Victim's mother confronts defendant in Harvard dorm murder case

Victim's mother confronts defendant in Harvard dorm murder case

Justin Cosby
Posted by Martin Finucane March 24, 2011 01:38 PM
By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

WOBURN – For the first time since her only son was shot inside a Harvard University dorm, Denise Cosby today spoke directly to one of the men allegedly responsible for ending the life of her youngest child.

Denise Cosby was the mother of Justin D. Cosby, a Cambridge man who authorities have said was a drug dealer with customers on the Cambridge campus of the world-famous college.
“Today I sit here and look into the face of what is supposed to be a man,’’ Cosby said in a stern voice. “You are a fool.’’

Cosby directed her cold anger and sharp words towards Jason Aquino, one of three New York City men who came to Cambridge on May 18, 2009, intent on robbing Justin Cosby of marijuana and cash.

Instead, Cosby was shot while all four men were inside the J entry of Harvard’s Kirkland House residential building.

FULL STORY HERE
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2011/03/victims_mother.html?p1=Local_Links

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RUSSELL SIMMONS TO SPEAK AT HARVARD LAW SCHOOL TODAY!

The Harvard Black Law Students Association & The Hip Hop Entertainment Law Project proudly present, ‘Be the ULTIMATE BALLER: How to be Your Best Self’ with business and entertainment mogul, Russell Simmons and LaRonn Harris Sr. Saturday March 5, 2011 2 pm – 4 pm Harvard Law School Pound Hall – 1563 Massachusetts Ave.  Cambridge, MA

Russell Simmons was recently named one of the “Top 25 Most Influential People of the Past 25 Years” by USA Today and heralded as the “original and eternal Hip-Hop Mogul” by the New York Times.  One of the biggest names in entertainment and fashion, Russell created the pioneering Def Jam Recordings in 1984 and launched Phat Farm Clothing as part of his Rush Communications empire.  Russell has had a lifelong dedication to giving back; he leads the non profit division of his empire, Rush Community Affairs, which works to empower at risk youth, and serves as a UN Goodwill Ambassador.  He is also the author of two major books, Do You! 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success! and SUPER RICH: A Guide to Having It All.

LaRonn Harris, Sr. is a Regional Promotion Manager for Atlantic Records. He has played an integral role in the promotion of TI’s singles “Whatever you Like” and “Live Your Life” as well as Trey Songz’s multiple #1 records “Can’t Help But Wait” and “Say Aah”, Flo Rida’s “Low”, Estelle’s “American Boy” and Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” feat Alicia Keys.   LaRonn also serves as the CEO of World Famous Media Enterprise, a marketing and promotions consulting firm, and co-founded Change Movement Incorporate, a non-profit community service based organization.

Russell Simmons will also be autographing copies of his new book, SUPER RICH:  A Guide to Having It All.  Additionally, please join us for an empowerment workshop, Empowerment in Practice: Building Leadership Skills to Spark Social Change, following the event. This will be a remarkable event you don’t want to miss!

The annual HBLSA Spring Conference unites Harvard students, alumni, professors, legal practitioners, and the community at-large to engage in a dialogue about relevant issues in the local, national, and international Black communities. The HLS BLSA chapter is the largest BLSA Chapter in the nation. It exists for the support, guidance and direction of Black students in academic, professional and social endeavors. The HHELP was created to combat the devastating effects the School to Prison Pipeline has on inner-city youth. It uses the music industry and hip-hop music to motivate students in school. The HHELP also strives to give law students the opportunity to pursue careers in the music industry.

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Guest commentary: Reexamine Henry Louis Gates’ arrest

Guest commentary: Reexamine Henry Louis Gates’ arrest

By Nancy Murray, Brigitt Keller, King Downing, Bishop Filipe C. Teixeira and Jamarhl Crawford
Wicked Local Cambridge
Posted Feb 24, 2011 @ 10:28 AM

Cambridge — As advocates who have closely monitored and participated in community oversight of the Cambridge police department, we were pleased to read that City Councilors Denise Simmons and Ken Reeves have called on the city to take a closer look at the Henry Louis Gates arrest in 2009 (“Cambridge city councilor calls for deeper look into Henry Louis Gates arrest,” Cambridge Chronicle, Feb. 8, 2011).

We support the councilors’ suggestion that the Cambridge Civic Unity Advisory Committee review the report “Missed Opportunities, Shared Responsibilities” by the Cambridge Review Committee.  The CRC is the committee, which was specially appointed by the City to review the arrest of Professor Gates in his own home.  We agree with Councilor Reeves’ assessment that the CRC report presents a missed opportunity of its own, as it fails to address the two critical issues: 1) the racial implications of the incident, even though race and racial profiling were issues that ranged prominently in the national and local conversation; and 2) the issue of police abuse of authority, by falsely suggesting that the Gates arrest may have been justified and that civilians bear the same responsibilities as police officers to de-escalate an encounter.

These are astonishing propositions.  The First Amendment protects even angry speech, and the Fourth Amendment requires probable cause for arrest.  As the police reports themselves show, Prof. Gates did not do anything that would have justified an arrest.

Considering the composition of the CRC, these faulty premises may not be surprising.  The committee did not include a single civil rights advocate and the majority of its members represented the law enforcement perspective.  The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), a membership organization of law enforcement chiefs, took a prominent role: its Executive Director Chuck Wexler chaired the committee and PERF was paid to author its final report.

Impartiality of the committee was further compromised by the presence of current Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey and US Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer. Ramsey and Gainer previously served as Police Chief and Executive Assistant Chief in Washington, D.C. and their tenure was marred by police misconduct and mass false arrests related to free speech activities.  Consequently, both men were named defendants in two civil rights class actions, which recently settled for several million dollars – hardly a qualification to serve on this committee.

In its review, the Civic Unity Advisory Committee and the City Council should further pay close attention to the financial implications of this ad-hoc committee.  While we believe that the severity of the incident justified an investigation, city manager Robert Healy should have to explain to Cambridge taxpayers why a separate entity was created at their expense instead of charging the already existing Police Review and Advisory Board (PRAB) with the task.

It seems that neither Healy nor police commissioner Haas had any confidence in the capability of the PRAB to look into an incident of national magnitude.  This is particularly ironic given that information we gathered through an open records requests and by regularly attending monthly PRAB meetings suggests that the work of the PRAB has been systematically undermined by the city manager.
We support Councilors Reeves and Simmons in their efforts to finally turn this missed opportunity into a “teachable moment,” put an end to speech- and race-based arrests and bring transparency to the city of Cambridge.

The authors are Nancy Murray, Cambridge resident and education director of the ACLU of Massachusetts; Brigitt Keller, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project; King Downing of the New York-based Human Rights-Racial Justice Center; Bishop Filipe C. Teixeira, Diocese of Saint Francis of Assisi, Brockton; Jamarhl Crawford, Boston Black Men’s Leadership Group.

Read more: Guest commentary: Reexamine Henry Louis Gates’ arrest - Cambridge, Massachusetts - Cambridge Chronicle http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/archive/x1623571855/Guest-commentary-Reexamine-Henry-Louis-Gates-arrest#ixzz1EzGCtan1

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Ex-Cambridge star Robinson gets 6 1/2 years for bank fraud

Ex-Cambridge star Robinson gets 6 1/2 years for bank fraud

By Travis Andersen
Globe Staff / January 8, 2011

Rumeal Robinson, the former Cambridge Rindge and Latin School star who clinched the NCAA men’s basketball championship for Michigan in 1989 with two free throws and later played in the NBA, has been sentenced to 6 1/2 years in federal prison for bank fraud, according to court documents filed yesterday.

FULL STORY HERE
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/01/08/ex_cambridge_star_robinson_gets_6_12_years_for_bank_fraud/?p1=Local_Links

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Ex-Sec. of State Rice to speak at Harvard

Ex-Sec. of State Rice to speak at Harvard

By Associated Press  |   Sunday, November 28, 2010  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage

CAMBRIDGE — Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to give a series of lectures at Harvard University.

Rice is slated Tuesday to give her first talk on American foreign policy and the black experience. She’s also scheduled to give foreign policy lectures Wednesday and Thursday at Harvard.

The lectures are part of the school’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Kennedy School of Government, Institute of Politics and JFK Jr. Forum.

Recently, the former Bush aide has been promoting her new book, "Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me."

Rice was secretary of state from 2005 to 2009.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1299405

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Probe sought in racial bias claim at Boston club

Probe sought in racial bias claim at Boston club

By Associated Press  |   Saturday, November 27, 2010  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage
BOSTON — A Boston city councilor is calling for an investigation after a group of Harvard and Yale black students and alumni were denied entry to a downtown club over concerns they would attract criminals.

City Councilor Ayanna Pressley said she was contacted by Harvard students who told her they had been denied entry to the Cure Lounge.

According to an e-mail from a Harvard Business School student, the group was turned away after he said club managers complained that a large group of young black men and women in line would attract "local gang bangers."

George Regan, the chairman of a public relations firm who is a spokesman for the club, said the Cure Lounge’s management did nothing wrong. He said some people in line were known to police as "bad people" and probably couldn’t spell Harvard.

___

Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/globe

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1299212

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Suspect charged in ‘horrific’ invasion

By Laurel J. Sweet and O’Ryan Johnson
Friday, October 8, 2010

The brother of a Cambridge man who was stabbed to death seven years ago by a Harvard University student was charged yesterday with trying to decapitate a Harvard researcher and raping his 11-year-old son during a brutal August home invasion.

Marcos Colono, 32, was also named as a suspect in the rape of two women in a 2008 home invasion, prosecutors said.

The 53-year-old father who was attacked in the August home invasion was forced to witness his child’s abuse and then was hacked 11 times with a butcher knife - eight times in his neck - as he and his boy fought back, prosecutor Katharine Folger said.

Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone Jr. said the “horrific” bloodbath left “an entire community in fear.”

In a joint press conference with Boston police and prosecutors, Cambridge authorities said Colono was looking for money and they have no reason to believe he knew the father works at Harvard or that the crime was linked to his brother’s 2003 stabbing death by a Harvard student.

Colono, a construction worker with a 15-year-old son, was named a suspect yesterday in an unsolved 2008 home invasion in Brighton in which two female college students were raped, authorities said.

“We expect to charge him in the near future,” said Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley.

Prosecutors said they tied Colono to the Cambridge home invasion through a bloody partial handprint found at the scene and a fingerprint Boston police have had on file from a 1998 pot bust.

They said police matched DNA recovered from the Cambridge and Brighton crime scenes but do not have a DNA sample from Colono yet to compare it to because he has no felony convictions. In both cases, victims were “stacked” on top of each other before they were assaulted, prosecutors said.

As his anguished mother Ada Colono looked on, Marcos Colono pleaded not guilty to home invasion, armed assault with intent to kill and aggravated rape of a child. He was ordered held on $1 million cash bail by Judge Roanne Sragow.

Defense attorney Ben Selman called Colono’s bail “excessive.”

In a nationally polarizing tragedy that pitted haves against have-nots, Colono’s brother Michael, an 18-year-old cook, was stabbed through the heart April 12, 2003, in Cambridge during a chance encounter that led to a fight with Alexander Pring-Wilson, a well-to-do master’s student at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.

Pring-Wilson, 32, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in January 2008, after his initial murder conviction was tossed out by the state Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled a defendant claiming to have killed in self-defense could dredge up a victim’s criminal history. At the time, Colono angrily slammed Pring-Wilson’s second chance as an “insult to justice.” Pring-Wilson was freed Dec. 31, 2008.

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