Patriot Priest Documents the Remarkable Life of American Adventurer William Hemmick

Strategic Media Books has published Patricia Daly-Lipe's sixth book, Patriot Priest: The Biography of William Hemmick, a remarkable tale of the life of Msgr. William A Hemmick whose extraordinary experiences over several epochs give the reader a new personal perspective on history from WWI and WWII to the post-war era of the '50s and 60s. During his long life, Msgr. William interacted with some of the most notable movers and shakers of modern times, including Pope Benedict XV, Marshall Foch, artist Simon Elwes, Sir Shane Leslie, and F. Scott Fitzgerald who was once his student.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but raised in Europe, William A Hemmick became fluent in five languages. Ordained by Cardinal Gibbons in 1911, when the First World War broke out, he felt committed to help the troops. After the war, the U.S. Army and Navy  proclaimed him the "Patriot Priest of Picardy." After years spent in Paris between the wars, where he established and ran the American Catholic Welfare Centre for all those who had been traumatized by the war, the Vatican asked Father William to come to Rome. Ultimately, he became the only American Canon of St. Peter's representing the Knights of Malta to the Holy See. It was he who performed the nuptials of American film star Tyrone Power and Linda Christian. He also converted the future Queen Astrid of Belgium.

Although many stories and famous people permeate Hemmick’s life through the events of both world wars, this is not only  the story of oneindividual. It is a personal glimpse at an epic era in history, from WWI to Paris between the wars, to WWII  and its aftermath.

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Earl L. Theriot, Former Police Chief, Convicted of Making False Statements in Civil Rights Investigation

United States Attorney Walt Green announced that Earl L. Theriot, age 65, of Sorrento, Louisiana, pled guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson to making false statements to an FBI special agent in connection with a criminal civil rights investigation. Theriot faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine of up to $250,000.

Theriot admitted that on November 1, 2013, while serving as the chief of police for the town of Sorrento and following a 911 emergency police dispatch, he contacted an unresponsive individual at a local gas station, placed her in the front seat of his police unit, and, instead of bringing her back to her residence, transported her to his office at the Sorrento Police Department, where he engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with her. Theriot also admitted to later making numerous false statements to an FBI special agent and a deputy with the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office who were investigating whether Theriot violated federal civil rights laws, among other things.

On February 7, 2014, Theriot resigned as chief of police as required by the plea agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office.

United States Attorney Green stated, “This office, along with our federal, state, and local partners, are dedicated to conducting thorough and complete investigations into credible allegations of police corruption and civil rights violations. Those who seek to obstruct such efforts by making false statements to federal investigators will face severe consequences. My special appreciation to Sheriff Jeff Wiley of the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney Ricky Babin of the 23rd Judicial District, and the FBI who worked seamlessly with my office to ensure justice was done.”

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Full Details on US-Italian #Mafia Takedown of 24 Defendants Including Reputed #Ndrangheta Member, #Gambino A

A 15—count indictment was unsealed this morning in federal court in the Eastern District of New York charging seven defendants with narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and firearms offenses based, in part, on their participation in a transnational heroin and cocaine trafficking conspiracy involving the ‘Ndrangheta, one of Italy’s most powerful organized crime syndicates. The defendants—‘Ndrangheta member Raffaele Valente, also known as “Lello”; Gambino associate Franco Lupoi; Bonanno associate Charles Centaro, also known as “Charlie Pepsi”; Dominic Ali; Alexander Chan; Christos Fasarakis; and Jose Alfredo Garcia, also known as “Freddy”—were arrested earlier today. In a coordinated operation, Italian law enforcement authorities arrested 17 members and associates of the ‘Ndrangheta in Calabria, Italy, who were involved in the narcotics trafficking conspiracy, among other crimes.

The seven defendants arrested in the United States were scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before Chief United States Magistrate Judge Steven M. Gold, at the United States Courthouse at 225 Cadman Plaza East in Brooklyn, New York. The case has been assigned to United States District Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr.

The charges were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and George Venizelos, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI).

“The ‘Ndrangheta is an exceptionally dangerous, sophisticated, and insidious criminal organization with tentacles stretching from Italy to countries around the world,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. “The defendant Lupoi sought to use his connections with both ‘Ndrangheta and the Gambino crime family to extend his own criminal reach literally around the globe. Today, thanks to the vigilance and sustained cooperation of the Department of Justice and its law enforcement partners in Italy, the ‘Ndrangheta’s efforts to gain a foothold in New York have been dealt a lasting blow.” Ms. Lynch praised the outstanding investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and expressed her thanks to law enforcement partners in Italy, including the Prosecutor of the Republic of Reggio Calabria; the Italian National Police (INP), in particular, the Squadra Mobile of Reggio Calabria and the Servizio Centrale Operativo; the Direzione Centrale per i Servizi Antidroga; and the Direzione Nazionale Antimafia. Ms. Lynch also expressed gratitude to the U.S. Department of Justice Attaché and the the FBI Legal Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, who coordinated extensive evidence-sharing and undercover operations.

“As alleged, ‘Ndrangheta’s clan members conspired with members of the Gambino organized crime family in New York in an attempt to infiltrate our area with their illegal activities. Under the auspices of legitimate shipping businesses, the two criminal groups worked together to establish a plan of moving cocaine and heroin between the United States and Italy. Little did they know, there was an ongoing collaboration between the FBI and the Italian National Police to investigate and identify their scheme. This international cooperation between our great law enforcement agencies is one that was established at the beginning of our investigation, and it remains in place today. With every arrest made, both here and in Italy, FBI agents and Italian National Police officers closely coordinated their operations and share the success of this operation,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Venizelos.

As detailed in the indictment and detention letter filed today, defendant Franco Lupoi, a Brooklyn resident who has lived in Calabria, used his close criminal ties to both the Gambino organized crime family and the ‘Ndrangheta, an Italian criminal organization akin to the Mafia in Sicily and the Camorra in Naples, to pursue criminal activity that stretched across the globe. The Italian charges unsealed today reveal how the ‘Ndrangheta has operated for decades in Calabria in localized clans—known as ‘ndrine—based primarily on close family ties. In this case, Lupoi’s father-in-law, Italian defendant Nicola Antonio Simonetta, is a member of the Ursino clan of the ‘Ndrangheta. In 2012, Simonetta traveled to Brooklyn and met with Lupoi and an undercover FBI agent, who recorded Simonetta and Lupoi discussing plans to ship narcotics between the U.S. and Italy via the port of Gioia Tauro in Calabria, an infamous hub of ‘Ndrangheta activity. Simonetta revealed that his ‘Ndrangheta associates at the port would guarantee the safe arrival of container ships containing contraband.

As alleged in court documents, Lupoi exploited these underworld connections to link his criminal associates in New York with those in Calabria, forming conspiracies to traffic heroin and cocaine. On the Italian side, he allegedly engaged Italian defendant and ‘Ndrangheta leader Francesco Ursino and others as suppliers of heroin and buyers of cocaine. During two joint FBI-INP operations in Italy, Lupoi and Ursino sold more than 1.3 kilograms of heroin to an FBI undercover agent for what they believed was eventual distribution in the United States. In New York, Lupoi, Chan, and Garcia sold the undercover agent more than a kilogram of heroin.

As alleged, Lupoi also set into motion a plot to transport 500 kilograms of cocaine, concealed in frozen food, in shipping containers from Guyana to Calabria. In the course of these conspiracies, Lupoi assured his confederates of his relationship with a corrupt port official in Gioia Tauro, indicating that in return for €200,000, the official could guarantee passage of unlimited containers of contraband. In New York, Lupoi joined forces with defendants Alexander Chan and Garcia to orchestrate the Guyana-Italy cocaine conspiracy. In conversations recorded by the undercover agent, the conspirators discussed their connections to Mexican drug cartels operating in Guyana, South America, and plotted to transport 500 kilograms of cocaine internationally, hidden in shipments of frozen fish or pineapples. On the Italian side, Ursino and his co-conspirators planned to use a fish importation company to receive the shipment. As set forth in Italian court documents, the conspiracy slowed when shipping containers originating from the same Guyanese shipping company were seized in Malaysia and found to contain more than $7 million in cocaine hidden in pineapples and coconut milk.

As set forth in court documents, Lupoi also worked closely with U.S. defendant and ‘Ndrangheta member Raffaele Valente, who sold an illegal silencer and sawed-off shotgun to the FBI undercover agent at the Royal Crown Bakery in Brooklyn. In conversations intercepted on Italian wiretaps, Valente revealed that he had assembled a group of well-armed men in New York and that their base of operations was as secure as Fort Knox. Valente also discussed his devotion to St. Michael the Archangel as the purported “patron saint” of the ‘Ndrangheta and exhorted Italian defendant Andrea Memmolo to wear a special ring as a sign of pride and mutual recognition. Valente and Lupoi are charged with conspiracy to transfer a firearm, and Valente is charged with two counts of illegal possession of a silencer. Valente is also charged in Italy with the crime of mafia association based on his role in establishing an ‘Ndrangheta cell in New York.

As alleged, Lupoi further maintained a network of money laundering associates in New York. He and his co-defendants Dominic Ali, Charles “Charlie Pepsi” Centaro, and Christos Fasarakis, an employee of Alma Bank in Brooklyn, laundered more than $500,000 in funds that they believed were the proceeds of narcotics and illegal weapons trafficking. Centaro was recorded describing his access to bank accounts with millions of dollars through which he could launder and conceal criminal proceeds.

If convicted, Lupoi, Chan, and Garcia face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment; Ali, Centaro, and Fasarakis face a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment on each money laundering charge; and Valente faces a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment on each firearms charge.

The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Cristina Posa, Kristin Mace, and Kevin Trowel.

The charges contained in the indictment and complaint are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Defendants

Franco Lupoi
Age: 44
Brooklyn, New York

Dominic Ali
Age: 55
Brooklyn, New York

Charles Centaro, a.k.a. “Charlie Pepsi”
Age: 50
Brooklyn, New York

Alexander Chan
Age: 46
New York, New York

Christos Fasarakis
Age: 42
Brooklyn, New York

Raffaele Valente, a.k.a. “Lello”
Age: 42
Brooklyn, New York

Jose Alfredo Garcia, a.k.a. “Freddy”
Age: 47
New York, New York

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Phillip D. Murphy, Former Bank of America Executive, Pleads Guilty to Role in Conspiracy and Fraud Involving Investment Contracts for Municipal Bonds Proceeds

A former Bank of America executive pleaded guilty today to his participation in a conspiracy and scheme to defraud related to bidding for contracts for the investment of municipal bond proceeds and other municipal finance contracts, the Department of Justice announced.

Phillip D. Murphy, the former managing director of Bank of America’s municipal derivatives products desk from 1998 to 2002, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina to participating in a fraud conspiracy and wire fraud scheme with employees of Rubin/Chambers, Dunhill Insurance Services Inc., also known as CDR Financial Products, a broker of municipal finance contracts, and others. Murphy also pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to make false entries in the reports and statements originating from his desk, which were sent to bank management.

Murphy was indicted by a grand jury on July 19, 2012. According to the indictment, Murphy participated in a wire fraud scheme and separate fraud conspiracies that began as early as 1998 and continued until 2006.

“By manipulating what was intended to be a competitive bidding process, the conspirators defrauded municipalities, public entities, and taxpayers across the country,” said Brent Snyder, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division’s Criminal Enforcement Program. “Today’s guilty plea reaffirms the Antitrust Division’s continued efforts to hold accountable those who corrupt and subvert the competitive process in our financial markets.”

Public entities seek to invest money from a variety of sources, primarily the proceeds of municipal bonds that they issue, to raise money for, among other things, public projects. Public entities typically hire a broker to conduct a competitive bidding process for the award of the investment agreements and often for other municipal finance contracts.

According to the charges, Murphy conspired with CDR and others to increase the number and profitability of investment agreements and other municipal finance contracts awarded to Bank of America. Murphy won investment agreements through CDR’s manipulation of the bidding process in obtaining losing bids from other providers, which is explicitly prohibited by U.S. Treasury regulations. As a result of the information, various providers won investment agreements and other municipal finance contracts at artificially determined prices. In exchange for this information, Murphy submitted intentionally losing bids for certain investment agreements and other contracts when requested and, on occasion, agreed to pay or arranged for kickbacks to be paid to CDR and other co-conspirator brokers.

Murphy and his co-conspirators misrepresented to municipal issuers that the bidding process was competitive and in compliance with U.S. Treasury regulations. This caused the municipal issuers to award investment agreements and other municipal finance contracts to providers that otherwise would not have been awarded the contracts if the issuers had true and accurate information regarding the bidding process. Such conduct placed the tax-exempt status of the underlying bonds in jeopardy.

“Mr. Murphy’s actions undermined the public’s trust when he conspired to manipulate a competitive bidding process,” said Richard Weber, Chief, IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). “IRS-CI has experienced great success in unraveling significant and complex financial frauds as we work in close collaboration with our law enforcement partners.”

“Mr. Murphy ripped off hard working American taxpayers and cash-strapped municipalities all in pursuit of his own lucre,” said George Venizelos, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office. “Let this serve as a reminder to others who are entrusted to act in the public’s best interest; your lack of candor won’t go without notice.”

Murphy pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy and one count of wire fraud. The fraud conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The wire fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The false bank records conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum fines for each of these offenses may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

Including Murphy, a total of 17 individuals have been convicted or pleaded guilty. Additionally, one company has pleaded guilty.

The prosecution is being handled by Steven Tugander, Richard Powers, Eric Hoffmann, Patricia Jannaco, and Stephanie Raney of the Antitrust Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kurt Meyers, Michael Savage, and Mark Odulio of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina have also provided valuable assistance in this matter. The guilty plea announced today resulted from a wide-ranging investigation conducted by the Antitrust Division’s New York office, the FBI, and the IRS-CI. The division coordinated its investigation with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

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Seven Arts Entertainment CEO Indicted in Fraudulent Film Tax Credit Scheme

Peter M. Hoffman, age 63, of Los Angeles, California, and Michael P. Arata, age 47, of New Orleans, Louisiana, were charged in a six count indictment by a federal grand jury with conspiracy and wire fraud, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Allen Polite, Jr.

According to the indictment, the Louisiana Motion Picture Incentive Act (LMPIA) was enacted to provide incentives for and encourage the filming of motion pictures and television programs in Louisiana. Under the LMPIA, companies making motion pictures were eligible to receive tax credits that were calculated as a percentage of the companies’ qualified expenditures in Louisiana. Qualified expenditures upon which companies could receive tax credits included expenditures on infrastructure. Infrastructure expenditures only included the purchase, construction, and use of facilities that were directly related to and utilized for motion picture production in Louisiana. In order to qualify for infrastructure tax credits, all funds had to be actually expended, and such expenditures had to be verified by an independent Louisiana Certified Public Accountant. Businesses that applied to the state for infrastructure tax credits were entitled to receive an amount equal to 40 percent of their qualified and audited infrastructure expenditures. Once this amount was certified by the state of Louisiana, the applicants could then sell the certification to local businesses and individuals. Such sale of tax credits provided for a significant source of cash for film projects.

The defendant, Peter M. Hoffman, was the chief executive officer of Seven Arts Entertainment Inc., a company that was primarily involved in the motion picture and entertainment industry in California. As chief executive officer of Seven Arts Entertainment Inc., his duties included the selection and production of major motion pictures, strategic planning, business development, operations, financial administration, and accounting. Hoffman was also an attorney and participated as a lawyer and executive in numerous financial and tax-preferred financings over a period of more than 25 years. Hoffman also owned, operated, and controlled numerous companies related to and affiliated with Seven Arts Entertainment Inc.

The co-defendant, Michael P. Arata, was a Louisiana attorney and businessman who also owned and operated companies involved in the movie and entertainment industry. Through their respective companies, Hoffman and Arata were partners in different movie-industry business ventures.

Through their respective companies, Hoffman and Arata purchased property located at 807 Esplanade in New Orleans, Louisiana. 807 Esplanade was an old mansion located in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood on the edge of the French Quarter that had fallen into a severe state of disrepair over many years. The proposed reason for purchasing the property was to renovate the mansion and turn it into a film post-production facility.

After purchasing the property, Hoffman and Arata submitted an application and supporting documents to the state of Louisiana in order to receive film infrastructure tax credits for money the defendants fraudulently claimed had been spent on 807 Esplanade. On or about June 19, 2009, the state of Louisiana issued approximately $1,132,480.80 in tax credits to the 807 Esplanade partnership.

The Indictment charges that Hoffman and Arata fraudulently submitted materially false and misleading documents and information regarding 807 Esplanade expenditures to the auditors and to the state of Louisiana in order to receive infrastructure tax credits.

“The United States Attorney’s Office, the FBI. and the Louisiana Office of the Inspector General stand committed to protecting the economic interests of the United States and the state of Louisiana,” stated U.S. Attorney Polite. “The state of Louisiana has provided significant incentives to the film and entertainment industry in order to develop business and employment in Louisiana. Such an important effort will not be criminally exploited.”

“Those who brazenly steal from the taxpayers and abuse tax credit programs should know that we will relentlessly pursue and hold them criminally accountable wherever possible,” stated Louisiana Inspector General Stephen Street. “We remain committed to working with the FBI and United States Attorney to root out this sort of corruption wherever it may exist.”

Hoffman and Arata face a maximum term of imprisonment of five years with respect to count one and 20 years with respect to each of counts two through six. The defendants also face a maximum fine of $250,000 with respect to each count and supervised release of three years.

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