Saturday, June 21, 2014
Friday, June 20, 2014
"The White Boy Confessions" Chronicles Gang Life, Violence, Poverty and Race Relations in San Antonio, Texas
The White Boy Confessions: The Explosive Story of Marcus Valdespino and San Antonio's Hood, the powerful autobiography of San Antonio native Marcus Valdespino. White Boy Confessions deals with gang life and violence in San Antonio and such controversial subjects as race relations, poverty, and interracial crime. The first twenty-nine years of Valdespino’s life were compelling and tragic. Valdespino witnessed his father’s drug dealing to high profile people and he, unfortunately, followed in his footsteps. 
Valdespino’s story shows the worst of humanity and is chilling in its depiction of sex and violence and heartfelt, poignant and sad in its betrayal of the rite of passage of a young person growing up in this world.
The White Boys Confessions is also extremely powerful in its social and political commentary. There are several layers of the story contained within it that are both frightening and humorous. As white boy operated primarily in an African American environment, Valdespino had to prove his worth beyond a reasonable doubt. Yet, he went from a know nothing white kid of the streets in 1989 to second in command to a drug dealer in charge of a crack cocaine empire. The FEDS were after him and his crew from 1998 to 2000. There were many shoot outs, home invasions, beat downs, violent rapes, police raids, graphic explicit sex, human trafficking and even a murder.
Today, all of Valdespino’s friends are in the penitentiary, dead or their whereabouts are unknown. Yet, by some miracle he went unscathed and experienced no penitentiary time.. All of Valdespino’s story—the bad and the ugly-- is in The White Boy Confessions, a story of not just survival but also redemption.
Valdespino’s story shows the worst of humanity and is chilling in its depiction of sex and violence and heartfelt, poignant and sad in its betrayal of the rite of passage of a young person growing up in this world.
The White Boys Confessions is also extremely powerful in its social and political commentary. There are several layers of the story contained within it that are both frightening and humorous. As white boy operated primarily in an African American environment, Valdespino had to prove his worth beyond a reasonable doubt. Yet, he went from a know nothing white kid of the streets in 1989 to second in command to a drug dealer in charge of a crack cocaine empire. The FEDS were after him and his crew from 1998 to 2000. There were many shoot outs, home invasions, beat downs, violent rapes, police raids, graphic explicit sex, human trafficking and even a murder.
Today, all of Valdespino’s friends are in the penitentiary, dead or their whereabouts are unknown. Yet, by some miracle he went unscathed and experienced no penitentiary time.. All of Valdespino’s story—the bad and the ugly-- is in The White Boy Confessions, a story of not just survival but also redemption.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Jewelry Store Owner Pleads Guilty in International $200 Million Credit Card Fraud Conspiracy
A New Jersey jewelry store owner who used his business to further one of the largest credit card fraud schemes ever charged by the Justice Department admitted his role in the scheme, the 17th conspirator to do so, New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Vinod Dadlani, 51, of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Dadlani was indicted in October 2013 as part of a conspiracy to fabricate more than 7,000 false identities to obtain tens of thousands of credit cards. Members of the conspiracy doctored credit reports to pump up the spending and borrowing power associated with the cards. They then borrowed or spent as much as they could, based on the phony credit history, but did not repay the debts—causing more than $200 million in confirmed losses to businesses and financial institutions. These debts were incurred at Dadlani’s jewelry store, among many other locations, where Dadlani would allow fraudulently obtained credit cards to be swiped in phony transactions.
The scheme involved a three-step process in which the defendants would make up a false identity by creating fraudulent identification documents and a fraudulent credit profile with the major credit bureaus; pump up the credit of the false identity by providing false information about that identity’s creditworthiness to those credit bureaus; and then run up large charges.
The scope of the criminal fraud enterprise required Dadlani’s conspirators to construct an elaborate network of false identities. Across the country, the conspirators maintained more than 1,800 “drop addresses,” including houses, apartments, and post office boxes, which they used as the mailing addresses for the false identities.
During his guilty plea proceeding, Dadlani admitted he worked with other conspirators, who came to his Jersey City, New Jersey store and allowed them to swipe cards he knew did not legitimately belong to them. Dadlani would then split the proceeds of the phony transactions with the conspirators.
The count to which Dadlani pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine or twice the gain or loss caused by the offense.
Dadlani is scheduled for sentencing by Judge Thompson on September 24, 2014.
Vinod Dadlani, 51, of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Dadlani was indicted in October 2013 as part of a conspiracy to fabricate more than 7,000 false identities to obtain tens of thousands of credit cards. Members of the conspiracy doctored credit reports to pump up the spending and borrowing power associated with the cards. They then borrowed or spent as much as they could, based on the phony credit history, but did not repay the debts—causing more than $200 million in confirmed losses to businesses and financial institutions. These debts were incurred at Dadlani’s jewelry store, among many other locations, where Dadlani would allow fraudulently obtained credit cards to be swiped in phony transactions.
The scheme involved a three-step process in which the defendants would make up a false identity by creating fraudulent identification documents and a fraudulent credit profile with the major credit bureaus; pump up the credit of the false identity by providing false information about that identity’s creditworthiness to those credit bureaus; and then run up large charges.
The scope of the criminal fraud enterprise required Dadlani’s conspirators to construct an elaborate network of false identities. Across the country, the conspirators maintained more than 1,800 “drop addresses,” including houses, apartments, and post office boxes, which they used as the mailing addresses for the false identities.
During his guilty plea proceeding, Dadlani admitted he worked with other conspirators, who came to his Jersey City, New Jersey store and allowed them to swipe cards he knew did not legitimately belong to them. Dadlani would then split the proceeds of the phony transactions with the conspirators.
The count to which Dadlani pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine or twice the gain or loss caused by the offense.
Dadlani is scheduled for sentencing by Judge Thompson on September 24, 2014.
Friday, June 13, 2014
New Book Investigates One of America's Most Controversial Spy Cases #SpyofDavid
Strategic Media Books is pleased to announce the publication of a timely book that profiles one of the biggest spy cases in U.S. history. Winston Churchill’s description of Stalinist Russia in 1939 – he called it “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” – easily could have been said about the case of Jonathan Jay Pollard, the U.S. Naval Intelligence analyst who, in March of 1987, received a mystifying life sentence for passing classified secrets to Israel, an American ally . Now, twenty-seven years later, the debate over America’s most controversial spy has apparently once again been rekindled.
A sequel
to author Elliot Goldenberg’s previous book, The Hunting Horse, Spy of David: The Strange Case of Jonathan Pollard and the Two Decade Battle to Win his Freedomchronicles the obstacles faced by Goldenberg and his partner in a motion picture project as they navigate the perilous waters of Hollywood and Washington in an attempt to not only separate fact from fiction about the Pollard spy case but, hopefully, make a feature film based on The Hunting Horse.
Always provocative, Spy of David intertwines the story of America’s most debated case of espionage with the dangers of international Islamic terrorism (including Middle Eastern ties to the Oklahoma City bombing), and the selling of a major motion picture. Simply put, Spy of David is an attempt to shed a bright light over a dark stain on both the American judicial system and our intelligence community, while, at the same time, solve a decades-old puzzle – knowing that, for way too long, the truth surrounding this most gut-wrenching of spy cases has remained hidden, blurred, and obscured.
A sequel
to author Elliot Goldenberg’s previous book, The Hunting Horse, Spy of David: The Strange Case of Jonathan Pollard and the Two Decade Battle to Win his Freedomchronicles the obstacles faced by Goldenberg and his partner in a motion picture project as they navigate the perilous waters of Hollywood and Washington in an attempt to not only separate fact from fiction about the Pollard spy case but, hopefully, make a feature film based on The Hunting Horse.Always provocative, Spy of David intertwines the story of America’s most debated case of espionage with the dangers of international Islamic terrorism (including Middle Eastern ties to the Oklahoma City bombing), and the selling of a major motion picture. Simply put, Spy of David is an attempt to shed a bright light over a dark stain on both the American judicial system and our intelligence community, while, at the same time, solve a decades-old puzzle – knowing that, for way too long, the truth surrounding this most gut-wrenching of spy cases has remained hidden, blurred, and obscured.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Protect Your Computer from Malware
- Make sure you have updated antivirus software on your computer.
- Enable automated patches for your operating system and web browser.
- Have strong passwords, and don’t use the same passwords for everything.
- Use a pop-up blocker.
- Only download software—especially free software—from sites you know and trust (malware can also come in downloadable games, file-sharing programs, and customized toolbars).
- Don’t open e-mail attachments in unsolicited e-mails, even if they come from people in your contact list, and never click on a URL contained in an e-mail, even if you think it looks safe. Instead, close out the e-mail and go to the organization’s website directly.
- Enable automated patches for your operating system and web browser.
- Have strong passwords, and don’t use the same passwords for everything.
- Use a pop-up blocker.
- Only download software—especially free software—from sites you know and trust (malware can also come in downloadable games, file-sharing programs, and customized toolbars).
- Don’t open e-mail attachments in unsolicited e-mails, even if they come from people in your contact list, and never click on a URL contained in an e-mail, even if you think it looks safe. Instead, close out the e-mail and go to the organization’s website directly.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
