Stuart Levine sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison, Rezko Blagojevich Obama crony, Levine involved in massive corruption and drug use, Levine activity leads to Obama
“Why did the Illinois Senate Health & Human Services Committee, with Obama as chairman, create and push Bill 1332, “Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act,” early in 2003, which reduced the number of members on the Board from 15 to 9, just prior to rigging by Tony Rezko and Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells
“Thomas said Rezko floated the names of several people to sit on the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, which the government claims Rezko corrupted with the help of board member Stuart Levine. And Thomas said Rezko at one point made it clear that he wanted to see Levine reappointed to the panel, which was being overhauled by the governor in 2003.”…Rezko trial March 11, 2008
“Why did Patrick Fitzgerald and the US Justice Department wait until December 2008 to arrest Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells
“At Rod Blagojevich’s December sentencing Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar called Levine one of the most significant cooperators the Dirksen Federal Courthouse had ever seen.”…Natasha Korecki, Chicago SunTimes
From the Chicago Tribune July 20, 2012.
“Stuart Levine stood before a federal judge Thursday in an ill-fitting suit eight years after FBI agents knocked on his door with news that they had undercover recordings and other evidence of his massive criminal scheming with top Illinois officials.
His day of reckoning had finally come. Swinging in the balance was the chance for a significantly reduced 51/2-year prison sentence that his attorney and prosecutors had agreed on after his extensive cooperation helped unravel the corrupt Blagojevich administration.
U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve was left to reconcile how the former Republican fundraiser became one of the most significant government informants in Chicago’s sordid history of public corruption in part because he was also one of the most corrupt political insiders the city has known.
“You defrauded the good people of the state of Illinois. You stole from close friends. You stole from charities. The havoc that you wreaked is certainly substantial,” St. Eve declared. “You were certainly one of the most corrupt individuals this district has ever seen.”
Yet minutes later the judge imposed the 51/2-year prison term on Levine, saying she was convinced that he was not the same arrogant and egotistical defendant she met four years ago when he testified in her courtroom.
“I have thought long and hard,” she said. “And I don’t grant it lightly.”
Of the cast of characters to emerge in the government’s eight-year federal investigation, Levine was among the most infamous because of the sordid details that came out about his personal life.
Before his arrest, Levine appeared to the public to be a successful businessman living in a North Shore mansion who served on the boards of charities and key state agencies.
But behind the scenes he was using the access and influence he had amassed to steal from a long list of victims. He teamed up in kickback schemes with some of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s top advisers, squeezing millions of dollars from people seeking to do business with the state. And he stole $2 million from the estate of a close friend.
The total take in his illegal schemes would have been more than $20 million if he had gotten away with them.
And all the while, Levine also was living a secret life fueled by the abuse of cocaine and other narcotics. He hosted 24-hour drug binges at the former Purple Hotel in Lincolnwood.
Levine, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to one count each of mail fraud and money laundering, testified about it all at the trials of Blagojevich adviser Antoin “Tony” Rezko and Springfield power broker William Cellini. As a government witness, he explained to juries how pay-to-play worked in Illinois.
On Wednesday, prosecutors called Levine’s testimony essential to securing convictions not only on Rezko and Cellini but also on former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak; Dr. Robert Weinstein, Levine’s longtime business partner; and the biggest catch of all — Blagojevich.
“All of these people could not have been convicted” without Levine’s assistance, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Niewoehner assured the judge. “It is really a hall of fame of public corruption.”
Niewoehner argued for leniency also because it could send a strong message that “honorable” cooperation can pay off.
“There will come a day when another Stuart Levine is confronted by the FBI,” he said.
His sentencing Thursday marked the first time that Levine publicly addressed his extensive crimes in his own words and not in answer to questions from prosecutors. In brief remarks he expressed regret and remorse to the people of Illinois, to the various boards and charities he served on and to the friends he hurt.
He broke down when he addressed his adult children, who have stood by him.
“I deeply regret the crisis and difficulty I caused my own dear children,” he said. “I thank them for their continued love, which has sustained me.”
In the eight years since he was arrested, Levine has traded the North Shore mansion for a small apartment. He has had to borrow money for groceries and hit three-for-one sales for suits.
His wife served him with divorce papers during the Rezko trial. While he was cooperating with the government, a threat was made against Levine, forcing federal authorities to investigate. Levine also contemplated suicide.
In arguing for leniency, Levine’s attorney, Jeffrey Steinback, pointed to all those consequences. He also pledged that his client has embraced a new life.
“He prays every day,” Steinback said. “Nor for leniency but for forgiveness and redemption and the ability to be compassionate and think of others first.”
Levine is scheduled to surrender to prison Sept. 27.”
Stuart Levine sentencing July 19, 2012, Obama corruption buddy and drug user, Key witness Rezko trial, Long time associations with Rezko and Obama
“Why did the Illinois Senate Health & Human Services Committee, with Obama as chairman, create and push Bill 1332, “Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act,” early in 2003, which reduced the number of members on the Board from 15 to 9, just prior to rigging by Tony Rezko and Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells
“Why did Patrick Fitzgerald and the US Justice Department wait until December 2008 to arrest Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells
“At Rod Blagojevich’s December sentencing Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar called Levine one of the most significant cooperators the Dirksen Federal Courthouse had ever seen.”…Natasha Korecki, Chicago SunTimes
Will Stuart Levine actually be sentenced today?
Stuart Levine, corruption buddy of Tony Rezko, Rod Blagojevich and Barack Obama is scheduled for sentencing today, Thursday, July 19, 2012.
Daily Calendar
Thursday, July 19, 2012 (As of 07/19/12 at 05:48:25 AM)
“Prosecutors: Levine among ‘most valuable’ witnesses in 3 decades”
“Prosecutors called their key witness against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and two top advisers “one of the most valuable cooperators” in three decades of public-corruption prosecutions in a late-Friday filing arguing for a light sentence.
Stuart Levine could have faced life in prison under federal sentencing guidelines but prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of 5 years and 7 months in exchange for Levine’s cooperation. Friday’s filing comes after U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve, during a hearing in April, asked for a “lengthy recitation of Levine’s cooperation.”
Levine didn’t testify against Blagojevich, but prosecutors noted “the case against Blagojevich was made possible only by Levine’s cooperation.”
“The government not only used information provided initially by Levine in the case against Blagojevich, it was Levine’s decision to cooperate that set in motion the series of events that led directly to the government obtaining the evidence and witnesses it needed to prosecute Blagojevich,” prosecutors wrote.
Friday’s filing, in advance of Levine’s June 28 sentencing, recognizes both Levine’s cooperation and his extensive criminal history.
Levine testified against former Blagojevich fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko, who is now in federal prison, and was the star witness against Springfield power broker, William Cellini, who is awaiting sentencing. During his testimony at Cellini’s trial, Levine described in detail the million-dollar bribes he tried to orchestrate and told of his extensive drug use and cocaine parties he attended.
“Levine’s cooperation has proven to be every bit as important as the government hoped it would be. As a result of (his) assistance, the government charged and convicted people of extremely serious crimes who otherwise would not have been caught.””
“Federal prosecutors have lauded Stuart Levine as a great, cooperative witness. Why then did they not prosecute Blagojevich first to protect the citizens of Illinois and then wait until after the 2008 election to arrest him?
Couple the value given to Levine by the prosecutors with the timeline. There is only one logical conclusion to come to. The prosecution of Rod Blagojevich was delayed to protect Barack Obama.”
“2006 is the pivotal turning point.
1. Blagojevich and his corruption buddies are in trouble.
2. Blagojevich, the presumptive presidential candidate, is out and Obama, the unknown, is in. So is the fix.
Rod Blagojevich was elected governor of Illinois in 2002.
From the Blagojevich Criminal Complaint.
“Since approximately 2003, the government has been investigating allegations
of illegal activity occurring in State of Illinois government as part of the administration of Governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH. As further detailed below, the investigation has developed evidence that: (a) beginning not later than in or about 2002, ROD BLAGOJEVICH has conspired with multiple individuals” From the Washington Post December 22, 2008.
“The wide-ranging public corruption probe that led to the arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich got its first big break when a grandmother of six walked into a breakfast meeting with shakedown artists wearing an FBI wire.
Pamela Meyer Davis had been trying to win approval from a state health planning board for an expansion of Edward Hospital, the facility she runs in a Chicago suburb, but she realized that the only way to prevail was to retain a politically connected construction company and a specific investment house. Instead of succumbing to those demands, she went to the FBI and U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald in late 2003 and agreed to secretly record conversations about the project.
Her tapes led investigators down a twisted path of corruption that over five years has ensnared a collection of behind-the-scenes figures in Illinois government, including Joseph Cari Jr., a former Democratic National Committee member, and disgraced businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko.”
“June 7, 2004: Stuart Levine, a longtime Republican reappointed to the powerful Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, abruptly resigns on the eve of several important hospital expansion votes. The revelation is the first indication that the Blagojevich administration is under federal criminal investigation.
June 27, 2004: The Tribune discloses that an official for one hospital seeking permission to expand was wearing a federal bug during meetings in an effort to expose extortion attempts by Levine and others for contributions to Blagojevich.
July 2, 2004: Levine resigns from his seat on the board of the state Teachers’ Retirement System. It remains undisclosed that federal authorities had secretly taped Levine’s conversations.
May 9, 2005: Levine is indicted on corruption charges. Federal subpoenas are issued to numerous administration sources, including top Blagojevich fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko”
“Aug. 5, 2006: The Tribune reports that Levine is cooperating with the federal investigation of state government.”
William Cellini motion for sentencing delay July 18, 2012, Obama corruption crony, Judge James B. Zagel, Teachers Retirement System kickbacks
“Why was Obama promoting Capri Capital and other investment firms at the same time that Rezko, Levine and Cellini were shaking them down?”…Citizen Wells
“The citizens of Illinois deserve public officials who act solely in the public’s interest, without putting a price tag on government appointments, contracts and decisions.”…Patrick Fitzgerald
“There is enough corruption in Illinois so that all it takes is someone who is serious about finding it to uncover it. If a U.S. attorney is not finding corruption in Illinois, they’re not seriously looking for it.”…Northwestern Law Professor James Lindgren
William Cellini, who was convicted of 2 counts of conspiracy to commit extortion and aiding and abetting the solicitation of a bribe on November 1, 2011, will request a sentencing delay today, July 18, 2012 in the courtroom of Judge James Zagel. Cellini recently suffered a heart attack.
Daily Calendar
Wednesday, July 18, 2012 (As of 07/18/12 at 08:47:10 AM)
Honorable James B. Zagel Courtroom 2503 (JBZ)
1:08-cr-00888 USA v. Cellini 10:15 Notice of Motion
“Following Obama’s efforts, the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System gave Ariel Capital $112.5 million to manage, and added hundreds of millions more over the next few years.”
“Three other minority-run firms — Holland Capital, Loop Capital and Capri Capital Partners — also saw hundreds of millions of assets turned over to them to manage after meeting with Obama and the state pension boards.”
“Capri Capital is a little more interesting.
From the William Cellini Indictment Press Release:”
“Cellini’s alleged crimes – essentially conspiring with others to force Capri Capital, also a real estate investment firm, and Thomas Rosenberg, a principal and part owner of Capri, to raise or donate substantial political contributions for Public Official A – were the subject of testimony earlier this year at the trial of alleged co-conspirator Antoin “Tony” Rezko. Cellini was charged with conspiring with Rezko, former TRS trustee Stuart Levine, the pension fund’s outside lawyer Steven Loren and others between the spring of 2003 and the summer of 2005 to defraud TRS beneficiaries and the people of Illinois of Levine’s honest services as a TRS trustee. TRS, a public pension plan for teachers and administrators in public schools statewide except in Chicago, serves hundreds of thousands of members and beneficiaries and has assets in excess of $30 billion.”
“March 6, 2008”
“Prosecutor Carrie Hamilton talks about how Highland Park businessman
Stuart Levine is central to the government case “
“She also explains how William Cellini, a powerful Republican power
broker, was also allegedly central to many of the alleged kickback
schemes at the Teacher’s Retirement System.
Hamilton finished remarks after an hour. She did not mention the name
of Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, whose U.S. Senate
campaign in 2004 allegedly was the beneficiary of $20,000 in campaign
cash from intermediaries in the kickback schemes the government says
were orchestrated by Rezko.”
July 17, 2012, Rush Limbaugh on trickle down economics, Business owners paid last, IRS governments paid first, Consumers make first payment
Trickle-Down Economics “Doesn’t Work. It’s Never Worked.”…Obama December 6, 2011
“John F. Kennedy introduced the idea of a tax cut in the 1963 State of the Union address. The Johnson administration, working with congress crafted The Revenue Act of 1964. The goal was to raise personal income, increase consumption, and increase capital investments. Unemployment fell from 5.2% in 1964 to 3.8% in 1966. Tax revenues were predicted to fall but instead increased.”…Citizen Wells research
“The government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”…Ronald Reagan
I caught part of the Rush Limbaugh show a few minutes ago. He was explaining trickle down economics, a topic often distorted, and certainly not understood by the left. Rush responded to the sometimes used reply of the left that business owners get their money first. Rush explained the things that had to get paid before the owners get their money. I would like explain this a bit further.
Rush Limbaugh has done a really good job over the years of explaining that companies do not pay taxes, consumers do. That is a fact. Therefore, let us begin with the income stream and it’s trickle.
When a consumer pays for a product or a service they are immediately paying the federal, state and other taxes. It is built into the cost of the product or service. When taxes go up, as they have during Obama’s tenure, it immediately affects the consumer and job market.
From the receipt of income, the following are paid in priority sequence. This is a general representation.
1. IRS takes priority over all. Remember, the employer part of social security & FICA as well.
2. Depending on the location, some combination of state, local, property taxes and fees.
3. Lease, loan on business location(s).
4. Utilities.
5. Equipment purchase and/or lease.
6. Travel & distribution costs
7. Research & development expenses.
8. Employee salaries.
9. Employee benefits
10. Misc supplies, etc.
11. Out of the remainder, if any, the owner can receive a salary, bonus or money to reinvest.
With the bad economy and high cost of gasoline, many small business owners have been struggling. I recently heard of a small business owner whose personal income had been greatly diminished. He was trying to keep the business alive for his sons.
The business owners are the risk takers and job providers. Hard work and risk that provides jobs should be rewarded.
Obama Chicago corruption buddy Ali Ata sentencing July 17, 2012, Obama and Ata frequent Rezko visitors, Ata real and straw donations to Obama, Ata Obama Arab connection
“Ata was very close with Tony Rezko, visiting Rezko’s Chicago office at least once a week to discuss business.”…Fox News Rezko trial
“In the media, Obama made it sound like he rarely saw Rezko, saying they met for breakfast or lunch once or twice a year. However, the FBI mole John Thomas helped investigators “build a record of repeat visits to the old offices of Rezko and former business partner Daniel Mahru’s Rezmar Corp., at 853 N. Elston, by Blagojevich and Obama during 2004 and 2005,“…Chicago SunTimes February 10, 2008
“Thomas is an FBI mole and he “recently told us that he saw you coming and going from Rezko’s office a lot.””
“And three other sources told us that you and Rezko spoke on the phone daily.””…Chicago SunTimes March 14, 2008
“Ata also donated $5,000 to Obama’s campaign in 2003 and Rezko asked Ata to make straw donation to Obama’s campaign for $10,000″…Tony Rezko trial
Ali Ata, a key witness at the Tony Rezko trial, contributor to Barack Obama and Obama Arab special interest connection is scheduled to be sentenced next Tuesday, July 17, 2012, in the courtroom of Judge James Zagel.
Daily Calendar
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 (As of 07/13/12 at 08:48:05 AM)
“The witness some refer to as the government’s secret weapon — Ali Ata — is now on the stand.
Ata was very close with Tony Rezko, visiting Rezko’s Chicago office at least once a week to discuss business. Ata recently pleaded guilty to charges of tax fraud and lying to FBI agents about Rezko’s influence. Today Ata is testifying about his relationship with Rezko.
Born and raised in Jordan, Ata, 56, moved to the U.S. in 1970 to go to college at UIC in Chicago. Ata first became friends with Rezko after Ata was let go from his job as a chemical engineer in 2001. Ata testified that a few days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks FBI agents visited him at his work to question him. Ata shares the same last name as one of the 9/11 hijackers. Two weeks after the FBI’s visit, Ata’s employer offered him an early retirement package. Ata called it “devastating.”
As part of his plea agreement, Ata has agreed to testify against Rezko in exchange for a lighter prison sentence of 12-18 months (The maximum sentence was eight years).
Ata says in 2002 he donated $50,000 to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign. In return Tony Rezko secured Ata a position as the head of the Illinois Finance Authority (IFA). Between 2003-2004 Ata says he contributed $125,000 to Blagojevich’s campaign based on requests from Rezko.
Ata also donated $5,000 to Obama’s campaign in 2003 and Rezko asked Ata to make straw donation to Obama’s campaign for $10,000, he said. The Democratic presidential candidate has donated Rezko-related contributions to charity.”
“Now for the rest of the story. Once again I would like to thank Evelyn Pringle for the fine work that she did early on to expose the truth about Obama. The highlighting is mine.”
“When Obama started setting up the purchase of the $2 million mansion withTony Rezko in December 2004, he did not know he would be the presidential candidate in 2008. He therefore did not think about the repercussions in a presidential campaign. The Combine’s plan was for Illinois Governor RodBlagojevich to be the candidate at that point. Operation Board Games put an end to that plan.”
“Rezko’s next trial will focus on the fraudulent financial transactions with GE and the mystery of what happened to the missing $3.5 million from the loan made to Rezko the month before the mansion deal may be resolved.
The corruption in this case involves the Illinois Finance Authority. The IFA was established, “to support the Governor of Illinois’ economic development agenda,” and “IFA approves about $3 billion in project financing each year,” according to its web site.
Co-schemer Ali Ata was appointed to lead the IFA. He made a $5,000 donation to Obama on June 30, 2003.
Talat Othman was appointed to the IFA Board, and he donated $1,000 toObama on June 30, 2003.
David Gustman was made chairman, and his wife, Lisa, also gave Obama$1,000 on June 30.
Co-schemer Abdelhamid Chaib is the former the director of RezkoConcessions. Chaib’s wife was appointed to the Department of Employment Security Review Board. Obama received $5,000 from Chaib on June 30, 2003.
This indictment alleges that Rezko fraudulently caused GE to extend more than $10 million in loans to finance what Rezko portrayed as sales of two different groups of Papa John’’s pizza restaurants in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas.
After closing on the loan for the Chicago stores, the loan became delinquent, andRezko caused additional false financial information to be submitted to GE in asking for forebearance on the default, the indictment says. It also alleges thatRezko defrauded investors by concealing that he was transferring the company’s assets to himself and a straw purchaser.
As part of the scheme, Ata signed a letter on Finance Authority letterhead that falsely made it appear that Dr Paul Ray had applied for financing with the IFA for acquisition of the pizza restaurants. The letter stated that Ray’s financing would be recommended for approval by the IFA Board on March 15, 2004, and that the IFA would guarantee 50% of the total $16 million.
Ray contributed $3,000 to Obama on June 30, 2003. Ray also gave Obama$2,000 on October 2003, on top of a donation of $1,000 on December 31, 2002. Ray was an investor in Riverside Park.
During the Rezko trial, Ata testified that he told Rezko that IFA board members were worried over the approval of financing for the Papa John’s deal because there could be negative publicity due to Rezko’s association with the pizza businesses
But Ata said Rezko scoffed at the concerns. “He said as far as the publicity, he will get the governor’s office to approve the transaction, and as far as the board,”Ata told the jury, Rezko said, “We put them there.”
Rezko eventually called Ata and dictated the language of a letter that said IFA was guaranteeing half of the purchase price. But before the deal could go through, Ata brought the chairman, David Gustman, and the board’s financial advisers to Rezko’s office to tell him they did not believe the financing was good for IFA. Ata said Rezko seemed to agree, but he never gave back the letter Ata wrote on Ray’s behalf.
More Combine members throw in the towel
Testimony in the first trial opened the door to evidence in other Board Game cases and more Combine members threw in the towel. Ali Ata entered into a plea agreement in the GE case a week before the trial was set to end and he was the last witness to testify.
Ata pled guilty to charges that included tax fraud, and lying to the FBI in saying he received nothing in return for $50,000 in contributions to Blagojevichwhen according to the plea agreement, he did “receive something for those contributions, specifically employment with a state agency … with an annual salary of approximately $127,000.”
According to court filings, Ata also lied when he “intentionally concealed that he paid Rezko approximately $125,000 in cash … during 2003 and 2004 so that he could obtain a state appointment and then ensure its continuation.”
On his last day on the stand, Ata told the jury he finally agreed to cooperate with the Feds after a person delivered a threat to him. He told prosecutors he lied to the FBI because he was encouraged to be a “team player” by people acting onRezko’’s behalf and when he received a grand jury subpoena in late 2005, people contacted him in an effort to stop him from cooperating.
Ata testified he gave Rezko the money because he wanted to keep his job. He told the jury he used to drop by Rezko’s office and would see other top officials waiting to see Rezko and in order to keep their jobs people had to follow orders and become a team player.
For instance, Ata said, he often saw Kelly King Dibble, a former Rezmar employee, who became director of the Illinois Housing Authority. But when Dibble balked at hiring a Rezko relative, Ata said, Rezko passed a message to Dibble “congratulating her on her new assignment,” and the new assignment was unemployment.
“It emphasized that you need to be a team player and follow the rules if you’re going to be a part of the administration,” Ata told the jury on May 1, 2008.
Dibble donated $250 to Obama on June 30, 2003, $250 on January 23, 2004, and $250 on April 25, 2007. She is now an attorney with the Northern Trust,Obama’s Land Trust holder. On September 30, 2007, Dribble donated $1,000 to Obama presidential campaign.
Ata testified that he and Rezko once delivered $50,000 in cash to the home of co-schemer Christopher Kelly and left it in the car while they went inside.Ata said Rezko told him, “there’s somebody from Downstate that’s coming to pick up the money.”
Ata said he delivered another $25,000 to Rezko in early 2004, because Rezkosaid it was needed to pay contractors to stop them from filing a lien onBlagojevich’s home.
Ata also explained that Rezko made a problem with a state lease disappear in exchange for a 25% ownership in a real estate partnership. When Rezko’sattorney pressed for details about how that worked, Ata said Rezko had gone to Michael Rumman to get the matter resolved, the head of the Department of Central Management Services.
Ata says that after he met with the Feds for the first time, he got a voice-mail from Rumman saying Rumman was traveling with “our friend,” meaning Rezko,asking Ata to delay the meeting with investigators.
The other person who pressured Ata was Orlando Jones, the godson and former chief of staff to the deceased former Cook County Board President, John Stroger. Jones was a former vice president of Rezmar development company and an investor in Riverside Park.
Prosecutors say Jones also wanted Ata to lean on another Rezko associate to get him to stop cooperating. Ata told prosecutors that Jones reassured him thatRezko was working to kill the Board Games investigation by getting the Bush administration to fire Fitzgerald. “Don’t worry, the plan is still in place,” Jones told Ata.
Jones committed suicide in September 2007, after news of a pending indictment in a pay-to-play scheme reaching all the way to Las Vegas hit the media. “The discovery of Jones’ body came just two days after FBI agents approached Jones,” FBI spokesman Frank Bochte told the Sun-Times. Jones “cordially declined” to speak with Chicago agents.
The scheme in Las Vegas involved a company called Crystal Communications, lead by Martello Pollock. On June 30, 2003, Pollock donated $1,000 toObama.
According to the Sun-Times, Jones had been interviewed by federal authorities a while before his death about fees he received from pension fund deals approved by the Illinois Board of Investments.”
“Combine members of Middle Eastern Descent
Ata is a former president of the Chicago Chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He represents “a deeper corruption” in the Arab American community, “an aspect of the story that has not received much attention,” according to a May 2, 2008 report by Ray Hanania in the Southwest News-Herald.
Hanania points out that many in the Arab community are calling Ata a “rat.” But he’s not alone, Hanania says:
“The real rats are those who used their positions as “leaders” to rape and pillage their own community. The real rats are the so-called ““leaders” who worked to benefit themselves pretending they were doing it for the benefit of the community.”
In his report, Hanania explains how Ata and others would help organize political dinners attended by Arab Americans from the suburbs at which politicians where “honored.”
“These Arab community “leaders,” he says, “would tell the community that if they bought tickets to their “candidate’s nights,” their organization fundraisers or donated through them to local politicians, these politicians would respond by giving the Arab American community empowerment.”
“In truth,” Hanania says, “these political leaders lied.”
“They did get jobs, contracts and clout,” he notes, “but the people who benefited were not members of the community but rather the relatives, children, friends and business associates of these leaders.”
Ata has done well as a member of the Combine. In 2004, his net worth was $12 million, according to the Tribune. In one state deal, Ata and partners, Faysal Mohamed, Fuad Mohamed and Refat Zayed, “took in more than $3.2 million from taxpayers by leasing a West Side office building to the state over 10 years,” the June 6, 2005 Sun-Times notes.”
Patrick Fitzgerald leaves office, Media portrays Fitzgerald as fearless crime fighter, Patrick Fitzgerald protected Obama delayed Blagojevich prosecution
“Patrick Fitzgerald’s office knew from an informant and wiretaps beginning in December of 2003 that there was corruption in Blagojevich’s administration. The Chicago Tribune on October 25, 2005 reported about a federal grand jury investigation of the Blagojevich administration. The Chicago Tribune on August 5, 2006 reported that Stuart Levine was cooperating with the federal investigation. Stuart Levine was the key witness in Operation Board Games.
Why wasn’t Rod Blagojevich, Governor of IL, prosecuted before Tony Rezko, a businessman?
Why did Patrick Fitzgerald and the US Justice Department wait until December 2008 to arrest Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells
“Patrick Fitzgerald stated after the Blagojevich arrest: ‘I was not going to wait until March or April or May to get it all nice and tidy’
‘I think that would be irresponsible.’
Fitzgerald did wait to arrest Blagojevich and there are other words to describe his actions. Criminal, conspiracy and Chicago pay to play.”…Citizen Wells
“Antoin Rezko, …recently received a sentence of 126 months’ imprisonment for corrupt activity that he engaged in directly with Blagojevich or with Blagojevich’s tacit approval. Yet, Rezko: (a) held no elected office of trust;”…Patrick Fitzgerald’sGovernment Sentencing Memorandum
“The people in power,the first thing they have to do,they have to get control of the media.The perfect example was my case.The main person that I attempted to give information on,the person who was in charge of a lot of things the person who was able to pick all the judges,was one of my main targets.While he also happens to be the same person who’s able to give out all the money ,in the city, he’s Chairman of Finance Committee in Chicago.He was able to hire the U.S. Attorney who was supposed to prosecute him,pay him huge sums of money and he never got prosecuted.There was no explanation as to why he didn’t .He just was not prosecuted.To this day he continues there in that same position where he’s able to pick all the judges,he’s Chairman of the Democratic Judicial Slating Committee.He picks all the judges in Chicago.After I reported what I did and it was out there,that he was fixing murder cases and molesting cases, himself and his wife.His wife afterwards was appointed to the Illinois Supreme Court where she sits today.When she ran for re-election nobody dared oppose her.I mean that’s the basic problem with Chicago and why Chicago will not change,because the people in charge are the most powerful people,have the media in their pockets.”…FBI Informant and attorney Robert Cooley
With all of the attention on the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare, the sad state of the economy and the 2012 elections, Patrick Fitzgerald left his post with the US Justice Department with glowing remarks from the mainstream media.
From the Chicago SunTimes June 29, 2012.
“After 11 years as U.S. attorney in Chicago, Fitzgerald steps aside”
“The relentless U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois ended his 11-year run as Chicago’s top federal prosecutor Friday, retiring from an office that brought countless criminals to justice.
“I think his legacy will be that he raised the bar of what it means to be a U.S. Attorney in Chicago. It’s a great office with a great history. Pat came from outside and over 10 years built upon that history to leave the office better than he found it,” said Zachary Fardon, who prosecuted former Gov. George Ryan under Fitzgerald and now is a defense lawyer.
“He did that through hard work, but most important was his purity of intentions, the earnestness of his convictions, and his kindness of heart, all of which motivated everyone around him to be better. That’s hard to act to follow.”
The end of Fitzgerald’s run was a sprint to the finish.
On Thursday, his office announced a significant public corruption investigation against two former elected officials — Joseph Mario Moreno and Ambrosio Medrano.
Last week, the FBI arrested Raghuveer Nayak, a political fund-raiser who was a key figure in the Rod Blagojevich corruption case as well as a man close to U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.”
“Under Fitzgerald’s tenure, the state saw the dismantling of the power structures beneath two governors and then the convictions of the governors themselves — Ryan, a Republican, and Blagojevich, a Democrat.”
I began smelling a rat in 2008 before the election and when Fitzgerald waited until after the election, in December 2008, to arrest Rod Blagojevich, the stench became overwhelming.
From Citizen Wells June 22, 2012.
“From the Blagojevich Criminal Complaint.
Since approximately 2003, the government has been investigating allegations
of illegal activity occurring in State of Illinois government as part of the administration of Governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH. As further detailed below, the investigation has developed evidence that: (a) beginning not later than in or about 2002, ROD BLAGOJEVICH has conspired with multiple individuals” From the Washington Post December 22, 2008.
“The wide-ranging public corruption probe that led to the arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich got its first big break when a grandmother of six walked into a breakfast meeting with shakedown artists wearing an FBI wire.
Pamela Meyer Davis had been trying to win approval from a state health planning board for an expansion of Edward Hospital, the facility she runs in a Chicago suburb, but she realized that the only way to prevail was to retain a politically connected construction company and a specific investment house. Instead of succumbing to those demands, she went to the FBI and U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald in late 2003 and agreed to secretly record conversations about the project.
Her tapes led investigators down a twisted path of corruption that over five years has ensnared a collection of behind-the-scenes figures in Illinois government, including Joseph Cari Jr., a former Democratic National Committee member, and disgraced businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko.””
“On February 27, a Chicagoland website, Illinois PayToPlay, cited the star witness in the Operation Gambit trials of the early ’90s, Robert Cooley, as a primary source for the news that Daniel Frawley says he gave $400,000 in cash to Tony Rezko, who then passed it on to Barack Obama.
In case you missed Cooley’s story, James Peterson, writing for Andrew Breitbart’s Big Journalism, noted that “[i]n the mid-1980’s, Chicago Outfit Lawyer Robert Cooley voluntarily went undercover for the FBI as part of an investigation called Operation Gambat. Cooley wore a wire on, among others, [Alderman Ed] Burke’s good friend and made-man, Alderman Fred Roti. The Chief Judge of Cook County’s Chancery Court and an Assistant Senate Majority Leader of the Illinois State Senate were also targeted. Cooley’s work eventually led to the only judge in U.S. history being convicted of fixing a murder trial.”
Cooley is a Chicago legend.
As the star witness for the prosecution back then, Cooley’s credibility was validated by 26 convictions. Now, Cooley is back on the Chicago scene along with news that leaves a number of current, and former, Chicagoans with some splainin’ to do. Among the short list are these persons of interest.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald: It requires what one well-known politician once called “the willing suspension of disbelief” to think that the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) was unaware of this allegation by Frawley. Did Fitzgerald’s staff investigate it? Or did this fall into the “Wired for Silence: Fitzgerald’s Rezko Watchers” arrangement, recently suggested in the Chicago Daily Observer, where three key moles close to Rezko never testified in Rezko’s trial, nor were any conversations they taped made public?
Chicago Sun-Times: A July 11, 2011 Times article stated that, “Details about Frawley’s cooperation with the U.S. attorney’s office, the FBI and the Illinois attorney general’s office can be gleaned from a 65-page court deposition he gave seven months ago in a legal-malpractice lawsuit that he filed against his former longtime lawyer, George Weaver. In the lawsuit, Frawley accuses Weaver of having overbilled him and telling him to ‘withhold certain information from the government’ when he was cooperating with authorities.”
What “certain information?” Did the Sun-Times aggressively pursue an answer to that question, or merely “glean”?
That 65-page deposition was executed on December 1, 2010 — but hold that thought.
Attorney Daniel F. Konicek: He represented Frawley’s former lawyer, George Weaver, in the deposition. The Times highlighted the following exchange between Konicek and Frawley: “Later in the deposition, Weaver’s lawyer, Daniel F. Konicek, asks Frawley about what specific information Weaver is supposed to have told Frawley to withhold from federal authorities. ‘I’m assuming the information is about the payments made by Rezko to Obama, so we know we’re talking about the right conversation, right?’ Konicek asks Frawley. Frawley doesn’t answer. So Konicek presses him: ‘Am I correct it was about Obama being paid by Rezko?’ Frawley replies: ‘I’m not answering that question, based upon my attorney’s instructions.'”
Where did that question come from? Konicek? Weaver? Did Konicek expect Frawley to answer?
Makes you wonder: was the whole deposition a kabuki dance intended to send a message to the USAO, and others, that Frawley knows some things, and might tell them to the world if he gets jammed up by the feds?
Back to Patrick Fitzgerald: Not two months after the December 2010 deposition, Frawley was hit with a bank fraud charge that was past the statute of limitations. Coincidence?
Or was it payback for filing the Weaver lawsuit, and a warning to Frawley that he’d better keep his mouth shut about the $400,000…and who knows what else? (Like maybe something about Companion Security?)”
“Chicago Big Media: Why did it take an obscure website to break this story when the Sun-Times has those three-musketeer journalists they call the WATCHDOGS?
And when the Trib has equally dogged sleuths like John Kass and John Chase?
Did either paper have knowledge concerning what Illinois Pay To Play reported and decide to sit on the information?
Brad Pitt’s mom attacked for opposing Obama, Jane Pitt speaks truth about Obama and Romney, Hate filled vulgar and violent Obama supporter reactions
“”You’re a traitor!” yelled the boy. “You’re a thought criminal!””…George Orwell, “1984”
“Goldstein was delivering his usual venomous attack upon the doctrines of the Party–an attack so exaggerated and perverse that a child should have been able to see through it, and yet just plausible enough to fill one with an alarmed feeling that other people, less level-headed than oneself, might be taken in by it. He was abusing Big Brother, he was denouncing the dictatorship of the Party, he was demanding the immediate conclusion of peace with Eurasia, he was advocating freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of thought”
“But the face of Big Brother seemed to persist for several seconds on the screen, as though the impact that it had made on everyone’s eyeballs were too vivid to wear off immediately. The little sandy-haired woman had flung herself forward over the back of the chair in front of her. With a tremulous murmur that sounded like “My Saviour!” she extended her arms toward the screen. Then she buried her face in her hands. It was apparent that she was uttering a prayer.”…George Orwell, “1984″
“I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.“…Barack Obama
God bless Jane Pitt, mother of actor Brad Pitt, for speaking the truth about Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
Ms. Pitt, if you need any assistance, I am at your service.
From WND July 9, 2012.
“BRAD PITT’S MOM IN FEAR AFTER SLAMMING OBAMA”
“Jane Pitt, mother of actor Brad Pitt, has been scared into silence by the hate-filled, vulgar and even violent reaction to her public assertion that Barack Obama is “a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage.”
Pitt has even been the subject of death threats following her letter to the editor of Missouri’s Springfield News-Leader in which she asserted failure to vote for Republican presumptive presidential candidate Mitt Romney constituted a vote for Obama.
WND spoke briefly with Pitt and asked about the media assault against her for her comments as a private citizen supporting Romney. With inflections in her voice that conveyed fear and despair, she quietly and politely said she was not interested in talking to anyone in the media about the incident.
When she was told WND supported her right to speak her mind and is appalled by the threats against her life, Pitt expressed gratitude to WND for being one of the few news agencies doing so. Even her thank you, however, was said in a subdued manner laden with heaviness of heart.
Pitt had every reason to be frightened. Following her letter to the editor in her local newspaper, the mainstream media have painted her comments in a vilifying light.
The Hollywood Reporter published a story headlined, “Brad Pitt’s mother pens anti-gay, anti-Obama letter to local newspaper.” The New York Daily News went further, penning an article originally titled, “Brad Pitt’s mom unleashes anti-gay, anti-Obama fury in letter.”
She Knows Entertainment reported that Pitt actually “hates Obama, ‘gay’ people.”
These slants on the story, however, are mild compared to comments posted on Twitter.
Editors of the Twitter-scouring news site Twitchy exclaimed sarcastically, “Time for the left’s self-proclaimed arbiters of tolerance to teach her a lesson with their hateful, misogynist slurs and death wishes.”
Twitchy then spotlighted some of the tweets it found.
Jane Pitt
“Brad Pitt’s mom, die,” wrote Twitter-poster Sandy Kownacka.
A tweet from “I Bleed Gaga” echoed similar sentiments, saying, “Brad Pitt’s mom wrote an anti-gay pro-Romney editorial. Kill the b—-.”
Other comments included, “F— you, brad pitt’s mom, the gay community made your kid a star, you whacko,” and, “Brad Pitt’s mom is a dumb c—.”
Many of the comments told her to commit vulgar sexual acts with the commenter.
These statements stand contrary to Pitt’s own statements about his mother. In January, Pitt told the Hollywood Reporter that his mother was a very loving person.
“She’s very, very loving – very open, genuine, and it’s hilarious because she always gets painted in the tabloids as a she-devil,” the actor said. “There’s not an ounce of malice in her. She wants everyone to be happy.”
Jane Pitt originally penned her letter to the editor responding to another reader, Richard Stoecker, who stated that Christians should not vote for Romney based on his Mormonism.
In her rebuttal letter, she acknowledged that there were doctrinal differences between Mormonism and Christianity, but she took issue with the rest of Stoecker’s reasoning.
Pitt wrote, “I think any Christian should spend much time in prayer before refusing to vote for a family man with high morals, business experience, who is against abortion and shares Christian conviction concerning homosexuality just because he is a Mormon.”
Pitt went on to say, “Any Christian who does not vote or writes in a name is casting a vote for Romney’s opponent, Barack Hussein Obama – a man who sat in Jeremiah Wright’s church for years, did not hold a public ceremony to mark the National Day of Prayer and is a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage.”
Her statements on Obama’s record, however, are not opinions, but established facts. Obama himself has come out and said he supports the rights of homosexuals to marry. He has repeatedly backed legalized abortion. While he was a state senator in Illinois, Obama opposed a bill that would have required medical care to be given to infants who survived an abortion.
Unlike his mother, Hollywood actor Brad Pitt has taken a strong stand for same-sex marriage and supports Obama.
Brad Pitt has a long history of support for homosexual causes. He once famously declared he would refuse to marry Angelina Jolie until same-sex marriages were made legal in America in every state.
Following New York’s legalization of same-sex marriage, Pitt said, “It is each American’s constitutional right to marry the person they love, no matter what state they inhabit. No state should decide who can marry and who cannot.”
In 2008, he donated $100,000 to help fight passage of Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment in California that recognized marriage as being between one man and one woman. In March, he portrayed homosexual Judge Vaughn Walker in “8,” a play that re-enacted the trial where Walker overturned the amendment.”
This is nothing new. It is too reminiscent of Nazi Germany.
Beginning in 2008 Obama supporters attacked anyone questioning their messiah including Jon Voight and his family, Lou Dobbs house was shot at, Larry Sinclair and his family were viciously threatened and I received numerous attacks and death threats. Many people were threatened during the 2008 primaries and general elections. Perhaps the most famous of these was the New Black Panther Party threatening voters. That case was, of course, dismissed by Obama and Eric Holder’s US Justice Dept.
Jesse Jackson Jr. takes medical leave for exhaustion, Raghuveer Nayak indictment, Obama pay to play buddies getting worried, Obama and Holder soon gone
“Why did the Illinois Senate Health & Human Services Committee, with Obama as chairman, create and push Bill 1332, “Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act,” early in 2003, which reduced the number of members on the Board from 15 to 9, just prior to rigging by Tony Rezko and Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells
“Why did Patrick Fitzgerald, instead of protecting the citizens of Illinois as he has touted, prosecute Tony Rezko first, a businessman, instead of Rod Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois.”…Citizen Wells
“Why did Patrick Fitzgerald and the US Justice Department wait until December 2008 to arrest Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells
Are the Chicago pay to play buddies of Barack Obama beginning to squirm?
Were they all expecting Obama to get reelected?
Are they concerned that a real Attorney General will replace Holder?
Are they concerned that some of the rats will squeal?
From the Chicago Tribune June 26, 2012.
“Jesse Jackson Jr. takes medical leave for exhaustion”
“U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s office disclosed Monday that the veteran Democratic congressman has been on medical leave from Congress for the last two weeks and is being treated for exhaustion.
The 17-year congressman’s office declined to say where he was being treated or when he is expected to return.
A statement issued Monday was the first public disclosure that Jackson has been on medical leave since June 10. During that time, Jackson’s office has issued at least 10 news releases, including a statement two days after he took medical leave in which he was quoted commending officials in south suburban Crete for withdrawing support for an immigration detention center.
Asked why Jackson’s office waited two weeks to tell his constituents about his absence, spokesman Frank Watkins told the Tribune that the lack of disclosure was a “family request.”
Just last week, a longtime friend of Jackson’s, Raghuveer Nayak, was arrested on federal fraud charges involving Nayak’s surgical centers. Nayak was at the center of the U.S. Senateseat scandal that sent former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to prison.
Jackson, 47, who has distanced himself from Nayak, remains under a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations that Nayak offered Blagojevich up to $6 million in campaign cash to make the congressman President Barack Obama’s successor in the U.S. Senate.
Nayak had told federal investigators that Jackson asked him to raise campaign money for Blagojevich in hopes the then-governor would appoint Jackson to the seat, sources familiar with the investigation have told the Tribune. Jackson has denied any knowledge of fundraising in exchange for the appointment and has said he expects to be vindicated by the ethics panel.
In a statement he issued in 2010, Jackson did not deny Nayak’s allegation that he paid to fly a female “social acquaintance” of Jackson from Washington to Chicago at Jackson’s request. The lawmaker said then that the reference to a “social acquaintance” was a “private and personal matter between me and my wife that was handled some time ago.””
Holder and Obama guilt in project Gunrunner Fast and Furious, US Justice Department protects Obama, Brian Terry death impact on family
“Now, I don’t get upset when foreign and national journalists fail to mention Tony Rezko, or the Daley boys, or how the Chicago machine plans to staff the Department of Justice, and the new Department of Homeland Casinos.”…John Kass, Chicago Tribune July 30, 2008
“Why did Justice Department and White House staff yell and curse at CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson over questions about Fast and Furious?”…Citizen Wells
“As soon as all the corrections which happened to be necessary in any partiucular number of the Times had been assembled and collated, that number would be reprinted, the original copy destroyed, and the corrected copy placed on the files in it’s stead. This process of continuation alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound tracks, cartoons, photographs–to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance. Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to be correct; nor was any item of news, or expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to be on record.”…George Orwell, “1984″
From Citizen Wells July 8, 2011.
“Here is the allocation of 10 million dollars to the ATF for the sourthern border of the US to “combat criminal narcotics activity.”
“H. R. 1—16
OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS
STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSISTANCE”
“For an additional amount for ‘‘State and Local Law Enforcement
Assistance’’, $40,000,000, for competitive grants to provide
assistance and equipment to local law enforcement along the
Southern border and in High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas to
combat criminal narcotics activity stemming from the Southern
border, of which $10,000,000 shall be transferred to ‘‘Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Salaries and Expenses’’
for the ATF Project Gunrunner.”
“Eric Holder made the following speech on April 2, 2009.
“Attorney General Eric Holder at the Mexico/United States Arms Trafficking Conference
CUERNAVACA, MEXICO ~ Thursday, April 2, 2009
Remarks as prepared for delivery.
First, let me express my thanks to Attorney General Medina Mora and Secretary of Government Gomez Mont for making this conference possible.
This is my first trip to another country as Attorney General. I wanted to come to Mexico to deliver a single message: We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you in this fight against the narcotics cartels. The United States shares responsibility for this problem and we will take responsibility by joining our Mexican counterparts in every step of this fight.
And, together, we will win – thanks in large part to the courage of my Mexican colleagues here today, who are on the front lines every day, and with whom I am proud to collaborate.
The topic that has been addressed over the past two days could not be more important – the development of an arms trafficking prosecution and enforcement strategy on both sides of the border.
I would like to thank the Mexican and U.S. experts who have worked so hard on this issue. On our side, Secretary Napolitano and I are committed to putting the resources in place to increase our attack on arms trafficking into Mexico.
Last week, our administration launched a major new effort to break the backs of the cartels. My department is committing 100 new ATF personnel to the Southwest border in the next 100 days to supplement our ongoing Project Gunrunner, DEA is adding 16 new positions on the border, as well as mobile enforcement teams, and the FBI is creating a new intelligence group focusing on kidnapping and extortion. DHS is making similar commitments, as Secretary Napolitano will detail.
But as today’s conference has emphasized, the problem of arms trafficking will not be stopped at the border alone. Rather, as our experts emphasized, this is a problem that must be met as part of a comprehensive attack against the cartels – an attack in depth, on both sides of the border, that focuses on the leadership and assets of the cartel. This is the type of full-bore, prosecution-driven approach that the U.S. Department of Justice took to dismantle La Cosa Nostra – once the most powerful organized crime group operating in the United States.
With partners like those we have here today, I am confident that together, we will defeat these narcotics cartels in exactly the same way. I am proud to stand with you, and to join you in this fight. Thank you again for inviting me here.”
“The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides $2.7 billion to the Office of Justice Programs; $1 billion to the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program; $225 million to the Office on Violence Against Women; and $10 million to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.”
From the US Justice Department ATF plan June 1, 2010.
The Department of Justice’s (Department) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) received $10 million of the Federal aid issued through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). The Recovery Act provides additional funding for Project Gunrunner, an
existing ATF program, which is aimed at disrupting arms trafficking between the United States and Mexico.”
“The Justice Department is trying to protect its political appointees from the Fast and Furious scandal by concealing an internal “smoking gun” report and other documents that acknowledge the role top officials played in the program that allowed firearms to flow illegally into Mexico, according to the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Kenneth E. Melson, the ATF’s acting director, also told congressional investigators this month that the affidavits prepared to obtain wiretaps used in the ill-fated operation were inconsistent with Justice Department officials’ public statements about the program. Justice Department officials advised him not to raise his concerns with Congress about “institutional problems” with the Fast and Furious operation, Melson said.
“It was very frustrating to all of us,” Melson told congressional investigators in a private meeting over the Fourth of July holiday, “and it appears thoroughly to us that the department is really trying to figure out a way to push the information away from their political appointees at the department.”
Not only was the department slow to react, Melson said, but Justice Department officials indicated they did not want him to cooperate with Congress.”
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg and Deputy Attorney General David Ogden held a news conference to announce the U.S.-Mexico Border Security Policy. They spoke to reporters and answered questions about plans to send about 500 more agents and equipment to the nation’s southwestern border and Mexico to fight Mexican drug cartels and keep violence from spilling over into the United States. Secretary Napolitano said officials were still considering whether to deploy the National Guard to the Arizona and Texas borders with Mexico, which the governors had requested. She also acknowledged that greater efforts were needed within the U.S. to combat the drug trade.”
It has been more than 18 months since our son, Brian Terry, was shot and killed by a Mexican drug cartel armed by a failed U.S. Department of Justice “gunwalking” operation known as “Fast and Furious.”
The pain that Brian’s death has caused our family is indescribable. No matter what words we use in this letter to you, we will never be able to justly convey how much suffering we have endured. We still grieve every day, and we are resigned to the fact that the agony of his death will stick with us for the rest of our lives. Not because he didn’t achieve his dreams . . . not because he didn’t live his life to the fullest . . . and not because he didn’t leave anything behind that we couldn’t celebrate or remember.
Our family will be forever grief-stricken because Brian didn’t have to die.
We wish we could take solace knowing that Brian died doing what he loved to do. After all, it was his childhood dream to make a career in law enforcement and become a federal agent.
As a youngster, Brian was inspired by his Uncle Bob, a Michigan police offer who would give Brian tours of the police station and share stories of what it was like to be a police officer. From then on, Brian believed he was destined for a career in law enforcement. He joined the Marine Corps after high school and served four years in Naples, Italy before becoming a police officer in Lincoln Park, Michigan – just like his uncle. But Brian’s ultimate dream was to become a federal agent, and so he applied to the United States Border Patrol.
In 2007, he attended the Border Patrol Academy in El Paso, Texas, graduating as president of his class before being assigned to the Naco station near Bisbee, Arizona, only a few miles from the U.S.-Mexican border.
Brian accomplished exactly what he wanted to. But all of what he had worked for – and all our family had come to adore and love – was taken away so abruptly . . . so needlessly.
On December 14, 2010, Brian was conducting operations as a member of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit in Nogales, Arizona. He and his team encountered five Mexican drug cartel bandits in the “Peck Well” area near Rio Rico, Arizona. Not knowing the bandits were carrying the latest military grade assault weapons provided by the Justice Department as part of Operation Fast and Furious, there was an exchange of gunfire and Brian was shot in the lower back.
He died on December 15, 2010.
Before then, our family was expecting Brian to return home for Christmas. What we were not expecting was that he would return home in a flag-draped casket. All because of an ill-conceived government gun trafficking investigation gone horribly awry.
Please consider a contribution to the Brian Terry Foundation
The Justice Department’s “gunwalking” operation called for American gun dealers to sell weapons to “straw purchasers” tied to Mexican drug cartels between 2009-2011. The intention was to track the guns as they were sold to Mexican drug lords, which would theoretically lead to the arrests and dismantling of the cartels.
But that’s not what happened. It turned out that there was no actual plan to track the movement of the guns as they were “walked” into Mexico.
As a result, one of our four children and as many as 200 Mexican citizens were killed with weapons connected to the operation.
Still, hundreds of guns sold as part of Operation Fast and Furious remain unrecovered, putting more brave law enforcement personnel along the border – like our son – at unnecessary risk.
Even though our son fell in the line of duty more than 18 months ago, we still don’t have answers that explain why he had to die.
Unfortunately for our family and the families of others who have been injured or killed with these weapons, our son’s death has ballooned into a national controversy. Currently, the House Oversight Committee is moving forward with contempt proceedings against Eric Holder, the U.S. Attorney General and head of the Justice Department, for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena requesting all of his communications regarding Operation Fast and Furious. Our hope is that the Justice Department is not withholding information that could expose those who are responsible for our son’s death.
It has been nearly eight months since Mr. Holder was served his subpoena, and we know little more now than we did then. We think our family and Brian’s memory deserve better.
So even though this government investigation drags on and prolongs our family’s suffering, we are taking action.
We have established the Brian Terry Foundation not just to preserve Brian’s memory and honor his service to our country, but to also help families of other U.S. Border Patrol Agents who have been killed or injured by providing ongoing emotional and financial support, establish educational scholarships, recognize the heroic efforts of current Border Patrol Agents, and raise public awareness of the flawed Fast and Furious investigation. It is also our personal mission to guarantee that any mistakes made by the Justice Department are never made again.
Because of Operation Fast and Furious, some of the most dangerous criminal organizations in North America have been strengthened, and now our Border Patrol Agents are in the gravest danger of their lives.
So please, we urge you – not just for our son, but for all U.S. Border Patrol Agents who came before him and who will come after him – to join our cause and give as generously as you can. We have to make sure that nothing like Fast and Furious ever happens again, and without grassroots support from folks like yourself, our mission fails. This failed government operation cost our son his life, but that doesn’t have to stop us from saving the life of someone else’s son.
In the loving and enduring memory of Brian A. Terry,
P.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s refusal to fully disclose the documents associated with Operation Fast and Furious and President Obama’s assertion of executive privilege serves to compound this tragedy. It denies the Terry family and the American people the truth. The President’s executive priveledge makes getting to the truth much more difficult. We really do need your help. If you can afford to support the Brian Terry Foundation financially please give as generously as you can.”
Raghuveer Nayak indicted, Campaign bundler and contributor to Blagojevich and Obama, Jesse Jackson Jr. US Senate seat, 19 count indictment
“Why did the Illinois Senate Health & Human Services Committee, with Obama as chairman, create and push Bill 1332, “Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act,” early in 2003, which reduced the number of members on the Board from 15 to 9, just prior to rigging by Tony Rezko and Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells
“Why did Patrick Fitzgerald, instead of protecting the citizens of Illinois as he has touted, prosecute Tony Rezko first, a businessman, instead of Rod Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois.”…Citizen Wells
“Why did Patrick Fitzgerald and the US Justice Department wait until December 2008 to arrest Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells
From the Morris Daily Herald June 21, 2012.
“A longtime friend of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.who was at the center of a Senate seat scandal that sent ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich to prison was arrested Wednesday in his own federal fraud case, accused of bribing doctors to send patients to his surgical centers.
Raghuveer Nayak, a wealthy businessman and former campaign fundraiser for both politicians, was indicted on charges he secretly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to physicians from 2000 to 2010 to have patients referred to Rogers Park One Day Surgery Center, Lakeshore Surgery Center and other Chicago-area facilities he owned.
The investigation of his businesses had hung over Nayak’s head for years, and his lawyer, Thomas McQueen, said the charges were not unexpected. “He knew this had never gone away,” McQueen said after the FBI arrested his client at Nayak’s Oak Brook home.
A frowning Nayak appeared Wednesday at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in a rumpled shirt and entered a plea of not guilty to the 19 fraud counts against him. U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez ordered him released on a $10 million bond secured by six properties in Illinois and Indiana after Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Niewoehner told the court that Nayak has “rather significant assets” and ties to India.
Nayak left the courthouse without commenting.
In making their case against Blagojevich, federal authorities alleged that it was Nayak, a longtime friend of the Jackson family, who offered up to $6 million in campaign money in exchange for Jackson being named a senator. Blagojevich was found guilty on corruption charges last year that included counts involving the attempted sale of the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama after his 2008 election to the presidency.
Nayak was never charged in the Blagojevich case, and he quickly spoke with authorities after Blagojevich’s arrest in a bid for leniency. But he never was used as a witness, either, and investigators continued to look into his businesses.
Jackson testified at Blagojevich’s trial that he had no knowledge of a scheme to buy the Senate seat.
The indictment of Nayak is seen as one of the final offshoots of the sweeping federal investigation known as Operation Board Games, which in addition to Blagojevich led to convictions of fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko, formerAld. Edward Vrdolyak, Republican power broker William Cellini and others. One of the final sentences in cases connected to that probe could be handed down as soon as next week, when political insider turned federal witness Stuart Levine is expected to learn his punishment.
Sources have confirmed that the Board Games investigation is wrapping up. U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald is leaving office at the end of the month, and one of the lead prosecutors against Blagojevich, Reid Schar, already has left.
Although he raised money for politicians for more than a decade, Nayak mostly worked under the radar until his connections to Blagojevich and Jackson surfaced in 2008 as part of the burgeoning federal investigation into the governor’s office.”
“The indictment unsealed Wednesday alleges as part of the scheme that “physicians deceived their patients by not disclosing that they were being paid for making referrals to Nayak’s facilities,” but Nayak was the only person charged. He allegedly created false contracts to disguise some of the illicit payments, describing them as money for advertising, according to the document.
Prosecutors are seeking $1.8 million in “alleged fraud proceeds” in the case.
In one kickback scheme, prosecutors alleged, Nayak paid one person, identified only as “Individual A,” more than $2 million in checks drawn on his surgery centers’ accounts. In return, “Individual A” gave Nayak cash equaling about 70 percent of the value of the checks, according to the indictment.
In the Blagojevich case, Nayak’s friend Bedi testified that Nayak issued about $2 million in checks to a Bedi-owned company. Bedi testified he provided cash in return and said he knew Nayak was cheating on his taxes by making the payments.
Nayak’s businesses have over the years needed the approval of state regulators and auditors, and Nayak became a big campaign bundler and contributor, donating more than $779,000 to elected officials including Blagojevich, Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Obama from the late 1990s until his name surfaced in the Blagojevich scandal.
The Tribune previously reported that after Nayak first opened several Chicago drugstores in the early 1980s, his businesses faced multiple audits by state and federal authorities. His name also came up repeatedly in one of the largest health care fraud investigations in Illinois history.
That multiyear federal probe resulted in the shuttering of two hospitalsDoctors Hospital and Edgewater Medical Centerand the convictions of seven doctors and administrators. Nayak, who then owned a lab testing company called NR Laboratories as well as an outpatient surgery center, was among numerous people who came under scrutiny, the Tribune had reported.
Some of Nayak’s associates and friends were convicted in the scheme, which included charges that two patients died from unnecessary procedures performed by doctors looking to collect fraudulent public aid checks.”
“MARCH 18, 2008 ARTICLE ON NAYAK, BLAGOJEVICH, REZKO, WEISNER
“Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Move Over Rezko; Weisner-Blagojevich Crony Raghuveer Nayak
Continues to Spend Thousands on Elected Officials…in Iowa?
Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner, boytoy Gerry Galloway and
crony Raghuveer Nayak are viewing a property in downtown
Aurora in the path of a major development back in 2005.
Nayak is spreading his money around. All the way to Iowa.”
“Raghuveer Nayak, the campaign crony who has dumped tens of
thousands of dollars into the campaign pockets of Aurora
Mayor Tom Weisner and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, seems
to in a race to compete with another star campaign donor
from Illinois, Tony Rezko, to see how many people he can
contribute to and apparently “influence.”
While Rezko’s list includes some power names in Illinois,
including our local political rockstar, U.S. Senator and
Presidential candidate Barack Obama, Nayak seems to be
broadening his geographical reach (and Nayak is a Hillary
Clinton buddy).””
“The Case Against Barack Obama reveals Shomon connection
SHOMON CONNECTIONS TO WEISNER AND AURORA, IL
“Dan Shomon, who’s background is in media, has a lobbying
contract for the City of Aurora (scroll down or click for
our post on how Dan Shomon is fleecing the taxpayers of
Aurora). He got that contract after helping to secure a
political endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for then-candidate
for Mayor of Aurora, Tom Weisner. That’s after
Obama said he wan’t going to be a “kingmaker” in Aurora.
We think it’s HIGHLY unethical of Dan Shomon or Tom Weisner
to exploit the taxpayers of Aurora for political purpose.
Barack Obama’s credibility is also risked in the process of
Shomon and Weisner’s games at the expense of taxpayers.”
“Like the ill-advised connection to Obama in Aurora, thanks
to Dan Shomon, Obama is mentioned in the same discusion with
all these problems with Giannoulias. Not good for a
political rockstar who otherwise could be on his way to
becoming President of the United States.””
“Aurora Mayor Thomas J. Weisner gave Shomon the lobbying
gig in exchange for political work, including getting the
endorsement of Barack Obama back in 2005 when Obama first
said he would remain “neutral” in the heated mayoral race.
Shomon’s main activities are political campaigns and helping
Obama and his friends like Alexi Giannoulias who is now the
Treasurer for the State of Illinois.”
“Plus, when all hell breaks loose on Weisner’s various problems
with cronyism and allegations of corruption (and it WILL),
it’s probably in Obama’s interest that Dan Shomon has nothing
to do with Weisner any longer.”
Citizen WElls 