READ MORE - US Atty. Carmen Ortiz speaks on DiMasi Guilty Verdict
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Showing posts with label prison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prison. Show all posts
US Atty. Carmen Ortiz speaks on DiMasi Guilty Verdict
Wednesday, June 15, 2011DiMasi guilty in Beacon Hill bid-pushing scandal
DiMasi guilty in Beacon Hill bid-pushing scandal
By Laurel J. Sweet | Wednesday, June 15, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
Photo by Patrick Whittemore (File)
Fallen and disgraced former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi was found guilty today by a federal jury of conspiracy, mail and wire fraud and extortion in connection with a $17.5 million software deal he tried to shove through Beacon Hill.
In all, the former North End Democrat was found guilty of conspiracy, six of eight counts of honest services mail and wire fraud and one count of extortion.
He will be sentenced on Aug. 18 where he faces up to 25 years in jail.
The jury notified the court it had reached the verdicts shortly before 12:15 p.m. DiMasi glanced back at his wife with a reassuring smile moments before he learned his fate. Once the verdicts were read, the disgraced North End pol stared ahead blankly.
His co-defendant Richard McDonough, 66, was also found guilty of conspiracy and six of eight counts of honest services mail and wire fraud.
A third defendant, Richard Vitale, 66, was cleared of all charges. The judge was told he was free to go. All three men hugged after the verdicts were announced.
“You can’t imagine the emotions that are under the surface when you sit day in and day out with your freedom in peril,” said Vitale’s attorney Martin Weinberg.
Gov. Deval Patrick, who was called to testify in the case, said today: “I hope what it means is the end of a long sad chapter.”
DiMasi breached the public’s trust in his leadership when he exploited a software company’s aggressive pursuit of multimillion-dollar state contracts, a jury of his one-time constituents found today.
On their third day of deliberations at U.S. District Court in Boston, seven women and five men ruled DiMasi was out to line his own pockets.
DiMasi was Massachusetts’ first Italian-American Speaker from 2004 until his pre-indictment resignation in 2009.
DiMasi and McDonough, each potentially facing up to 25 years in federal prison, will be sentenced later by Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf.
Between April 2005 and March 2007, DiMasi was funneled $65,000 in bribes by his unwitting law associate of nearly 20 years, Steven Topazio, through a bogus contract McDonough and Joseph P. Lally Jr., a locally based vice president for a Canadian technology company called Cognos, struck for Topazio to be on call if the firm needed corporate papers reviewed.
Topazio, one of three government witnesses granted court-ordered immunity for their testimony against DiMasi, banked $125,000 never doing a day’s work for Cognos. DiMasi’s cut came from the $4,000 he demanded from Topazio’s monthly $5,000 paycheck and from a $25,000 lump sum he bullied Topazio into handing over.
Prior to becoming Speaker, DiMasi oversaw a $211,000 per-year law practice. But when his attention turned full-time to politics, the cases dried up as he amassed tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt prosecutors said he blew on clothes, fine dining and travel befitting his image as the state’s most powerful politician.
With DiMasi’s help on the Hill, Lally scored millions in commissions selling the state a $4.5 million software license for an education data warehouse for the Department of Education and a $13 million performance management system to permit legislators instant access to agency information.
In return, Lally paid McDonough a total of $300,000 for keeping DiMasi on board with the scheme.
Lally, 50, pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy and honest services fraud in exchange for escaping a money laundering charge and the recommendation of prosecutors that he serve no more than three years behind bars.
Lally, who is still awaiting a sentencing date, was vilified by the defense team as a self-serving liar and generate gambler for turning on the others with his star-witness testimony for the government.
DiMasi, whose annual $59,422 state pension is now in peril, is the Commonwealth’s third consecutive House Speaker to be convicted of criminal wrongdoing, but the first to be headed for the big house.
His predecessor, Thomas M. Finneran, now the host of WRKO’s (680 AM) morning-drive show, pleaded guilty in 2007 in federal court to obstruction of justice for his role in a racially charged redistricting plan. His agreement with the feds enabled him to skate on a perjury charge. Finneran received 18 months’ probation and a $25,000 fine.
Before Finneran, Speaker Charles F. Flaherty Jr. pleaded guilty in 1996 in federal court to tax evasion. Flaherty walked with two years’ probation and a $5,000 fine.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1345698
Prison staff may be tied to threats Overtime scheme could be a motive
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Prison staff may be tied to threats
Overtime scheme could be a motive
By Maria Cramer and David Abel
Globe Staff / May 11, 2011
State Police and Hampden County authorities are investigating whether state prison employees made anonymous phone calls, threatening to kill an escaped inmate being held at a Springfield hospital, possibly as part of a scheme to generate more overtime opportunities, officials said yesterday.
A spokesman for the Department of Correction confirmed that two staff members have been suspended as authorities investigate whether the two made the calls to murder suspect Tamik Kirkland while he was in Baystate Medical Center.
Several law enforcement officials said authorities are examining whether the Correction Department employees allegedly made the phone calls so officials would order more overtime shifts to guard a prisoner whose life was in danger.
FULL STORY HERE
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/05/11/prison_staff_focus_of_investigation_into_threats_against_escaped_inmate/?p1=News_links
READ MORE - Prison staff may be tied to threats Overtime scheme could be a motive
Overtime scheme could be a motive
Globe Staff / May 11, 2011
State Police and Hampden County authorities are investigating whether state prison employees made anonymous phone calls, threatening to kill an escaped inmate being held at a Springfield hospital, possibly as part of a scheme to generate more overtime opportunities, officials said yesterday.
A spokesman for the Department of Correction confirmed that two staff members have been suspended as authorities investigate whether the two made the calls to murder suspect Tamik Kirkland while he was in Baystate Medical Center.
Several law enforcement officials said authorities are examining whether the Correction Department employees allegedly made the phone calls so officials would order more overtime shifts to guard a prisoner whose life was in danger.
FULL STORY HERE
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/05/11/prison_staff_focus_of_investigation_into_threats_against_escaped_inmate/?p1=News_links
Imprisoned, Turner refuses to remain silent
Imprisoned, Turner refuses to remain silent
By Andrew Ryan
Globe Staff / May 11, 2011
Chuck Turner was convicted of accepting a bribe. His colleagues threw him off the Boston City Council. And voters overwhelmingly elected Tito Jackson to replace him in the district that includes the heart of Roxbury.
But none of that has silenced Turner. From a federal prison in rural West Virginia, Turner has written several dispatches over the last six weeks he calls “Reflections from Behind the Wall.’’
The writings have been posted on his website, published in a weekly Internet magazine, and distributed via e-mail by his former chief of staff, who has since been hired by another member of the City Council.
The lengthy communiqués take direct aim at Jackson, in the first month of his tenure. Turner has promised a weekly posting on key issues that “demand the attention of Councilor Jackson.’’
FULL STORY HERE
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/05/11/imprisoned_former_boston_councilor_refuses_to_remain_silent/?p1=Local_Links
FBI retirees fight to free John Connolly
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
FBI retirees fight to free John Connolly
By Richard A. Serrano / Tribune Washington Bureau | Tuesday, May 10, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
Photo by AP (File)
WASHINGTON — One hundred retired FBI agents, many long past their crime-fighting days, are rallying this spring in an effort to exonerate a disgraced former agent from Boston who ran one of the bureau’s most controversial informant operations.
They call themselves the Former FBI Agents for Justice for John. Among them are two retired FBI deputy directors and another who became associate attorney general in Washington.
Twice-convicted Agent John J. Connolly Jr. discredited the FBI. A son of South Boston, he turned the leaders of the Irish criminal underworld into government informants on their Italian-American counterparts, and then was convicted of tipping them off to imminent arrest as well as taking payoffs from them even as they continued to kill people.
Next month, he will leave federal prison after nine years in custody. But he goes straight to Florida to begin a 40-year sentence for precipitating a gangland slaying in Miami.
Richard Baker, a leader of the retirees, believes his former colleague is innocent and points out that for a 70-year-old man, 40 years is a "death sentence."
"I have no problem doing this," Baker said, defending the agents’ support of a man who dishonored the FBI they spent their lifetimes building up. "John was wrongly convicted. And he’ll be dead after just two years in that Florida system. He’ll be shanked or killed once they figure out he was an FBI agent."
Connolly has always maintained that his superiors at the bureau told him to protect gangsters James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "the Rifleman" Flemmi of the infamous Winter Hill gang despite their crime rampage because they were useful informants against their rivals in the Italian-American mob in New England. Bulger vanished in 1995 and remains on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List.
But Justice Department officials, state prosecutors and relatives of victims have a starkly different view.
"John Connolly wore a badge," said Michael Von Zamft, who prosecuted Connolly in Florida. "He was an FBI agent, and he swore to uphold the law. And yet he became one of the criminals and, maybe worse, he was hiding behind that badge."
Von Zamft also was critical of the former agents’ support for Connolly.
"I don’t know why 100 agents are rallying around him. The man’s been convicted by two juries. Not one, but two," he said.
The former agents, including former FBI deputy directors Weldon L. Kennedy and Bruce J. Gebhardt, have made no headway with Washington in trying to get the federal conviction overturned. They have now turned their focus to Florida, where Connolly is being transferred June 28.
Connolly was charged with first-degree murder in the killing of World Jai Alai President John Callahan in 1982. Connolly had warned Bulger and Flemmi that Callahan was likely to implicate them in a previous murder. John Martorano, working for Bulger and Flemmi, killed Callahan and stuffed his body in the trunk of a Cadillac and left it at Miami International Airport.
Connolly’s supporters have made an issue of the disparity in the prison terms for Connolly and the hit man, Martorano, who confessed to killing 20 people and served 12 years.
Today, Martorano hangs out in Boston’s Back Bay, and in the mornings at a bar called Daisy Buchanan’s.
"I’m not biased either way," the killer said about the disparity in sentences. "Whatever happens, happens."
In March, a three-member panel of state appellate judges ruled against Connolly without issuing a written opinion, and Connolly is now appealing to the Florida Supreme Court.
"We need to get a good opinion out of that Florida appeals court," said Willie Reagan, who served as an undercover agent infiltrating the mob in New England. "If they refuse, we’re essentially dead in the water."
From his cell in Butner, N.C., Connolly wrote a series of emails to the Los Angeles Times. "It’s the worst cover-up in the modern annals of the Justice Department," he wrote.
Connolly, who was the basis for the role played by the actor Matt Damon in "The Departed," the Oscar-winning film about law enforcement corruption loosely based on Connolly’s story, said he had been "deliberately framed" by perjured testimony from mobsters he was investigating and FBI superiors who were on the take.
As for the slaying in Florida three decades ago, Connolly dismissed it as a "time-lapsed murder I had nothing to do with."
Frank Keating, an FBI agent who rose to associate attorney general and governor of Oklahoma, is bothered that Connolly remains in prison while Martorano walks free after killing 20 people, including a friend of Keating’s wife’s parents.
"John Connolly scraped his knees and there’s no excuse for his behavior," Keating said. "But a killer of other human beings walking around in order to get a dirty FBI agent? That’s just mind-boggling. Do you catch a minnow with a shark? I’d rather go after the shark."
___
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1336902
READ MORE - FBI retirees fight to free John Connolly
By Richard A. Serrano / Tribune Washington Bureau | Tuesday, May 10, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
WASHINGTON — One hundred retired FBI agents, many long past their crime-fighting days, are rallying this spring in an effort to exonerate a disgraced former agent from Boston who ran one of the bureau’s most controversial informant operations.
They call themselves the Former FBI Agents for Justice for John. Among them are two retired FBI deputy directors and another who became associate attorney general in Washington.
Twice-convicted Agent John J. Connolly Jr. discredited the FBI. A son of South Boston, he turned the leaders of the Irish criminal underworld into government informants on their Italian-American counterparts, and then was convicted of tipping them off to imminent arrest as well as taking payoffs from them even as they continued to kill people.
Next month, he will leave federal prison after nine years in custody. But he goes straight to Florida to begin a 40-year sentence for precipitating a gangland slaying in Miami.
Richard Baker, a leader of the retirees, believes his former colleague is innocent and points out that for a 70-year-old man, 40 years is a "death sentence."
"I have no problem doing this," Baker said, defending the agents’ support of a man who dishonored the FBI they spent their lifetimes building up. "John was wrongly convicted. And he’ll be dead after just two years in that Florida system. He’ll be shanked or killed once they figure out he was an FBI agent."
Connolly has always maintained that his superiors at the bureau told him to protect gangsters James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "the Rifleman" Flemmi of the infamous Winter Hill gang despite their crime rampage because they were useful informants against their rivals in the Italian-American mob in New England. Bulger vanished in 1995 and remains on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List.
But Justice Department officials, state prosecutors and relatives of victims have a starkly different view.
"John Connolly wore a badge," said Michael Von Zamft, who prosecuted Connolly in Florida. "He was an FBI agent, and he swore to uphold the law. And yet he became one of the criminals and, maybe worse, he was hiding behind that badge."
Von Zamft also was critical of the former agents’ support for Connolly.
"I don’t know why 100 agents are rallying around him. The man’s been convicted by two juries. Not one, but two," he said.
The former agents, including former FBI deputy directors Weldon L. Kennedy and Bruce J. Gebhardt, have made no headway with Washington in trying to get the federal conviction overturned. They have now turned their focus to Florida, where Connolly is being transferred June 28.
Connolly was charged with first-degree murder in the killing of World Jai Alai President John Callahan in 1982. Connolly had warned Bulger and Flemmi that Callahan was likely to implicate them in a previous murder. John Martorano, working for Bulger and Flemmi, killed Callahan and stuffed his body in the trunk of a Cadillac and left it at Miami International Airport.
Connolly’s supporters have made an issue of the disparity in the prison terms for Connolly and the hit man, Martorano, who confessed to killing 20 people and served 12 years.
Today, Martorano hangs out in Boston’s Back Bay, and in the mornings at a bar called Daisy Buchanan’s.
"I’m not biased either way," the killer said about the disparity in sentences. "Whatever happens, happens."
In March, a three-member panel of state appellate judges ruled against Connolly without issuing a written opinion, and Connolly is now appealing to the Florida Supreme Court.
"We need to get a good opinion out of that Florida appeals court," said Willie Reagan, who served as an undercover agent infiltrating the mob in New England. "If they refuse, we’re essentially dead in the water."
From his cell in Butner, N.C., Connolly wrote a series of emails to the Los Angeles Times. "It’s the worst cover-up in the modern annals of the Justice Department," he wrote.
Connolly, who was the basis for the role played by the actor Matt Damon in "The Departed," the Oscar-winning film about law enforcement corruption loosely based on Connolly’s story, said he had been "deliberately framed" by perjured testimony from mobsters he was investigating and FBI superiors who were on the take.
As for the slaying in Florida three decades ago, Connolly dismissed it as a "time-lapsed murder I had nothing to do with."
Frank Keating, an FBI agent who rose to associate attorney general and governor of Oklahoma, is bothered that Connolly remains in prison while Martorano walks free after killing 20 people, including a friend of Keating’s wife’s parents.
"John Connolly scraped his knees and there’s no excuse for his behavior," Keating said. "But a killer of other human beings walking around in order to get a dirty FBI agent? That’s just mind-boggling. Do you catch a minnow with a shark? I’d rather go after the shark."
___
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1336902
This photo of Mass. speakers speaks volumes
Friday, April 15, 2011
This photo of Mass. speakers speaks volumes
LINEUP: From left, former House speakers Salvatore F. DiMasi, Thomas M. Finneran and Charles F. Flaherty, and current House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo attend funeral services for former state Rep. Edward LeLacheur last summer in Lowell.
Photo by Lowell Sun
By Howie Carr | Friday, April 15, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
This is one of those pictures that’s worth a thousand words — the four most recent speakers of the Massachusetts House, together, in what you might call . . . a lineup.
From left, in the shades, Sal DiMasi, indicted, about to stand trial on federal charges of accepting $65,000 in bribes.
Beside Sal is ex-Speaker Tom “Felon” Finneran, convicted of obstruction of justice.
Next to Finneran, yet another convicted felon speaker, Good Time Charlie Flaherty. He went down on an income-tax evasion rap.
And finally, the current speaker, Bobby “Slots” DeLeo, the guy whose godson was hired after a nationwide search as the youngest chief probation officer in state history at age 27. Speaker Slots is a high school classmate of Felon Finneran’s — what a coincidence.
This photo was taken by a Lowell Sun photographer last summer at a former state rep’s funeral in Lowell. I offer it today in evidence for the defense in the upcoming trial of United States of America v. Salvatore DiMasi, et al.
Sal’s defense team, which the taxpayers are picking up the tab for, wants to call a bunch of so-called expert witnesses to “explain” how things work on Beacon Hill between lobbyists and solons.
The feds argue that given the evidence against Sal, this is a waste of time. I agree, especially since we have this photo — what more do you need to know about Beacon Hill?
But I’d be happy to appear as a witness. I’d bring in a giant blow-up of the photo and a pointer, which I would use to ID each hack. If there are any blacks on the jury, I’d try to mention that two corrupt black politicians from Boston — Dianne Wilkerson and Chuck “Superfly” Turner — are currently serving hard time, while Flaherty and Finneran didn’t do a day.
Of course Sal’s $125-an-hour attorneys would object, but I’d have planted the seed: The State House — crime and no punishment, unless you’re black. No justice, no peace.
Some might argue that it’s unfair to include DeLeo in this rogue’s gallery, because he hasn’t even been indicted. But in January in the House chambers, DeLeo willingly posed for photos with all of these same sleazy, corrupt mentors of his.
I asked for those photos — I figure they’re public record. But DeLeo stonewalled me. I’ll bet if I were some racetrack tout in a leisure suit talking out of the side of my mouth and smoking a cigar, he’d have given them to me — in frames.
So now I have basically the same photo — better late than never. Speaking of which, Sal, it’s not too late to change your plea to guilty. You’ll make out just fine. You’re a corrupt white guy from Boston.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1330858
READ MORE - This photo of Mass. speakers speaks volumes
LINEUP: From left, former House speakers Salvatore F. DiMasi, Thomas M. Finneran and Charles F. Flaherty, and current House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo attend funeral services for former state Rep. Edward LeLacheur last summer in Lowell.
Photo by Lowell Sun
By Howie Carr | Friday, April 15, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
This is one of those pictures that’s worth a thousand words — the four most recent speakers of the Massachusetts House, together, in what you might call . . . a lineup.
From left, in the shades, Sal DiMasi, indicted, about to stand trial on federal charges of accepting $65,000 in bribes.
Beside Sal is ex-Speaker Tom “Felon” Finneran, convicted of obstruction of justice.
Next to Finneran, yet another convicted felon speaker, Good Time Charlie Flaherty. He went down on an income-tax evasion rap.
And finally, the current speaker, Bobby “Slots” DeLeo, the guy whose godson was hired after a nationwide search as the youngest chief probation officer in state history at age 27. Speaker Slots is a high school classmate of Felon Finneran’s — what a coincidence.
This photo was taken by a Lowell Sun photographer last summer at a former state rep’s funeral in Lowell. I offer it today in evidence for the defense in the upcoming trial of United States of America v. Salvatore DiMasi, et al.
Sal’s defense team, which the taxpayers are picking up the tab for, wants to call a bunch of so-called expert witnesses to “explain” how things work on Beacon Hill between lobbyists and solons.
The feds argue that given the evidence against Sal, this is a waste of time. I agree, especially since we have this photo — what more do you need to know about Beacon Hill?
But I’d be happy to appear as a witness. I’d bring in a giant blow-up of the photo and a pointer, which I would use to ID each hack. If there are any blacks on the jury, I’d try to mention that two corrupt black politicians from Boston — Dianne Wilkerson and Chuck “Superfly” Turner — are currently serving hard time, while Flaherty and Finneran didn’t do a day.
Of course Sal’s $125-an-hour attorneys would object, but I’d have planted the seed: The State House — crime and no punishment, unless you’re black. No justice, no peace.
Some might argue that it’s unfair to include DeLeo in this rogue’s gallery, because he hasn’t even been indicted. But in January in the House chambers, DeLeo willingly posed for photos with all of these same sleazy, corrupt mentors of his.
I asked for those photos — I figure they’re public record. But DeLeo stonewalled me. I’ll bet if I were some racetrack tout in a leisure suit talking out of the side of my mouth and smoking a cigar, he’d have given them to me — in frames.
So now I have basically the same photo — better late than never. Speaking of which, Sal, it’s not too late to change your plea to guilty. You’ll make out just fine. You’re a corrupt white guy from Boston.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1330858
Expired food given to prisons Sent by state’s Education Dept.; follows outcry over student fare
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Expired food given to prisons
Sent by state’s Education Dept.; follows outcry over student fare
By Andrew Ryan
Globe Staff / April 12, 2011
The state Department of Education recently donated thousands of cases of out-of-date food from the school lunch program to state prisons and a county jail, documents show.
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The food — more than 11,000 cases of cheese, blueberries, frozen chicken, and other goods — was offered free of charge to kitchens that serve inmates, as education officials removed old products from warehouses that serve schools across Massachusetts. The state had been reviewing its inventory after controversy erupted last month when expired food was discovered in Boston school cafeterias.
The donations to prison facilities, shown in documents obtained by the Globe under the state’s public records law, underscore the breadth of the problem with out-of-date food in the federal school lunch program.
FULL STORY HERE
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/04/12/expired_food_given_to_mass_prisons/?p1=News_links
READ MORE - Expired food given to prisons Sent by state’s Education Dept.; follows outcry over student fare
Sent by state’s Education Dept.; follows outcry over student fare
Globe Staff / April 12, 2011
The state Department of Education recently donated thousands of cases of out-of-date food from the school lunch program to state prisons and a county jail, documents show.
Tweet 2 people Tweeted this
Yahoo! BuzzShareThis
The food — more than 11,000 cases of cheese, blueberries, frozen chicken, and other goods — was offered free of charge to kitchens that serve inmates, as education officials removed old products from warehouses that serve schools across Massachusetts. The state had been reviewing its inventory after controversy erupted last month when expired food was discovered in Boston school cafeterias.
The donations to prison facilities, shown in documents obtained by the Globe under the state’s public records law, underscore the breadth of the problem with out-of-date food in the federal school lunch program.
FULL STORY HERE
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/04/12/expired_food_given_to_mass_prisons/?p1=News_links
Jail chaplain pleads not guilty to smuggling
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Jail chaplain pleads not guilty to smuggling
By Associated Press | Thursday, April 7, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
MEDFORD -- A Roman Catholic deacon and chaplain at a jail accused of smuggling drugs and other contraband to inmates told authorities he did so because he was being blackmailed.
According to court documents, William Emerson, deacon at St. William Church in Tewksbury, told investigators he smuggled drugs into jails in Billerica and Cambridge because two pretrial detainees threatened to tell authorities he had pornography on his home computer.
A spokeswoman for the Middlesex district attorney tells The Sun of Lowell that investigators checked Emerson’s computer and the pornography was legal.
Emerson pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to delivering an article to a prisoner and was released on personal recognizance. He is due back in court May 5 to face three counts of delivering drugs to prisoners.
Emerson and his lawyer declined comment.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1329031
READ MORE - Jail chaplain pleads not guilty to smuggling
MEDFORD -- A Roman Catholic deacon and chaplain at a jail accused of smuggling drugs and other contraband to inmates told authorities he did so because he was being blackmailed.
According to court documents, William Emerson, deacon at St. William Church in Tewksbury, told investigators he smuggled drugs into jails in Billerica and Cambridge because two pretrial detainees threatened to tell authorities he had pornography on his home computer.
A spokeswoman for the Middlesex district attorney tells The Sun of Lowell that investigators checked Emerson’s computer and the pornography was legal.
Emerson pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to delivering an article to a prisoner and was released on personal recognizance. He is due back in court May 5 to face three counts of delivering drugs to prisoners.
Emerson and his lawyer declined comment.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1329031
Turner grooms successor, targets foes Heads to prison after e-mail flurry
Friday, March 25, 2011
Turner grooms successor, targets foes
Heads to prison after e-mail flurry
Chuck Turner headed to a speaking event yesterday at Northeastern University.
(Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff)
By Andrew Ryan
Globe Staff / March 25, 2011
Chuck Turner sent a trove of e-mails in the 36 days he served on the Boston City Council after his felony conviction: He groomed his successor, Tito Jackson; sparred with critics; and fanned resentment against councilors who voted to expel him.
He also reveled in constant affirmation from his followers, and he refused an offer to lobby prosecutors for leniency, saying that would amount to “collaborating with the enemy.’’
“From a consciousness-raising standpoint, the best thing would be for them to put me in jail,’’ Turner explained in an e-mail to his staff Nov. 8.
That day has come for the 70-year-old, who is required to report to the Bureau of Prisons today and begin serving a three-year term at a Hazelton federal penitentiary in Morgantown, W.Va.
FULL STORY HERE
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/03/25/ex_councilor_chuck_turner_grooms_successor_targets_foes/?page=full
READ MORE - Turner grooms successor, targets foes Heads to prison after e-mail flurry
Heads to prison after e-mail flurry
(Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff)
By Andrew Ryan
Globe Staff / March 25, 2011
Chuck Turner sent a trove of e-mails in the 36 days he served on the Boston City Council after his felony conviction: He groomed his successor, Tito Jackson; sparred with critics; and fanned resentment against councilors who voted to expel him.
He also reveled in constant affirmation from his followers, and he refused an offer to lobby prosecutors for leniency, saying that would amount to “collaborating with the enemy.’’
“From a consciousness-raising standpoint, the best thing would be for them to put me in jail,’’ Turner explained in an e-mail to his staff Nov. 8.
That day has come for the 70-year-old, who is required to report to the Bureau of Prisons today and begin serving a three-year term at a Hazelton federal penitentiary in Morgantown, W.Va.
FULL STORY HERE
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/03/25/ex_councilor_chuck_turner_grooms_successor_targets_foes/?page=full
Chuck Turner goes out roaring
Chuck Turner goes out roaring
By Colneth Smiley Jr. | Friday, March 25, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Politics
Photo by Herald File
On the eve of his departure for a three-year prison sentence, Chuck Turner last night gave a barn-burning speech — billed as “Framing the Innocent” — to an overflow crowd of rapturous supporters at Northeastern University.
“If we’re allowing the prosecutors to target those who are speaking up and trying to bring justice and we’re allowing them to tear them down, then obviously we’re not going to be able to achieve our other objectives in terms of equity,” he said. “We can’t allow the system to be controlled by rogues who are operating in the interests of the oligarchy rather than the interests of the people of the country.”
The longtime city councilor was convicted last fall of accepting a bribe from an FBI informant.
His address — interrupted repeatedly by applause — drew 130 supporters inside and dozens outside the lecture-style classroom, and Turner exited to a crowd chanting “Chuck! Chuck!”
Turner told the waiting backers to visit supportchuck turner.com, and urged his former constituents to become his pen pals.
“I’m going to be sent to Hazleton Penetentiary, a minimum-security camp in front of the maximum-security prison,” in Bruceton Mills, W.Va., Turner said.
“I put my address in the (Bay State) Banner so people can write to me.”
The ex-councilor promised to write back.
“I intend to keep writing, particularly about things that are going on in Boston,” he said.
“I think sharing my perspectives with everyone will be helpful in terms of the community keeping together.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1325942
READ MORE - Chuck Turner goes out roaring
By Colneth Smiley Jr. | Friday, March 25, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Politics
On the eve of his departure for a three-year prison sentence, Chuck Turner last night gave a barn-burning speech — billed as “Framing the Innocent” — to an overflow crowd of rapturous supporters at Northeastern University.
“If we’re allowing the prosecutors to target those who are speaking up and trying to bring justice and we’re allowing them to tear them down, then obviously we’re not going to be able to achieve our other objectives in terms of equity,” he said. “We can’t allow the system to be controlled by rogues who are operating in the interests of the oligarchy rather than the interests of the people of the country.”
The longtime city councilor was convicted last fall of accepting a bribe from an FBI informant.
His address — interrupted repeatedly by applause — drew 130 supporters inside and dozens outside the lecture-style classroom, and Turner exited to a crowd chanting “Chuck! Chuck!”
Turner told the waiting backers to visit supportchuck turner.com, and urged his former constituents to become his pen pals.
“I’m going to be sent to Hazleton Penetentiary, a minimum-security camp in front of the maximum-security prison,” in Bruceton Mills, W.Va., Turner said.
“I put my address in the (Bay State) Banner so people can write to me.”
The ex-councilor promised to write back.
“I intend to keep writing, particularly about things that are going on in Boston,” he said.
“I think sharing my perspectives with everyone will be helpful in terms of the community keeping together.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1325942
A stitch to pass the time
A stitch to pass the time
By James Hinton | Friday, March 25, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Politics
A crocheting expert yesterday said convicted City Councilor Chuck Turner may well benefit from the arts and crafts program offered at the low-security satellite camp at the federal Hazelton penitentiary.
“I have had several customers that have learned to knit and crochet while incarcerated and they’re really pretty skilled at it,” said Annissa Essaibi-George, owner of Stitch House in Dorchester. “I know for lots of my customers it’s a way of distracting yourself from any personal challenges you may be facing.”
Essaibi-George noted the age-old art offers mental-health benefits that have made it an increasingly popular pastime for law-abiding citizens and cons alike.
“Lots of people do take crocheting and knitting as a relaxing technique, because it is a way of releasing tension and anxiety,” she said. “They definitely take it up as a hobby for therapeutic purposes.”
Turner will have three years to master the art — and the populist politician may come to value the egalitarian culture of crocheters.
“In knitting circles our only initial bond is our craft, so under regular circumstances I might not have too much in common with a convicted criminal, but crafts help bring people together,” Essaibi-George said. “It’s a nice opportunity for people to come together and meet on a mutual playing field.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1325934
Locked up, but not shutting up
Locked up, but not shutting up
By Peter Gelzinis | Friday, March 25, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
As expected, Chuck Turner did not go gently into that miserable night of prison.
Personally, I like that.
There’s something endearing about Chuck going off to jail in West Virginia with his fists clenched, screaming about how he was “set up” by the morally bankrupt FBI before a crowd of supporters at Northeastern University last night.
It’s just too bad Chuck didn’t scream about all this three years ago, when Ron Wilburn slipped a wad of cash in his palm.
That’s when Chuck, the community activist, the grassroots pol, the old social radical should have gone to the press and yelled, “They’re trying to frame me!” That’s when we might have believed him.
But he didn’t. Instead, Chuck took the dough.
Those who love him foolishly continue to argue against visual evidence of cash being tucked into Chuck’s fist, in what he would infamously call “a preacher’s handshake.”
“What if it was only 20 bucks instead of a thousand?” one true believer argued yesterday. Sadly, you can’t seem to convince them a bribe is a bribe is a bribe. The amount is not the point.
It’s the breach of trust, the grabbing of the cash.
Make no mistake about it, Chuck Turner is right when he talks about the moral bankruptcy of the FBI. Their history in Boston is indeed deplorable.
The federal government has already shelled out well more than $100 million in damages to people who were framed and/or murdered by FBI informants.
Sadly for Chuck, he’s not one of these victims.
Some people, including Joe Salvati, Louis Greco and Peter Limone, got framed by the FBI. While others, such as Chuck Turner, got hooked.
There’s a difference, a big difference.
Chuck Turner, like a great big fish, took the bait that was dangled in front of him.
It is baffling because Turner was never known as a “player.” He never seemed to be about money or the trappings of political power. And yet, he cuffed that wad of cash from Ron Wilburn like an old pro.
At the end of a long conversation yesterday, one of Chuck’s close friends admitted that he “might have made a mistake in judgment.”
He then rightly asked, “Does he deserve three years in prison for that?”
The answer is no. Chuck is going to jail for three years because he didn’t apologize. He’s going to jail for three years because he didn’t cop a plea, or beg for mercy, or stop saying bad things about former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan.
In truth, he’s also going to jail for three years because we don’t really know how many other “preacher’s handshakes” he pocketed over the years.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1325930
READ MORE - Locked up, but not shutting up
As expected, Chuck Turner did not go gently into that miserable night of prison.
Personally, I like that.
There’s something endearing about Chuck going off to jail in West Virginia with his fists clenched, screaming about how he was “set up” by the morally bankrupt FBI before a crowd of supporters at Northeastern University last night.
It’s just too bad Chuck didn’t scream about all this three years ago, when Ron Wilburn slipped a wad of cash in his palm.
That’s when Chuck, the community activist, the grassroots pol, the old social radical should have gone to the press and yelled, “They’re trying to frame me!” That’s when we might have believed him.
But he didn’t. Instead, Chuck took the dough.
Those who love him foolishly continue to argue against visual evidence of cash being tucked into Chuck’s fist, in what he would infamously call “a preacher’s handshake.”
“What if it was only 20 bucks instead of a thousand?” one true believer argued yesterday. Sadly, you can’t seem to convince them a bribe is a bribe is a bribe. The amount is not the point.
It’s the breach of trust, the grabbing of the cash.
Make no mistake about it, Chuck Turner is right when he talks about the moral bankruptcy of the FBI. Their history in Boston is indeed deplorable.
The federal government has already shelled out well more than $100 million in damages to people who were framed and/or murdered by FBI informants.
Sadly for Chuck, he’s not one of these victims.
Some people, including Joe Salvati, Louis Greco and Peter Limone, got framed by the FBI. While others, such as Chuck Turner, got hooked.
There’s a difference, a big difference.
Chuck Turner, like a great big fish, took the bait that was dangled in front of him.
It is baffling because Turner was never known as a “player.” He never seemed to be about money or the trappings of political power. And yet, he cuffed that wad of cash from Ron Wilburn like an old pro.
At the end of a long conversation yesterday, one of Chuck’s close friends admitted that he “might have made a mistake in judgment.”
He then rightly asked, “Does he deserve three years in prison for that?”
The answer is no. Chuck is going to jail for three years because he didn’t apologize. He’s going to jail for three years because he didn’t cop a plea, or beg for mercy, or stop saying bad things about former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan.
In truth, he’s also going to jail for three years because we don’t really know how many other “preacher’s handshakes” he pocketed over the years.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1325930
Chuck Turner in store for crochet & chili dogs Prison knot so tough for cell-ebrity
Chuck Turner in store for crochet & chili dogs
Prison knot so tough for cell-ebrity
By Laurel J. Sweet and Dave Wedge | Friday, March 25, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Politics
Photo by Christopher Evans
Deposed politician Chuck Turner today will trade his view of Fort Hill for the Appalachian Mountains as he reports for a three-year hitch at Club Fed — 577 miles from the City Council office he sacrificed for a $1,000 kickback.
The 70-year-old Harvard University alum will likely be admitted to a minimum-security, dormitory-style camp at the Hazelton big house in Bruceton Mills, W.Va. — a facility nestled in the hills of Preston County, where he will be able to partake of crochet classes, drawing, painting and what an inmate orientation handbook calls “paper arts.” The camp has no locking cells, offers periodic Town Hall meetings for airing gripes and serves up fare including oatmeal, fruit, chili dogs, Tater Tots, lasagna and chicken fajitas, according to the Bureau of Federal Prisons.
Fellow New England politicians who belong to the elite ex-con fraternity yesterday had encouraging words for the Roxbury rabble-rouser.
“It’s just one day at a time,” said former state Sen. Joseph Timilty, 72, who served four months at a federal prison in Pennsylvania for mortgage fraud in the 1990s. “In order to get through that thing, you have to be disciplined.”
“Find the humor in it,” advised former Providence Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, 69, who logged four years at FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey on corruption charges. “There’s humor in everything.”
Turner, who represented District 7 for 11 years, was convicted last fall of accepting a bribe to push a nightclub liquor license for a Hub businessman secretly taping him for the FBI.
At Hazelton, according to the inmate orientation handbook, the ex-councilor will be allowed to sport the hairstyle of his preference (bald), and his beard and goatee can stay. He may not walk around with his underpants showing. The knit caps will have to stay home — only slammer-approved headgear allowed.
Inmates at the camp are customarily assigned to sling hash, landscape or perform general maintenance.
“It’s not a country club,” said Cianci of his own experience. “It’s not like those in charge were cruise directors in their previous lives. There are rules. If you mess up, you’ll find yourself in trouble.”
Turner will not, of course, be the only Bay State solon behind bars tomorrow.
Former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, 55, is two weeks into her own three-year bribery stint at the minimum-security camp at FCI Danbury in Connecticut.
“The fortunate part about her situation is she’s close to home,” said son Cornell Mills, an also-ran to succeed Turner in City Hall. “West Virginia is like another country.”
Mills plans to visit Wilkerson for the first time this weekend. He said she finds Danbury to be “very low-key” and is “looking forward to doing some teaching.”
Danbury is also where Patrice Tierney, 60, wife of U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-Salem), on March 15 completed a monthlong stint for aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns by her fugitive brother. The prison was previously the home-away-from-home of Boston Mayor James Michael Curley (mail fraud) and “Queen of Mean” hotel tycoon Leona Helmsley (tax evasion).
As for Turner, when he reports to Hazelton today, he will be screened for any medical, psychological or security issues, said Bureau of Federal Prisons spokesman Chris Burke.
“Chuck will be all right,” Timilty said. “I was treated fairly. You don’t get any special treatment and you don’t seek any special treatment.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1325917
READ MORE - Chuck Turner in store for crochet & chili dogs Prison knot so tough for cell-ebrity
Prison knot so tough for cell-ebrity
Photo by Christopher Evans
Deposed politician Chuck Turner today will trade his view of Fort Hill for the Appalachian Mountains as he reports for a three-year hitch at Club Fed — 577 miles from the City Council office he sacrificed for a $1,000 kickback.
The 70-year-old Harvard University alum will likely be admitted to a minimum-security, dormitory-style camp at the Hazelton big house in Bruceton Mills, W.Va. — a facility nestled in the hills of Preston County, where he will be able to partake of crochet classes, drawing, painting and what an inmate orientation handbook calls “paper arts.” The camp has no locking cells, offers periodic Town Hall meetings for airing gripes and serves up fare including oatmeal, fruit, chili dogs, Tater Tots, lasagna and chicken fajitas, according to the Bureau of Federal Prisons.
Fellow New England politicians who belong to the elite ex-con fraternity yesterday had encouraging words for the Roxbury rabble-rouser.
“It’s just one day at a time,” said former state Sen. Joseph Timilty, 72, who served four months at a federal prison in Pennsylvania for mortgage fraud in the 1990s. “In order to get through that thing, you have to be disciplined.”
“Find the humor in it,” advised former Providence Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, 69, who logged four years at FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey on corruption charges. “There’s humor in everything.”
Turner, who represented District 7 for 11 years, was convicted last fall of accepting a bribe to push a nightclub liquor license for a Hub businessman secretly taping him for the FBI.
At Hazelton, according to the inmate orientation handbook, the ex-councilor will be allowed to sport the hairstyle of his preference (bald), and his beard and goatee can stay. He may not walk around with his underpants showing. The knit caps will have to stay home — only slammer-approved headgear allowed.
Inmates at the camp are customarily assigned to sling hash, landscape or perform general maintenance.
“It’s not a country club,” said Cianci of his own experience. “It’s not like those in charge were cruise directors in their previous lives. There are rules. If you mess up, you’ll find yourself in trouble.”
Turner will not, of course, be the only Bay State solon behind bars tomorrow.
Former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, 55, is two weeks into her own three-year bribery stint at the minimum-security camp at FCI Danbury in Connecticut.
“The fortunate part about her situation is she’s close to home,” said son Cornell Mills, an also-ran to succeed Turner in City Hall. “West Virginia is like another country.”
Mills plans to visit Wilkerson for the first time this weekend. He said she finds Danbury to be “very low-key” and is “looking forward to doing some teaching.”
Danbury is also where Patrice Tierney, 60, wife of U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-Salem), on March 15 completed a monthlong stint for aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns by her fugitive brother. The prison was previously the home-away-from-home of Boston Mayor James Michael Curley (mail fraud) and “Queen of Mean” hotel tycoon Leona Helmsley (tax evasion).
As for Turner, when he reports to Hazelton today, he will be screened for any medical, psychological or security issues, said Bureau of Federal Prisons spokesman Chris Burke.
“Chuck will be all right,” Timilty said. “I was treated fairly. You don’t get any special treatment and you don’t seek any special treatment.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1325917
Chuck Turner's last stand
Thursday, March 24, 2011Chuck Turner is going to jail, but it's the Feds who should be hanging their heads in shame
Chuck Turner is going to jail, but it's the Feds who should be hanging their heads in shame
Power play
By KYLE SMEALLIE AND HARVEY SILVERGLATE | March 23, 2011
Chuck Turner reports to prison Friday. If his sentence sticks, that's where the 70-year-old former Boston city councilor will spend the next three years.
Turner was convicted of attempted extortion, for accepting a bribe from a paid FBI informant, and also of giving false statements to federal officials, for lying about it to investigators. But there is much more to the case. Stepping back, it becomes clear that Turner was targeted by the FBI because he refused to play ball and build the government's case against another Massachusetts politician, former state senator Dianne Wilkerson. This is all about federal power — the power to destroy any who won't cooperate with the government's agenda.
At the beginning, this investigation was about the lucrative business of alcohol; in particular, how the city of Boston doles out coveted liquor licenses. By all indications, Wilkerson was on the take. She accepted multiple cash hand-offs (totaling $23,500) and appeared to initiate legislative action in return.
But in this mess, where does Turner fit?
US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz asserted that investigators "began with Wilkerson and followed the trail to Turner," the Boston Globe reported. But this was a trail blazed by the FBI itself. The connection, FBI agents testified, was a June 2007 e-mail Wilkerson sent to multiple city councilors, including Turner, concerning liquor-license distribution. Without explicitly stating so, her e-mail suggests that the licensing board improperly delayed approval of certain African-American applicants.
The next day, Turner responded to Wilkerson and several other city councilors: "I will send you a proposed hearing order to see if it appropriately frames the issues." Turner wanted to hold a hearing. This is what Turner did all the time. Yet this was evidence enough for the FBI to pay an informant some $29,000 and send him to Turner's Roxbury office to "feel him out."
Of course, the now-infamous video, taken August 3, 2007, in Turner's district office, doesn't lie. Turner took something, and it appears to be cash. The feds say it was $1000; Turner testified that he had no idea of the amount. It's important to note, however, that in a departure from standard procedure, the FBI agents did not search the informant, Ronald Wilburn, after the exchange to be certain that he handed all of the cash to Turner.
The amount given to Turner becomes important because local campaign-finance regulations allow candidates to accept cash contributions up to $50, provided it is duly recorded and reported. If the cash given to Turner was $50 or less, his only violation would have been only a minor fundraising-reporting omission.
GAINING LEVERAGE
Turner's counterattack — that he and Wilkerson were targeted because they are black — was unproductive and unverifiable, an allegation that Ortiz quieted easily. Far more difficult to refute is the more likely motivation: the federal government wanted to gain leverage on Turner, so they could pressure him into cooperating with their plans.
Consider, for instance, the absurd notion that Turner was extorting Wilburn. This may seem like hair-splitting legalese, but it speaks to why the case should never have been brought in the first place. Under existing law, bribery of state officials — payments initiated by the citizen — is not a distinct federal crime. Extortion, however, is. But extortion requires some kind of threat — the public official demanding, for example, payment to refrain from harming the citizen's interests. By all indications, Wilburn didn't fear retaliation if he didn't pay up.
At any rate, Turner would not have made an effective extortionist. His hallmark was holding hearings, not necessarily getting results. There is a role for such officials in public life, of course. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, sunlight is the best disinfectant, and Turner specialized in casting sunlight.
Prosecutors, oddly, conceded that Turner had little to sell. "There is substantial doubt," they asserted in a memorandum requesting a heavy prison sentence, "about Turner's effectiveness as a public servant." A strange assertion, for if he could not get approvals from the licensing board, why would any businessman succumb to his supposed extortion demands? This is more than a mere detail, for it weighs heavily toward a conclusion that Turner saw the Wilburn payment as an ordinary campaign contribution, rather than a payoff.
One might think that the news media would pick up on this. But from the moment the feds leaked the grainy photos of the handoff, the reporting angle (with a few exceptions, such as WBUR's David Boeri) was all but set: the press saw red meat. Reporters perhaps lost sight of the fact that, in their role as watchdog over government conduct, the actions of the feds deserved as much, if not more, scrutiny than the likely very minor improprieties of a city pol. If voters don't like Turner, or if they smell a whiff of dishonesty, they can express their displeasure at the ballot box. But if those same citizens dislike what federal prosecutors and FBI agents are doing in the people's name and on their dime, they have little practical recourse.
Which makes all the more revolting the fact that prosecutors, in their memorandum requesting 33 to 41 months in prison for Turner, used the politician's own overheated statements against him — in essence asking the court to punish him for his free speech. By asserting that the investigation was racially motivated, Turner's words "have been corrosive to respect for important public institutions and the rule of law," prosecutors argued to Judge Douglas Woodlock.
THROWING BOULDERS
Coming from the Massachusetts US Attorney's Office, in connection with a case launched by the Boston FBI office, the feds's air of piety was nothing short of stomach-churning. Just last month, a federal appeals court saw fit to deny compensation to the family of an innocent man gunned down as a result of the Boston FBI's office working with the mobster Whitey Bulger. And federal prosecutor Jeffrey Auerhahn, found by another judge to have hidden evidence that could have shown that a man convicted of murder was innocent, continues to serve in the US Attorney's Office.
Even if prosecutors were throwing boulders from their glass house, the onus was ultimately on Woodlock to see through this ruse. In this regard, he utterly failed, seeing fit to hand down a shockingly harsh three-year sentence — only a few months shorter than that of Wilkerson, a repeat offender. Woodlock took specific issue with Turner's testimony, finding it implausible that the 70-year-old couldn't remember meeting the FBI's informant.
But Woodlock, a former corruption prosecutor turned judge, perhaps unsurprisingly didn't see the bigger picture. He didn't see the possibility — indeed, the likelihood — that the feds led Turner into a scenario that appeared far more pernicious than the reality. He didn't see that a local politician was targeted by federal prosecutors for not helping them build their case against Wilkerson.
In the quest for Turner's scalp, neither federal law-enforcement authorities, nor the supposedly independent federal judiciary and news media, properly played the roles assigned to them in our constitutional system — which continues to suffer mightily under the weight of stings and set-ups that too often mask, rather than reveal, the truth.
Kyle Smeallie can be reached at kyle@harveysilverglate.com. Harvey Silverglate can be reached at harvey@harveysilverglate.com.
READ MORE - Chuck Turner is going to jail, but it's the Feds who should be hanging their heads in shame
Power play
By KYLE SMEALLIE AND HARVEY SILVERGLATE | March 23, 2011
Chuck Turner reports to prison Friday. If his sentence sticks, that's where the 70-year-old former Boston city councilor will spend the next three years.
Turner was convicted of attempted extortion, for accepting a bribe from a paid FBI informant, and also of giving false statements to federal officials, for lying about it to investigators. But there is much more to the case. Stepping back, it becomes clear that Turner was targeted by the FBI because he refused to play ball and build the government's case against another Massachusetts politician, former state senator Dianne Wilkerson. This is all about federal power — the power to destroy any who won't cooperate with the government's agenda.
At the beginning, this investigation was about the lucrative business of alcohol; in particular, how the city of Boston doles out coveted liquor licenses. By all indications, Wilkerson was on the take. She accepted multiple cash hand-offs (totaling $23,500) and appeared to initiate legislative action in return.
But in this mess, where does Turner fit?
US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz asserted that investigators "began with Wilkerson and followed the trail to Turner," the Boston Globe reported. But this was a trail blazed by the FBI itself. The connection, FBI agents testified, was a June 2007 e-mail Wilkerson sent to multiple city councilors, including Turner, concerning liquor-license distribution. Without explicitly stating so, her e-mail suggests that the licensing board improperly delayed approval of certain African-American applicants.
The next day, Turner responded to Wilkerson and several other city councilors: "I will send you a proposed hearing order to see if it appropriately frames the issues." Turner wanted to hold a hearing. This is what Turner did all the time. Yet this was evidence enough for the FBI to pay an informant some $29,000 and send him to Turner's Roxbury office to "feel him out."
Of course, the now-infamous video, taken August 3, 2007, in Turner's district office, doesn't lie. Turner took something, and it appears to be cash. The feds say it was $1000; Turner testified that he had no idea of the amount. It's important to note, however, that in a departure from standard procedure, the FBI agents did not search the informant, Ronald Wilburn, after the exchange to be certain that he handed all of the cash to Turner.
The amount given to Turner becomes important because local campaign-finance regulations allow candidates to accept cash contributions up to $50, provided it is duly recorded and reported. If the cash given to Turner was $50 or less, his only violation would have been only a minor fundraising-reporting omission.
GAINING LEVERAGE
Turner's counterattack — that he and Wilkerson were targeted because they are black — was unproductive and unverifiable, an allegation that Ortiz quieted easily. Far more difficult to refute is the more likely motivation: the federal government wanted to gain leverage on Turner, so they could pressure him into cooperating with their plans.
Consider, for instance, the absurd notion that Turner was extorting Wilburn. This may seem like hair-splitting legalese, but it speaks to why the case should never have been brought in the first place. Under existing law, bribery of state officials — payments initiated by the citizen — is not a distinct federal crime. Extortion, however, is. But extortion requires some kind of threat — the public official demanding, for example, payment to refrain from harming the citizen's interests. By all indications, Wilburn didn't fear retaliation if he didn't pay up.
At any rate, Turner would not have made an effective extortionist. His hallmark was holding hearings, not necessarily getting results. There is a role for such officials in public life, of course. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, sunlight is the best disinfectant, and Turner specialized in casting sunlight.
Prosecutors, oddly, conceded that Turner had little to sell. "There is substantial doubt," they asserted in a memorandum requesting a heavy prison sentence, "about Turner's effectiveness as a public servant." A strange assertion, for if he could not get approvals from the licensing board, why would any businessman succumb to his supposed extortion demands? This is more than a mere detail, for it weighs heavily toward a conclusion that Turner saw the Wilburn payment as an ordinary campaign contribution, rather than a payoff.
One might think that the news media would pick up on this. But from the moment the feds leaked the grainy photos of the handoff, the reporting angle (with a few exceptions, such as WBUR's David Boeri) was all but set: the press saw red meat. Reporters perhaps lost sight of the fact that, in their role as watchdog over government conduct, the actions of the feds deserved as much, if not more, scrutiny than the likely very minor improprieties of a city pol. If voters don't like Turner, or if they smell a whiff of dishonesty, they can express their displeasure at the ballot box. But if those same citizens dislike what federal prosecutors and FBI agents are doing in the people's name and on their dime, they have little practical recourse.
Which makes all the more revolting the fact that prosecutors, in their memorandum requesting 33 to 41 months in prison for Turner, used the politician's own overheated statements against him — in essence asking the court to punish him for his free speech. By asserting that the investigation was racially motivated, Turner's words "have been corrosive to respect for important public institutions and the rule of law," prosecutors argued to Judge Douglas Woodlock.
THROWING BOULDERS
Coming from the Massachusetts US Attorney's Office, in connection with a case launched by the Boston FBI office, the feds's air of piety was nothing short of stomach-churning. Just last month, a federal appeals court saw fit to deny compensation to the family of an innocent man gunned down as a result of the Boston FBI's office working with the mobster Whitey Bulger. And federal prosecutor Jeffrey Auerhahn, found by another judge to have hidden evidence that could have shown that a man convicted of murder was innocent, continues to serve in the US Attorney's Office.
Even if prosecutors were throwing boulders from their glass house, the onus was ultimately on Woodlock to see through this ruse. In this regard, he utterly failed, seeing fit to hand down a shockingly harsh three-year sentence — only a few months shorter than that of Wilkerson, a repeat offender. Woodlock took specific issue with Turner's testimony, finding it implausible that the 70-year-old couldn't remember meeting the FBI's informant.
But Woodlock, a former corruption prosecutor turned judge, perhaps unsurprisingly didn't see the bigger picture. He didn't see the possibility — indeed, the likelihood — that the feds led Turner into a scenario that appeared far more pernicious than the reality. He didn't see that a local politician was targeted by federal prosecutors for not helping them build their case against Wilkerson.
In the quest for Turner's scalp, neither federal law-enforcement authorities, nor the supposedly independent federal judiciary and news media, properly played the roles assigned to them in our constitutional system — which continues to suffer mightily under the weight of stings and set-ups that too often mask, rather than reveal, the truth.
Kyle Smeallie can be reached at kyle@harveysilverglate.com. Harvey Silverglate can be reached at harvey@harveysilverglate.com.
Guard accused of having sex with inmates - 2005
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Guard accused of having sex with inmates
By Norman Miller / Daily News Staff
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
FRAMINGHAM -- A prison guard accused of having sex with two female inmates at a minimum security institute in Framingham now faces charges, jail time and fines for the incidents.
Moises Ballista, 28, of Springfield was indicted on six counts of having sexual relations with an inmate, said Middlesex district attorney's office spokeswoman Melissa Sherman yesterday.
The incidents are alleged to have occurred on various dates in 2003 and 2004 at the South Middlesex Correctional Center, a pre-release minimum security institute located next to MCI-Framingham.
Department of Correction spokeswoman Diane Wiffin said the incident is under investigation.
"We take the allegations very seriously," said Wiffin. "It's an abuse of the power and authority invested in us as law enforcement officials."
Ballista has been "detached," or suspended, with pay since the allegations came to light in May, 2004, Wiffin said.
Sherman said the DOC discovered the "inappropriate sexual relations" with the two inmates and began an internal investigation.
The Middlesex district attorney's office was informed of the incidents in September 2004. After an investigation, Ballista was indicted on Friday, Sherman said.
The names and the ages of the victims were not released. It is not known if the women are still incarcerated.
It is a crime in Massachusetts for a prison guard to have sex with inmates.
Ballista faces up to five years in state prison for each count if he is convicted and/or a $10,000 fine.
Wiffin said she could not say how long Ballista has worked as a correction officer, or at what other facilities he has worked, citing personnel privacy.
Ballista could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The DOC, Wiffin said, investigates all such incidents completely.
"This is serious misconduct, and we take it seriously," she said.
Ballista is scheduled to be arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge on April 11.
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com
READ MORE - Guard accused of having sex with inmates - 2005
By Norman Miller / Daily News Staff
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Moises Ballista, 28, of Springfield was indicted on six counts of having sexual relations with an inmate, said Middlesex district attorney's office spokeswoman Melissa Sherman yesterday.
The incidents are alleged to have occurred on various dates in 2003 and 2004 at the South Middlesex Correctional Center, a pre-release minimum security institute located next to MCI-Framingham.
Department of Correction spokeswoman Diane Wiffin said the incident is under investigation.
"We take the allegations very seriously," said Wiffin. "It's an abuse of the power and authority invested in us as law enforcement officials."
Ballista has been "detached," or suspended, with pay since the allegations came to light in May, 2004, Wiffin said.
Sherman said the DOC discovered the "inappropriate sexual relations" with the two inmates and began an internal investigation.
The Middlesex district attorney's office was informed of the incidents in September 2004. After an investigation, Ballista was indicted on Friday, Sherman said.
The names and the ages of the victims were not released. It is not known if the women are still incarcerated.
It is a crime in Massachusetts for a prison guard to have sex with inmates.
Ballista faces up to five years in state prison for each count if he is convicted and/or a $10,000 fine.
Wiffin said she could not say how long Ballista has worked as a correction officer, or at what other facilities he has worked, citing personnel privacy.
Ballista could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The DOC, Wiffin said, investigates all such incidents completely.
"This is serious misconduct, and we take it seriously," she said.
Ballista is scheduled to be arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge on April 11.
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com
Trial opens for former correction officer
Trial opens for former correction officer
By Milton J. Valencia
Globe Staff / March 23, 2011
Moises Ballista, a former correction officer at the South Middlesex Correctional Center in Framingham, routinely had sexual relations with female inmates at the minimum-security, prerelease center for women. He acknowledged the actions in federal court yesterday.
Five years ago, he was sentenced to nine months in a county jail for violating state laws prohibiting relations between inmates and correctional officers, even when the sex is consensual.
But now a federal jury — made up of 10 women — will decide whether Ballista and his supervisors at the state Department of Correction violated the civil rights of one of the inmates, a case that could end in a damage award. The ruling could also put the same responsibility on state supervisors as on Ballista.
The woman, Christina Chao, 31, alleges that Ballista, capitalizing on his role as an officer, used his power to pressure her into between 50 and 100 sexual acts when she was an inmate eight years ago. She also asserts state officials failed to intervene, despite a history of similar accusations against Ballista.
FOR THE FULL STORY
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/03/23/trial_opens_for_former_correction_officer/
READ MORE - Trial opens for former correction officer
By Milton J. Valencia
Globe Staff / March 23, 2011
Moises Ballista, a former correction officer at the South Middlesex Correctional Center in Framingham, routinely had sexual relations with female inmates at the minimum-security, prerelease center for women. He acknowledged the actions in federal court yesterday.
Five years ago, he was sentenced to nine months in a county jail for violating state laws prohibiting relations between inmates and correctional officers, even when the sex is consensual.
But now a federal jury — made up of 10 women — will decide whether Ballista and his supervisors at the state Department of Correction violated the civil rights of one of the inmates, a case that could end in a damage award. The ruling could also put the same responsibility on state supervisors as on Ballista.
The woman, Christina Chao, 31, alleges that Ballista, capitalizing on his role as an officer, used his power to pressure her into between 50 and 100 sexual acts when she was an inmate eight years ago. She also asserts state officials failed to intervene, despite a history of similar accusations against Ballista.
FOR THE FULL STORY
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/03/23/trial_opens_for_former_correction_officer/
ALL NEW HD VIDEO: Attack on Black Leadership Forum
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Rumored corruption
Monday, March 21, 2011
Rumored corruption
March 18, 2011
THE FBI USED Ron Wilburn, and then tossed him aside. The feds got Wilburn, a Roxbury businessman, to wear a wire while passing bribes to Dianne Wilkerson and Chuck Turner. But after snaring the two black Boston politicians, they shut their investigation down, leaving all sorts of white political crooks untouched. That’s Wilburn’s take on his role in the sting that netted Wilkerson and Turner stiff federal prison sentences.
For two years now, Wilburn has been a bitter critic of federal investigators and prosecutors. He stopped cooperating with the feds in February 2009, telling the Globe he was angry that their investigation hadn’t snagged anyone else inside City Hall or the State House. His anger at the prosecution was so great that he considered refusing to testify at Turner’s trial, telling the Globe, “You mean to tell me that the only people investigated in terms of criminal wrongdoing were Dianne and Chuck Turner? There's no way.”
Wilburn is right in that aspect. In their investigation into Wilkerson’s criminality, federal prosecutors looked into a number of Boston politicians and businessmen. Investigators also asked Wilburn for everything he had, and for every lead he could provide. Wilburn failed to provide them with much of anything to work with.
Hundreds of pages of newly unsealed documents in the Wilkerson case shed fresh light on federal investigators’ scrutiny of City Hall and State House officials. Wilburn’s grand jury testimony, in particular, shows federal prosecutors inquiring about several prominent Boston figures.
Wilburn’s testimony shows federal prosecutors inquiring about Daniel Pokaski, the former head of the Boston Licensing Board; Steven Miller, an attorney whose law firm specializes in securing liquor licenses in Boston; Arthur Winn, the real estatedeveloper behind a South End mega-development that was a pet cause of Wilkerson’s; the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, whom Wilkerson met with about casino gambling; developers Edward Zuker and Ed Fish; and contractor and Jay Cashman.
No one other than Turner has been accused of any wrongdoing, let alone charged, in connection with the Wilkerson case. Whether or not there was a bigger case to be built – the investigation officially remains open, but hasn’t shown any public momentum – the questions prosecutors asked Wilburn suggest investigators were certainly trying to build a bigger case. For all his anger at the feds, Wilburn’s grand jury testimony helps explain why Wilkerson and Turner have been the only two public figures to face an indictment.
Wilburn provided the grand jury with extensive testimony about his payments to Wilkerson and Turner, which were captured on tape. They also asked him about anyone else in town – anyone at all – whom he knew to be involved in corruption. He made a number of claims, but offered little in the way of evidence.
Prosecutors asked Wilburn several times about Winn, the Columbus Center developer. Wilburn couldn’t tell them anything they hadn’t already read in the newspaper.
They asked about Fish, long a major contractor and developer in Wilkerson’s district. Wilburn knew nothing.
They asked about Zuker, a developer who loaned Wilkerson $9,000 so the senator could settle an outstanding tax debt; Wilburn didn’t have any information about him. Nor could he reveal anything about Cashman; he simply alleged that anyone who did any construction work in Wilkerson’s district had to pay the senator.
The exchanges regarding Pokaski, the former licensing chairman, and Miller, the licensing attorney, are particularly illustrative. Wilburn had made a number of accusations about Pokaski while he was wearing an FBI wire, but at the grand jury, he testified he wouldn’t be able to prove anything in court.
Prosecutors repeatedly pressed Wilburn for any specifics, in prosecutor John McNeil’s words, “about Steve Miller somehow engaged in nefarious conduct with the licensing board,” and whether “Mr. Miller was somehow passing on any kind of efforts, money, golf, trips anywhere, to anyone on the Licensing Board.”
Wilburn couldn’t offer up anything. The public record is unclear as to whether the FBI enlisted undercover informants to investigate anyone other than Wilkerson or Turner. It appears the FBI pursued Wilkerson based on Wilburn’s claims that he had personally witnessed her taking cash.
Wilburn “doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” says Miller. “He’s delusional.” Miller, whose grand jury testimony has not been made public, said it’s well known that investigators took a hard look at anyone connected to the licensing board. “They looked at everything possible, and there’s nothing there. I’ve been doing this for close to 40 years. People hire us because we know what we’re doing.”
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