Jack Smith, Top Corruption Prosecutor at the Justice Department, is Moving to Nashville

The head of the Justice Department’s public corruption unit, which in recent years prosecuted former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and former Arizona Rep. Rick Renzi, is transferring out of Washington.

Jack Smith, who became chief of the Public Integrity Section in 2010, is leaving the post for the U.S. attorney’s office in Nashville, where he will be second-in-command, according to lawyers familiar with the move. His last day in the Justice Department’s headquarters is Jan. 29, an agency spokesman said. A permanent successor hasn’t been named. Mr. Smith wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Mr. Smith, a former federal prosecutor in Brooklyn and war crimes prosecutor at The Hague, took over a unit reeling from the implosion of its case against former Sen. Ted Stevens and the death of a well-regarded young prosecutor who worked on the case.

“Jack came in at a troubling time,” said Lanny Breuer, the former head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division who hired Mr. Smith. “I was looking for a real leader, someone who could both inspire the folks at Public Integrity and build up morale.”

“On every front, in my view, Jack knocked it out of the park,” said Mr. Breuer, who is now a partner at Covington & Burling LLP.

Mr. Smith focused on building the unit’s trial skills. The Stevens case revealed inexperience. Evidence the prosecution team failed to turn over to Mr. Stevens’s defense team surfaced after he was found guilty of failing to disclose gifts, leading Attorney General Eric Holder to dismiss the charges.

After handling a few trials a year in the early years of the Obama administration, the Public Integrity Section’s court work began to pick up soon after Mr. Smith’s arrival. The section tried 17 cases in 2011, and 12 the next year.

There were setbacks, including a mistrial in the campaign-finance prosecution of John Edwards. But in 2013, Mr. Renzi was sentenced to three years in prison, after he was found guilty of misusing his office in a fraudulent land deal.

Last year, Public Integrity prosecutors were in the courtroom again for the prosecution of Mr. McDonnell, who was found guilty in September of 11 counts — including conspiracy and fraud from 2011 to 2013 — and sentenced this month to two years in prison.

Tweet

Michael Moore Continues to Hate American Heroes

LaRue Tactical, manufacturer of precision rifles, optics mounts, and other rifle accessories, is well-known for their bumper stickers saying, “God Bless Our Troops, Especially Our Snipers.”

That’s because LaRue understands that military snipers place themselves at immense risk to protect the rest of our troops. This has included--during the Global War on Terror--making it dangerous for adversaries to try to hide improvised explosive devices and mines along our troops’ lines of travel when a disciplined, highly-trained man behind a telescopically-equipped rifle is watching.

Many other Americans apparently understand this as well. American Sniper, Clint Eastwood’s new movie about Navy SEAL Chris Kyle (who holds the record for the confirmed number of enemy personnel killed), is setting box office records and has been nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Unfortunately, some Americans don’t appreciate the sacrifice and service of brave warriors like Chris Kyle.  One such person is Michael Moore.

You’ll recall that, in 2002, Moore disparaged America generally and the NRA in particular in his movie, Bowling for Columbine. This week, he demonstrated that NRA members aren't the only armed Americans he despises by marking the release of American Sniper with a tweet suggesting that Kyle and other snipers are “cowards,” adding, “Snipers aren't heroes. And invaders r worse.”

To make sure people knew who he meant by “invaders,” Moore continued, “if you’re on the roof of your home defending it from invaders who've come 7K miles [roughly the distance from the U.S.A. to Afghanistan or Iraq], you are not a sniper, u are brave, u are a neighbor.”

Chief Petty Officer Kyle, who received, among other military awards, two Silver Stars and Five Bronze Stars with “V” for valor, died in 2013. Thus, even if he were inclined to have dignified Moore’s comments with a response, which is doubtful, he is unable to do so. Instead, Kyle is being defended, and Moore is being criticized, by Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Dakota Meyer (USMC), former Army sniper Sgt. Nicholas Irving, Kid Rock, Whoopi Goldberg, Laura Ingraham and many others from varying walks of American life. Sgt. Irving, apparently taking Moore’s “neighbor” comment at face value, even suggested that Moore be airlifted to Afghanistan to see those neighbors for himself.

Tweet

Richard "Two Gun" Hart - Long lost brother of Al Capone

Few knew that Al Capone, the most infamous gangster in the world, had a long-lost brother on the opposite side of the law. Born Vincenzo Capone in 1892, he ran away from home as a teenager, joined the circus, then the army, and returned from the Great War a decorated hero. When Prohibition began in 1920, he became a Federal officer and fought crime dressed as a cowboy with two six-shooters on his hips while riding a horse. He was known as Two Gun Hart: Law Man, Cowboy, and Long-Lost Brother of Al Capone, which is the title of the new book by Jeff McArthur and Bandwagon Books.

The book follows Richard’s life all the way from his birth in Italy, to his youth in Brooklyn, his time in a wild-west show and World War I, and then all the way through his storied career as a Prohibition officer, and finally into his reunion with his estranged family, including his infamous criminal brother Al, and finally to his death in the 1950s. Based in the small town of Homer, Nebraska, Hart covered territory from Iowa all the way to Washington State. He worked both with the treasury department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, becoming one of the most successful law men in the country. The entire time, neither his friends nor even his wife and children knew of his connection to the infamous mob boss in Chicago.

Two Gun Hart also covers the lives of the rest of the Capones, providing an in-depth look into this famous, yet little understood family. Never before seen photographs and details are included that explore their lives in Italy, their moves to New York and Chicago, and what happened to them after Prohibition ended.

Jeff McArthur is the author of The Great Heist, Pro Bono, and the Relic Worlds science fiction series. He lives in southern California where he writes books, designs games, and produces videos for Youtube.

Tweet

Peter Castillo, Top 15 Wanted Fugitive for the Murder of U.S. Army Veteran, Captured in Dominican Republic

U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) Top 15 Most Wanted fugitive Peter Castillo, wanted in Massachusetts for the killing of U.S. Army combat veteran Stephen Perez, was captured in the Dominican Republic. USMS Investigative Operations Division-International Investigations Branch (IOD-IIB) and Interpol Washington played a significant role in Castillo’s capture. Without the issuance of an Interpol Red Notice, and without inter-agency communication between Interpol Washington and Interpol Santo Domingo, Dominican authorities would not have taken Castillo into custody. Additionally, USMS/Interpol Washington coordinated the logistics surrounding Castillo’s overseas arrest, with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)-Office of International Affairs (OIA).

Tweet

Eliot Ness: The Rise and Fall of an American Hero

Eliot Ness: The Rise and Fall of an American Hero presents the true story of Eliot Ness, the legendary lawman who led the Untouchables, took on Al Capone, and saved a city’s soul

Eliot Ness is famous for leading the Untouchables against the notorious mobster Al Capone. But it turns out that the legendary Prohibition Bureau squad’s daring raids were only the beginning. Ness’s true legacy reaches far beyond Big
Al and Chicago.

Eliot Ness follows the lawman through his days in Chicago and into his forgotten second act. As the public safety director of Cleveland, he achieved his greatest success: purging the city of corruption so deep that the mob and the police were often one and the same. And it was here, too, that he faced one of his greatest challenges: a brutal, serial killer known as the Torso Murderer, who terrorized the city for years.

Eliot Ness presents the first complete picture of the real Eliot Ness. Both fearless and shockingly shy, he inspired courage and loyalty in men twice his age, forged law-enforcement innovations that are still with us today, and earned acclaim and scandal from both his professional and personal lives. Through it all, he believed unwaveringly in the integrity of law and the basic goodness of his fellow Americans.

Tweet

Playboy Bloods Street Gang Leader Sentenced to Prison

A leader of the Las Vegas Playboy Bloods street gang was sentenced to 23 years in prison for engaging in a racketeering conspiracy and possessing crack cocaine with the intent to distribute it, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden of the District of Nevada.

Markette Tillman, 31, of Las Vegas, Nevada, pleaded guilty on July 29, 2014, two days into his jury trial, before U.S. District Judge Kent J. Dawson of the District of Nevada.

According to Tillman’s plea agreement and evidence presented at trial, the Bloods is a nationally-known criminal street gang whose members engage in drug trafficking and acts of violence. The Playboy Bloods is a local “set” or affiliate of the national Bloods gang with local control and operation within the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Playboy Bloods operate primarily in the Sherman Gardens Annex, a Las Vegas public housing complex commonly called the “Jets.”

Tillman admitted that on Jan. 20, 2004, he aided and abetted the murder of a security guard at the Jets. The guard approached Tillman and several other Playboy Bloods and told them to leave the property. An argument ensued and the guard rode away on his bicycle to get help. One of the Playboy Bloods fired a gun at the guard, hitting him two times and killing him.

Tillman further admitted that he agreed with other members of the Playboy Bloods to manufacture and distribute narcotics, primarily crack cocaine, and to operate drug houses within the Playboy Bloods’ turf. Tillman specifically admitted to distributing in excess of 280 grams of crack cocaine over the course of the racketeering conspiracy.

Tillman was the last of 10 gang members charged in the indictment filed in 2008 to be sentenced. The nine other convicted gang members received the following sentences:

• Jacorey Taylor, aka “Mo-B,” 31, was sentenced to life in prison on Oct. 21, 2013, after being convicted by a jury of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, committing violent crimes in aid of racketeering activity, using a firearm during a crime of violence, engaging in a drug-trafficking conspiracy and possessing crack cocaine with the intent to distribute it.
• Steven Booth, aka “Stevie-P,” 27, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on April 10, 2013, after pleading guilty to engaging in a racketeering conspiracy involving two murders.
• Reginald Dunlap, aka “Bowlie,” 30, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on April 9, 2013, after pleading guilty to engaging in a racketeering conspiracy involving one murder.
• Demichael Burks, aka “Mikey P,” 29, was sentenced to 6 ½ years in prison on Dec. 3, 2010, after pleading guilty to engaging in a racketeering conspiracy.
• Anthony Mabry, aka “Akim Slim,” 43, was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Oct. 20, 2010, after pleading guilty to engaging in a racketeering conspiracy.
• Delvin Ward, aka “D-Luv,” 37, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Sept. 17, 2010, after pleading guilty to engaging in a racketeering conspiracy.
• Terrence Thomas, aka “Seven,” 40, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on June 16, 2010, after pleading guilty to engaging in a drug-trafficking conspiracy.
• Sebastian Wigg, aka “Rock,” 36, was sentenced to five years in prison on March 29, 2010, after pleading guilty to engaging in a drug-trafficking conspiracy.
• Fred Nix, aka “June P,” 36, was sentenced to five years in prison on March 29, 2010, after pleading guilty to engaging in a drug-trafficking conspiracy.

Tweet

New Technology Set to Revolutionize U.S. Shooting Industry at @nssfshotshow

Core technology only previously available to Military, Law Enforcement and Professional Training Organizations is now being made available to consumers in the U.S.. UTM RBT will announce the introduction of the Civilian Target Ammunition Shooting Kit at SHOT Show in Las Vegas next week and says it will change the face of the shooting industry.

UTM Reality Based Training (UTM RBT) will be unveiling the Civilian Target Ammunition (CTA) Target Shooting Kit and Ammunition for AR-15 Style weapons at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show and Conference at the Sands Expo Center, Las Vegas, NV January 19-23, 2015. UTM RBT will be holding demonstrations of this new product, available to all consumers for the first time ever, which uses core technology previously only available to Military, Law Enforcement and Professional Training Organizations, on Industry Day (19 January, 2015) and will be on display at booth #6503 for the remainder of the expo (20-23 January).

“For nearly a decade, the U.S. Military, Special Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies have been using our products for training, in their operational weapons and we wanted to make this core technology available to all consumers to address many of the issues facing the Firearms and Shooting industries today, such as safety, accurate and reliable alternatives to live fire, ammunition shortages and environmental concerns. Our .223 Civilian Target Ammunition has an outstanding accuracy of a 1.18” group at 32 yards, an unprecedented consistent velocity of 375fps at the muzzle and the cartridge technology has a 99% reliability rating certified by the U.S. Army’s Picatinny Arsenal. There is also no gunpowder in the rounds, as its a patented primer actuated system, which means it’s a lead free, non-toxic, environmentally friendly round that leaves your weapon clean, with virtually no fouling. You can convert your weapon in under 60 seconds with a simple Bolt Carrier Group Exchange and it gives you normal weapon function, recoil and realistic and consistent cyclic rates. So we feel this product is the solution to those issues,” says Tony Lambraia, UTM RBT, USA Chief of Operations.

“Safety lies at the core of all our products and the CTA Target Shooting Kit offers that in spades. Once converted, the weapon will not fire a standard .223/5.56mm round - mitigating accident, injury and potentially catastrophic incidents - making this a perfect tool to train those new to firearms in weapon safety and basics. This kit allows both recreation and professional shooters the ability to improve their accuracy skills, trigger and breath control, sight alignment, clearing malfunctions, magazine reloads and so much more in complete safety. The biggest benefits of the CTA Target Shooting Kit is that you don’t need to go to the range - you can use this virtually anywhere without all the restrictions of live fire and because it’s only 113 db, you don’t need hearing protection - more importantly, you get all the accuracy and realism of live fire without having to use a single round of your live ammunition. It is the safest, most accurate and reliable target ammunition available today. It’s completely revolutionary,” stated Steven Didier, UTM RBT, International Chief of Operations.

Tweet