Quote:In a rare blistering attack on the Department of Justice, a career veteran of the agency recently told Raw Story that the Obama administration handing Bush-era officials "a get out of jail free card" sets "a dangerous precedent" that could encourage other offenses by future leaders.

Cheri Seymour Wrote:Regarding this video (below) where Jeffrey Litchman, the former defense lawyer for John Gotti, Jr. who got him acquitted in 2005, predicted on Fox News on 1-20-11 that most of the mobsters that were arrested will end up with little or no jail time, etc.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4503646/former-gotti-attorney-reacts-to-massive-mob-bust

I hope you save a copy of this video for future reference in case the DOJ drops the ball (or shuts down) prosecution of these mobsters, especially the Gambinos. LOL. I hope these arrests are not just grandstanding. The FBI made the arrests in all sincerity, I'm sure, but it's up to the DOJ to allow the prosecutions to go forth. We'll see. Time will tell ---
[size=12][size=12][size=12][size=12][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]
This massive FBI arrest has to be coincidental, occurring just 15 days after I sent a five-page letter to the House Committee on the Judiciary and the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform outlining the historical collusion between individuals within the DOJ and the Gambino crime family and requesting that they investigate this issue and interview the witnesses, i.e, the former FBI agent and former DOJ prosecutors who were shut down by individuals within the DOJ (as per Chapter 22 of my book, The Last Circle).

Prior to the Mob arrests, I was given an appointment to meet with the district director of the chairman of the House Committee on Government Oversight to discuss this issue, then the arrests occurred, which pretty much took the steam out of my presentation. Chuckle. Oh well ---

Now the issue is whether Jeffrey Litchman is correct in his skeptical assessment to Fox News, or whether the $millions spent to investigate and round up the organized crime figures by hundreds of FBI agents will produce prosecutions, or just intelligence data? Will the DOJ organized crime, criminal division, spend $millions to prosecute, or will the mainstream media look the other way while these mobsters are quietly and individually set free by the DOJ? How many times was John Gotti, Sr. acquitted? Where is John Gotti, Jr. now? Watch the above Fox News video ----- and try to make a copy of it for posterity. Thanks!

Ed Jewett Wrote:I hesitate to post this for reasons I think will be obvious, but I have also e-mailed a copy of the link to Cheri Seymour and Ed Encho.

Wired has weighed in on the Octopus: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/02/ff_octopus_conspiracy/all/1

Quote:Posted by: CheriSeymour | 02/5/11 | 12:51 pm |
From my point of view, this article written by Andrew Rice lacks compassion for the ordeal that Rachel Begley experienced while trying to bring her father's suspected killer (Jimmy Hughes) to justice.

Mr. Rice has attempted to make a laughing stock of everyone he mentions in the story, except of course, Mike Murphy, "the dapper prosecutor from the attorney general's office," who dropped the case against the suspected killer because (according to Rice's sources) "Begley had used Twitter and Facebook to mobilize the Octopus believers to pressure Murphy, and at least a few called the prosecutor to urge him to look beyond Hughes and dig into the myriad connections they had spent decades documenting." Mr. Rice insinuates that the case was dropped because "Begley's devotion and inventive use of the internet had helped to ensnare Hughes, but the obsessions of her fellow travelers may have helped to undermine the prosecutor's confidence." Rice then adds that the prosecutor, Murphy, "declined to comment."

I don't know the names of the so-called obsessive "fellow travelers" who called the prosecutor's office and allegedly caused him to drop the case, but I do know that anyone who would have made those calls would have been working against Detective John Powers and Rachel Begley's efforts to see the case prosecuted. I personally never made contact with the prosecutor, Mike Murphy, at any time because they were clearly trying not to confuse the prosecutor with the "myriad connections."

Nevertheless, Mr. Rice's story tries to make a joke of the triple-homicide investigation, i.e., everyone who tried to help is a conspiracy theorist and they're all "obsessives." I agree with Rice that some conspiracy theorists' radical view of the world is damaging to any legitimate investigation.

Beginning in 1991, I spent years trying to sort through the smoke and mirrors of the so-called Octopus conspiracies, and I understand why most legitimate writers won't touch the story these days because their work becomes compromised by some radical theorists who attach themselves to such writings and begin circulating them at conspiracy sites across the Internet.

Such was the case with my book, "The Last Circle," and I can't defend the truth, validity and relevance of this 600-page book which contains over 100 pages of documents obtained from the FBI, U.S. Customs, RCMP, Police files, and court documents nationwide because it must be read to be believed. Anyone who has read it, including Andrew Rice, would be disingenuous to imply that it lacks truth, or that it is based on "speculation."

The one thing that Rice failed to express in his article, was the real-life fact that three people were really executed in June 1981 and someone really did kill them and that triple-homicide never got resolved and the victims never got justice. That aspect was apparently not important to Rice because he was too busy mocking and sneering at everyone involved to include compassion in his story.

Maybe someday Mr. Rice will understand that this could have been a great story about a brave woman whose father was executed, and they deserve justice, regardless whether her father was a "bearded mechanic who liked to drink, smoke pot, and ride motorcycles," and most compassionate people who read the article will not think it's funny or cute, but that it's really unnecessarily demeaning.

Cheri Seymour

Ed Encho Wrote:I am slowly working my way back into regular writing again after a long period of self imposed semi-retirement and still trying to get back into the groove, I have done about four pieces in the last week or so, primarily political stuff, kicking Reagan in the balls etc to warm up again for serious work. To use a sports cliche it's like doing some time down in the minors trying to get back up to speed to face major league pitching again.
EE