~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Los Angeles Times

Couple charged with trying to sell nuclear material

An FBI agent posed as a Venezuelan official hoping to build a bomb.

By Richard A. Serrano, Tribune Washington Bureau

September 18, 2010

Reporting from Washington

A physicist and his wife who once worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico were arrested Friday on charges of attempting to sell "restricted data" to an undercover FBI agent posing as a top Venezuelan official trying to build an atomic bomb.

Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, 75, a nationalized U.S. citizen from Argentina, and his wife, Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, 67, appeared in federal court in Albuquerque on charges of trying "to injure the United States" by passing along classified nuclear weapons material in return for millions of dollars.

The couple worked at the laboratory over several decades, Pedro Mascheroni through much of the 1980s and his wife from 1981 until earlier this year. He was a scientist, and her duties included technical writing and editing. Both had security clearances and access to material concerning the design, manufacture and use of atomic weapons.

Federal law enforcement officials stressed that the government of Venezuela was not involved in any way.

U.S. Atty. Kenneth J. Gonzales of New Mexico said that laboratory employees must safeguard anything they learn there, even after leaving the lab. "This is absolutely necessary for our national security, and it is what the public expects," Gonzales said.

In the 22-count indictment unsealed Friday, the Mascheronis were charged with conspiring to communicate restricted data to a foreign agent. Pedro Mascheroni also was charged with "concealing and retaining U.S. records with the intent to convert them to his own use and gain." Marjorie Mascheroni was charged with seven counts of making false statements to investigators. If convicted, each could face life in prison.

The investigation was launched in March 2008 when Pedro Mascheroni began speaking with an undercover FBI agent "posing as a Venezuelan government official," authorities say. Mascheroni allegedly said that he could help that country "develop a nuclear bomb within 10 years" and that Venezuela could use a secret, underground nuclear reactor to harvest and enrich plutonium, and an above-ground reactor to produce nuclear energy.

In July 2008, the agent gave Mascheroni a list of 12 questions purportedly from Venezuelan military and scientific officials.

Five months later, authorities say, Mascheroni delivered a disk to a post office box that contained a coded, 132-page document with restricted data on nuclear weapons.

The primer was allegedly written by Mascheroni and edited by his wife. He reportedly told the agent that he could provide more details later worth millions of dollars to build a bomb, and that his fee would be $793,000.

Authorities say that in June 2009, he found another list of questions in the post office box, along with $20,000 in cash, and that on his way to pick up the material and money, he told his wife that this was very dangerous but that he was involved for the money.

A month later, authorities report, he left a 39-page document answering the latest questions, and said that "just in case our relationship/alliance does not work," he would simply say it was information available on the Internet.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-nuclear-venezuela-20100918,0,5383276,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When every day is one of atonement

Rabbi celebrates high holy days with a message for 'the forgotten Jews' in jail: 'You're not expected to be perfect, but you're not permitted to stop trying.'

By Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times

September 18, 2010

In the fall of 2008, Jonathan Titcher was 28 years old and laying waste to his life. He was in the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles on a probation violation, which had come less than a week after his release from a heroin conviction.

As he attended a jailhouse service to mark the Jewish high holy days, he could feel a change.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the two holidays that kick off the Jewish New Year, are solemn occasions for soul-searching and repentance. Known as the Days of Awe, and ending this year with the close of Yom Kippur at sundown Saturday, they are an opportunity for Jews to ask God to forgive their sins.

It is a plea that has special poignancy for Jews in jail or prison — "the forgotten Jews," as Rabbi Yossi Carron calls them.

Carron is the head Jewish chaplain for the Los Angeles County Jail system and is assigned and subsidized by the Southern California Board of Rabbis. A former bandleader who became a rabbi relatively late in life, he has empathy for these Jews who have stumbled on life's path. "My guys," he calls them — people like Titcher, who met the rabbi through a Jewish cellmate and discovered a mentor. Over time, Carron would reintroduce him to his long-abandoned faith and help him see beyond a constricting world of drug addiction and pain.

"I was never accountable for any of the damage I did within myself and my family," said Titcher. "And going to services and speaking to him gave me a chance to reflect that I was not only doing damage to myself but the people surrounding me. You hear it a lot, about people finding God in jail and it sounds sort of cliched. And I don't want to say I found God in jail, but I know that something in me changed, and I knew I had to change. A lot of the guilt was lifted off my shoulders."

Today, he said, he is clean and sober, working as an assistant manager at Starbucks and going to culinary school. He is full of hope for the future and credits Carron with helping him get there.

To many people, the very idea of Jews in jail is somehow surprising. "If I had a dollar for every time someone said, 'You mean there are Jews in jail?' " Carron said. "Yes, there are Jews in jail, and no, they aren't all [for] white collar crimes."

Although Yom Kippur will officially be over, Carron will hold special services next week for inmates at the Men's Central Jail and at Corcoran State Prison in the San Joaquin Valley, the institutions he visits weekly as a chaplain. He estimates that there are 75 to 100 Jewish inmates at any given time in the Los Angeles County Jail system, and about 50 in the main yard of Corcoran.

Other rabbis will be holding holiday services at other jails and prisons. At the federal correctional institution on Terminal Island, Rabbi Levi Kazarnovsky planned to conduct services according to the usual sundown-to-sundown schedule Friday night and Saturday.

If the past is any indicator, the services will be emotionally charged, as inmates acknowledge the hurt they have caused and ask for forgiveness.

"It's a perfect holiday for them," said Carron. "I don't use the word 'sin,' I use the word 'transgression.' I say, for all those transgressions that you did, God is going to forgive you, but you have a lot of work to do. … At the beginning of the Talmud, it says you're not expected to be perfect, but you're not permitted to stop trying."

Carron, who also leads a Jewish congregation in Ojai, K'hilat Ha'Aloneem, began working behind bars shortly after he became a rabbi seven years ago at the age of 54. It was not his first choice for a job, and he wasn't sure how long he wanted to do it. But he formed a deep, lasting bond with the first inmate he encountered and realized that he could make a powerful impact.

The inmate was an observant Orthodox Jew who had become addicted to cocaine and committed computer fraud to pay for his habit. When he wound up in jail, he was none too happy to see the Jewish chaplain who arrived to talk to him — especially when he realized that this clean-shaven stranger came from the Reform branch of Judaism.

"I was used to a black hat, bearded rabbi type, and here comes this guy," said the former inmate, who asked to be identified by the pseudonym Abraham. "I thought, 'Oh God, what's this guy got to teach me?' I grew up in a yeshiva and I thought I knew everything I needed to know. I didn't, obviously."

Abraham found that although he knew a great deal about Jewish rituals, he hadn't given much thought to the ideas behind them. Carron had, and also had studied the 12 Step program developed by Alcoholics Anonymous, which proved useful in counseling a drug addict.

"So you know, we got to talking, and that very first meeting actually did touch me, and I broke down and I cried, and I guess he saw the areas that I needed help," Abraham said. Carron began visiting him every day. "We spent a lot of time talking about spiritual recovery, and the true meaning of finding joy even in the darkest places."

Abraham was out of jail and on the way to full recovery before Yom Kippur, so he never experienced that observance with Carron. But, he said, "When you're in jail with that rabbi, every day is a day of atonement … taking inventory of what you've done, how you've wronged your friend, how you've transgressed some of the laws that you hoped to abide by in life."

Jews, said Carron, don't subscribe to the notion of original sin, believing that people are "born pure and we have the chance to be pure every day." He has no illusions about his jailhouse congregation; some will never change and none will achieve absolute purity. But with work, with repentance, with atonement, he believes, each can strive to be the best person possible.

"You made a mistake," he tells them. "So if you want to have another chance to wake up tomorrow, to wake up pure, then you have to do the work."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beliefs-yom-kippur-20100918,0,5237318,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Honoring the women who protect and serve

The Legendary Ladies, retired female LAPD officers, meet to celebrate Fanchon Blake, whose 1973 lawsuit opened the department to equal status for women.

Sandy Banks

September 18, 2010

Watching Fanchon Blake make her way to the microphone, it was hard to envision the firebrand who helped remake the Los Angeles Police Department. Her gait was slow, her speech was halting, her bearing unlike that of the legendary policewoman old-timers recalled.

But to the luncheon crowd in the Police Academy gym — women wearing pearl earrings and police uniforms, carrying Gucci bags and holstered guns — the elderly woman had rock star status.

They cheered and applauded, then lined up to pose for photos with her. It was, after all, Blake's 1973 lawsuit that ushered many of them into and up the ranks of the LAPD.

At my table near the back, Lt. Cindy Benes had to stretch to see her. Benes joined the force in 1980, one of a flood of female recruits hired as Blake's discrimination suit pushed the department into a court-monitored consent decree.

Before Blake sued, women couldn't be promoted beyond the rank of sergeant, were allowed to supervise only other women and had to be at least 5 feet, 6 inches tall.

Benes is 5 feet tall, a lieutenant in the tough Northeast Division, supervising 24 gang and narcotics officers, all but one of them men.

::

You can chronicle the department's change in numbers: Thirty years ago, there were 178 women on the force, about 2% of the total deployment. Today, there are 1,884. One in five officers is female, more than half work street patrol, and 74 rank above sergeant, the ceiling when Fanchon Blake served.

The struggles accompanying that change are harder to track. There is pressure to prove your mettle and find your space; to counter resentment with competence, to acknowledge stereotypes but rise above them.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, whose daughter is an officer in a gang unit, acknowledged as much in his luncheon speech. "Women not only do at least as well as men in this job, they do it with an extra burden," he said.

The officers I spoke with on Wednesday were matter-of-fact about the challenge.

"It was hard to feel like you fit in" when Benes joined 30 years ago, she said. "The department was like all white, male, 6-foot fall Vietnam vets. The big question for us was did we have the physical strength."

She found a role where size didn't seem to matter so much: working undercover with the vice unit. And over the years, the relaxed height restriction Blake's lawsuit wrought has shaped a department "that's gotten shorter … and more in sync with the community," Benes said. "I stuck around long enough to fit."

Until the 1970s, women were trained separately, wore skirts and heels and weren't allowed in patrol cars.

"We knew they didn't have the same training, and nobody wanted to be responsible for some female getting hurt," retired detective Dallas Binger recalled.

"If you're in a life-threatening situation, would you want a partner in high heels with her gun in a purse, or somebody who looks like her?" he asked, gesturing across our table at the diminutive Benes, in uniform with her gun in a holster.

After pants replaced skirts and women began working patrol, new resistance arose from an unexpected quarter: "We had the wives of officers calling stations saying 'Don't let my husband work with her,' " recalled Sandy Jo MacArthur, who spent 10 years in patrol because "I didn't want anybody to say that I didn't do my time."

When she graduated from the Police Academy in 1980, women in patrol cars were so rare "it was hard to go to a restaurant and eat without everybody staring at you," MacArthur said.

Today, if people stare, it's because of the three bars pinned to her collar. Assistant Chief MacArthur is the highest-ranking woman on the LAPD.

::

Wednesday's luncheon was sponsored by the Legendary Ladies, retired policewomen from Blake's era. So there was lots of talk about firsts — the first female lieutenant, first commander, the first firearms instructor, first helicopter pilot.

But what struck me as I crisscrossed the room was how little gender seemed to matter.

When I asked why they joined the force, the women told me the same things I hear from men: They like the adventure and adrenaline rush, the paycheck and the pension plan, the community contact and chance to help. They were drawn by campus recruitment fliers, advice from neighbors, a conversation with a guy at the gym.

For some, police work was the family business. Gail Ryan is a fourth-generation Irish cop. She followed her dad into the LAPD in 1967 and stayed for 33 years.

For others, it was a long-shot. Joyce Kano was a housewife with an infant son. "My husband didn't think I'd last. He was shocked when I made it," she recalled. She was the LAPD's first Asian American female. She joined in 1968, lasted 20 years and retired as a detective in Hollenbeck Division.

She used to carpool with Binger when both worked juvenile at the Georgia Street station. Kano had a desk job, taking calls from worried parents, while Binger patrolled the streets rescuing runaways from predators and pimps.

"Back in those days," Binger said, "it was pretty rare to find policewomen anywhere working the streets."

But "just being on the LAPD made us tougher," Blake told the crowd. "Where we were coming from as women, we were quite naive. But we were not bashful."

Blake left the department before her lawsuit was settled. She was ostracized after she filed suit, had a stroke and felt forced to retire. Her one regret? "I wanted to be chief of police," she said.

At that, MacArthur took the chief's stars from her uniform and pinned them to Blake's jacket. The 89-year-old pioneer wept at the gesture. The assistant chief held her own tears back.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-banks-20100918,0,3444662,print.column

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Star power at the U.N.

The appointment of Michelle Bachelet to head the U.N.'s new women's issues agency adds stature and star power to the agenda for gender equality.

OPINION

September 17, 2010

A single mother of three, survivor of prison torture and exile. A pediatrician, linguist and practiced buster of gender barriers as the first female president of Chile. This is the resume that makes Michelle Bachelet an excellent choice to lead the newly created United Nations agency to promote gender equality around the globe, to be called U.N. Women. With her appointment this week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has brought some badly needed star power to the world organization in general and to women's issues in particular. Now he must ensure that Bachelet has the money, staff and political support to do the job successfully.

Fifteen years ago, U.N. member states signed a declaration in Beijing dedicating themselves to ending discrimination against women and closing a gender gap in a dozen areas, including education, health, employment, political participation and human rights. Although some progress has been made, it isn't nearly enough. Women still suffer higher rates of poverty and illiteracy than men and have less access to full-time and high-paying jobs. They face forced marriages, genital mutilation, sexual enslavement and rape as a weapon of war, which the U.N. Security Council has recognized as a crime against humanity.

Take the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Last year, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited eastern Congo to focus attention on the widespread use of rape in that country's conflicts and to call for an end to "the sexual and gender-based violence committed by so many." This year, Ban appointed Margot Wallstrom of Sweden as the U.N.'s first special representative on sexual violence in conflict. Yet rape remains a weapon of choice in Congo. The U.N. reported that about 500 women and girls were raped by rebel groups in July alone; about 15,000 rapes are recorded each year. The U.N. has apologized for the failure of its peacekeepers in Congo to protect the population when the government did not. The problem, according to human rights groups, is impunity. Surely if Congolese men were being gang-raped at gunpoint in such numbers, something would be done about it.

Bachelet won't be able to solve all of the world's unfinished gender business, of course, but she is a leader with a strong record in fighting for women's rights. As president, she named 10 men and 10 women to her Cabinet, legalized alimony payments to divorced women in that Catholic country and spoke out on discrimination against women. She'll need to be a good bureaucratic combatant as well. Her agency will encompass four others that work on women's issues, absorbing their staffs and combined budget of about $220 million, with field operations dependent on voluntary contributions from member states. She and Ban must make sure the donors pay up, and fulfill the agenda for gender equality launched in 1995.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-bachelet-20100917,0,3696668,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the New York Times

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

British Police Hold 6 on Terror Charges as Pope Visits

LONDON — As Pope Benedict XVI embarked on some of the most symbolic passages of his trip here, the British police arrested six street cleaners on Friday on terrorism charges related to his state visit but gave no details of any threat against him.

The police and the Vatican said Benedict would not change his long-planned itinerary, on a day when he became the first pope to set foot on some of the most hallowed ground of the Anglican Church and British state and warned against the “marginalization” of Christianity.

News reports said the men, 26 to 50 years old, were Algerians working for a contractor who supplied 650 workers to Westminster City Council, which serves the area of central London with the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey where the pope wound up his day on Friday. The first five were arrested in a predawn raid at a depot two miles from Westminster. The sixth was arrested at lunchtime.

While the pope's plans did not change, security appeared to have been discreetly reinforced. As Benedict was driven through the streets of Westminster to the Houses of Parliament in his bulletproof vehicle, a dozen security men surrounded it, and police officers stood shoulder to shoulder in a cordon between crowds of well-wishers.

A police spokeswoman said earlier in the day that officials were “satisfied that our current policing plan is appropriate” to ensure the pope's safety, and noted that Britain 's broader terrorism threat level had not been raised.

In what appeared to have been a coincidence, Jonathan Evans, the chief of Britain's domestic security agency, MI5, issued a grim warning in a speech on Thursday that Britain continued to face “a serious risk of a lethal attack” by Al Qaeda -linked terrorists operating in the country.

The pope was on the second day of a four-day visit taking place under the shadow of the sexual abuse crisis that has enveloped the Roman Catholic Church, and in the context of the Vatican's historically troubled relationship with the Church of England, dating to the 16th-century schism in which King Henry VIII broke with Rome.

On Friday evening, Benedict made the first visit by a pope to Westminster Abbey, the seat of the Church of England, where he and Rowan Williams , the archbishop of Canterbury and the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, presided over an ecumenical service.

Tensions have been running high a year after the Vatican announced a fast-track conversion for groups of Anglicans uncomfortable with that church's ordination of women and openly gay priests. Few Anglicans, though, have taken advantage of the new Catholic rules.

Aimed at shoring up commonalities, the ecumenical service also underscored differences: The pope shook hands with a female Anglican priest, the first to hold an important position at Westminster Abbey, and bowed his head in a prayer offered by her, and he listened while another woman offered a prayer that referred to God as a woman.

In July, the Vatican issued new norms that make ordaining women as Catholic priests a grave crime against the faith, punishable by excommunication.

In Britain, Benedict has reinforced a central theme of his papacy: warning against secularism in Europe. In the first speech by a pontiff in the seat of British government, at the 11th-century Westminster Hall, Benedict argued for what he called “the legitimate role of religion in the public square,” calling also for greater ethics in finance.

Before a packed audience of the country's political and civil leaders, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair , a convert to Catholicism, Benedict urged them “to seek ways of promoting an encouraging dialogue between faith and reason at every level of national life.”

“I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalization of religion, particularly of Christianity, that is taking place in some quarters, even in nations which place a great emphasis on tolerance,” he added.

Afterward, the speaker of the House of Lords, Baroness Hayman, said that, in pluralistic Britain, Benedict's words on faith in the public square could also apply to Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Sikhs.

The visit was weighty with symbolism. Leaving Westminster Hall, Benedict and Archbishop Williams paused at a plaque honoring Sir Thomas More, the Catholic philosopher and statesman sentenced to death in 1535 after a trial in Westminster Hall for refusing to swear allegiance to the newly Protestant state over the pope.

In his remarks on Friday, the pope did not mention the sexual abuse crisis, but he is expected to meet privately with victims before he leaves Britain on Sunday.

On his flight here on Thursday, the pope offered his most candid acknowledgment yet of the church's failings in handling the scandal, saying church leaders had not been “sufficiently vigilant” or “sufficiently swift and decisive” in cracking down on sexual abusers.

In Scotland on Thursday, and again in London on Friday, groups of protesters mingled with crowds along Benedict's route, mixing their jeers with the well-wishers' shouts of welcome.

Although the papal visit continued without disruption, the arrests of the six street cleaners injected a jarring note into a day planned as a display of harmony and reconciliation. The police spokeswoman said that counterterrorism officers raided offices in central London at 5:45 a.m. and that the men were being held “on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.”

It was not clear whether the arrests were precautionary or related to a conspiracy under way.

Police officers subsequently searched offices and homes in north and east London, but no “hazardous materials” were reported to have been found. Late in the day, Scotland Yard announced the arrest of the sixth man, and municipal officials said that he, too, was a street cleaner.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told reporters that the pope had been informed of the threat while meeting Catholic schoolchildren on Friday morning. “We have complete trust in the police,” Father Lombardi said.

Concern about papal security has persisted since a Turkish gunman, Mehmet Ali Agca, tried to kill Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II , in St. Peter's Square in Rome in May 1981. Since then, popes have traveled with a significant security detail, protected by bulletproof glass on the “popemobile” with bodyguards alongside.

In April, Reuters reported, two Moroccan students deported from Italy were suspected of plotting to assassinate the pope, strengthening suspicions that affiliates of Al Qaeda in North Africa were seeking potential recruits in Italy and arranging financing for attacks elsewhere in Europe.

Other than confirming that a sixth man had been arrested later, Scotland Yard withheld any further comment on the case.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/world/europe/18pope.html?_r=1&ref=world

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Secrets in Plain Sight in Censored Book's Reprint

WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency , headquarters for the government's eavesdroppers and code breakers, has been located at Fort Meade, Md., for half a century. Its nickname, the Fort, has been familiar for decades to neighbors and government workers alike.

Yet that nickname is one of hundreds of supposed secrets Pentagon reviewers blacked out in the new, censored edition of an intelligence officer's Afghan war memoir. The Defense Department is buying and destroying the entire uncensored first printing of “Operation Dark Heart,” by Anthony Shaffer, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, in the name of protecting national security.

Another supposed secret removed from the second printing: the location of the Central Intelligence Agency 's training facility — Camp Peary, Va., a fact discoverable from Wikipedia . And the name and abbreviation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, routinely mentioned in news articles. And the fact that Sigint means “signals intelligence.”

Not only did the Pentagon black out Colonel Shaffer's cover name in Afghanistan, Chris Stryker, it deleted the source of his pseudonym: the name of John Wayne 's character in the 1949 movie “The Sands of Iwo Jima.”

The redactions offer a rare glimpse behind the bureaucratic veil that cloaks information the government considers too important for public airing.

Several recent books by former spies and soldiers show the government's editing with blacked-out passages, a gimmick that publishers use to give a book an insider's feel. The reader can only guess at what is concealed.

But in the case of Colonel Shaffer's book, uncensored advance copies — possibly as many as 100 — were distributed by St. Martin's Press before military officials found what they thought were security lapses. The New York Times bought an uncensored copy online this month, and on Friday got the redacted version from the publisher.

The list of “key characters” in the initial printing is gone, as is the blurb on the original cover from a former Defense Intelligence Agency director, Lt. Gen. Patrick M. Hughes, who had called it “one terrific book.”

Black ink obscures Colonel Shaffer's descriptions of intelligence operations in Afghanistan, including vague references to N.S.A. communications intercepts. One deleted passage, for instance, describes a plan by N.S.A. technicians to retrofit an ordinary-looking household electronic device and place it in an apartment near a suspected militant hideout in Pakistan. “The collection device would function like a sponge, soaking up any low-level signals too faint to be detected by N.S.A.'s more-distant devices,” Colonel Shaffer wrote.

The Pentagon's intervention has greatly increased interest in the book: one uncensored copy sold for more than $2,000 this week on eBay, and when the story broke last week, preorders for the new edition pushed the book as high as No. 4 among best sellers on Amazon.

The Defense Department's handling of Colonel Shaffer's account of his experiences in Afghanistan in 2003 appears to have been bungled from the beginning. The Army reviewed the manuscript, negotiated modest changes and approved it for publication in January.

Then, in July, the Defense Intelligence Agency saw a copy, showed it to the N.S.A. and other agencies, and decided that some 250 passages contained classified information. But advance copies were already out to potential reviewers and the Military Book Club, and the first 10,000 copies were in a warehouse. Those are the copies the Pentagon is arranging to buy and pulp.

Colonel Shaffer, his publisher and Pentagon classification enforcers have been negotiating over what could remain in the new printing, scheduled to go on sale Sept. 24.

“There's smart secrecy and stupid secrecy, and this whole episode sounds like stupid secrecy,” said Gabriel Schoenfeld of the Hudson Institute , a conservative scholar whose book “Necessary Secrets” defends protecting classified information.

Mr. Schoenfeld said military officials might have felt compelled to block Colonel Shaffer's discussions of jobs and operations they believed to be classified for fear that doing nothing would set a perilous precedent.

But Thomas S. Blanton, director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University , said the fact that censored and uncensored copies of the book were public would only call attention to the alleged secrets. “They're flagging the supposedly dangerous stuff,” Mr. Blanton said. And, he said, labeling facts that are common knowledge undermines the classification system.

A Pentagon spokesman, Colonel David Lapan, said he could not discuss specific redactions “because the information in question is considered classified.” Colonel Shaffer said Friday that his Army bosses asked him not to discuss his book for now. In a statement released by St. Martin's Press, he suggested that the changes inadvertently offered some insight.

“While I do not agree with the edits in many ways,” Colonel Shaffer wrote, “the Defense Department redactions enhance the reader's understanding by drawing attention to the flawed results created by a disorganized and heavy handed military intelligence bureaucracy.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/us/18book.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Immigration Agency's Tactic Spurs Alarm

In his short life, Ousmane Coulibaly, a 19-year-old high school senior in Manhattan, has seen plenty of adversity. He grew up poor in Mali, was estranged from his family at 13 and has lived on the street there and in New York. An illegal immigrant, he is staying in a homeless shelter while he tries to graduate and obtain a special immigration status reserved for young people who have been abandoned or abused.

But now he is facing a different kind of challenge: an investigation by immigration authorities who have subpoenaed his school records, without explaining why.

The subpoena, which New York City school officials say is highly unusual here, has raised alarm among some immigration lawyers and civil libertarians who say they fear that the federal government is opening a new front in immigration enforcement, in a city where officials have staunchly defended immigrant rights.

Mr. Coulibaly's lawyers, who have sued to quash the request, contend that the City Department of Education was prepared to release the files without resistance, even though the subpoena did not have the backing of a court order and could have been challenged.

Education officials say that their policy is to comply with all legally issued subpoenas and that they gave the student a chance to contest the one from Immigration and Customs Enforcement . A spokesman for the immigration agency said that it regularly asked schools around the country for student records, and that most were “completely cooperative.”

But the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union said they had not heard of similar subpoenas from the agency. “New York City must protect its immigrant students from having their education records turned over to immigration authorities without cause,” said Udi Ofer, advocacy director of the New York group, though he added that he was not familiar with the specifics of Mr. Coulibaly's case.

The immigration agency sent the subpoena to education officials on July 21, seeking “any and all records relating to Ousmane Coulibaly's contact information, dates of attendance and class schedules,” but gave no reason for the inquiry.

Two days later, a lawyer for the Education Department sent a letter to Mr. Coulibaly, saying that it would hand over the files unless a court stopped their release. “You may wish to consult with an attorney,” the department's lawyer wrote. The letter was also sent to Mr. Coulibaly's immigration lawyer.

Lauren Burke, a lawyer at a social services agency that has been helping Mr. Coulibaly, hurriedly moved to block the subpoena, and Judge George B. Daniels of United States District Court in Manhattan issued a temporary restraining order blocking release of the records pending a hearing, now scheduled for Sept. 27.

Mr. Coulibaly's lawyers contend, among other arguments, that the subpoena violates due process and equal protection rights that courts have accorded to students, regardless of immigration status, under the 14th Amendment. The immigration agency, the lawyers say, appears to be on “a fishing expedition” into their client's life.

Immigration officials would not discuss their investigation.

A spokeswoman for the Education Department, Natalie Ravitz, said in an e-mail that although the department regularly received subpoenas for student records, “no one can even remember the last time we received an ICE subpoena.”

The department must obey subpoenas, she wrote, pointing out that federal law permits schools to release student records without consent from the student or the student's parents to comply with a judicial order or a lawfully issued subpoena. But under federal law, she added, the department must inform the student — or the parents or legal guardians of a minor — “before we comply with a subpoena, precisely so they can decide whether to challenge the legality.”

Ms. Ravitz would not say whether the department had intended to challenge the subpoena if Mr. Coulibaly declined. “Our job is to educate the students of N.Y.C.,” she wrote. “We don't ask students their immigration status, and it would not be appropriate for us to inject ourselves into this immigration matter.”

Mr. Coulibaly admits he is not a legal immigrant. He traveled to the United States on a tourist visa in 2007, when he was 16, and stayed beyond the visa's expiration. But he, his lawyers and education officials said they had no idea why immigration authorities had singled him out from perhaps thousands of illegal immigrants in New York schools.

“I don't know what I did,” Mr. Coulibaly said during an interview in the offices of the social services agency, the Door , which works with disadvantaged youths. “If they want to see me, they can see me.”

A large, quiet man, he said he left home when he was 13 — under circumstances he would not discuss — and moved to Bamako, Mali's capital, where he lived by his wits. He found work as a live-in housekeeper for a Malian businessman, who helped him secure the visa and put him on a plane to New York, he said.

Mr. Coulibaly arrived at Kennedy International Airport speaking little English and knowing nobody. A West African cabdriver took pity on him, he said, and drove him to an apartment in Harlem shared by several immigrants, where he was given a bed. A neighbor helped him enroll in ninth grade at Liberty High School Academy for Newcomers , a public school in Manhattan that caters to immigrants.

Mr. Coulibaly joined the varsity basketball team and became the starting center. He ended his sophomore season as the third-highest rebounder and the 19th-highest scorer in the city's Public School Athletic League. He was benched for much of the season his junior year while he improved his grades.

Meanwhile, he tried to support himself with work at a car wash and, later, as a pizza deliveryman. He had to leave his $150-per-month bed in the Harlem apartment early this year after he fell behind on the rent. Since then, he said, he has moved from shelter to shelter.

Before the subpoena appeared, his lawyer, Ms. Burke, had been helping him prepare an application for the special immigration status for young people who are in the United States without their parents' support. She and Mr. Coulibaly are pushing forward with that case as they battle the subpoena.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/nyregion/18subpoena.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Department of Justice

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Four Indicted for MS-13 Gang Activities Charges Stem From Home Invasion, Obstruction of Justice

WASHINGTON – Three alleged members and associates of the MS-13 gang have been indicted for various violent crimes stemming from a home invasion last year in the District of Columbia in which several persons were held at gunpoint. A fourth alleged member has been indicted for subsequent efforts to threaten potential witnesses in the case.

The indictment was returned Sept. 16, 2010, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. of the District of Columbia; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton; John P. Torres, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Office of ICE; and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

The indictment charges Carlos M. Silva, Omar R. Aguilar, Wilfredo Mejia and Henry Sarba. The defendants previously were charged in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, based on an investigation by ICE agents and MPD. The indictment broadens the case to reflect the serious nature of the violent gang activity that is represented in the new charges and effectively transfers the case to the U.S. District Court.

According to the indictment, Silva, Aguilar and Mejia, for the purpose of gaining entrance to and maintaining and increasing position in MS-13, invaded an apartment in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 11, 2009, and held five occupants at gunpoint. The indictment alleges that the purpose of the home invasion was an apparent effort to extort funds from the victims to support the gang's activities. According to the indictment, a female occupant was sexually assaulted during the attack.

Silva, 28; Aguilar 20; and Mejia, 25, were arrested and originally charged in D.C. Superior Court. Sarba, 20, allegedly called potential witnesses sometime after the arrests and made threats.

The indictment charges Silva, Aguilar and Mejia with kidnapping in aid of racketeering, assault with a deadly weapon in aid of racketeering, weapons offenses, and other charges. Silva also is charged with assault with intent to commit first degree sexual abuse while armed and third degree sexual abuse. Sarba was indicted on charges including accessory after the fact, obstructing justice and threatening to injure or kidnap a person.

According to the indictment, MS-13 is a racketeering enterprise that constitutes one of the largest street gangs in the United States. MS-13 is a national and international criminal organization, and its members have been found responsible for murders, narcotics distribution and other crimes, the indictment states.

The charges carry significant penalties. The statutory penalty for kidnapping in aid of racketeering is 30 years.

“Investigating and prosecuting violent gangs is among the highest priorities of the Department of Justice,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.  “We will not allow violent criminal organizations like MS-13 to terrorize our neighborhoods and communities.  The Criminal Division is committed to working with its law enforcement partners to ensure that members of these organizations are brought to justice.”

“This indictment shows our determination to dismantle MS-13 and other violent gangs that threaten our community,” U.S. Attorney Machen stated. “I would like to commend the hard-working men and women who worked on this case, particularly the members of the Metropolitan Police Department and the agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement who have spent months bringing these defendants to justice.”

“This indictment demonstrates the resolve of Homeland Security Investigations to aggressively pursue transnational criminal gangs like MS-13,” said ICE Director John Morton. “We will work with our law enforcement partners to make our communities safer by targeting criminal gang members for prosecution.”

“This is the third major indictment in the last week that has involved gangs or drugs,” said MPD Chief Lanier. “The message to gang members and other criminals should be clear. We will not tolerate this violence and intimidation in our city.”

This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Laura Gwinn of the Criminal Division's Gang Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bill O'Malley, Seth Adam Meinero and Allison Barlotta. The case is part of broader efforts by the Department of Justice to aggressively prosecute the most dangerous and violent gangs in the country. MS-13 members and leaders have been federally prosecuted in Maryland, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, California, New York, and other locations.

The charges filed in this case are merely allegations that the defendants have committed a violation of criminal law and are not evidence of guilt. Every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/September/10-crm-1050.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Florida Couple Pleads Guilty to Forced Labor Conspiracy of 39 Filipino Guest Workers

WASHINGTON - Sophia Manuel, 41, and Alfonso Baldonado Jr., 45, owners of Quality Staffing Services Corporation, a labor contracting service, pleaded guilty to conspiring to hold 39 Filipino nationals in compelled service in country clubs and hotels in Southeast Florida. Manuel also pleaded guilty to making false statements in an application she filed with the U.S. Department of Labor to obtain foreign labor certifications and visas under the federal H2B guest worker program.

According to documents presented in court, the defendants conspired to obtain a cheap, compliant and readily available labor pool, by making false promises to entice the victims to incur debts. The defendants then compelled the victims' labor and services through threats to have the workers arrested and deported, knowing the workers faced serious economic harm and possible incarceration for nonpayment of debts in the Philippines. After the victims arrived at the defendants' residence in Boca Raton, Fla., the defendants confiscated their passports; housed them in overcrowded, substandard conditions without adequate food or drinking water; put them to work at area country clubs and hotels for little or no pay; required them to remain in the defendants' service, unpaid when there was insufficient work; ordered them not to leave the premises without permission and an escort; and threatened to have the workers arrested and deported for complaining about these terms and conditions.

“These defendants victimized vulnerable individuals for profit,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Forced labor robs victims of their freedom and their dignity, and it will not be tolerated in this country.”

“Each day, people leave behind their families and homelands in search of freedom and a better life in the United States.  The individuals in this case were no different,” said Wifredo Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. “They came here seeking a better life, but found their dream of freedom and a better life transformed into a real-life nightmare of servitude and fear.  With today's guilty pleas, we come one step closer to punishing the defendants for their crimes.”

This case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations; the U.S. Department of Labor - Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations; FBI; the U.S. Department of State - Bureau of Diplomatic Security; the Florida Department of Law Enforcement; and the Florida Office of the Attorney General. This case is being prosecuted by trial attorney Susan French of the Civil Rights Division's Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney Shaniek Maynard.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/September/10-crt-1048.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the FBI

OPERATION MONEY FISH

Florida Mafia Crew Dismantled

09/17/10

Members of the New York-based Bonanno crime family were making millions of dollars in South Florida cashing counterfeit checks, running telemarketing scams, defrauding Medicare, and stealing and selling people's identities. But when they hooked up with a shady businessman to help them launder all that money, they got more than they bargained for.

The businessman with supposed connections in the banking industry was really one of our undercover agents, and he infiltrated the mafia crew for nearly a year . The evidence he gathered, along with intercepted phone calls and other electronic surveillance, was enough to put the entire 11-member operation out of business and behind bars.

“The mafia has always been in South Florida,” our agent explained. “Each of New York's five families has crews that operate here. They make a lot of money and send part of it back to the main guys up north.”

The Bonanno family's criminal enterprise in South Florida—led by Tommy Fiore, the nephew of reputed Bonanno capo Gerry Chili—was wide ranging. In addition to the scams mentioned above, the crew also participated in arson, extortion, drug trafficking, and buying and selling stolen cigarettes, TVs, and other ill-gotten goods.

Operation Money Fish began in the summer of 2008, when our agent—who was known as Dave Stone—met Fiore . The Bonanno crew was manufacturing counterfeit payroll checks from large companies and needed help cashing them. They would copy a legitimate check, change the account numbers and the amount, and get Dave Stone to use his banking connections to turn the bad paper into cash. Dave and the crew then split the profits. (In reality, since we controlled the operation, no businesses were actually defrauded.)

The crew's most lucrative scam, though, came from “boiler rooms”—bogus telemarketing operations that are rampant in South Florida. A dozen people working the phones out of someone's condo can generate big profits. A popular pitch now involves the resale of time share properties. The criminal telemarketers claim they will help people resell their time share, or the fee charged will be refunded in full. Unsuspecting victims on the other end of the line—mostly older people unable to sell the properties on their own—send in the $5,000 or $6,000 fee, and that's the last they ever see of their money. No services are rendered, and none were ever intended to be.

With the overwhelming evidence against them, the Bonanno crew all pled guilty to racketeering and other charges . “It was a good feeling to bring these guys down,” our undercover agent said. “They were getting away with a lot of crimes. There's no telling how many people they had hurt or swindled before we got involved.”

But “Dave Stone” and his colleagues on the FBI's organized crime squads understand that while you can disrupt the mafia's activities in South Florida and elsewhere, it's only a matter of time before the bosses in New York establish other crews.

“Absolutely they will try to start up again,” the agent said. “The Bonanno family in New York—like the other families—has to have somebody down here making money because the guys at the top don't do anything. They rely on the crews to support them. But if they do show up again,” he said, “we will be ready.”

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/september10/checks_091710.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brooklyn Woman Pleads Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to Participating in Organized Crime-Related Sex Trafficking Ring

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that SUZANNE PORCELLI pled guilty earlier today to sex trafficking charges before U.S. Magistrate Judge RONALD L. ELLIS in Manhattan federal court. PORCELLI was arrested in April 2010 in connection with a takedown of 14 members and associates of the Gambino Organized Crime Family. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge LEWIS A. KAPLAN.

As alleged in the Indictment and other public filings in the case:

From at least June 2009 to about September 2009, PORCELLI and numerous co-conspirators—including co-defendants THOMAS OREFICE, DOMINICK DIFIORE, ANTHONY MANZELLA, MICHAEL SCOTTO, DAVID EISLER, and STEVEN MAIURRO—built and operated an interstate prostitution business where young women were exploited and sold for sex. The defendants first recruited various young women to work as prostitutes and then advertised the prostitution business on Craigslist and other websites and had a phone number where customers could call in to set up appointments to have sex with the women. The defendants drove the women to appointments in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and New Jersey to have sex with customers and took approximately 50 percent of the money paid to the women. They also made the women available for sex to gamblers at a weekly, high-stakes poker games that OREFICE and his crew ran.

PORCELLI's primary involvement in the scheme was to coordinate appointments for the business. PORCELLI handled the business's phone line, took incoming calls from customers to arrange appointments, and assigned other co-conspirators to drive the women to the appointments.

PORCELLI is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge KAPLAN on January 21, 2011. She faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Mr. BHARARA praised the work of the FBI and noted that the investigation is continuing.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys ELIE HONIG, STEVE KWOK, and NATALIE LAMARQUE are in charge of the prosecution. The case is being handled by the Office's Organized Crime Unit.

http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/nyfo091710.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the DEA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over 3,400 sites join DEA Nationwide Effort to Take-Back Prescription Drugs On Sept . 25

SEP 15 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Less than a month into the Drug Enforcement Administration's prescription drug “Take-Back” campaign, over 3,400 sites nationwide have joined the effort that seeks to prevent increased pill abuse and theft. Government, community, public health and law enforcement partners will be collecting potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs for destruction at these sites all across the nation o n Saturday, September 25 th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

Collection sites in every local community can be found by going to www.dea.gov . This site is continuously updated with new take-back locations. In addition, interested media can now go to: www.nationaltakebackday.com to download a public service announcement about the initiative.

This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Many Americans are not aware that medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are increasing at alarming rates, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, many Americans do not know how to properly dispose of their unused medicine, often flushing them down the toilet or throwing them away – both potential safety and health hazards.

“The National Prescription Drug Take-Back campaign will provide a safe way for Americans to dispose of their unwanted prescription drugs,” said Michele M. Leonhart, Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. “This effort symbolizes DEA's commitment to halting the disturbing rise in addiction caused by their misuse and abuse. Working together with our state and local partners, the medical community, anti-drug coalitions, and a concerned public, we will eliminate a major source of abused prescription drugs, and reduce the hazard they pose to our families and communities in a safe, legal, and environmentally sound way.”

“With this National Prescription Drug Take-Back campaign, we are aggressively reaching out to individuals to encourage them to rid their households of unused prescription drugs that pose a safety hazard and can contribute to prescription drug abuse,” said Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler.  “The Department of Justice is committed to doing everything we can to make our communities safer, and this initiative represents a new front in our efforts.”

“Prescription drug abuse is the Nation's fastest-growing drug problem, and take-back events like this one are an indispensable tool for reducing the threat that the diversion and abuse of these drugs pose to public health,” said Director of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske. “The Federal/state/and local collaboration represented in this initiative is key in our national efforts to reduce pharmaceutical drug diversion and abuse.”

Other participants in this initiative include the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; the Partnership for a Drug-Free America; the International Association of Chiefs of Police; the National Association of Attorneys General; the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy; the Federation of State Medical Boards; and the National District Attorneys Association.

http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr091510.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the ATF

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Members and Associates of the Pagans Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Arrested in Tri-State Area Sweep

Multi-District Takedown in Operation on the Road Again Results in 17 Arrests and 13 Searches

Eastern and Southern Districts of New York Charge Racketeering, Extortion, Witness Tampering, Drug Distribution, and Firearms Offenses

Earlier two today indictments were unsealed in federal court in Central Islip and White Plains, New York, charging 17 alleged members and associates of Long Island, up-state New York, and New Jersey chapters of the Pagans outlaw motorcycle gang. [ 1 ] Simultaneous with today's arrests, federal agents executed search warrants at seven locations on Long Island, including the gang's local chapter headquarters, a tattoo parlor in Rocky Point; two locations in up-state New York; four locations in New Jersey; and seized 34 firearms and one improvised explosive device ( IED ). The Central Islip indictment (the EDNY Indictment), filed in the Eastern District of New York, charges defendants with racketeering, murder conspiracy, assault, extortion, drug distribution, witness tampering, and firearms offenses. The White Plains indictment (the SDNY Indictment), filed in the Southern District of New York, charges defendants with drug trafficking and firearms offenses.

The charges are the culmination of a 21-month undercover investigation led by ATF Special Agents who gained access to the internal operations of the gang. The defendants arrested today in the EDNY case are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Arlene R. Lindsay. The case has been assigned to United States District Judge Joanna Seybert. The defendants arrested today in the SDNY case are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Lisa Margaret Smith.

The charges were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Ronald B. Turk, Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Richard Dormer, Commissioner of the Suffolk County Police Department.

The EDNY Indictment

As alleged in the 31-count indictment unsealed in Central Islip and a detention letter filed by the government:

Five of the indicted defendants, John Ebeling, Jason Blair, Ezra Arthur Davis III, Kenneth Van Diver, and Edward Samborski, are members of the Long Island chapter of the Pagans. Ebeling previously served as president of the Long Island chapter and most recently as an official in the Pagans national governing body, known as the Mother Club, which oversees the activities of several gang chapters in New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania. In May 2010, Blair succeeded Ebeling as the Long Island chapter president. Both defendants, together with Tracy Lahey, Douglas Yeomans, Timothy Fowler, and Derek Dekker – ranking members of Pagans chapters based in Sullivan County, New York, and Trenton, New Jersey – are charged with conspiring to murder members and associates of the Hell's Angels, a rival motorcycle gang. The conspiracy is part of a long-standing feud between the two motorcycle gangs. During the course of the investigation, undercover agents learned that the defendants discussed using grenades to kill members of the Hell's Angels and their support clubs and had drawn up a list of possible targets. On or about September 12, 2010, at a New Jersey gathering of Pagans, Blair ordered members of the Long Island chapter to be prepared to die or go to prison as they executed the conspiracy to murder.

Ebeling, Blair, Dekker, Fowler, and Robert Hamilton, as well as Long Island chapter members Davis and Van Diver are charged with a series of violent crimes in aid of racketeering – including assaults with axe handles, boots, billiard balls, and a pipe wrench – against four victims between October 2009 and January 2010. Ebeling and Blair are also charged with conspiracy to commit extortion against a fifth victim and with the interstate sale of that victim's stolen motorcycle.

Samborski, Van Diver, and Lahey, as well as Elizabeth, New Jersey, Pagans chapter members Robert Leonardis and Robert Deronde, are charged with the distribution of various drugs, including cocaine, cocaine base, oxycodone, and methamphetamine.

Ebeling, Blair, Lahey, Davis, and Van Diver are charged with possession of firearms in connection with murder conspiracy, assaults, or drug distribution. Davis is also charged with the illegal possession of a home-made hand grenade.

Ebeling, Blair, Davis, and Van Diver are charged with witness tampering.

If convicted, the following defendants face a maximum term of life imprisonment: John Ebeling, Jason Blair, Ezra Arthur Davis III, Kenneth Van Diver, and Tracy Lahey. If convicted, the following defendant faces a maximum term of 50 years' imprisonment: Timothy Fowler. If convicted, the following defendants face a maximum term of 40 years' imprisonment: Derek Dekker, Raymond Hamilton, and Robert Deronde. If convicted, the following defendants face a maximum term of 20 years' imprisonment: Edward Samborski and Robert Leonardis. If convicted, the following defendants face a maximum term of 10 years' imprisonment: Robert Hamilton and Douglas Yeomans.

The SDNY Indictment

As alleged in the 12-count indictment unsealed in White Plains federal court:

From at least in or about August 2009 through in or about late August 2010, Tracy Lahey, Douglas Youmans, also known as Doc, Robert Santiago, also known as Comanche, Ezra Arthur Davis III, also known as Izzo, Walter Tarrats, and Harold Legg, also known as Wiz, and others known and unknown, participated in a conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, and used, carried, and possessed firearms in furtherance of their drug trafficking. Lahey, Youmans, and Santiago are also charged with distributing cocaine and possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute it on or about May 22, 2010 in Swan Lake, New York. The indictment further charges Youmans, Cuevas, and Tarrats with being felons in possession of firearms, and charges Davis III, Tarrats, and Legg with possessing firearms while being employed by convicted felons and drug users.

The defendants were arrested earlier today, and Lahey, Youmans, Santiago, Cuevas, Tarrats, and Legg are expected to be presented today in the federal courthouse in White Plains, New York. Davis III is expected to be presented today in the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York.

If convicted, the following defendants face a maximum term of life imprisonment: Tracy Lahey, of Swan Lake, New York; Douglas Youmans, of Ellenville, New York; Robert Santiago, of Ellenville, New York; Ezra Arthur Davis III, of Holbrook, New York; Walter Tarrats, of Sussex, New Jersey; and Harold Legg, of Edison, New York. Sergio Cuevas, of Rahway, New Jersey, faces a maximum term of 10 years' imprisonment if convicted.

As this case demonstrates, violent street gangs do not limit their criminal activities to our inner cities and urban areas, stated United States Attorney Lynch. Investigating and prosecuting those gangs is a priority program of this office, wherever they might be located. Ms. Lynch expressed her grateful appreciation to the United States Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts, for its cooperation and assistance in the investigation. Ms. Lynch extended her grateful appreciation to the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and the many state and local law enforcement agencies that assisted in the investigation and added that the government's investigation is continuing.

United States Attorney Bharara stated, As this case suggests, violent and criminal motorcycle gangs are not quaint vestiges of the past. Some of the defendants allegedly plied their criminal trade not in the inner city but in quiet communities like the Catskills. I especially applaud the work of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. Today's Indictments stand as a tribute to the cooperative efforts of law enforcement at all levels.

ATF Special Agent-in-Charge Turk stated, Today's arrests affirm ATF 's commitment to making our neighborhoods safer. Targeting and arresting armed violent criminals remains one of our top priorities and we, along with our partners, will continue this fight. We have targeted several out-of-state firearms, explosives, and narcotics suppliers of this outlaw motorcycle gang and will continue to combat all of these illegal activities. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to the ATF undercover special agents who gained access to the Pagans inner circles. By doing this, they put their lives on hold and at risk to ensure a complete and thorough investigation.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Dormer stated, I commend the officers and agents from the Suffolk County Police Department and the ATF for their success in taking these defendants off the street. We will continue to work closely with our federal partners to keep our Suffolk County communities safe.

The EDNY case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys James Miskiewicz and Christopher Caffarone. The SDNY case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anna M. Skotko.

The cases announced today are the result of Operation On The Road Again, a multiagency investigation led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York and the District of Massachusetts; ATF Field Divisions from New York, Newark, Boston, and Baltimore; and the Suffolk County Police Department. The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office; New York State Police; Nassau County Police Department; Sullivan County District Attorney's Office; New York City Police Department; New Jersey Office of the FBI ; New Jersey State Police; Middlesex, Massachusetts, Sheriff's Office; Maryland State Police; and Wilmington, Delaware, Police Department were all thanked for their significant contributions to the investigation.

The EDNY Defendants:

• JOHN RICHARD EBELING, JR. (a/k/a JR ); Age: 39
• JASON BLAIR (a/k/a Roadblock ); Age: 36
• EZRA ARTHUR DAVIS III (a/k/a Izzo ); Age: 28
• KENNETH VAN DIVER (a/k/a Hogman ); Age: 50
• ROBERT HAMILTON (a/k/a Boston Bob ); Age: 50
• TRACY LAHEY; Age: 33
• DOUGLAS YEOMANS (a/k/a Doc ); Age: 49
• DEREK DEKKER (a/k/a Pop up ); Age: 39
• TIMOTHY FOWLER, (a/k/a Pita ); Age: 42
• RAYMOND HAMILTON (a/k/a Bluto ); Age: 45
• EDWARD SAMBORSKI (a/k/a Cuz ); Age: 47
• ROBERT DERONDE (a/k/a Hellboy ); Age: 46
• ROBERT LEONARDIS (a/k/a Boobie ); Age: 41

The SDNY Defendants:

• TRACY LAHEY; Age: 33
• DOUGLAS YOUMANS (a/k/a Doc ); Age: 49
• ROBERT SANTIAGO (a/k/a Comanche ); Age: 40
• SERGIO CUEVOS (a/k/a Cano ); Age: 70
• EZRA ARTHUR DAVIS III (a/k/a Izzo ); Age: 28
• WALTER TARRATS; Age: 40
• HAROLD LEGG (a/k/a Wiz ); Age: 55
• The charges announced today are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

ATF Announces 7 New Gunrunner Groups and Phoenix Gun Runner Impact Teams' Successes

PHOENIX — Deputy Director Kenneth E. Melson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ( ATF ) today announced the formation of seven new Project Gunrunner firearms trafficking groups during a news conference in which he and Dennis K. Burke, United States Attorney, District of Arizona, announced the results of ATF 's Gun Runner Impact Team ( GRIT ) initiative, a nearly 100-day deployment of ATF resources to the Phoenix Field Division to disrupt illegal firearms trafficking by Mexican drug trafficking organizations.

As a result of the 2010 emergency supplemental appropriation for border security, ATF received $37.5 million for Project Gunrunner, ATF 's comprehensive firearms trafficking strategy to disrupt the illegal flow of firearms into Mexico. With this funding, ATF will establish and place firearms trafficking groups along traditional and newly-discovered firearms trafficking routes and hubs in Atlanta; Dallas; Brownsville, Texas; Las Vegas; Miami; Oklahoma City; and Sierra Vista, Ariz.

Lives are being lost to violent crime every day on both sides of the U.S. and Mexico border, said Melson. Through Project Gunrunner and its GRIT initiative, ATF is shutting down the supply routes of firearms traffickers along the border and further inland.

The GRIT initiative brought more than 80 experienced ATF personnel from around the country to Arizona and New Mexico. GRIT special agents initiated 174 firearms trafficking-related criminal investigations and seized approximately 1,300 illegally-trafficked firearms and 71,000 rounds of ammunition, along with drugs and currency. ATF 's industry operations investigators conducted more than 800 federal firearms licensee compliance inspections.

We are fighting on a crucial front here today to reduce violence in our own communities, and to disrupt and dismantle the southbound supply of weapons to the cartels, said Burke. We will not be a gun locker for the cartels, who have made murder and mayhem their modus operandi. We will not tolerate violent criminals and others who illegally possess, purchase or sell firearms.

Burke announced that 96 defendants have been arrested, charged, convicted or sentenced since June 2010 on gun-related charges. The majority of defendants include violent felons, drug traffickers who use weapons, and those trafficking firearms to Mexico. Cases involved more than 370 guns — many of them AK-47 style rifles and other weapons of choice of drug cartels — and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition smuggled into or destined for Mexico. Some of the guns seized in the investigation, including a .50 caliber weapon, were recovered at crime scenes in Mexico.

Recent examples of firearms prosecutions in the District of Arizona:

In July and August, two leaders of a firearms trafficking conspiracy that supplied at least 112 firearms — mostly AK-47 style — to the Sinaloa Cartel, were sentenced. Alejandroi Medrano, 23, and Hernan Ramos, 22, both of Mesa, Ariz., were sentenced to 46 and 50 months in prison, respectively, for leading a conspiracy involving 10 defendants who straw purchased firearms from gun dealers in Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz., in order to supply them to a member of the Sinaloa Cartel known as Rambo.

On June 3, following an ATF investigation involving more than 250,000 rounds of ammunition, ATF agents arrested Emmanuel Casquez, Elias Vasquez, and Charice Gaeda for unlawfully exporting ammunition to Mexico. Agents had learned the three were purchasing vast quantities of ammunition and searched a vehicle headed for the border port at Nogales and recovered 9,500 rounds of ammunition; a search of a residence ensued and an additional 27,000 rounds of ammunition were recovered.

In July, a 20-count indictment announced charging 10 straw purchasers, recruited by then 17-year-old Francisco Ibarra, to buy at least 25 firearms. ATF believes the firearms were trafficked into Mexico.

For more information on ATF and Project Gunrunner, please go to the ATF website, www.atf.gov

http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2010/09/091710-atf-announces-seven-new-gunrunner-groups.html

.