Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced today that the Justice Department has opened a civil pattern or practice investigation into Chicago Police Department (CPD), pursuant to the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The department’s investigation of CPD will seek to determine whether there are systemic violations of the Constitution or federal law by officers of CPD. The investigation will focus on CPD’s use of force, including racial, ethnic and other disparities in use of force, and its systems of accountability.
“Building trust between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve is one of my highest priorities as Attorney General,” said Attorney General Lynch. “The Department of Justice intends to do everything we can to foster those bonds and create safer and fairer communities across the country. And regardless of the findings in this investigation, we will seek to work with local officials, residents, and law enforcement officers alike to ensure that the people of Chicago have the world-class police department they deserve.”
During the course of the investigation, the Justice Department will consider all relevant information, particularly the CPD’s policies, training and practices related to using, reporting, investigating and reviewing force. The Justice Department will also look into CPD’s practices related to disciplinary and other corrective action; and its practices related to intake and handling of allegations of misconduct.
"The Justice Department's investigation – opened with currently available, preliminary information – seeks to determine whether the Chicago Police Department's use of force practices and accountability systems comply with constitutional standards necessary to effectively serve its community and productively support its police officers,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division. ”In the coming months, we look forward to engaging directly with all stakeholders in Chicago – including the city's residents, law enforcement officers and public officials – as part of our fact-driven and thorough review.”
“Today's launch of this investigation marks an important and positive opportunity for Chicago and its police department," said U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon for the Northern District of Illinois. “The U.S. Attorney's Office is fully committed to doing everything in our power, in partnership with our colleagues in the Civil Rights Division, to ensure that this process is a success.”
As part of the investigation the department will gather information directly from police officers and local officials; community members, and other criminal justice stake holders, such as public defenders and prosecutors. The department will also observe officer activities through ride-alongs and other means; as well as review documents and specific incidents that are relevant to the investigation. Pattern or practice investigations of police departments do not assess individual cases for potential criminal violations; instead they look at incidents for patterns created by systems and practices.
The Justice Department has taken similar steps involving a variety of state and local law enforcement agencies, both large and small, in jurisdictions throughout the United States. When investigations result in findings of systemic violations of federal law and the Constitution they have in many instances resulted in comprehensive, court-overseen agreements to fundamentally change the law enforcement agency’s police practices. When the department’s investigations do not result in findings of violations of federal law and the Constitution the department will close the investigation without an agreement.
This matter is being investigated by attorneys and staff from the Civil Rights Division with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. They will be assisted by experienced law enforcement experts. The department welcomes the views of anyone wishing to provide relevant information.
Monday, December 07, 2015
Friday, December 04, 2015
Star Shark @RobertHerjavec of @ABCSharkTank On How Hackers Became The New Mafia
Robert Herjavec is best known as a star on ABC’s Emmy Award-winning hit show Shark Tank. But that only requires 17 days a year of filming, according to Herjavec – who spends most of his time as founder and CEO running his namesake cybersecurity firm.
Toronto-based Herjavec Group is Canada’s largest pure-play information security services company. Over the past couple of years they have expanded in to the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific, through organic growth and a few small but strategic acquisitions of MSSPs (managed security service providers).
Herjavec’s firm recently did some of its own filming — “Hackers are the New Mafia: Breakfast and Security Roundtable with DarkMarket author Misha Glenny" — a video broadcast which discusses cyber crime with one of the top minds on the topic.
Misha Glenny is an international bestselling author who has written several books including his 2012 paperback “DarkMarket: How Hackers Became the New Mafia”. In this book
, he exposes our governments’ multi-billion-dollar war against an ever-morphing, super smart new breed of criminal: the hacker.
Herjavec Group’s video was shot at their corporate headquarters and features Glenny recounting his experiences across 200 plus hours of research & interviews with the key players in the game of cybercrime including criminals, international security experts, politicians and fraud victims.
Cyber crime is on the rise. The British insurance company Lloyd’s estimates that cyber attacks cost businesses as much as $400 billion a year, which includes direct damage plus post-attack disruption to the normal course of business. Some vendor and media forecasts put the cybercrime figure as high as $500 billion and more.
If you are a consumer, business owner, corporate executive, IT or cybersecurity expert looking for some unique insight in to what Glenny calls the “new mafia” of cyber criminals – then you ought to watch Herjavec’s video.
Thanks to Steve Morgan.
Toronto-based Herjavec Group is Canada’s largest pure-play information security services company. Over the past couple of years they have expanded in to the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific, through organic growth and a few small but strategic acquisitions of MSSPs (managed security service providers).
Herjavec’s firm recently did some of its own filming — “Hackers are the New Mafia: Breakfast and Security Roundtable with DarkMarket author Misha Glenny" — a video broadcast which discusses cyber crime with one of the top minds on the topic.
Misha Glenny is an international bestselling author who has written several books including his 2012 paperback “DarkMarket: How Hackers Became the New Mafia”. In this book
, he exposes our governments’ multi-billion-dollar war against an ever-morphing, super smart new breed of criminal: the hacker.Herjavec Group’s video was shot at their corporate headquarters and features Glenny recounting his experiences across 200 plus hours of research & interviews with the key players in the game of cybercrime including criminals, international security experts, politicians and fraud victims.
Cyber crime is on the rise. The British insurance company Lloyd’s estimates that cyber attacks cost businesses as much as $400 billion a year, which includes direct damage plus post-attack disruption to the normal course of business. Some vendor and media forecasts put the cybercrime figure as high as $500 billion and more.
If you are a consumer, business owner, corporate executive, IT or cybersecurity expert looking for some unique insight in to what Glenny calls the “new mafia” of cyber criminals – then you ought to watch Herjavec’s video.
Thanks to Steve Morgan.
Mafia Link, with Former Top @RealDonaldTrump Business Advisor, to Role in Stock Fraud Scheme
Donald Trump tapped a man to be a senior business adviser to his real-estate empire even after the man's past involvement in a major mafia-linked stock fraud scheme had become publicly known, according to Associated Press interviews and a review of court records.
Portions of Trump's relationship with Felix Sater, a convicted felon and government informant, have been previously known. Trump worked with the company where Sater was an executive, Bayrock Group LLC, after it rented office space from the Trump Organization as early as 2003. Sater's criminal history was effectively unknown to the public at the time, because a judge kept the relevant court records secret and Sater altered his name.
When Sater's criminal past and mafia links came to light in 2007, Trump distanced himself from Sater. But less than three years later, Trump renewed his ties with Sater. Sater presented business cards describing himself as a senior adviser to Donald Trump, and he had an office on the same floor as Trump's own office in New York's Trump Tower, The Associated Press learned through interviews and court records.
Trump said during an AP interview on Wednesday that he recalled only bare details of Sater. "Felix Sater, boy, I have to even think about it," Trump said, referring questions about Sater to his staff. "I'm not that familiar with him."
According to Trump lawyer Alan Garten, Sater's role was to prospect for high-end real estate deals for the Trump Organization. The arrangement lasted six months, Garten said.
The revelation about Sater's role is significant because of its timing and directness, and marks the first time the Trump Organization has acknowledged publicly that Sater worked for Trump after the disclosures of Sater's criminal background. Trump has said that among his secrets of success is that he surrounds himself with the "best and most serious people" and with "people you can trust."
Sater never had an employment agreement or formal contract with the Trump Organization and did not close any deals for Trump, Garten said.
"He was trying to restart his life," Garten said. "I believe he was regretful of things that happened in the past."
Trump did not know the details of Sater's cooperation with the government when Sater came in-house in 2010, Garten said. But Garten noted that U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch praised Sater's cooperation with the federal government, when senators asked about him during her confirmation hearings early this year. She said Sater cooperated against his mafia stock fraud co-defendants and assisted the government on unspecified national security matters.
"If Mr. Sater was good enough for the government to work with, I see no reason why he wasn't good enough for Mr. Trump," Garten said.
He pleaded guilty in 1998 to one count of racketeering for his role in a $40 million stock fraud scheme involving the prominent Genovese and Bonanno crime families, according to court records. Prosecutors called the operation a pump-and-dump scheme, in which insiders manipulate the price of obscure stocks and then sell them to hapless investors at inflated prices. Five years earlier, a New York State court had sentenced Sater to more than a year in prison for stabbing a man in the face with a broken margarita glass.
Sater declined to discuss his work with Trump. "Obviously a Donald-and-the-bad-guy piece is not interesting for me to participate in," Sater wrote in an email to AP. His lawyer, Robert Wolf, said information about Sater in public records and lawsuits obtained by the AP was defamatory. He credited Sater's stint as a government cooperator with potentially saving American military lives, although he did not provide details. Wolf told the AP to write about Sater's past "at your own risk" but did not cite specific concerns.
After his 1998 racketeering conviction, Sater spent more than a decade as an informant on the mafia and on national security-related matters. Federal prosecutors kept even the existence of Sater's racketeering case out of publicly available court records for 14 years.
During that time, Sater launched a luxury real estate development career. Sealed court records prevented potential customers or partners from learning about his past association with organized crime. Sater altered his name, to Satter, and became a top executive in Bayrock, a development firm that partnered with Trump on the Trump Soho high-rise hotel in Manhattan and other branded luxury real estate deals.
Civil lawsuits have alleged that Bayrock engaged in a pattern of misconduct during Sater's tenure, sometimes involving potential Trump projects. Bayrock's attorney told AP the firm did not mislead anyone about Sater's past and denied any misconduct.
The firm has not yet responded to a version of the complaint refiled in U.S. court last month.
Trump's lawyer, Garten, said Trump had no knowledge of alleged improprieties at Bayrock or reason to believe that Sater was a major stakeholder in Bayrock's projects. Trump only learned of Sater's troubled past when The New York Times reported details in December 2007. In the article, Trump distanced himself from Sater, saying: "I didn't really know him very well."
Garten said Trump had no further interactions with Sater at Bayrock following the revelations of his criminal history. But a new relationship was formed in 2010 when Trump offered Sater office space and a chance to round up new business possibilities for the Trump Organization.
"The guy's been in business a long time, he's got a lot of contacts," Garten said of Sater.
Thanks to Fox News.
Portions of Trump's relationship with Felix Sater, a convicted felon and government informant, have been previously known. Trump worked with the company where Sater was an executive, Bayrock Group LLC, after it rented office space from the Trump Organization as early as 2003. Sater's criminal history was effectively unknown to the public at the time, because a judge kept the relevant court records secret and Sater altered his name.
When Sater's criminal past and mafia links came to light in 2007, Trump distanced himself from Sater. But less than three years later, Trump renewed his ties with Sater. Sater presented business cards describing himself as a senior adviser to Donald Trump, and he had an office on the same floor as Trump's own office in New York's Trump Tower, The Associated Press learned through interviews and court records.
Trump said during an AP interview on Wednesday that he recalled only bare details of Sater. "Felix Sater, boy, I have to even think about it," Trump said, referring questions about Sater to his staff. "I'm not that familiar with him."
According to Trump lawyer Alan Garten, Sater's role was to prospect for high-end real estate deals for the Trump Organization. The arrangement lasted six months, Garten said.
The revelation about Sater's role is significant because of its timing and directness, and marks the first time the Trump Organization has acknowledged publicly that Sater worked for Trump after the disclosures of Sater's criminal background. Trump has said that among his secrets of success is that he surrounds himself with the "best and most serious people" and with "people you can trust."
Sater never had an employment agreement or formal contract with the Trump Organization and did not close any deals for Trump, Garten said.
"He was trying to restart his life," Garten said. "I believe he was regretful of things that happened in the past."
Trump did not know the details of Sater's cooperation with the government when Sater came in-house in 2010, Garten said. But Garten noted that U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch praised Sater's cooperation with the federal government, when senators asked about him during her confirmation hearings early this year. She said Sater cooperated against his mafia stock fraud co-defendants and assisted the government on unspecified national security matters.
"If Mr. Sater was good enough for the government to work with, I see no reason why he wasn't good enough for Mr. Trump," Garten said.
He pleaded guilty in 1998 to one count of racketeering for his role in a $40 million stock fraud scheme involving the prominent Genovese and Bonanno crime families, according to court records. Prosecutors called the operation a pump-and-dump scheme, in which insiders manipulate the price of obscure stocks and then sell them to hapless investors at inflated prices. Five years earlier, a New York State court had sentenced Sater to more than a year in prison for stabbing a man in the face with a broken margarita glass.
Sater declined to discuss his work with Trump. "Obviously a Donald-and-the-bad-guy piece is not interesting for me to participate in," Sater wrote in an email to AP. His lawyer, Robert Wolf, said information about Sater in public records and lawsuits obtained by the AP was defamatory. He credited Sater's stint as a government cooperator with potentially saving American military lives, although he did not provide details. Wolf told the AP to write about Sater's past "at your own risk" but did not cite specific concerns.
After his 1998 racketeering conviction, Sater spent more than a decade as an informant on the mafia and on national security-related matters. Federal prosecutors kept even the existence of Sater's racketeering case out of publicly available court records for 14 years.
During that time, Sater launched a luxury real estate development career. Sealed court records prevented potential customers or partners from learning about his past association with organized crime. Sater altered his name, to Satter, and became a top executive in Bayrock, a development firm that partnered with Trump on the Trump Soho high-rise hotel in Manhattan and other branded luxury real estate deals.
Civil lawsuits have alleged that Bayrock engaged in a pattern of misconduct during Sater's tenure, sometimes involving potential Trump projects. Bayrock's attorney told AP the firm did not mislead anyone about Sater's past and denied any misconduct.
The firm has not yet responded to a version of the complaint refiled in U.S. court last month.
Trump's lawyer, Garten, said Trump had no knowledge of alleged improprieties at Bayrock or reason to believe that Sater was a major stakeholder in Bayrock's projects. Trump only learned of Sater's troubled past when The New York Times reported details in December 2007. In the article, Trump distanced himself from Sater, saying: "I didn't really know him very well."
Garten said Trump had no further interactions with Sater at Bayrock following the revelations of his criminal history. But a new relationship was formed in 2010 when Trump offered Sater office space and a chance to round up new business possibilities for the Trump Organization.
"The guy's been in business a long time, he's got a lot of contacts," Garten said of Sater.
Thanks to Fox News.
Thursday, December 03, 2015
Sivasubramani Rajaram Indicted for Lying to Federal Grand Jury Investigating Possible Hiring Violations in Cook County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office
A Glenview man who was hired by the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office after purportedly loaning $15,000 to a company controlled by the Clerk’s husband lied under oath when testifying about it before a grand jury, according to a federal indictment announced today.
In August 2014, SIVASUBRAMANI RAJARAM purportedly loaned $15,000 to Goat Masters Corporation, whose president was the husband of the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk. The following month, Rajaram was hired by the Clerk’s Office as a level four Senior Clerk. Rajaram had previously worked in the Clerk’s Office but had been living in India for several years.
On or about Oct. 1, 2015, Rajaram testified before a federal grand jury that was conducting an investigation of possible criminal violations in connection with the purchasing of jobs and promotions within the Clerk’s Office. During his testimony, Rajaram said he had not spoken to the Circuit Court Clerk after his 2014 hiring. He also testified he had only spoken to another high-ranking employee of the Clerk’s Office “three or four times” since returning to Chicago from India, and that the conversations were not by phone.
The indictment alleges that both statements were false. According to the indictment, Rajaram spoke with both the Clerk and the high-ranking employee after being re-hired in 2014. His conversations with the high-ranking employee occurred dozens of times via cell phone, according to the indictment.
The indictment was returned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Rajaram, 48, of Glenview, was charged with one count of making false declarations before a grand jury. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The Court has not yet scheduled an arraignment hearing.
The indictment was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Anita Alvarez, Cook County State’s Attorney; Patrick M. Blanchard, Cook County Inspector General; and Michael J. Anderson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
In August 2014, SIVASUBRAMANI RAJARAM purportedly loaned $15,000 to Goat Masters Corporation, whose president was the husband of the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk. The following month, Rajaram was hired by the Clerk’s Office as a level four Senior Clerk. Rajaram had previously worked in the Clerk’s Office but had been living in India for several years.
On or about Oct. 1, 2015, Rajaram testified before a federal grand jury that was conducting an investigation of possible criminal violations in connection with the purchasing of jobs and promotions within the Clerk’s Office. During his testimony, Rajaram said he had not spoken to the Circuit Court Clerk after his 2014 hiring. He also testified he had only spoken to another high-ranking employee of the Clerk’s Office “three or four times” since returning to Chicago from India, and that the conversations were not by phone.
The indictment alleges that both statements were false. According to the indictment, Rajaram spoke with both the Clerk and the high-ranking employee after being re-hired in 2014. His conversations with the high-ranking employee occurred dozens of times via cell phone, according to the indictment.
The indictment was returned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Rajaram, 48, of Glenview, was charged with one count of making false declarations before a grand jury. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The Court has not yet scheduled an arraignment hearing.
The indictment was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Anita Alvarez, Cook County State’s Attorney; Patrick M. Blanchard, Cook County Inspector General; and Michael J. Anderson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Former St. Thomas More Priest Sentenced to Prison for Stealing Money from Parish
Edward Belczak, 70, the former priest of St. Thomas More Church in Troy, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for stealing $572,775 from his parish, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced.
McQuade was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge David P. Gelios, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Detroit Division and Chief Gary Mayer of the Troy Police Department.
During a hearing before U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Tarnow
, Belczak was sentenced to 27 months in prison and a two year term of supervised release based on his plea of guilty to mail fraud for devising and executing a scheme to steal and divert $572,775.32 from St. Thomas More Church over several years, and then creating yearly false financial reports that were mailed to the Archdiocese of Detroit that concealed his theft and diversion of the money for his own benefit.
At the time of his plea, Belczak admitted that in March 2005, he used $109,570.80 from St. Thomas More’s bank account to pay the down payment on a Wellington, Florida condominium. According to court records, in April and May 2006, Belczak diverted two checks totaling $420,200 payable to St. Thomas More from the estate of a deceased parishioner. In order to conceal his illegal conduct, Belczak opened an unauthorized business bank account in the name of “St. Thomas More c/o Edward Belczak” and deposited both checks into that account. Belczak used most of the money bequeathed to St. Thomas More for his own personal use, benefit and enrichment. From May 2008 through May 2012, a St. Thomas More parishioner donated money each year to the church, totaling $43,000, for the needs of the church. Each year, Belczak deposited the check made payable to St. Thomas More into the business bank account in the name of “St. Thomas More c/o Edward Belczak.”
In addition to the custodial sentence, the funds on deposit in Belczak’s Merrill Lynch and TD Ameritrade accounts and his Florida condominium were forfeited. Belczak also was ordered to pay restitution of $572,775.32 to St. Thomas More.
“Father Belczak’s crime was not an isolated incident or a momentary lapse of judgment, but an orchestrated scheme perpetrated over time to defraud the people he claimed to serve. It is a sad day when someone in a position of trust betrays that relationship, but it is important to ensure that no one is above the law,” McQuade said. “This sentence demonstrates that individuals will be held accountable when they steal significant sums of money that are entrusted to them.”
“The actions taken by Mr. Belczak represent a shocking betrayal of the faith and trust the public places in our clergy”, said Special Agent in Charge Gelios. “Secular or otherwise, the FBI is committed to the investigation of anyone who abuses their position for personal gain.”
McQuade was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge David P. Gelios, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Detroit Division and Chief Gary Mayer of the Troy Police Department.
During a hearing before U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Tarnow
, Belczak was sentenced to 27 months in prison and a two year term of supervised release based on his plea of guilty to mail fraud for devising and executing a scheme to steal and divert $572,775.32 from St. Thomas More Church over several years, and then creating yearly false financial reports that were mailed to the Archdiocese of Detroit that concealed his theft and diversion of the money for his own benefit.At the time of his plea, Belczak admitted that in March 2005, he used $109,570.80 from St. Thomas More’s bank account to pay the down payment on a Wellington, Florida condominium. According to court records, in April and May 2006, Belczak diverted two checks totaling $420,200 payable to St. Thomas More from the estate of a deceased parishioner. In order to conceal his illegal conduct, Belczak opened an unauthorized business bank account in the name of “St. Thomas More c/o Edward Belczak” and deposited both checks into that account. Belczak used most of the money bequeathed to St. Thomas More for his own personal use, benefit and enrichment. From May 2008 through May 2012, a St. Thomas More parishioner donated money each year to the church, totaling $43,000, for the needs of the church. Each year, Belczak deposited the check made payable to St. Thomas More into the business bank account in the name of “St. Thomas More c/o Edward Belczak.”
In addition to the custodial sentence, the funds on deposit in Belczak’s Merrill Lynch and TD Ameritrade accounts and his Florida condominium were forfeited. Belczak also was ordered to pay restitution of $572,775.32 to St. Thomas More.
“Father Belczak’s crime was not an isolated incident or a momentary lapse of judgment, but an orchestrated scheme perpetrated over time to defraud the people he claimed to serve. It is a sad day when someone in a position of trust betrays that relationship, but it is important to ensure that no one is above the law,” McQuade said. “This sentence demonstrates that individuals will be held accountable when they steal significant sums of money that are entrusted to them.”
“The actions taken by Mr. Belczak represent a shocking betrayal of the faith and trust the public places in our clergy”, said Special Agent in Charge Gelios. “Secular or otherwise, the FBI is committed to the investigation of anyone who abuses their position for personal gain.”
Chicanery in Chicago?
This week, Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago sacrificed police Superintendent Garry McCarthy in order to save himself, as anger raged about the killing of Laquan McDonald in what read to many as a politically motivated effort to cover up video of that killing.
As John Kass of the Chicago Tribune put it regarding the firing of McCarthy: “City Hall protects the Queen Bee to keep the honey flowing. It isn’t personal. It’s business.” But that whole hive is ablaze. Emanuel many not be able to save himself. Everything about the killing of McDonald over 400 days ago, including the slithering about of Chicago officials in their efforts to suppress video of his murder, stinks to high heaven. There is the $5 million settlement with the family, the timing of that settlement, the strenuous efforts to keep the tape from public view, the long delay in charging the officer who did the shooting.
It all makes one ask: How much is the life of a teenager worth? To what length would officials go to bury visual evidence that he had been shot down in the street like a dog? Are officials so desperately afraid of losing their jobs that they would conceal details about the loss of a boy’s life?
Professor Bernard E. Harcourt of Columbia argued this week in a New York Times Op-Ed that many of the city leaders had a motive to cover up the shooting: “Mayor Emanuel was fighting for re-election in a tight race. Superintendent McCarthy wanted to keep his job.” Furthermore, the Cook County prosecutor, Anita Alvarez, “needed the good will of the police union for her coming re-election campaign and probably wished to shield the police officers who bring her cases and testify in court.” But as Harcourt noted: “None of that alters the fact that these actions have impeded the criminal justice system and, in the process, Chicago’s leaders allowed a first-degree murder suspect, now incarcerated pending bail, to remain free for over a year on the city’s payroll.” But more than having people in power lose their jobs, someone has to take a long, hard look at Chicago’s police review process, which I would posit, if it were functioning properly, would have had some bearing on this case and on many before it. It has to be determined whether the system is indeed broken, so that there will be fewer McDonalds in the future.
The N.A.A.C.P. issued a statement this week calling for a “Justice Department Review of all Chicago police oversight agencies,” and tried to detail the scope of the problem:
“A 2008 study by a University of Chicago law professor found more than 10,000 complaints were filed against officers from 2002 to 2004 alone — more than any city in the country. Only 19 of the 10,000 complaints resulted in significant disciplinary action, and complaints were dismissed without interviewing the officer in 85 percent of cases.”
The statement continued:
“The Independent Police Review Authority, (IPRA) was created to be an independent agency that investigates police shootings and misconduct cases. Currently, this process isn’t truly independent because cases are sent back to Chicago Police Department to approve. The process needs to provide IPRA with true independent authority with referral rights to an independent prosecutor.”
To fully understand the depths of the problem on a human level, take the July findings by the Chicago public radio station WBEZ. The station reported at the time:
“A Chicago investigator who determined that several civilian shootings by police officers were unjustified was fired after resisting orders to reverse those findings, according to internal records of his agency obtained by WBEZ.”
The fired investigator was Lorenzo Davis, himself a former police commander who had served in the Chicago Police Department for 23 years and held a law degree. His firing was announced to staff by Scott M. Ando, who had been promoted by Emanuel to chief administrator of the city’s Independent Police Review Authority.
As WBEZ reported:
“Davis’s termination came less than two weeks after top IPRA officials, evaluating Davis’s job performance, accused him of ‘a clear bias against the police’ and called him ‘the only supervisor at IPRA who resists making requested changes as directed by management in order to reflect the correct finding with respect to O.I.S.,’ as officer-involved shootings are known in the agency.”
According to the station:
“Davis says he helped investigate more than a dozen shootings by police at the agency. He says his superiors had no objections when his team recommended exonerating officers. The objections came, he says, after each finding that a shooting was unjustified. He says there were six of those cases.”
Davis told the station, “I did not like the direction the Police Department had taken.” He continued, “It appeared that officers were doing whatever they wanted to do. The discipline was no longer there.”
Something is amiss in the Windy City. Police officers “doing whatever they wanted to do” with no worry about repercussions or accountability? That is the very nature of corruption and abuse of power. The federal government will have no choice but to step in if it cares at all about public confidence in the local officials in America’s third largest city.
Thanks to Charles M. Blow.
As John Kass of the Chicago Tribune put it regarding the firing of McCarthy: “City Hall protects the Queen Bee to keep the honey flowing. It isn’t personal. It’s business.” But that whole hive is ablaze. Emanuel many not be able to save himself. Everything about the killing of McDonald over 400 days ago, including the slithering about of Chicago officials in their efforts to suppress video of his murder, stinks to high heaven. There is the $5 million settlement with the family, the timing of that settlement, the strenuous efforts to keep the tape from public view, the long delay in charging the officer who did the shooting.
It all makes one ask: How much is the life of a teenager worth? To what length would officials go to bury visual evidence that he had been shot down in the street like a dog? Are officials so desperately afraid of losing their jobs that they would conceal details about the loss of a boy’s life?
Professor Bernard E. Harcourt of Columbia argued this week in a New York Times Op-Ed that many of the city leaders had a motive to cover up the shooting: “Mayor Emanuel was fighting for re-election in a tight race. Superintendent McCarthy wanted to keep his job.” Furthermore, the Cook County prosecutor, Anita Alvarez, “needed the good will of the police union for her coming re-election campaign and probably wished to shield the police officers who bring her cases and testify in court.” But as Harcourt noted: “None of that alters the fact that these actions have impeded the criminal justice system and, in the process, Chicago’s leaders allowed a first-degree murder suspect, now incarcerated pending bail, to remain free for over a year on the city’s payroll.” But more than having people in power lose their jobs, someone has to take a long, hard look at Chicago’s police review process, which I would posit, if it were functioning properly, would have had some bearing on this case and on many before it. It has to be determined whether the system is indeed broken, so that there will be fewer McDonalds in the future.
The N.A.A.C.P. issued a statement this week calling for a “Justice Department Review of all Chicago police oversight agencies,” and tried to detail the scope of the problem:
“A 2008 study by a University of Chicago law professor found more than 10,000 complaints were filed against officers from 2002 to 2004 alone — more than any city in the country. Only 19 of the 10,000 complaints resulted in significant disciplinary action, and complaints were dismissed without interviewing the officer in 85 percent of cases.”
The statement continued:
“The Independent Police Review Authority, (IPRA) was created to be an independent agency that investigates police shootings and misconduct cases. Currently, this process isn’t truly independent because cases are sent back to Chicago Police Department to approve. The process needs to provide IPRA with true independent authority with referral rights to an independent prosecutor.”
To fully understand the depths of the problem on a human level, take the July findings by the Chicago public radio station WBEZ. The station reported at the time:
“A Chicago investigator who determined that several civilian shootings by police officers were unjustified was fired after resisting orders to reverse those findings, according to internal records of his agency obtained by WBEZ.”
The fired investigator was Lorenzo Davis, himself a former police commander who had served in the Chicago Police Department for 23 years and held a law degree. His firing was announced to staff by Scott M. Ando, who had been promoted by Emanuel to chief administrator of the city’s Independent Police Review Authority.
As WBEZ reported:
“Davis’s termination came less than two weeks after top IPRA officials, evaluating Davis’s job performance, accused him of ‘a clear bias against the police’ and called him ‘the only supervisor at IPRA who resists making requested changes as directed by management in order to reflect the correct finding with respect to O.I.S.,’ as officer-involved shootings are known in the agency.”
According to the station:
“Davis says he helped investigate more than a dozen shootings by police at the agency. He says his superiors had no objections when his team recommended exonerating officers. The objections came, he says, after each finding that a shooting was unjustified. He says there were six of those cases.”
Davis told the station, “I did not like the direction the Police Department had taken.” He continued, “It appeared that officers were doing whatever they wanted to do. The discipline was no longer there.”
Something is amiss in the Windy City. Police officers “doing whatever they wanted to do” with no worry about repercussions or accountability? That is the very nature of corruption and abuse of power. The federal government will have no choice but to step in if it cares at all about public confidence in the local officials in America’s third largest city.
Thanks to Charles M. Blow.
Wednesday, December 02, 2015
Sinatra: The Chairman
Just in time for the Chairman’s centennial
, the endlessly absorbing sequel to James Kaplan’s bestselling Frank: The Voice—finally the definitive biography that Frank Sinatra, justly termed “The Entertainer of the Century,” deserves and requires. Like Peter Guralnick on Elvis, Kaplan goes behind the legend to give us the man in full, in his many guises and aspects: peerless singer, (sometimes) powerful actor, business mogul, tireless lover, and associate of the powerful and infamous.
In 2010’s Frank: The Voice, James Kaplan, in rich, distinctive, compulsively readable prose, told the story of Frank Sinatra’s meteoric rise to fame, subsequent failures, and reinvention as a star of live performance and screen. The story of “Ol’ Blue Eyes” continues with Sinatra: The Chairman, picking up the day after Frank claimed his Academy Award in 1954 and had reestablished himself as the top recording artist in music. Frank’s life post-Oscar was incredibly dense: in between recording albums and singles, he often shot four or five movies a year; did TV show and nightclub appearances; started his own label, Reprise; and juggled his considerable commercial ventures (movie production, the restaurant business, even prizefighter management) alongside his famous and sometimes notorious social activities and commitments.
, the endlessly absorbing sequel to James Kaplan’s bestselling Frank: The Voice—finally the definitive biography that Frank Sinatra, justly termed “The Entertainer of the Century,” deserves and requires. Like Peter Guralnick on Elvis, Kaplan goes behind the legend to give us the man in full, in his many guises and aspects: peerless singer, (sometimes) powerful actor, business mogul, tireless lover, and associate of the powerful and infamous.
In 2010’s Frank: The Voice, James Kaplan, in rich, distinctive, compulsively readable prose, told the story of Frank Sinatra’s meteoric rise to fame, subsequent failures, and reinvention as a star of live performance and screen. The story of “Ol’ Blue Eyes” continues with Sinatra: The Chairman, picking up the day after Frank claimed his Academy Award in 1954 and had reestablished himself as the top recording artist in music. Frank’s life post-Oscar was incredibly dense: in between recording albums and singles, he often shot four or five movies a year; did TV show and nightclub appearances; started his own label, Reprise; and juggled his considerable commercial ventures (movie production, the restaurant business, even prizefighter management) alongside his famous and sometimes notorious social activities and commitments.
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