"A former Saugus attorney hid almost a million dollars in state lottery winnings from bankruptcy courts and sold the rights to one of two winning tickets for $360,000 after filing for protection from creditors, prosecutors said yesterday.
Why are those even taxed? It's tax money!
--more--"
7:21 a.m:
"A Stoughton police officer has resigned after internal affairs investigations found that he left his patrol to meet a stripper known as “the world’s smallest porn star,’’ a 3-foot-9 porn actress and stripper, known as Bridget “The Midget’’ Powers.
--more--"
Also see: Massachusetts Justice: The Stench of Stoughton
Smells like, well, you know....
7:22 a.m.:
"20 held as suspected drug dealers; Taunton arrests follow inquiry by state, local police" by Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff | July 22, 2010
State and local police fanned out across Taunton yesterday and arrested more than 20 suspected drug dealers in a major sweep, law enforcement officials said.
For Operation Diesel, State Police drug and gang units, along with detectives from Taunton, secured arrest warrants for more than 30 alleged dealers following a five-month investigation into street-level sales of heroin and crack cocaine in the area.
I'm always happy when they get them off the streets.
During the investigation, the dealers made hand-to-hand sales to undercover troopers, said State Police spokesman David Procopio....
The sweep follows a recent rash of violence in Taunton....
The drug trade brings that.
Related: Drug War Making a Killing in Boston
7:23 a.m.:
"5 arraigned in drug investigation; Alleged ring was based in Colombia, US attorney says" by Marissa Lang, Globe Correspondent | July 23, 2010
After a trail of cash led federal investigators from Boston to Colombia in a five-year investigation, eight men were arrested, five of whom were arraigned in Boston yesterday afternoon on drug trafficking charges.
The investigation began in 2005, when federal investigators discovered that drug money was being delivered to Boston, where it would land in the hands of professional money launderers before working its way back to drug dealers in Colombia.
It is unusual for Latin American drug traffickers to be extradited and tried in Boston, as the city is not a typical port of entry used by international narcotic traffickers. But the Hub has just as much of a stake in stopping the flow of drugs as any other US city, US District Attorney Carmen Ortiz, the top federal prosecutor for Massachusetts, said at a news conference in Boston yesterday.
“It shows that Boston is not just some tiny town that does not care about solving the national and international problem of drug trafficking,’’ he said. “We’re going to play a role in it.’’
Why not? CIA does.
Also see: U.S. Government Brings Drug War to U.S. Cities
Yeah, how about that, American?
To trace the money, federal agents posed as money launderers and were hired to handle some of the drug ring’s cash.
Who hired them?
He'll be saying hello to a little friend!
Over the past several years, investigators used the money trail to find where cocaine was arriving in the United States. They also tracked cocaine traffic in Colombia....
Of course, all this stuff made it onto the streets.
Federal investigators coordinated multiple “money pickups’’ in which they would receive money from drug traffickers and then wire it through “undercover bank accounts,’’ or occasionally the black market, back to accounts controlled by the drug cartel.
During the five-year probe, which became known as Operation Beanpot, officials said investigators seized 2,900 kilograms of cocaine worth at least $100 million in the United States.
Are they trying to say the stopped and kept it all?
What did they pay the drug traffickers with then?
Tax dollars?
The drug traffickers used Filipino Merchant Marines working on commercial vessels to ship the narcotics out of Colombia and into the United States. The cocaine taken to the United States mostly went through ports of entry in New Orleans and Miami, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.
It is unknown whether any drugs trafficked by the suspects ever landed in Boston.
Yeah, sure.
But Ortiz said the international drug trade affects Boston.
“People in our city die and get hurt, and neighborhoods get harmed, by these drugs,’’ Ortiz said. “If we can play a role in keeping those drugs from leaving Colombia and entering Boston . . . then we are playing a massive role.’’
********
Federal officials would not say whether any of the defendants were suspected to have ties to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a guerrilla army better known as FARC that has been linked to numerous acts of violence, kidnapping, and participation in the illegal drug trade....
Related: Freedom From FARC
They all seem to be working for AmeriKa, don't they?
Federal investigators said unlike other drug extradition cases, this time, undercover agents were able to successfully identify and apprehend members of the cartel from the top (Alvarez-Bastidas was identified as the group leader) to the bottom (individuals who transported small amounts of cocaine into the United States on buses and trucks).
The investigation was conducted by special agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration and criminal investigators from the Internal Revenue Service, officials said. Investigators from Colombia’s Administrative Department of Security, the Colombian equivalent of the FBI, also participated.
“International borders offer no security to drug traffickers who seek to flood our communities with tons of cocaine and launder the proceeds as alleged in this indictment,’’ Steven M. Derr, the DEA’s special agent-in-charge, said in a statement. “Traffickers will not escape the grasp of law enforcement professionals who have dedicated themselves to putting these criminal groups out of business.’’
Related: CIA and Drugs
I'm waiting, sir.
Got another call coming in.
8:13 a.m.:
"An East Boston man arrested during a Bible study session at an Allston church Wednesday night, according to police, was arraigned yesterday on charges that he raped a 7-year-old girl, the daughter of another parishioner, multiple times over the past six months.
--more--"
8:19 a.m.:
"A man suffered injuries to his head and neck last night, after falling down a staircase inside Fenway Park, police said....
Annie Rice of Portsmouth, N.H., said rescuers told onlookers to keep moving. “They said: ‘Everyone move away. There’s nothing to see here.’ ’’
Her husband, Norman Rice, said there was a pool of blood where the man fell....--more--"
8:19 a.m.:
"A Northbridge firefighter was charged in federal court in Boston yesterday with distribution and possession of child pornography. William R. Davis, 33, of Whitinsville, a section of Northbridge, is accused of sending pornographic images of young boys engaged in sexually explicit conduct over the Internet on several occasions to undercover FBI agents."
Couldn't put out his own fire, huh?
Also see: Around AmeriKa: Child Porn Expanding
8:19 a.m:
"A South Boston teenager was arrested early yesterday after police discovered the intoxicated youth yanking on car doors, his pockets bulging with electronics, authorities said.
--more--"
8:20 a.m.:
"Police sued over death in ’05 arrest; Suit challenges state finding that cocaine was factor" by Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff | August 20, 2010
Alfonso Santana spent the last moments of his life face down on a sidewalk in Lawrence in 2005.
Now, a jury is set to decide whether Santana’s death, at age 39, was caused by cocaine intoxication, by police who restrained him in a choke hold, or by some other factor....
Not a good combination.
A pathologist for the Santana family asserts that something is amiss with that finding. He noted that toxicology tests ordered by the medical examiner found no cocaine in Santana’s urine specimen. That, he says, is a “physiological impossibility,’’ because if there is cocaine in a person’s blood, it would show up in the urine, too.
Never in more than 6,000 autopsies had he found cocaine in the blood but not in the urine, Gerald A. Feigin, a former medical examiner in Massachusetts, wrote in a seven-page report on behalf of the Santana family.
Feigin questions whether someone dropped cocaine into the blood specimen....
I hate to believe it; however, it happens far more often than you would like to believe here in AmeriKa.
In a deposition taken Jan. 29, Feigin was emphatic about his judgment, saying of police, “They [expletive] killed this guy by putting him in a choke hold. Now they are covering their butts by taking blood, dumping a rock of crack [cocaine] in, but they’re too . . . stupid to put it in the urine.’’
It wouldn't be the first time:
The Night the Celtics Won the Championship
Boston Police Plead For Patience
******
The circumstances in question began at noon Oct. 19, 2005. Blanchard, Gondella, and Rivet were in plainclothes and conducting surveillance of a suspected drug house on Forest Street in Lawrence....
After Santana was handcuffed, police noticed he was not breathing and had no pulse. Santana, an immigrant from the Dominican Republican who had been in the United States illegally, was pronounced dead on arrival at Lawrence General Hospital, according to court records....
We don't want them killed for Christ's sake!
--more--"
8:20 a.m.:
"Officer cleared in woman’s shooting; DA says actions were justified to save lives" by Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff | August 20, 2010
The Somerville police officer who shot and killed a knife-wielding woman during a domestic violence call last month was protecting himself and a firefighter who had fallen right in front of her, Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. said yesterday in finding that the shooting was justified.
I would expected no other decision or action.
I've seen this movie before.
Ever notice when someone is in charge of investigating themselves they are always exonerated?
The officer, Dante DiFronzo, fired once, hitting 33-year-old Carol Kingsley in the head, according to a statement by Leone, the most detailed account of the shooting to date.
The shooting occurred after Kingsley slashed DiFronzo with a kitchen knife, having already stabbed two other officers, and stood within striking distance of fire Lieutenant Michael Anzalone, Leone said.
“The reckless actions of the decedent placed the lives of all three officers and others in danger,’’ Leone said in a statement. “The officer who discharged his firearm did so to save his, Lieutenant Anzalone’s and possibly other lives.’’
Yeah, it is her own fault she is dead.
Related:
"The three officers.... were the only witnesses to the shooting.... Friends of Kingsley have asked how a 5-foot-3-inch, 125-pound woman — even one brandishing a knife — could not be controlled by three male officers without resorting to gunfire. Kingsley’s former longtime boyfriend, Peter Cusick, 50, said he did not understand why the situation escalated to the point that three officers couldn’t control one relatively small woman. “Why didn’t they just shoot her in the leg?’’ he asked in a phone interview yesterday"
Hey, she was asking for it -- according to the authorities that killed her.
Leone did not address Kingsley’s apparent emotional distress at the time, which has caused mental health advocates to question whether more could have done to prevent the shooting. Kingsley, who suffered from years of depression and alcohol abuse, according to court records, had been taken to Cambridge Hospital three hours before the July 23 shooting for an evaluation after displaying emotional troubles, but was allowed to check herself out.
A mental health commitment, known as a Section 12, was never sought on the night of the shooting, a hospital spokesman said.
Doug Bailey, the spokesman, said that he could not talk about Kingsley’s condition because of privacy issues but “neither the attending physicians nor the police, both of whom could have instituted a Section 12, thought that was warranted after she spent more than three hours in the [emergency department].’’
Friends said Kingsley’s mental health had been deteriorating over the years, since she lost custody of her only daughter about four years ago.
Her boyfriend, Chris Willett, could not be reached for comment yesterday, but has publicly questioned the hospital’s decision to release her....
So what tall tale did the cops come up with to justify the killing?
By the time officers Marc DiFava and Jose Ramirez arrived at the Sycamore Terrace apartment, the fire alarm had caused the evacuation of the apartment building’s residents, but Kingsley had locked herself inside. Officers were preparing to burst through the door when Kingsley opened it and stabbed them, forcing them outside, according to the report.
Does that make sense to you?
Because they thought the house was on fire, DiFranzo and Anzalone went back inside and broke through the door. At one point, Anzalone fell, according to the report, and Kingsley stood over him holding two knives.
DiFranzo pulled out his gun, ordering her to drop the knives. She did, but picked them up again and lunged at him, according to the report.
This is the COP'S VERSION, folks!
Sorry, but it is JUST NOT PASSING the SMELL TEST!
Also see: Somerville Shooting a State Failure
8:21 a.m.:
"Three major drug dealers charged in Arlington, police say" by Brock Parker, Globe Correspondent | August 21, 2010
Three major drug dealers, including one who is on the run, have been charged following a yearlong investigation spurred by the suicides of at least three people in Arlington who were addicted to prescription drugs, police said yesterday.
Related(?): Around New England: Cleaning Up in Connecticut
How is that investigation going?
As the investigation dubbed Operation Trifecta began, local police learned from informants that Arlington was known as a place to get prescription pills such as OxyContin and Percocet.
Related: America Asleep in the Streets
And government is the place to get 'em.
On Tuesday, Arlington police arrested Christopher Tucceri, 38, whom authorities say was dealing the highest volume of prescription drugs. He was arrested with a large amount of OxyContin, cocaine, and money....
Police say Tucceri was operating independently from two other Arlington men charged with selling prescription drugs, John McCloskey, 42, and Moses Ortiz, 22, who was arrested during a raid on his Everett Street home in June....
Arlington police Captain Robert Bongiorno said police are searching for McCloskey, whom they believe is still in the area....
Ortiz and Tucceri are free on bail, police said....
--more--"
"Crackdown on gangs in N.E. leads to 47 arrests, 22 in Mass." by Sydney Lupkin, Globe Correspondent | August 21, 2010
A three-month investigation by a team of 20 law enforcement agencies resulted in the arrest of 47 alleged gang members in New England, including more than 22 in Massachusetts, federal officials announced yesterday. The suspects are considered threats to public safety....
“These guys are the worst of the worst,’’ said Harold Ort, spokesman for ICE. “I cross the street when I see these guys.’’
Were their faces on a deck of cards?
*************
It is unclear how many of the 19 are illegal immigrants.
“It really harkens back to the main ICE mission statement, which is to keep the American public safe from threats, national and international,’’ Ort said....
Twenty-two people were arrested in Massachusetts, and the remaining 25 were apprehended in Connecticut and Maine....
Two US citizens had state warrants for gun possession; one undocumented Brazilian was arrested for reentry after deportation and possession of false identification; and one undocumented Cambodian had been charged with armed assault to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, armed robbery, and carjacking.
Just hard-working guys trying to put food on the table.
Other communities where arrests were made include Chelsea, Fitchburg, Lynn, Randolph, and Springfield....
--more--"