Former FBI Agent Goes Down

Because of the Rove Republican Racket's domination of the U.S. Department of Justice, many U.S. Attorneys targeted political opponents. Sadly, many political opponents were tossed in jail because of making false or inaccurate statements to investigators. Many investigators were agents of the FBI.

Can we really trust these federal agents?

We have reported about the dishonest DEA agent from Boston to the dishonest FBI agent in Orange County, California.

This week comes the case of the worst former FBI agent ever.

From the Los Angeles Times:

A former FBI agent convicted of planning an invasion-style robbery of what he thought was a drug stash house containing a half-million dollars in cash was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday by a federal judge in Santa Ana. Ex-agent Vo Duong Tran, 42, and his accomplice, Yu Sung Park, 36, were arrested in possession of bulletproof vests, a machine gun, other weapons, silencers and hundreds of rounds of ammunition that they intended to use to rob the supposed drug house in Fountain Valley, a jury found. In reality, the "stash house" did not exist. It was created as part of a law enforcement sting operation. During the probe, Tran and Park were secretly recorded planning the details of the would-be caper with an undercover federal agent and an informant. Tran and Park told the agent and informant to use one of the drug dealers inside the house as a "human shield" to clear the location and to shoot anyone who did not follow instructions.

Corruption on Cape Cod?

A two-term Rove Republican District Attorney in Massachusetts is allegedly being investigated for being involved with an illegal sports betting corruption ring that has hit top political circles in Boston.

District Attorney Michael D. O'Keefe (pictured) denies any wrongdoing and released a statement yesterday countering the media leak.

The Boston Globe reports:

A federal grand jury is investigating allegations of public corruption against Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael D. O’Keefe that resulted from a wiretap of an alleged bookmaking operation more than a year ago, according to several people with direct knowledge of the investigation. Authorities are looking into whether O’Keefe protected alleged bookmakers operating on the Cape and gave favorable treatment to the grandson of one of them in an unrelated criminal case, said the sources, who insisted on anonymity because grand jury investigations are confidential. The full scope of the grand jury investigation is unclear, and there is no indication it will result in criminal charges against O’Keefe or anyone else. A number of witnesses have testified before the panel in Worcester in recent months, including a state judge on the Cape.

Whaling about Whale Meat

In October, we reported about the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston wasting thousands of dollars investigating and prosecuting the injuries of a whale that resulted in a petty fine.

After winning an Oscar, the film makers of "The Cove"-- a movie about the Japanese savages who capture, beat, and eat dolphins-- have caused a stir in Santa Monica, California.

The Contra Costa Times reports:

Federal officials said Tuesday they were looking into reports that The Hump, a trendy sushi restaurant at the Santa Monica Airport, has served whale sushi as recently as last week. Federal authorities in Los Angeles are continuing their probe into the whale sushi allegations, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said today.

"It is illegal to sell whale meat in the United States," said Thom Mrozek of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. "We are aggressively looking into a possible violation of federal law." Word of the unusual offering at [The] Hump came from the Oscar-winning team behind the documentary "The Cove," The New York Times reported Tuesday. The filmmakers alerted federal officials last week after allegedly confirming that the restaurant was serving sushi identified as Sei whale.

No, we are not flipping off Flipper.

We think California authorities or even the Santa Monica City Attorney should be investigating the crime, not federal agents. But the sensational headlines and political theater are too tempting for the U.S. Attorney's office. The show must go on!

Federal Agent Abuses Power

The rotten, decaying leftovers of the Rove Republican Racket have left a stench in the federal government. Federal agents from the FBI to the DEA were used during the Bush years to target political enemies, and the power to destroy innocent people looks like it went straight up their nostrils.

From Worcester, Masachusetts today:

A man who abused his position as an analyst in the Worcester office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to harass his former girlfriend was sentenced to 18 months in prison today in U.S. District Court.  Earl S. Hoffman Jr., 41, was a member of the Massachusetts National Guard assigned to the DEA when he used a DEA computer in 2007 to access driver's license information and the criminal record of a woman with whom he had been intimate before the relationship ended badly.

Mr. Hoffman pleaded guilty Oct. 2 to making false statements, falsifying records in a federal investigation, defrauding DEA and the National Guard through theft of his honest services and violation of the driver's privacy protection act.  After the driver's license picture was e-mailed to the woman's minor son, along with an insult in one instance and a picture of female genitalia in another, Mr. Hoffman was questioned about why he had obtained her confidential information.

Worse, Hoffman fled the country and went to work for a security company in Iraq that took over contracts once assigned to Blackwater, the alleged masterminds of the Iraqi massacre.

After Mr. Hoffman learned that the state police were filing charges against him, he left the country, going to work in Iraq in March 2008 for Triple Canopy Security, which took over the security contracts once held by Blackwater security company. He was arrested after trying to return to the United States through a remote border crossing in Canada. He had been suspended in December 2008 when the security company learned of the warrants against him.

Who says federal agents can't lie? Who says federal agents don't abuse their power?

Massachusetts Shenanigans

A prominent politician (pictured) in Massachusetts was indicted for corruption by the Rove Republican Racket. In turn, he resigned in January.

Now the retirement board has cut off his retirement income, even though he has not been convicted of a crime yet.

The Boston Globe writes today:

The State Retirement Board suspended pension payments yesterday to former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi while he awaits trial on federal corruption charges. DiMasi’s lawyer, Thomas Kiley, called the board’s action unlawful and vowed to go to court as soon as possible to get the decision reversed.

The board voted in executive session to withhold DiMasi’s $5,000-a-month pension, though the criminal case against DiMasi has yet to be heard by a federal jury. The suspension will take effect Sunday.

But Kiley contended that the board has no right to take away DiMasi’s pension without a full hearing where he could question witnesses. DiMasi requested such a hearing, and [State Treasurer Timoothy P.] Cahill agreed.

So why wasn't there a hearing? The Rove Republican Racket's henchmen in the Department of Justice didn't want it!

The Boston Globe writes:

But in late June federal prosecutors asked [Cahill] to hold off, saying the pension proceedings could harm the federal prosecution.

“With this principle in mind,’’ acting US Attorney Michael Loucks wrote in a June 24 letter, “I am requesting that you defer board proceedings until the conclusion of the criminal case.’’“My position is clear,’’ Kiley said yesterday. “They don’t have any authority whatsoever to suspend without giving us a full evidentiary hearing. We will pursue whatever remedies are available to us.’’

So why did Cahill intentionally cut DiMasi off even though there was no evidentiary hearing? Maybe because he's running for Governor next year.

Rove's Boots on Man's Neck

What happens if you do not cooperate with The Rove Republican Racket? Serious consequences.

A few years ago, agents of the Rove-Bush Justice Department approached a Muslim leader in the Boston area. When he refused to act as an informant, they put their boots to his neck.

On Wednesday, the feds arrested him.

From the MetroWest Daily News (Framigham, MA):

The brother of a Sudbury man facing terrorism-related charges said in a Facebook.com message yesterday that federal investigators falsely targeted Tarek Mehanna because he refused to act as an informant for them. In a post on a group he set up on the social networking site calling for his brother's release, Tamer Mehanna wrote that the FBI in Boston began approaching his older brother several years ago.


The FBI recognized that Mehanna, 27, is active and respected in the local Islamic community, "an individual who is intelligent, charismatic, influential and trusted by many," his brother wrote. "Their objective was to secure Tariq as a tool to corroborate any FBI claims or accusations against members of the community that might arise, at the discretion of the FBI," Tamer wrote. "Of course, Tariq flat out refused to backstab his fellow Muslim brothers and sisters, a decision that did not sit well at all with the FBI."


Investigators repeatedly approached Mehanna in the months afterward, his brother wrote, pressuring him to cooperate or "they would continue finding new ways to disrupt his life and to deprive him of a sense of security."

They certainly have.

Read the full story here.

A Whale of a Deal

The U.S. Attorneys Office in Boston probably spent tens of thousands of dollars investigating, prosecuting, pleaing out, and publicizing this case.

The fine collected: $500.

Although we are saddened this happened to the poor whale, it shows the priorities of the U.S. Department of Justice are out of whack.

From going after innocent Democratic political participants to going after foolish fishermen, the Rove Republican Racket truly dumbed down the DOJ.

From the Los Angeles Times:

A Massachusetts fisherman has been fined for freeing a whale that had become entangled in his fishing gear. In a plea deal, Chatham resident Robert Eldridge was fined $500 after pleading guilty in Federal court to violating the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. He had faced up to $100,000 in fines and a year in prison. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office in Boston, Eldridge was operating a commercial fishing boat last year and had set gill nets in an area where humpback whales were present, and one promptly got entangled.Upon learning of the trapped cetacean, Eldridge attempted to free it himself rather than calling the toll-free Marine Animal Disentanglement Hotline -- the number for which he had posted on his boat -- to bring in licensed marine mammal rescue workers. Unable to disentangle the whale, he eventually cut the gear
from the boat, leaving about 30-feet of line on the marine mammal.

Outrageous DOJ Defense

In a stunning news report today from Boston, attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice said the victims of a duo of brutal murderers--(the murderers were collaborating with a corrupt FBI agent)--had the responsibility to protect themselves.

The influence of the Rove Republican Racket's moral compass (there is none!) is evident in this proceeding. To blame the victims, who were killed because the murderers were in cahoots with an FBI agent, is an outrage and a waste of taxpayer dollars. The DOJ should simply settle the matter.

The headline reads, "DOJ says kin share blame with FBI in Whitey Bulger slays." The Boston Herald writes:

U.S. Department of Justice lawyers argued yesterday if the FBI had a responsibility to protect victims of serial slayers James “Whitey” Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi from murder, so, too, did their families.

“They had a duty to protect themselves from harm,” attorney Lawrence Eiser said during closing arguments in the bench trial of three wrongful-death suits brought by the families to inflict financial pain on the feds for not containing the dangerous duo. Eiser’s theory did not sit well with U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young, who snapped at him, “Are you saying these people were asking for it?”

Eileen Davis, the sister of Flemmi’s slain girlfriend Debra Davis, wept as her attorney, Michael Heineman, described how Flemmi and Bulger - fearing Davis, 26, would reveal they were in cahoots with corrupt FBI agent John Connolly - duct-taped her to a chair in 1981 before strangling her to death and pulling out her teeth. The monstrous Flemmi “pulled her hair back, gave her a kiss and told her she was going to a better place,” Heineman said.

Attorney Ann Donovan, representing Marion Hussey, whose daughter Deborah Hussey, 26, Flemmi molested for years while living with her mother, said Bulger broke Deborah’s ribs in 1985 trying to squeeze the life out of her with his legs while simultaneously choking her to death.

Bean Town Bra Bribes

The Rove Republican Racket thought they were clever. In 2007 and 2008, they targeted two allegedly corrupt Democratic politicians in Boston. Investigators caught the politicians on tape and on film stuffing bribes in a bra.

Then came the grand standing!

Now a federal judge wants to know why a high profile news conference was held right after the arrests and photos from the investigation released. The news conference and photo incidents happened last year.

From the Associated Press:

A federal judge has ordered prosecutors to produce affidavits explaining why photographs were released and any news conferences held following the arrests of two Boston politicians on corruption charges. Judge Douglas Woodlock said Thursday at a pretrial hearing that he wants to evaluate whether prosecutors tried to "gin things up" among the public following the arrests last year of former Sen. Dianne Wilkerson and Boston city councilor Chuck Turner. Woodlock said he wanted affidavits by July 16 from anyone involved in the decision-making process, potentially including former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan.

Sullivan is part of the Rove-Bush-Cheney machine and now has a well-paying job with former Bush Attorney General John Ashcroft. The indicted and arrested politicians, Turner and Wilkerson, both prominent Democrats are also alleging they were targeted for being high-profile leaders in the African-American community.

Although both these politicians may go to jail, the Rove Racket arrogantly showed-off.