm that bishops should follow civil laws in countries that require reporting pedophilia and other abuse to the authorities.

This month, Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos , 80, a former head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy, made headlines when he said that John Paul had approved of the letter he wrote to a French bishop in 2001, praising him for facing prison rather than handing over a pedophile priest to civil courts.

The priest was convicted of molesting boys, and the bishop received a three-month suspended prison sentence for not turning him in. In a radio interview last week, the cardinal upped the ante, saying the letter emerged from a meeting where the future pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was also present, The Associated Press reported last week.

Father Lombardi confirmed the letter's authenticity. But in a rare if typically oblique critique of a sitting cardinal, he said it was evidence of “how timely” it was for the Vatican in 2001 to centralize authority over sexual abuse cases with the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Cardinal Ratzinger then headed. Indeed, even some of Benedict's harshest critics concede that abuse cases have been handled better since then, even if they say they still believe there is a long way to go.

But when supporters defend Benedict, they implicitly criticize John Paul.

Even if few will acknowledge it openly, the sexual abuse crisis has cast a shadow over John Paul's legacy.

John Paul may have brought the church in line with the tides of history, but on sexual abuse he upheld a vision of the priesthood that critics say ultimately favors the hierarchy over the victims.

Some place John Paul's defense of priests in the context of his background in communist Poland, where the secret police accused clergy members of sexual crimes to undermine the church.

Yet the pope never met with victims and never apologized for sexual abuse, even long after the end of the cold war.

In contrast, Benedict has met with sexual abuse victims four times, including this month in Malta , but only in private and after intense pressure from the media.

Last year, Benedict confirmed the “heroic virtues” of John Paul, moving him closer to sainthood, but Vatican experts say the renewed attention on historical questions may delay the process.

And protecting the memory of John Paul has not completely silenced supporters of the present pope. They cite two of the most prominent and damaging abuse cases — those of the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the powerful religious order The Legionaries of Christ, and Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër of Vienna — and contend that Cardinal Ratzinger advocated stronger measures.

In the case of Father Maciel, a close friend of John Paul's, his supporters say that Cardinal Ratzinger reopened the case and in 2006, he was sentenced to live out his days in prayer and penance. He died in 2008. By the standards of the Vatican, the punishment was extraordinary — impossible under John Paul. To the victims and many outsiders, it amounted to very little against a man who for decades abused seminarians, fathered several children and misappropriated funds.

“While Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was perhaps the most powerful and influential churchman at the Vatican after Pope John Paul II, he would not buck the system to take action against Maciel, or earlier, in the Groër case,” said David Gibson, a biographer of Benedict who writes on religion for Politicsdaily.com . “His concern for the proper order of authority, and the clerical culture took precedence.”

Critics and defenders of Benedict say healing the church will require action and a full accounting of the past. That will not be easy on the legacy of John Paul.

And to protect the church Benedict has spent a lifetime nurturing, many are calling on him to explain his own past to show how he understands that the rules of the church do not conflict with the rule of law.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/world/europe/30pope.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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82 Charges Added On for Officer

OTTAWA — Col. David Russell Williams was once among Canada 's most successful military officers. He commanded a sprawling air base essential for Canada's military mission in Afghanistan, and he sometimes was the pilot of government jets that carried Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other dignitaries overseas.

But the police have now accused Colonel Williams of leading a double life, as an air force commander and a serial sexual predator. After arresting him in February in connection with two murders and two sexual assaults, the police on Thursday added 82 additional criminal charges, most of which involved lurid sexual details.

Most of the new charges involve break-ins in Ottawa, where Colonel Williams and his wife live, and in communities near the air base that he used to command, which is known as Canadian Forces Base Trenton . No details about the burglaries were provided during a brief court hearing on Thursday, and officials with the police departments investigating the case declined to elaborate.

But John R. Williams, the mayor of Quinte West, Ontario , where the air base is located, said that several residents had been told by the police that Colonel Williams was suspected of having broken into their homes and taken women's lingerie.

The newspaper The Ottawa Citizen reported previously that the police had seized 500 women's undergarments during a weeklong search of Colonel William's house in Ottawa in February.

“Some people who have been contacted didn't even know that he or anyone else had been in their house,” said Mr. Williams, who is not related to Colonel Williams. “It's really weird.”

The investigation is continuing, and additional charges may be filed against Colonel Williams, according to spokesmen for the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ottawa police.

Colonel Williams had been a powerful member of the Canadian military until the unusual tread pattern on the tires of his sport utility vehicle led police investigators to link him with a crime scene. Among other things, the Trenton air base is home to a major search-and-rescue center, a rapid deployment force and the fleet of jets used by senior Canadian government officials.

After Colonel Williams was arrested in February, he was relieved of his duties and suspended with full pay, pending his trial.

He was also charged with breaking into the homes of two women near the air base last September; he was accused of having forced the women to strip and then having photographed them while they were nude and blindfolded. He was accused of having broken into the home of Corporal Marie-France Comeau , an air force flight attendant based at Trenton, in October. The police said she died after being beaten and having her mouth and nose sealed with tape.

Then in late January, another young woman, Jessica Lloyd, went missing near Colonel Williams's cottage. He was also charged with her murder.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/world/americas/30canada.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Announcing FEMA Mobile

Today, FEMA is taking a step to put more tools in your hands by launching m.fema.gov, our new mobile website. We recognize that when it comes to disasters, many individuals are going to try to get the information they need by using their mobile device--so we're rolling out this mobile version of our website so people can get the information they need when disaster strikes.

The new site – m.fema.gov – is laid out in a user friendly, question and answer format, walking users through the important issues they face when dealing with disasters, including:

How do I apply for FEMA Aid?

What should I do in a disaster?

How can I help others?

This is just a first step. We will be making several enhancements to m.fema.gov in the coming months, including the ability to apply for individual assistance when a disaster has been declared by the President, check on the status of an application and update an existing application. And we will keep improving the site, working to ensure that Americans have easy access to the tools they need to prepare for and, when needed, recover from a disaster in their community.

Today's launch of m.fema.gov comes with just over a month remaining until the start of hurricane season on June 1. We encourage everyone to visit http://m.fema.gov/hurricanes.htm on their mobile device and learn more about the simple steps you can take to make sure you and your family ready for hurricane season.

http://blog.dhs.gov/2010/04/announcing-fema-mobile.html

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From the FBI

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The KKK march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. in 1925.

THE FBI VERSUS THE KLAN  Part 2: Trouble in the 1920s 04/29/10 The Roaring Twenties were a heady time, full of innovation and exploration—from the novelty of “talking pictures” to the utility of mass-produced Model Ts...from the distinct jazz sounds of Duke Ellington to the calculated social rebellion of the “flappers”...from the pioneering flights of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart to the pioneering prose of F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner. It was also a lawless decade—an age of highly violent and well-heeled gangsters and racketeers who fueled a growing underworld of crime and corruption. Al Capone and his archrival Bugs Moran had formed powerful, warring criminal enterprises that ruled the streets of Chicago, while the early Mafia was crystallizing in New York and other cities, running various gambling, bootlegging, and other illegal operations. Contributing to criminal chaos of the 1920s was the sudden rise of the KKK. In the early 1920s, membership in the KKK quickly escalated to six figures under the leadership of “Colonel” William Simmons and advertising guru Edward Young Clarke. By the middle of the decade, the group boasted several million members.

Read the memos: September 25, 1922 November 13, 1922

The Department responded, immediately sending four Bureau agents—A. E. Farland, J. D. Rooney, J. P. Huddleston, and W. M. Arkens—to work with the Louisiana attorney general to gather evidence of state and federal crimes. The agents soon found the bodies of the two men and pinpointed members of the vigilante mob that kidnapped and brutally murdered them. They also identified the mob's leader—Dr. B.M. McKoin, the former mayor of Mer Rouge. The agents' work put their own lives in danger. On November 13, 1922, an FBI Headquarters memo noted that “confirmation has just been received of the organized attempt of klansmen and their friends to arrest, kidnap, and do away with special agents of the Department who were in Mer Rouge.” To make matters worse, the plot was “stimulated by the United States Attorney at Shreveport,” reportedly an active KKK member. The U.S. attorney had already ordered the investigating agents, detailed from the Houston Division, to leave the area or be arrested because he thought they had no business investigating those matters. “Only their hurried exit saved them,” the memo said. Still, the agents continued their work.

In 1923, McKoin was arrested and charged with the murders of the two men. Despite National Guard security, witnesses were kidnapped by the Klan, and other attempts were made to sabotage the trial. The grand jury refused to return an indictment. Other KKK members, though, ended up paying fines or being sentenced to short jail terms for miscellaneous misdemeanors related to the murders.

Part 1: Let the Investigations Begin Part 2: Trouble in the 1920s

Despite the Bureau's work, the power of the KKK in certain places was too strong to crack. But as revelations of leadership scandals spread and figures like Edward Young Clarke went to jail , the Klan's membership dropped off precipitously. By the end of the decade, thanks in part to the Bureau, the KKK had faded into the background—at least for a time.

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/april10/klan2_042910.html

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From the DEA

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“Operation Vaqueros” Hits Mexican DTO

DTO believed responsible for bringing over 40,000 pounds of marijuana into Arizona; 34 arrested

APR 27 -- TUCSON, Ariz. – Federal, state, and local officials today announced arrests and charges against a Mexican drug trafficking organization believed responsible for moving at least 40,000 pounds of marijuana through southern Arizona, primarily through Cochise County. The organization employed advanced counter-surveillance, ramp trucks to overcome vehicle barriers at the border, and hidden vehicle compartments.

Seven federal wiretaps approved in the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation, dubbed “Operation Vaqueros” for the “Cowboy” attire worn by members of the drug trafficking organization, were unsealed by order of the U.S. District Court. Twelve people have been indicted on federal conspiracy charges. In the course of the investigation, 26 people were indicted on federal charges, and 13 on state charges.

U.S. Attorney Dennis K. Burke, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Elizabeth Kempshall, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent in Charge Matthew Allen, and Attorney General Terry Goddard, were joined by White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske at the federal courthouse in Tucson to announce the results of the coordinated investigation alongside numerous federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.

“Today's actions are yet another strike against the powerful drug trafficking organizations whose tentacles stretch across the Mexico border and into the U.S.”, said DEA Special Agent in Charge Elizabeth W. Kempshall “In Arizona and all across our nation's Southwest Border, DEA and our partners are determined to find them, shut down their operations, and bring them to justice.”

The 36-month investigation “Operation Vaqueros” has yielded 39 state and federal indictments, and 34 arrests, including one employee of the Cochise County Attorney's Office, arrested on January 26, 2010 on state charges she provided confidential information to one of the drug traffickers in exchange for money. That information was derived from a Title III wiretap, one of seven wires approved for “Vaqueros” as federal agents began honing in on the organization. Six of those indicted federally remain at large and are believed to be in Mexico.

“As this drug task force operation attests, we will bring greater security to the southwest border by working together – better and smarter, with more proactive intelligence-led investigations that pool resources of federal, state and tribal agencies,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Dennis K. Burke. “We will work with our friends at the County Attorney's Offices, and the Arizona Attorney General's Office to prosecute state and federal border crimes. They have a different set of tools than we do, but a common goal.”

“ICE is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to target the leadership of the smuggling organizations that are responsible for smuggling related violence in our border communities,” said Matt Allen, Special Agent in Charge of ICE Investigations in Arizona.

“The cartel's efforts to infiltrate law enforcement are not limited to Mexico. They want to do it here as well, and we can't let them," stated Arizona Attorney General Goddard. “We must and will remain diligent in finding and prosecuting anyone who supports, funds, or aids the cartels."

“Operation Vaqueros” began in 2007 with information gathered by the U.S. Border Patrol on the method of operation of the DTO, eventually evolving into an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation involving DEA, ICE, FBI, U.S. Border Patrol, Arizona Department of Public Safety, Cochise County Sheriff's Office, as well as local police from Bisbee, Sierra Vista, and Douglas.

“In today's difficult economic environment, close collaboration among Federal, state, and local law enforcement is more important than ever,” said White House Drug Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske. “The arrests made here in Arizona show the value of information sharing and coordination. By working together to reduce drug production, trafficking and use across the Nation, we are making our communities safer and our families stronger.”

A conviction for Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute over 1,000 kilograms of marijuana carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, a $4 million fine or both. In determining an actual sentence, Chief Judge John Roll will consult the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges. The judge, however, is not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence.

An indictment is simply the method by which a person is charged with criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt. An individual is presumed innocent until competent evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The following individuals were named as co-conspirators in the federal indictment and are charged with Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute over 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.

*Federal fugitives. Please contact DEA Sierra Vista at 520-458-3691 or 866-DHS-2ICE with information on the whereabouts of these individuals.

Remaining 27 defendants were load drivers for the organization, and were prosecuted for drug trafficking charges in Federal and State courts (14 Federal prosecutions/13 State charges).

http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2010/phnx042710a.html

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Alleged Head of the Quintero Drug Trafficking Enterprise Extradited to U.S. From Mexico

Eight-year battle by defendant to avoid extradition ends with one way trip to San Antonio

APR 27 -- Juan Jose Quintero-Payan, 68, of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, has been extradited to Texas to face charges of four felony violations of the drug and racketeering statutes, José Angel Moreno and John E. Murphy, United States Attorneys for the Southern and Western Districts of Texas, respectively, announced today along with Zoran Yankovich, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Houston Division.

Following the return of a sealed superseding indictment by a San Antonio grand jury and the issuance of a provisional arrest warrant in 2002, Quintero was arrested in Mexico. Quintero fought against his extradition for eight years. On Friday, April 23, 2010, Quintero was extradited by Mexico and transported to San Antonio in the company of U.S. agents. The indictment was unsealed on Monday, April 26, 2010, following Quintero's initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela A. Mathy in San Antonio. Quintero has been ordered to remain in federal custody without bond pending further criminal proceedings.

Moreno praised the dedication of the agents and prosecutors as well as the Office of International Affairs in the Department of Justice's Criminal Division who have worked throughout the years to bring Quintero to justice. “The successful extradition of Mr. Quintero-Payan shows that joint international efforts work and that the rule of lawlessness is ultimately subservient to the rule of law,” he said.

The indictment alleges Quintero was the leader of a criminal enterprise whose operations spanned from South America and Mexico to the United States and the Cayman Islands during the years of approximately 1978 to 2002, when the current superseding indictment was filed. The charged conduct includes the movement of numerous large loads of marijuana to the United States from Mexico, in amounts of up 15,000 pounds at a time, using tanker trucks. As per the charges, cocaine shipments as large as 700 kilograms were acquired from unnamed foreign sources via airplane for re-shipment to the United States.

The indictment details the movement of more than $20 million dollars in United States currency into banks in California and Texas and other deposits into banks in New York and the Cayman Islands. A network of real estate was allegedly acquired in Texas and California related to the drug enterprise's operations to include ranches, airstrips and residences.

The charges are the result of a continuing cooperative effort between prosecutors in the Western District of Texas and Southern District of Texas in “Operation Cash Crop,” an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation involving the DEA, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Narcotics Service of the Texas Department of Public Safety and the then United States Customs Service, now Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the Department of Homeland Security.

“Through close and sustained cooperation with our partners in Mexico, we are bringing alleged cartel leaders to justice - on both sides of the border,” Yankovich said. “Mexico's continued cooperation in targeting significant drug traffickers is critical to our mutual efforts to protect the public from the negative impact of the drug trade.”

The initial indictment arising from “Operation Cash Crop” was first brought in 1985 in San Antonio, Texas. Those charges were superseded in March 1986 naming Quintero and 49 other defendants. Portions of those charges were tried in 1986 in San Antonio. Additional prosecutions have occurred in San Antonio and in Brownsville, Texas, as a result of this investigative effort. Quintero has been extradited to face prosecution on a 2002 superseding indictment. 

While the charges carry a statutory penalty of up to life imprisonment, at the time the extradition request was made, Mexico conditioned extradition on assurances that a sentence of life imprisonment would not be imposed. A copy of the superseding indictment returned in 2002 is attached.

Assistant United States Attorney Charles Lewis of the Southern District of Texas will be prosecuting the Quintero case in the San Antonio Division of the Western District of Texas.

http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2010/houston042710a.html

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