An FBI agent gave jurors a lesson in the history of the Chicago mob during the trial of a former deputy U.S. Marshal accused of blabbing secrets to alleged mobsters.
Special agent Michael Maseth was the first witness in the trial of John Ambrose, 42.
Ambrose is accused of leaking information about Nicholas Calabrese, the government's star witness at the Family Secrets trial that targeted top members of the Chicago mob. He's denied the allegations.
Maseth's testimony Tuesday underscored how Calabrese put his life at risk by cooperating with the government and how significant his information was.
Maseth called Calabrese the most important organized crime figure to ever testify in the district and "perhaps the entire United States."
Thanks to CBS2Chicago
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
CHICAGO GANG FUGITIVE SOUGHT
Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is asking for the public’s help in locating a suspected Chicago gang member, who is wanted for violation of Federal drug laws.
GEORGE BROWN, age 26, whose last known address was 2100 South Kildare in Chicago, has been the subject of a nationwide manhunt coordinated by the Chicago FBI since December of 2008, when he was charged by a Federal Grand Jury in Chicago with distributing both wholesale and personal user quantities of crack cocaine.
According to the indictment, BROWN was part of a drug-trafficking organization centered on the west side of Chicago, which distributed illicit drugs on behalf of the Conservative Vice Lords street gang. The operation was centered in the vicinity of 18th Street and Pulaski Road, an area known as the “Spot”. BROWN was one of fourteen suspected gang members and associates charged in connection with this investigation and is one of only two defendants in the case who is still at-large.
BROWN, who is also known as “GB”, is described as a black/male, 26 years of age, 6’ 2” tall, medium build, with black hair, brown eyes and was last known to be wearing a full beard. BROWN has an extensive criminal history, including firearms and weapons charges. As such, BROWN should be considered Armed and Dangerous.
Anyone recognizing BROWN or having any information about his current whereabouts is asked to call either the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700 or any law enforcement agency.
The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
GEORGE BROWN, age 26, whose last known address was 2100 South Kildare in Chicago, has been the subject of a nationwide manhunt coordinated by the Chicago FBI since December of 2008, when he was charged by a Federal Grand Jury in Chicago with distributing both wholesale and personal user quantities of crack cocaine.
According to the indictment, BROWN was part of a drug-trafficking organization centered on the west side of Chicago, which distributed illicit drugs on behalf of the Conservative Vice Lords street gang. The operation was centered in the vicinity of 18th Street and Pulaski Road, an area known as the “Spot”. BROWN was one of fourteen suspected gang members and associates charged in connection with this investigation and is one of only two defendants in the case who is still at-large.
BROWN, who is also known as “GB”, is described as a black/male, 26 years of age, 6’ 2” tall, medium build, with black hair, brown eyes and was last known to be wearing a full beard. BROWN has an extensive criminal history, including firearms and weapons charges. As such, BROWN should be considered Armed and Dangerous.
Anyone recognizing BROWN or having any information about his current whereabouts is asked to call either the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700 or any law enforcement agency.
The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Mafia Turf War Breaks Out in Brooklyn
There's a new Mafia turf war in Brooklyn - but this time, it's the prosecutors who are doing battle.
Michael Vecchione
, the rackets bureau chief in the Brooklyn district attorney's office, has rankled the feds by claiming in a new book that they swiped the celebrated Mafia cops case and then hogged all the glory.
Vecchione complains in "Friends of the Family: The Inside Story of the Mafia Cops Case" that federal prosecutors claimed most of the credit for nailing crooked NYPD Detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa.
While turf battles between local and federal law enforcement agencies are common, Vecchione's stinging criticism is unusual because he still works for the district attorney and is supposed to cooperate with the feds on ongoing cases.
"I don't see how anybody can deal with him after he's violated the sanctity of confidential conversations for mercenary reasons," a federal law enforcement source said.
The feds agreed to let Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes' office announce arrests and prosecute one of the murders linked to the Mafia cops, the book claims. But they went back on their word, according to the book, which Vecchione wrote with retired NYPD Detective Thomas Dades and author David Fisher.
"For them to tell us that they didn't say exactly what they said to me was such an act of cowardice and betrayal that I couldn't find words to explain it," Vecchione said.
Eppolito, 60, and Caracappa, 67, were convicted in 2006 of participating in eight murders for Luchese crime boss Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso and leaking confidential information to the gangster.
Casso revealed in 1994 the cops had been on his payroll for years. But the feds couldn't make a case against the rogue detectives until a decade later when Dades and the district attorney's office helped expose their involvement in the murder of a mob associate.
Vecchione unleashed his harshest attack on Greg Andres, the current criminal division chief of the U.S. attorney's office.
"As far as Vecchione was concerned, Andres was a typically arrogant poker-up-his-ass, know-it-all fed," the book states. "His animosity toward Andres went back to a wiseguy case ... in which Andres [credited] the FBI for work it hadn't done."
Hynes, who approved Vecchione's book deal, insisted there's no feud. "Our working relationships with the U.S. attorney's office are excellent and any bump in the road that might have occurred was just that. There are no problems between us and I don't expect any," Hynes said.
Andres and U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell declined comment. But former top federal prosecutors panned the book.
"Public confidence in the integrity of the Brooklyn DA's office is only eroded when a rackets bureau chief writes and shops a book about a murder case he is investigating and preparng for trial," said George Stamboulidis, managing partner of the law firm Baker Hostetler.
Thomas Seigel, the former chief of the U.S. attorney's organized crime section - who was not involved in the Mafia cops case - said: "The incredibly dedicated members of state and federal law enforcement typically and laudably refrain from criticizing their colleagues in the press, let alone a book, over internal squabbles. It is hard to see how law enforcement as a whole benefits from such personal and public criticism."
Vecchione and Dades wrote the book three years ago but held off its publication until the defendants had exhausted their appeals.
The 2006 jury verdict was thrown out by Judge Jack Weinstein on a legal technicality but reinstated by the U.S. Court of Appeals. The cops were recently sentenced to life in prison.
Thanks to John Marzulli
Michael Vecchione
, the rackets bureau chief in the Brooklyn district attorney's office, has rankled the feds by claiming in a new book that they swiped the celebrated Mafia cops case and then hogged all the glory.Vecchione complains in "Friends of the Family: The Inside Story of the Mafia Cops Case" that federal prosecutors claimed most of the credit for nailing crooked NYPD Detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa.
While turf battles between local and federal law enforcement agencies are common, Vecchione's stinging criticism is unusual because he still works for the district attorney and is supposed to cooperate with the feds on ongoing cases.
"I don't see how anybody can deal with him after he's violated the sanctity of confidential conversations for mercenary reasons," a federal law enforcement source said.
The feds agreed to let Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes' office announce arrests and prosecute one of the murders linked to the Mafia cops, the book claims. But they went back on their word, according to the book, which Vecchione wrote with retired NYPD Detective Thomas Dades and author David Fisher.
"For them to tell us that they didn't say exactly what they said to me was such an act of cowardice and betrayal that I couldn't find words to explain it," Vecchione said.
Eppolito, 60, and Caracappa, 67, were convicted in 2006 of participating in eight murders for Luchese crime boss Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso and leaking confidential information to the gangster.
Casso revealed in 1994 the cops had been on his payroll for years. But the feds couldn't make a case against the rogue detectives until a decade later when Dades and the district attorney's office helped expose their involvement in the murder of a mob associate.
Vecchione unleashed his harshest attack on Greg Andres, the current criminal division chief of the U.S. attorney's office.
"As far as Vecchione was concerned, Andres was a typically arrogant poker-up-his-ass, know-it-all fed," the book states. "His animosity toward Andres went back to a wiseguy case ... in which Andres [credited] the FBI for work it hadn't done."
Hynes, who approved Vecchione's book deal, insisted there's no feud. "Our working relationships with the U.S. attorney's office are excellent and any bump in the road that might have occurred was just that. There are no problems between us and I don't expect any," Hynes said.
Andres and U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell declined comment. But former top federal prosecutors panned the book.
"Public confidence in the integrity of the Brooklyn DA's office is only eroded when a rackets bureau chief writes and shops a book about a murder case he is investigating and preparng for trial," said George Stamboulidis, managing partner of the law firm Baker Hostetler.
Thomas Seigel, the former chief of the U.S. attorney's organized crime section - who was not involved in the Mafia cops case - said: "The incredibly dedicated members of state and federal law enforcement typically and laudably refrain from criticizing their colleagues in the press, let alone a book, over internal squabbles. It is hard to see how law enforcement as a whole benefits from such personal and public criticism."
Vecchione and Dades wrote the book three years ago but held off its publication until the defendants had exhausted their appeals.
The 2006 jury verdict was thrown out by Judge Jack Weinstein on a legal technicality but reinstated by the U.S. Court of Appeals. The cops were recently sentenced to life in prison.
Thanks to John Marzulli
The State and the Law A Discussion on the Prosecution of Crime With Richard Devine, Locke Bowman and Dean David Yellen
*REMINDER*
Where:
Ceremonial Courtroom – 10th Floor
25 E. Pearson. Chicago, IL 60611
Loyola University Chicago School of Law
When:
4 - 6 pm - Monday, April 13th
What causes wrongful convictions? How widespread is the problem? Are prosecutors too close to the police? What is the role of scientific evidence? Please join the Loyola National Lawyers Guild for a candid discussion on criminal prosecution with Richard A. Devine, Locke Bowman and Loyola's own Dean David Yellen. This discussion will be informative and wide-ranging, addressing some of the most important questions involving the state’s decision to take away a person’s freedom.
This event is free and open to the public!
For more information, contact NationalLawyersGuild@luc.edu
================================================
Richard A. Devine, a visiting faculty member at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, was State’s Attorney of Cook County, Illinois from 1996-2008. As Cook County State’s Attorney, Richard Devine led the nation’s second largest prosecutor’s office, supervising a staff of more than 2,000, including more than 900 attorneys and a $106 million annual budget. A lawyer for over 35 years, he has argued before the Illinois Appellate Court, the Illinois Supreme Court, the 7th Circuit United States Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.
Locke E. Bowman is a Clinical Associate Professor of Law at Northwestern University Law School and the Director of the Roderick MacArthur Justice Center. His work focuses on cases involving police misconduct, compensation of the wrongfully convicted, the rights of the media in the criminal justice system, and firearms control. Based on votes from fellow attorneys, Chicago Magazine named Bowman an Illinois “Super Lawyer” in 2005 and 2006 for his work in constitutional law and civil rights.
David N. Yellen has been Dean and Professor of Law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law since July 2005. Dean Yellen's major area of academic expertise is criminal law, particularly sentencing and juvenile justice. He has written widely about the federal sentencing guidelines, testified before the United States Sentencing Commission, advised President Clinton's transition team and argued before the United States Supreme Court. He has served as professor and Dean at Hofstra Law School, and has taught at other distinguished law schools around the country.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Prosecutorial Misconduct in the Hoffa Conviction?
The government's hard-won conviction of Jimmy Hoffa on jury-tampering charges is under assault 45 years later.
A retired law professor has persuaded a federal judge to consider unsealing secret grand jury records to set the historical record straight. William L. Tabac wants to prove his theory that the Justice Department - then led by Hoffa's nemesis, Robert Kennedy - used illegal wiretaps and improper testimony to indict the Teamsters leader.
"I think there is prosecutorial misconduct in the case, which included the prosecutors who prosecuted it and the top investigator for the Kennedy Department of Justice," Tabac said.
James Neal, the special prosecutor who convicted Hoffa in 1964 in Chattanooga, calls the claim "baloney." But the petition from Tabac, who taught at Cleveland State University and has been gripped by the Hoffa case since his days as a law clerk, will be heard Monday in a Nashville courtroom.
To prepare for the hearing, Chief U.S. District Court Judge Todd J. Campbell ordered the Justice Department, FBI and other agencies to turn over any sealed records from the Hoffa grand jury related to testimony by investigator Walter Sheridan, wiretapping or electronic eavesdropping.
It's yet another post-mortem look into the affairs of the controversial trade union leader, whose career, disappearance and presumed death continue to spawn conspiracy theories decades later.
The special grand jury convened in 1963 after the federal government had failed for the fourth time to convict Hoffa of corruption charges while he led the Teamsters. The grand jury indicted Hoffa on charges of jury tampering in a Nashville case that accused Hoffa of taking payoffs from trucking companies but ended in mistrial.
A jury in Chattanooga found Hoffa and three co-defendants guilty. Hoffa, later convicted in Chicago of fraud and conspiracy, continued as Teamsters president even as he served four years in prison until stepping aside and getting his sentence commuted by President Richard Nixon in 1971.
Multiple reports describe open animosity between Hoffa and Kennedy, who investigated Hoffa while in the Senate and as attorney general.
Tabac contends the indictment may have been based only or in part on the testimony of Walter Sheridan, a Kennedy special assistant who headed the investigation. Sheridan's testimony "was, in effect, Kennedy's," said Tabac.
"Even during the Cuban missile crisis he (Kennedy) was in touch with Nashville all the time," Tabac said. "I believe he testified to the grand jury through his top aide and I believe it was wrong, especially if that is the basis on which he (Hoffa) was indicted."
Tabac (TAY'-bak) also thinks Edward Grady Partin, a Teamsters official and Hoffa confidant who testified for the prosecution, may have worn a concealed microphone to record conversations with Hoffa and those were heard by the grand jurors.
Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, Partin died in 1990 and Sheridan, who wrote the 1972 book The Hoffa Wars: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy Hoffa, died in 1995. Tabac says only the grand jury records can reveal what happened.
Federal prosecutors oppose Tabac's petition, saying it doesn't meet Supreme Court standards for lifting grand jury secrecy.
Hoffa was last seen in July 1975 in suburban Detroit, where he was supposed to meet with a New Jersey Teamsters boss and a Detroit Mafia captain.
Hoffa was declared legally dead but his body has never been found, spawning innumerable theories about his demise. Among them: He was entombed in concrete at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, ground up and thrown in a Florida swamp or obliterated in a mob-owned fat-rendering plant. The search has continued into this decade, under a backyard pool north of Detroit in 2003, under the floor of a Detroit home in 2004 and at a horse farm in 2006.
Neal, a fledgling lawyer when Kennedy chose him to prosecute Hoffa, said the government did nothing illegal. "Apparently, he (Tabac) thinks if he got the grand jury material he would see that we obtained evidence by wiretaps. It's baloney," Neal said.
Even if Tabac can prove his theory, it's unclear if that would lead to overturning the conviction. "The problem is just that everyone is dead, so it is pretty hard to do," Tabac said. "If there is perjured testimony, I think the relatives may have standing to bring some kind of ... name-clearing procedure."
Thanks to Bill Poovey
A retired law professor has persuaded a federal judge to consider unsealing secret grand jury records to set the historical record straight. William L. Tabac wants to prove his theory that the Justice Department - then led by Hoffa's nemesis, Robert Kennedy - used illegal wiretaps and improper testimony to indict the Teamsters leader.
"I think there is prosecutorial misconduct in the case, which included the prosecutors who prosecuted it and the top investigator for the Kennedy Department of Justice," Tabac said.
James Neal, the special prosecutor who convicted Hoffa in 1964 in Chattanooga, calls the claim "baloney." But the petition from Tabac, who taught at Cleveland State University and has been gripped by the Hoffa case since his days as a law clerk, will be heard Monday in a Nashville courtroom.
To prepare for the hearing, Chief U.S. District Court Judge Todd J. Campbell ordered the Justice Department, FBI and other agencies to turn over any sealed records from the Hoffa grand jury related to testimony by investigator Walter Sheridan, wiretapping or electronic eavesdropping.
It's yet another post-mortem look into the affairs of the controversial trade union leader, whose career, disappearance and presumed death continue to spawn conspiracy theories decades later.
The special grand jury convened in 1963 after the federal government had failed for the fourth time to convict Hoffa of corruption charges while he led the Teamsters. The grand jury indicted Hoffa on charges of jury tampering in a Nashville case that accused Hoffa of taking payoffs from trucking companies but ended in mistrial.
A jury in Chattanooga found Hoffa and three co-defendants guilty. Hoffa, later convicted in Chicago of fraud and conspiracy, continued as Teamsters president even as he served four years in prison until stepping aside and getting his sentence commuted by President Richard Nixon in 1971.
Multiple reports describe open animosity between Hoffa and Kennedy, who investigated Hoffa while in the Senate and as attorney general.
Tabac contends the indictment may have been based only or in part on the testimony of Walter Sheridan, a Kennedy special assistant who headed the investigation. Sheridan's testimony "was, in effect, Kennedy's," said Tabac.
"Even during the Cuban missile crisis he (Kennedy) was in touch with Nashville all the time," Tabac said. "I believe he testified to the grand jury through his top aide and I believe it was wrong, especially if that is the basis on which he (Hoffa) was indicted."
Tabac (TAY'-bak) also thinks Edward Grady Partin, a Teamsters official and Hoffa confidant who testified for the prosecution, may have worn a concealed microphone to record conversations with Hoffa and those were heard by the grand jurors.
Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, Partin died in 1990 and Sheridan, who wrote the 1972 book The Hoffa Wars: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy Hoffa, died in 1995. Tabac says only the grand jury records can reveal what happened.
Federal prosecutors oppose Tabac's petition, saying it doesn't meet Supreme Court standards for lifting grand jury secrecy.
Hoffa was last seen in July 1975 in suburban Detroit, where he was supposed to meet with a New Jersey Teamsters boss and a Detroit Mafia captain.
Hoffa was declared legally dead but his body has never been found, spawning innumerable theories about his demise. Among them: He was entombed in concrete at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, ground up and thrown in a Florida swamp or obliterated in a mob-owned fat-rendering plant. The search has continued into this decade, under a backyard pool north of Detroit in 2003, under the floor of a Detroit home in 2004 and at a horse farm in 2006.
Neal, a fledgling lawyer when Kennedy chose him to prosecute Hoffa, said the government did nothing illegal. "Apparently, he (Tabac) thinks if he got the grand jury material he would see that we obtained evidence by wiretaps. It's baloney," Neal said.
Even if Tabac can prove his theory, it's unclear if that would lead to overturning the conviction. "The problem is just that everyone is dead, so it is pretty hard to do," Tabac said. "If there is perjured testimony, I think the relatives may have standing to bring some kind of ... name-clearing procedure."
Thanks to Bill Poovey
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