16Sep/12

“Golden,” the whitewashing of a Department of Justice crime spree

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Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay & Hugo Floriani, Investigative Reporter

Chicago Tribune reporters Jeff Coen and John Chase wrote a 486-pages book that packs tedious and  mundane details about former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s life, from birth to prison, around one key chapter that documents the role of former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in leaking information about his  investigation of the ex-governor known nationwide as “Blago”.

 

The whitewash begins on the second page of the foreword entitled “Authors Note”: “We quote heavily from the recordings that federal agents made on phones used by the governor and others. All of those quotes come from transcripts of those phone conversations or the recordings themselves. We are grateful to those who provided case material that was outside of the public record.” (For ease of reading, we will italicize all quotations from the book.)

 

Those persons “who provided case material that was outside of the public record” remain unidentified throughout the book. But it soon becomes clear where they worked.

 

In an article written by Ernie Souchak posted on this website last September 14, we noted how the judge’s protective order, covering the  transcripts of Blago’s phone conversations, stipulated that nothing prohibited Blago and his lawyers from telling his version of those recorded conversations. Blago and his attorneys were, though, ordered not to disseminate the transcripts that the feds gave them. Only the feds had permission to do that.

 

So, apparently, Coen/Chase secured those transcripts and recordings mentioned in the “Authors’ Note from the feds. Here’s a question: Why was the information given to them?

 

Hold that thought.

 

The problem for the book’s core narrative – the arrest, trial and conviction of Blago – unfolds in Chapter 14 (pp. 257-295) entitled “I’ve got this thing…”

 

Background  

 

On October 16, 2011, we concluded a ten-article series concerning U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, which first posted here in on September 19, 2011, with this summary:

 

So, what are the facts and circumstances that we know that collectively tend to prove, or sustain by their consistencythe hypothesis that Patrick Fitzgerald is a politically-driven, not jurisprudence-driven, prosecutor whose image as an intrepid, unbiased crime fighter is a media-created fabrication?

Here are a few headlines from Parts 1-9:

Fitzgerald acknowledged that someone leaked information to the Chicago Tribune, via a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, while the reporter, John Chase, sat mute in the front row of the news conference where the arrest of Blago was described as an effort to stop a crime spree. (Chase has told a source known to this writer that he would not identify who leaked him the information on First Amendment grounds.)

In fact, (1) Blago’s crime spree had, with Fitzgerald’s knowledge, been going on for several years. (2) Chase has not been called to account for tipping off Blago that his conversations were being recorded by the feds. (3) Eric Holder’s Department of Selective Justice has taken no steps – like that taken by Fitzgerald when he jailed Judith Miller of the New York Times in the Valerie Plame Case – to force Chase to reveal the source of the leak. And, (4) Fitz’s demeanor in discussing the leak in a press conference can be accurately described as disinterested.

The urgency to arrest Blago was manufactured out of whole cloth. The leak had to originate out of the DoJ. And, the closest outlet for the DoJ to the Chicago Tribune is Fitzgerald’s office. You connect the dots.

In retrospect, we know now that Richard Armitage was the confessed leaker in the Valerie Plame Case. We also know that Fitzgerald knew of Armitage’s confession before undertaking a long and costly investigation that convicted a key staff member of Vice President Cheney of a crime not connected to the Plame leak. And, that this media event, upon which the foundation of the Untouchable myth was built by the main stream media, was politically-driven.

The Plame “investigation” boiled down to a surrogate WWF-like wrestling match between two Big Beltway Boys: Armitage representing Powell – Libby for Cheney. With Fitzgerald as the biased referee. And, it will be so chronicled by unbiased historians in the future.

The arrest of Blago was timed, not to stop a crime spree, or the selling of a Senate seat – since the latter notion is built on the myth that, once Blago got paid for appointing someone, the act was immediate and irrevocable. The arrest was timed to save Congressmen Jesse Jackson, Jr., from criminal prosecution for bribing a governor in order to receive a Senate appointment. Connect the dots. It was about saving J.J., Junior.

Chapter 14 – The Whitewash

 

The narrative here is significant, not just for what it reveals, but more for what it conceals.

 

The authors do not reveal the source for the information that Chase telephonically conveyed to Blago’s Spokesman, Lucio Guerrero, at approximately 10:30 p.m., Friday, December 4, 2008, namely, that the feds were listening in on Blago’s phone conversations.  

 

Consequently, this question remains unanswered: Who leaked the information that Blago’s phone conversations were being wiretapped by the feds to the Tribune and ChasePlus, why was that revelation leaked to the paper?

 

Then, why did Fitzgerald show no interest in tracking down the leaker?

 

We’re no closer today to answers to those questions after the 486 pages of whitewash.

 

Now, for the information in Chapter 14 that substantiates our October 2011 summary above:

 

Page 264: “Again, prosecutors noted the gravity of what Blagojevich had said. They were aware of the Balanoff meeting but had not recorded it.” (Tom Balanoff is president of the Service Employees International Union, Illinois Council, and the Vice President of its International Executive Board.)

 

How did the Coen/Chase know this information unless someone in the U.S. Attorney’s office gave them a blow-by-blow description of the investigation?  Of course that’s what happened. The authors were scripted by the feds.

 

Page 267: “At the FBI’s listening room, there continued to be a mixture of thrilled disbelief and newfound resolve at what was being caught on the recordings. Agents believed they were capturing the sitting governor in incriminating conversations, and they played the calls for supervisors.

 

At one point, the FBI’s national director, Robert Mueller, was in town for a Chicago event. Having heard about the success of the Blagojevich operation, Mueller wanted to hear some of the recordings for himself. He stopped at the FBI’s Chicago headquarters on Roosevelt Road on the West Side near Ogden Avenue and took a seat in Rob Grant’s office. Agents had put together a disc of some of their favorite snippets for Mueller to hear.

 

Who was the guy dropping the F-Bombs? Mueller asked.

 

Well, that was the governor of Illinois, agents explained.

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Mueller said, shaking his head, clearly pleased with how investigators were doing.”

 

This sounds like the testimony of an eyewitness to the event, given all the illustrative details. That eyewitness would be an employee of the FBI, or, someone from Fitzgerald’s office involved in the USAO’s investigation of Blago. This information clearly didn’t come from an audio tape or transcript of one of Blago’s intercepted calls, or from the building’s janitor.

 

It comes from a source intimately involved in the investigation.

 

Page 281This portion of Chapter 14 explains the nature of the alleged urgency that caused the USAO to arrest Blago to, as Fitzgerald later claimed, stop an on-going crime spree.

 

“Fitzgerald had grown concerned that they had a sitting governor who had yet to make an appointment after working for weeks to see what he could get for himself in a deal for the Senate seat. They could let things go a little further, but it was starting to get risky that Blagojevichwould actually make a choice. Schar [Reid Schar, an Assistant U.S. Attorney, NDIL] said it would be derelict of those in the room to allow Blagojevich to make a decision. Everyone in the meeting believed the process had been corrupted, no matter how Blagojevich finally acted. To do something before he made a pick and out the investigation would at least make that corruption known, and the political could react to any pick by the governor.

 

In the end, there was agreement. Very soon, they would act, and likely on the morning of December 9, a Tuesday, the day before Blagojevich’s birthday and after a possible meeting the governor had been talking about with Jesse JacksonJr.”

 

What does “at least make that corruption known” mean? The USAO had been investigating Blago for years, and had compiled a substantial amount of evidence of corruption. Aleast, the goal should have been to arrest Blago when he accepted a bribe, and, also, arrest whoever paidthe bribe.

 

The real risk in letting Blago close a deal with the briber(s) negotiating with him on behalf of Jesse Jackson, Jr., was that they, too, would be implicated in a crime along with Blago. Whatever happened to the notion of intent to commit a crime? Blago went to jail – the briber(s) skated. That was the goal.

 

Pages 286-288: “Jackson was the uber African American, Blagojevich reminded Harris.  He would consider what it would mean in black politics and how it would strengthen him, Blagojevich said, and don’t forget, third parties had offered him $1.5 million in fund-raising help.”  (p. 286)

 

There’s tangible, concrete, tangible stuff from [Jackson’s] supporters, Blagojevich said, as Yang [Fred Yang, a pollster hired by Blagojevich] pressed him for more detail. Well like, you know. You know what I’m talking about, the governor finally told him. Specific amounts and everything.’” (p. 287)

 

“When prosecutors heard Blagojevich make the ‘tangible’ remark, they believed the Jackson proposal was in fact the way the governor was going to go.” (p. 288)

 

So, according to Coen/Chase, the feds believed that Blago was about to do a deal that would yield him $1.5 million for appointing Jesse Jackson, Jr. as a U.S. Senator from Illinois. That means that Blago was arrested to stop the commission of a specific crime, rather than to stop a crime spree.

 

If the USAO would have waited, both the bribee and the briber would have been caught and prosecuted. But the trap was sprung prematurely – for a reason.

 

Robert Blagojevich had a meeting scheduled with Jackson's money man  Raghuveer Nayak on Friday, December 5. After learning from Chase, on the evening of December 4, that his conversations were being intercepted by the feds, Blago instructed his brother Robert to cancel that meeting.

 

The Duck Rule

 

If it looks like a duck; waddles like a duck; and quacks like a duck – face it, it’s a duck.

 

As we wrote back in October 2011: “The arrest was timed to save Congressmen Jesse Jackson, Jr. from criminal prosecution for bribing a governor in order to receive a Senate appointment. Connect the dots. It was about saving J.J., Junior.

 

Remember that Jackson was the ’08 Co-chair of Obama’s Presidential Campaign Committee.

 

Conclusion

 

The book entitled Golden, written by two Chicago Tribune reporters who were granted special access to information coming from inside the investigation, is a 486-page apologia in defense of an improbable explanation behind the timing of the arrest of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

 

It is a duck.

 

Was there a quid pro quo deal here? Did the USAO inside-leaker(s) say, “Guys, we’ll give you exclusive access to all this information, and in exchange you tell the story the way we want it told. We gotta deal?”

 

Don’t forget that Roland Burris, the man Blago appointed to the U.S. Senate, was the 60th vote in favor of ObamaCare.  Had Blago, and those bribing him, both been arrested after the money was exchanged, would there have even been a second Senator from Illinois in the U.S. Senate when the ObamaCare vote was taken?

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14Sep/12

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald named as source of leak.

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Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay

 

Chicago Tribune reporters John Chase and Jeff Coen, in their recently released book Golden, claim that former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald lied when he said he did not know who was leaking information to the Trib about the Rod Blagojevich investigation being conducted by his office.

 

Chase and Coen state in their book that, "The newspaper also had information about a planned arrest date and that the investigation had spread to whether Blagojevich had corrupted the process of choosing a new senator to replace Barack Obama." 

 

According to Chase and Coen, the decision to arrest Rod Blagojevich on the morning of December 9th 2008 was made one week earlier by Patrick Fitzgerald.

 

Coincidentally, his decision was made at the same time Rod Blagojevich was attending the Governor's Conference in Philadelphia with President-elect Obama.

 


 

At the very least the media should ask these two questions:

 

1) Why would Fitzgerald decide to make an arrest a week before making it?

2) Why would Patrick Fitzgerald leak this information to the Chicago Tribune?

 

"Something rotten in Denmark"

 

There is another question that the media won’t ask. It concerns a matter that is troublesome to those of us interested in hearing the truth from our government and from the members of the Fourth Estate whose mission is to keep government honest.

 

Why would Patrick Fitzgerald's office pretend, along with Rod Blagojevich and his lawyers, that the protective order, entered into Court Records on 4-19-2009, prevented Rod Blagojevich from disclosing what was said in the phone conversations recorded by the feds?

 

Everyone involved in the case U.S.A v. Blagojevich knows that is false. So why spread that false perception? And, why has the media played along with this deception?

 

A) The protective order was an agreed order, meaning the prosecutor and the defense attorneys agreed to the terms. Judge Zagel did not impose it on Blago, it was self-imposed. Heres the language:

"Upon the agreement of counsel for the government and counsel of record for the defendant, it is hereby ordered as follows:"

 

B) The order did not restrict Rod Blagojevich from discussing his conversations.

Blagojevich was free to recount his conversations from memory, and he was free to speak openly of them.

 

That the protective order did not restrict him from doing so is clearly evident from entries #9 and #10 of said order. Not only was Blago not restricted, his attorneys agreed to the terms that enable the feds to disseminate whatever information, to whomever, they wish.

 

9. “The restrictions set forth in the Order do not apply to the United States and nothing in this Order limits the government's use and/or dissemination of these materials.”

 

10. “The restrictions set forth in this Order do not apply to documents that are in the public record or public domain. In addition, this Order does not apply to any material that defendant obtains from any sources other than the government.”

 

Why are we being lied to? And why are Rod Blagojevich's lawyers so quiet?

 

The answers to these questions, and more, are coming soon!

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7Sep/12

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald gives the United States of America it’s first Tin-Pot Dictator “Barack Hussein Obama”

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Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay  

 

The communications posted below are just one example of how Patrick Fitzgerald and the Chicago Tribune worked together to insure that Barack Hussein Obama, aka "The Chosen One" would win the 2008 Presidential election.  Illinois PayToPlay will have more on this soon.

 

All questions and or information related to this criminal activity should be directed to :

 

           Congressman Darrell Issa              [email protected]

                                              

            Dale Neugebauer                           [email protected]

               Chief-of-Staff  

               

            Washington, DC                                (202) 225-3906 

            California                                           (760) 599-5000

 

 

 

From: (redacted)

To: "David Young" <[email protected]>

Sent: Friday, June 3, 2011 8:58:46 AM

Subject: Fwd: My Source (TIP)   

 

Mr David Young 

 

Please see that Senator Charles Grassley receives a copy of this.

 

(name redacted)

 

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: (redacted)

To: "Glenn Selig" <[email protected]>

Sent: Thursday, June 2, 2011 9:17:04 PM

Subject: Fwd: My Source (TIP)   

 

Glenn,

 

As we discussed, The fact that Rod Blagojevich is not making John Chase and the Chicago Tribune an issue in this case is very telling.  What will be most interesting is.  To what extent is Darrell Issa going to ignore what is happening before he is forced to step up ? 

 

http://media.apps.chicagotribune.com/blago/5231-session-1423-blagojevich-home.html

 

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: (redacted)

To: 

Sent: Thursday, June 2, 2011 12:59:49 PM

Subject: Fwd: My Source (TIP)  

 

 

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: (redacted)

To: "Glenn Selig" <[email protected]>

Sent: Wednesday, June 1, 2011 10:43:11 PM

Subject: My Source

 

Glenn,

 

I think this speaks for itself.

 

 

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: 

To: 

Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 8:07:17 AM

Subject: Fwd: Or maybe

 

 

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: 

To: "Rod Blagojevich" <[email protected]>

Cc: "Sheldon Sorosky" <[email protected]>, "Aaron Goldstein" <[email protected]>, "Randall Samborn" <[email protected]>, "Kimberly Nerheim" <[email protected]>, "ca49interndo" <[email protected]>, "Dale Neugebauer" <[email protected]>, "Justin Roth" <[email protected]>, "Gerould Kern" <[email protected]>, "John Kass" <[email protected]>, "Jeff Coen" <[email protected]>, "Donald Hayner" <[email protected]>, "Chris Fusco" <[email protected]>, "Tim Novak" <[email protected]>, "Dave McKinney" <[email protected]>

Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 9:15:23 AM

Subject: Fwd: Or maybe

 

Ladies and gentleman,

 

 My source at the Chicago Tribune (referred to below) is John Chase. The same John Chase that warned Rod Blagojevich that the feds had a wiretap on him.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Concerned citizen

 

 

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: 

To: "Chris Fusco" <[email protected]>, "Tim Novak" <[email protected]>, "Carol Marin" <[email protected]>, "Dave McKinney" <[email protected]>

Cc: "Donald Hayner" <[email protected]>

Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 7:52:38 AM

Subject: Fwd: Or maybe

 

What about the folks at the Sun-Times ? 

 

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: 

To: "Rod Blagojevich" <[email protected]>

Cc: "Sheldon Sorosky" <[email protected]>, "Aaron Goldstein" <[email protected]>, "Glenn Selig" <[email protected]>, "Dale Neugebauer" <[email protected]>, "Justin Roth" <[email protected]>, "ca49interndo" <[email protected]>, "Cheyenne steel" <[email protected]>

Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 9:12:10 PM

Subject: Or maybe

 

Or maybe, no one wants the truth to get out ?  

Does anyone want to know who in the Chicago Tribune organization informed me that the Tribune was sitting on the John Thomas (FBI mole) story to protect Barack Obama, at the behest of Patrick Fitzgerald ? Surely Rod Blagojevich and his lawyers will want to know or will they ? Why wouldn't they want to know ?

 

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: 

To: "Glenn Selig" <[email protected]>

Cc: "Sheldon Sorosky" <[email protected]>, "Aaron Goldstein" <[email protected]>, "Rod Blagojevich" <[email protected]>

Sent: Monday, April 25, 2011 8:42:04 PM

Subject: Maybe everyone is inept ?

 

Glenn

 

To date, not a single person that has received this string of emails has asked me the simple and obvious question, who is your source at the Chicago Tribune. Remember what we discussed.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Concerned citizen 

 

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: 

To: "Glenn Selig" <[email protected]>

Sent: Monday, April 18, 2011 8:23:27 AM

Subject: Fwd: FBI director Fitzgerald ?

 

Glenn

 

I appreciate that you are talking to Rod Blagojevich about what we have discussed, however in the mean time, has Sheldon shared this email with you ?

 

xxxxxxx

 

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: 

To: "John Kass" <[email protected]>

Cc: "Chris Fusco" <[email protected]>, "Eric Zorn" <[email protected]>, "Gerould Kern" <[email protected]>, "Donald Hayner" <[email protected]>, "Dale Neugebauer" <[email protected]>

Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2011 9:44:29 AM

Subject: Fwd: FBI director Fitzgerald ?

 

John 

 

You continue to be an outspoken fan of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald despite the fact you have been given evidence that should concern you deeply.

Perhaps since you and the Chicago Tribune feel so strongly about the virtues of Patrick Fitzgerald you can ask him a few questions that need answering.

 

1 Who leaked sealed information about the wire tap on Rod Blagojevich to John Chase, and have they been charged for that crime ?

2 Who leaked the information to John Chase that John Wyma was cooperating with the U.S Attorneys office ?

3 Why are the John Thomas files sealed ?

4 Etc., 

5 Etc.,

6 Etc.,

Get answers to these and you will be on your way to recovery.

FBI director Patrick Fitzgerald ?  Pay-to-Play on steroids, he should know.   You should talk to John Chase about this, as you know I have !

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: 

To: "jskass" <[email protected]>

Sent: Friday, December 18, 2009 6:42:03 PM

Subject: Chicago Tribune - John Thomas

 

 

To whom it may concern

 

John Thomas was a mole for the FBI in the case in Illinois against Tony Rezko and others.  The Chicago Tribune was aware of the fact and chose not to write a story about him at the behest of Patrick Fitzgerald (U.S Attorney Northern Dist IL). The Tribune eventually wrote a story about John Thomas, however the story they wrote was not accurate.  My source at the Chicago Tribune claims that when Patrick Fiztgerald asked the Chicago Tribune to sit on the Thomas story, claiming it could put his life in danger, the Chicago Tribune refused.  The Chicago Tribune told Mr Fitzgerald that they were going to run the story anyway.  It was only when Patrick Fitzgerald told the Chicago Tribune that if they ran the story that it would affect the Presidential election did the Chicago Tribune agree not to run the story.  My source at the Chicago Tribune confirmed this meant Obama. My source also informed me of other information that would be of interest to the people of Illinois that was not being reported in the Chicago Tribune.

 

 

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: 

To: 

Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 8:03:33 AM

Subject: FBI director Fitzgerald ?

 

I have known about this for a while, however I do find the timing of this interesting?  

Could make for interesting confirmation hearings.

 

 

www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0317-20110317,0,5332476.column  

chicagotribune.com

 

If Fitzgerald goes to Washington, will political cockroaches like Blagojevich multiply?

 

John Kass

March 17, 2011

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Rod Blagojevich awoke after a night of uneasy dreams to find that he had been transformed:

 

Not into just another Illinois political cockroach — one more former governor awaiting a federal criminal trial — but as a WLS-AM morning radio talk show host shamelessly sucking up to his potential jury pool.

 

So as WLS invited former Gov. Dead Meat to use the federally licensed airwaves to politic to the jury and claim his innocence, he dropped the name of famed writer Franz Kafka.

 

And his co-host, wife Patti, chimed in, saying those federal prosecutors in Chicago were really unfair.

 

"The whole thing, it's a story out of Kafka," said Dead Meat. "You know he wrote this novel 'The Trial,' which is just an unbelievable thing about how somebody can be falsely accused of things, and then they just drop a big thing on you, and create a firestorm and before you have a chance to catch your breath, you've been defined a certain way."

 

Dead Meat was referring Kafka's story of Josef K., a young bank official who is arrested by federal agents and tried, though neither he nor the reader ever learn the exact nature of the crime.

 

It's a crazy reference, because Dead Meat knows the charges against him — like trying to sell that "(bleeping) golden" U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama.

 

And both he and Patti know the names of all the prosecutors and FBI agents, including U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

 

"My point is, it's a selective prosecution," Patti told the audience.

 

And she mentioned the story of her husband's replacement, Gov. Patrick Quinn, and his appointment of former state Rep. Careen Gordon, a Democrat from Morris.

 

During her campaign, Gordon opposed a tax increase but lost anyway. Then in January, Quinn needed her vote to pass his 67 percent income tax hike. He offered her an $86,000-a-year job on the state prison review board. As a potentially interesting confirmation hearing neared, Gordon withdrew her name from consideration Wednesday.

 

Quinn and Gordon insisted there was no quid pro quo, but anyone who believed that is a chumbolone.

 

"Why is it OK for Quinn and Careen Gordon to act this way?" whined Patti. "But we're sitting in a situation where you're going to go to trial again for the second time, for something far less concrete, than what they actually did."

 

What Quinn did is contemptible, but at least Quinn didn't have his fingerprints all over Obama's Senate seat.

 

On Wednesday, Patti was less (bleeping) Lady Macbeth and more like a 5-year-old, wondering why she and Rod got caught when everybody else gets to do it.

 

The last time I'd heard her speak was on a TV reality show, "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!"

 

She'd just eaten a plateful of live jungle bugs, perhaps Costa Rican cockroaches, and she was using the tip of her tongue to work them out of her teeth, the way you work celery out of your molars, when she began blubbering about Rod's innocence.

 

It was difficult to watch back then, but she got through it, and enough potential jurors must have seen it, too, because Dead Meat was convicted on only one federal count — lying to the FBI.

 

The retrial is scheduled to start April 20, and Fitzgerald has his prosecution team streamlining the case.

 

And now Fitzgerald might be making a move, to Washington. He's on the short list to replace Robert Muller as director of the FBI.

 

Whether he gets the job or not is something else again. I think Fitzgerald would like the post. Friends of his have been talking about it for years. He's obviously qualified, and he has hunted crooked Democrats and crooked Republicans with equal gusto.

 

But would the Chicago Way White House — with mayoral brother Billy Daley as chief of staff to the president — want an uncontrollable Fitzgerald running the FBI for the next 10 years?

 

Who knows? Billy Daley is approving the short list being leaked out to the media, with Fitz's name on it.

 

"He's clearly the best qualified candidate for the FBI director's post in the country, bar none," said former U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, no relation, who defied the Illinois Combine by installing the independent Fitzgerald in the job.

 

It made them so angry that Sen. Fitzgerald was run out of Illinois politics as a result.

 

"It would be Chicago's loss if Patrick Fitzgerald became director of the FBI," the former senator said. "All sorts of characters in Chicago would be delighted if Patrick were promoted out of town. As FBI director, his responsibilities would be focused on a broad spectrum and he wouldn't have time to focus just on Chicago."

 

Blagojevich was consistent throughout his shameless morning talk show rant.

 

He was the wronged man. His enemies wanted his hide. He was the one who fought on behalf of the people against all those schemers, liars and knaves.

 

But he got the Kafka reference wrong. It wasn't "The Trial" he should have been thinking of, but "The Metamorphosis," which Kafka would have begun this way, if he were covering the trial.

 

"As Rod Blagojevich awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. … His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes."

 

If the best exterminator leaves town, what will happen to all those political cockroaches?

 

They'll multiply. As in the old days.

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1Sep/12

Is President Barack Obama being blackmailed ?

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Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay

 

It appears that Mr Jerome Corsi is one person who can speak to the very real possibility that Barack Hussein Obama ,The President Of The United States Of America, is being blackmailed

 

Update:  Daniel T Frawley's date to report to prison has now been pushed back to after the presidential election , and Frawley's attorney Thomas M Durkin will likely be made a federal judge within days. Barack Obama nominated Mr Durkin to be a federal judge and Sen. Dick Durbin has given his strong support to Durkin's nomination.

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: (redacted)

To: Jerome Corsi

Cc: (redacted)

Sent: 2012-08-29 13:49:55 +0000

Subject: Re: Nahdmi Auchi's secret meetings with Barack Obama

 

Jerry,

 

So that we're clear, are you seriously telling me that you have changed your reason for not releasing the information about Obama's secret meetings with Auchi from the one you stated below ? Now the reason you will not release the information is because you gave total control of what you do with that information to Daniel T Frawley, a convicted felon.  Really ?  Are you serious ?

 

(name redacted)

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Jerome Corsi

To:(redacted)  

Sent: 2012-08-29 12:32:14 +0000

Subject: Re: Nahdmi Auchi's secret meetings with Barack Obama

 

(name redacted)

You can beg, I couldn't care less.  I gave my word to Dan that I only did

the tape on the condition Dan had to OK its broadcast.  I will keep my

word to Dan.  Besides, Auchi may be important to you, but he is truly

yesterday's news.

I don't plan to answer you emails again if you merely repeat what you have

already sent me.

 

Regards

J.Corsi

 

 

On 8/29/12 8:09 AM, (redacted) wrote:

 

 

Jerry,

 

Nahdmi Auchi's ability to deploy his pitbull lawyers against American

authors has been greatly diminished, if not altogether eliminated by new

laws passed here in the last two years. American authors no long have to

adhere to the libel laws of the U.K.

 

Auchi's role in helping Barack Obama obtain the most powerful position in

the free world must be exposed. You, sir, are in a position to help do just that.

 

Jerry, there is very little difference between you refusing to release

the information you have pertaining to Nahdmi Auchi's secret meetings with

Barack Obama, and what the LATimes is doing in their refusal to release

the tape of Obama toasting Rashid Khalidi.

 

Many of us never expected that the LATimes would do the right thing. But

your readers, sir, do expect you to do the right thing. And so did (name withheld)

and I when we sent Bob Cooley and Dan Frawley to you.

So Jerry, it's time you tell what you learned in that Chicago interview,

for the good of the nation. After the election, no one will care what you know.

 

(name redacted)

 

 

----- Forwarded message -----

From: (Name and address withheld)

To: "Jerome Corsi"

Subject: Re: Frawley

Date: Fri, Feb 24, 2012 3:19 pm

 

Jerry I understand, however the play we are making is about U.S. Attorney

Patrick Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is the focus here.

 

 

----- Reply message -----

From: "Jerome Corsi"

To: (redacted)

Subject: Frawley

Date: Fri, Feb 24, 2012 2:29 pm

 

(Name redacted)

I went back over my video with Frawley ‹ much of it was about Auchi.   I

understand how Auchi fits in, but it has to be really critical to go after

him.  He is a billionaire and he hires a battery of lawyers every time he is

mentioned in print.  I've already been through that with THE OBAMA NATION.

I will do it again, but only when I know the article will make a big impact.

 

Regards,

Jerry Corsi

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23Jun/12

What does George Weaver know about 400k Tony Rezko paid to Obama ?

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Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay

Tony Rezko's partner Daniel T Frawley shared this letter he wrote to his attorney with Robert Cooley. In this letter Mr. Frawley claims his ex-attorney George Weaver can confirm that he (Frawley) provided cash for Tony Rezko to payoff Barack Obama !  Patrick Fitzgerald's replacement will need to take a look at this.

Perhaps Congressman Joe Walsh will also take notice ? (Special Counsel?)

As for the Chicago SunTimes and the Chicago Tribune, maybe if we hold our breath ?

 

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Dan Frawley <Address withheld>
Date: Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 11:05 AM
Subject: Weaver
To: robert XXXXX <Robert Cooley's email address withheld>

Mark

Here is Weaver's real concern and this is fact not opinion.
Weaver told my sister Kathleen and I this story at his (Weaver's) office
Weaver then repeated the same story to Jeffrey Steinbach a couple of days
later when Weaver called Jeff before Weaver
met with USAO Caroline McNiven and FBI supervisor Pat Murphy.
Weaver then went in and told the same story to the USAO.
Weaver then called me immediately after leaving the USAO office. (Within 5
minutes via pay phone)
Jeff then confirmed to me what Weaver told the USAO after speaking with the
USAO.

Weaver's Explanation in first person:

I did not tell the USAA about the alleged payment from TR to BO because I
was afraid.
I was afraid that all of the news coverage would bring reporters to my door
and they would camp out there.
I was afraid I would be labeled a racist and Dan and Kathy you know I am not
political at all.
I was especially worried about the affect this would have on my son Michael.
I did this to Protect my family and myself from the publicity.

NOW here is the part that George lied to Jeff and the USAO to.
George told them (USA) & Jeff) that he George had a drink with me at the bar in George's office building. (121 N. La Salle St.)George said he told me then and there what Tony Rezko told George regarding BO and the alleged payoff. George Said that the reason for doing so was to hold this information out incase I did not get a good deal from the USAO then George could use this info as the last turn of the screw on TR and get me the best deal. George said that no one would believe me if I did not recall the story George’s way and that my sister and brother would also be indicted

George then went to Jeff and the USAO that story

I had already met with the USAO with Jeff and told the true story. I
originally went along with Weaver’s story because I was worried about my
brother and sister, but after about 10 days I went with Steinbach and
straightened out the misunderstandings. never knew whom TR gave the cash to
all I knew is Weaver Said the money went in cash in plastic grocery sacks to high elected
official. I always assumed it was Rod.

Jeff told me that the USAO knew Weaver lied to them and that USAO has
nothing but disgust and disdain for Weaver.
Jeff said the USAO could charge Weaver with Conspiracy, lying to the FBI and
obstruction of justice.
Of course we do not care about the criminal aspect but the civil

Government law enforcement people can testify to weaver' lying and
malpractice

Were we also have weaver is Weaver told his wife Janice and his mother in
law what happened with BO & TR

We can depose Weavers wife and mother in law.
Weaver was so worried abut involving his family this or the threat of it
along with the publicity is Weaver's Achilles heal.

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12May/12

Rezko’s partner testifies against the Feds?

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Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay

For the moment, Illinois PayToPlay is going to let this provocative document created by Daniel T Frawley speak for itself.

But we do want to suggest that reporting on allegations of corruption, involving government officials tied to the Rezko investigation, does not fit the the current political agenda of the Chicago Sun Times or the Chicago Tribune.

Could that be because Chicago is a "Sanctuary City" for corrupt government officials?

For the lucky politicrooks allowed to set-up shop in Chicago, there's a blanket of protection provided in large part by the two major dailies. Who protects the honest citizen?

Perhaps in 7-8 years, when it's politicly expedient, the Chicago Sun-Times will be all over this Frawley story.

From: "Ernie Souchak" <address withheld>
To: "John Barron" <[email protected]>, "Andrew Herrmann" <[email protected]>, "Gerould Kern" <[email protected]>
Cc: "Tim Novak" <[email protected]>, "Carol Marin" <[email protected]>, "Chris Fusco" <[email protected]>, "Dave McKinney" <[email protected]>, "John Chase" <[email protected]>, "Jeff Coen" <[email protected]>, "John Kass" <[email protected]>, "Eric Zorn" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 7:38:17 PM
Subject: Rezko's partner testifies against the Feds ?
 
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: Thu, May 10, 2012 at 7:19 PM
Subject: Fwd: FYI
To: Ernie Souchak<address withheld>
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dan Frawley <email address withheld>
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 7:07 AM
Subject: Fwd: FYI
To: robert XXXXX <Bob Cooley's email address withheld>

  

 1) The USAO told Tom Durkin during Tom’s meeting with Fitzgerald, Shapiro, Ridgeway and FBI agent Jay Hagstrom that I was considered a fully co-operating witness until 2008.

The USAO was told in 2008 that I tipped him (Rezko) off that I was recording Rezko and the USAO had co-oberating evidence and because of this declination was off the table.

Tom mentioned this to me in Tom’s email to me re: the meeting at 219 South Dearborn.

1) Tom called me and asked me about the incident and I had no recollection. I did not because it did not seem important at the time and I will explain later. I went and met with Sam Doerger as well as speaking to him on the phone about it. Sam suggested I ask Jay, I did.

2) I met with Jay at the FBI office in Lisle. Jay did not give me all the details but let me know almost 99% the incident happened before Jay was assigned to the case and it happened at Tony’s office in the Sears Tower on July 3rd the year Sam retired.

                             SEARS TOWER MEETING WITH TONY JULY 3rd

1) I met with Sam Doerger and Mary Beth King at a Chinese restaurant on Jackson Blvd. July Fourth. During that meeting Mary Beth and Sam informed me they wanted me to wear a wire and record Tony in his office on the 95th story of THE SEARS TOWER. I told the agents of a prior meeting at the Sears Tower. (I will explain later)

2) The USAO wanted me to walk through a metal detector with metal on, bad idea.

4) Agent King to said Sam that this operation had disaster written all over it. Sam agreed and thought we should not do the taping that day. The agents were under pressure to tape Tony by the USAO.

5) I told the agents there were at least 3 levels of security of the tower

A) No one was allowed in with out having a pass and checking in with the security desk. The desk called Tony’s office to confirm the visit, I also let the agents know most of the time Rezko sent someone down from Rezmar to escort me to the office.

B) The seconded line was a metal detector everybody had to pass through

C) The third line, which I did not have, enough information about was an automatic glass door entrance that set of a green light to allow the visitor to pass. I did not know how this glass door operated or what its function was. I suggested the agents let me go over to the SEARS TOWER let me observe the security and try later that week. I was told, “No”. I then said give me a ten minute head start and let me at least get a look at it and I would figure a way through the system for the recording device.

D) The agents settled on a plan to send Mary Beth King in ahead of me. Mary Beth would gain entrance by going up to a law firm at sears Tower and then meet me on another floor and hand me the devise.

E) Mary Beth was unsuccessful. The law firm would not allow her into the Tower. I entered the tower and received permission from security and Tony to enter the Rezmar 95th floor office. I saw Mary Beth in the vestibule of the building after I received permission to enter. I could tell Mary Beth looked disconcerted. I walked past Mary Beth and dropped my AMX card and handed it to her as if she had dropped it. Mary Beth told me she could not get up to the law offices but she would try another way and meet me on another floor.

F) I went to the scheduled meeting floor and waited for 15 minute, when Mary Beth did not appear I had to go to Tony’s office. I could not just have waited indefinitely; they were expecting me because security notified Rezmar that I was on my way

            I AM 99% SURE THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED/I NEVER THUGHT ABOUT IT UNTIL TOM ASKED ME AFTER HIS MEETING WITH FITZGERALD BECAUSE EVERYTHING WENT WRONG AND THE AGENTS Were AGAINST THE MEETING FROM THE START AND I WAS NOT RECORDED

 1) I met with Tony in his office, by this time the FBI had been called by the Chief of Security of the Sears Tower asking what was Agent Mary Beth King doing in the Sears Tower with Dan Frawley, the jig was up and the whole thing was an avoidable disaster caused by the USAO not the agents who wanted to wait. I had no device when I met with tony and for all I knew he was aware I was with the FBI & had a recorder. I SHOT THE BREEZE ABOUT NOTHING BECAUSE I DID NOT HAVE A RECORDING DEVICE.

2) Tony asked me to take out my cell phone and disassemble it, Tony was afraid it was a recording.

3) I think that is when I handed Tony a note saying I was wiring him, which I was not and then ate the note. I thought it would work to our advantage and Tony would trust me and be more forth coming in meetings when he thought he was not recorded. The plan worked. Tony met with me for another 2 years.

4) I left the Tower and met Sam and Mary Beth, who were waiting in my Tahoe. The agents were frantic. The agents received a call to go immediately upon my return to 55 West Monroe to meet with the USAU because the head of Sears Tower Security called the FBI and was livid about what was happening. The agents never asked me what had happened they were so distraught and worried: 1) That something had happened to me 2) the whole investigation was blown 3) I would never be able to record Rezko again. 4) I never mentioned what happened in Rezko’s office because of the need of the agents were in such a hurry to get to Monroe St. that I was never debriefed. I dropped them off and it never crossed my mind and I was not asked until Tom met with Shapiro

Had I not regained Tony’s confidence that day and continued meeting with him for an additional 2 years I would not have been able to get the following would never have come to fruition?

A) Buddy Wilkins and the second set of Papa John’s books the FBI had no idea about and then later had me obtain and the FBI copied.

I) Tony plead guilty to defrauding GE Credit because of this

II) Al Chaib plead guilty based on this evidence, until then Chaib had been non-co-operative and was changing defense lawyers regularly.

III) Jack Lavin (Now Pat Quinn’s Chief of Staff) moved a line item of $3 million dollars from Panda into Papa John’s Pizza in order for Tony to get the GE loan

III) Buddy Wilkins was being bribed by Joe Duffy to withhold information from Carolyn and the grand jury! Duffy bribing Wilkins is no exaggeration. Wilkins was offered immunity to testify and Murphy advised Wilkins to turn the immunity down I was living at Maureen’s house and Maureen heard the recorded conversations with Wilkins regarding the withholding information from the grand Jury. Jay Hagstrom was aghast and knew a former USAO was bribing a grand jury witness.

Gene Murphy was Buddy’s attorney, Rezko was paying Murphy. Murphy would brief Duffy and his partners about Wilkins meetings with the FMI and USAO. Murphy would give Rezko’s attorney’s information before it Murphy gave it to his client Wilkins; this was confirmed to Wilkins by Murphy’s legal secretary Diane.

V) USUA Carolyn McNiven used my information to have Murphy removed as Buddy’s attorney as a conflict of interest.

VI) Richard Friedman the bribery and co-operation replaced Murphy with Tony’s attorney’s continued until I got the information on tape that Carolyn wanted. !) The FBI arrested buddy in North Carolina. 2) Buddy was taken back into custody and returned to Chicago. 3) Buddy testified truthfully in front of a grand jury. 4) Buddy was not prosecuted.

1) Tony and his wife both left the USA. Tony’s wife left without the FBI knowing and they were very embarrassed about this. I knew because I had a contact at O’Hare who informed me. I am the one who let the USAU know Mrs. Rezko left the USAO to meet Tony.

2) I tracked Tony all over the world for the FBI for 4 months when they did not know where he was. I got info form my contact at Jordanian Airways and I knew the hotels where he stayed and I got to know the hotel staff that gave me all of Tony’s travel plans. I think I also played a role in talking tony into returning to the US.

3) Weaver asked Steve Blanc to handle negotiations of my repayment from Rezko with Rezko’s attorney, Steve thought this was Weaver’s role and not his, but Steve agreed to do so. We now know why Weaver asked Steve.

4) Steve and I were able to get from Tony’s attorney, Howard Adelman the routing of $3,500,000 in funds from a Syrian Bank to a Beruit Bank to a Belgium bank to a Toronto bank to Joe Duffy’s US Client account) (Rezko) bank. Jay Hagstrom told me it was almost impossible for the FBI to get this info in real time and if the USAU had not received the information before the money hit the client account there is nothing the government could do. The USAU used this info to revoke Rezko’s bail

5) I reached an agreement with Adelman for repayment of my loan from Tony Rezko. The USAO approved and Agent Hagstrom told me to go ahead and collect. I was on my way to pick-up 2 certified checks for $375,000 waiting for me at HOWARD ADELMAN’S LAW OFFICE, when I noticed a clause in the contract I thought would put me into a position of working with Tony’s attorney’s. I called my attorney’s and could not reach any of them. I called Jay who said I could collect my money. I called Carolyn. Carolyn was livid and accused me of working both sides of the deal, which was ridiculous. I had the OK, I caught the USAO and FBI error and brought it to their attention, so their case would not be compromised. I was broke the $375,000 would have made a huge difference in my life. As it turns out I should have just taken the money because now they indicted me over another one of their mistakes. THE ORGANIZATION THAT WANTS PEOPLE TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY NEVER ACCEPTS ANY OF IT’S OWN

6) THE FIRST SEARS TOWER INCIDENT. I HAD A RECORDING DEVICE ON ME WHEN I MET TONY REZKO AND MIKE RUMAN AT THE REZMAR OFFICES ON ELSTON AVE. UNEXPECTEDLY, TONY AND MIKE AND I GOT IN MIKE’S CAR AND DROVE TO THE SEARS TOWER. I WAS WEARING A WIRE AND HAD TO WALK THROUGH A METAL DETECTOR! I EXCUSED MYSELF WENT TO THE MEN’S ROOM AND DUPMED THE WIRE. I WAS ABLE TO TALK TONY INTO NOT GOING THROUGH THE DETECTOR AND TO HAVE A CONVERSATION IN THE CORNER BAKERY RESTAURANT BECAUSE I WAS NOT FEELING WELL. WHILE TONY WAITED IN LINE TO GET US COFFE I WENT BACK TO THE JOHN, RETRIEVED THE WIRE FROM THE GARBAGE AND RECORDED US.

7) SAM DOERGER COMPLIMENTED ME ON MY FAST THINKING AND TOLD ME NOT TO SHORT SELL MY OWN IDEA’S AND USE MY HEAD.

8)    AFTER THE 2ND SEARS TOWER INCIDENT SAM TOLD ME FROM THEN ON IF THERE WAS SOMETHING I DID NOT WANT TO DO, TO TELL HIM AND HE WOULD GO ALONG WITH IT.

9) I gave this accounting to Tom and Tom said it sounded like too much CLOAK AND DAGGER; well it is Cloak and Dagger

10) For this the USAU indicted me upon Tony’s word and co-oberating evidence, probable that lying bribing cocksucker Joe Duffy former USAO. The USAU indicts me on the word of a man who bribed one of their most important witnesses and they let Joe Duffy walk.

--

Please send all emails to this Gmail address.

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8May/12

Daniel T. Frawley details Rezko investigation: “I taped Buddy the night before his 2nd to last Federal Grand Jury appearance.”

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Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay

DEVELOPING STORY:

Will the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune completely disregard their responsibilities and ignore this story ?

From: "Ernie Souchak" <email address withheld>
To: "John Barron" <[email protected]>, "Andrew Herrmann" <[email protected]>, "Gerould Kern" <[email protected]>
Cc: "Tim Novak" <[email protected]>, "Carol Marin" <[email protected]>, "Chris Fusco" <[email protected]>, "Dave McKinney" <[email protected]>, "John Chase" <[email protected]>, "Jeff Coen" <[email protected]>, "John Kass" <[email protected]>, "Eric Zorn" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, May 6, 2012 9:00:49 PM
Subject: Fwd: Daniel T Frawley

Who wants to be a journalist ?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <withheld>
Date: Sun, May 6, 2012 at 1:46 PM
Subject: Daniel T Frawley
To: "Ernie Souchak"<email address withheld>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dan Frawley <Dan Frawley's email address withheld>
Date: Sun, Aug 7, 2011 at 8:50 PM
Subject: Buddy Wilkins re;co-operation and immunity
To: robert XXXXX <Bob Cooley's email address withheld>

 

I.               Tony Rezko’s Defense attorney’s

A)    J. Duffy is a founding principal of Stetler & Duffy, Ltd. Mr. Duffy served in the United Joseph States Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Illinois from 1980-1989. As Assistant U.S. Attorney, he investigated and prosecuted complex financial crimes and public corruption cases. He was appointed Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, Chief of the Criminal Division, and later First Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois.

B)     William P. Ziegelmueller jointed the firm at its inception and is currently a member (partner) of Stetler, Duffy & Rotert, Ltd. Mr. Ziegelmueller focuses his practice on white-collar criminal defense and civil litigation, primarily in federal courts nationwide.

C)    Gene Murphy was  an Assistant State’s Attorney at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office For eight years. Gene  prosecuted financial crime, fraud, and racketeering cases against corporate executives and business owners, union and government officials, and organized crime figures.

  • Gene headed the litigation practice at two Chicago-area litigation boutiques, and in 2004 went to the Chicago office of Bryan Cave – one of the 35 largest law firms in the world – as a commercial litigation partner.

D)    Richard Friedman Attorney-There are many Richard Friedman’s listed in the Chicago area as Attorney’s; this Richard Friedman is a friend of Gene Murphy.

E)     James (Buddy) Wilkins Buddy; Wilkins was not represented by either Joe Duffy or William P. Ziegelmueller. Attorney Gene Murphy represented Buddy WILKIN’S. The following can all be confirmed by USAO recorded conversations both in person and over the phone Murphy withdrew from the case after the US Attorney’s office had Gene Murphy do so because of a conflict of interest. I do not know what the exact conflict was. I BELIEVE 100% IT WAS BECAUSE OF MY TAPE RECORDING BUDDY WILKINS DURING MY COOPERATION WITH THE USAO. Buddy Wilkins’s was offered immunity by the USAO and Buddy was counseled by Gene Murphy not to cooperate. Gene Murphy was reporting directly to Joe Duffy and Ziegelmueller giving Tony Rezko’s attorney’s chapter and verse of all of Buddy Wilkins’s meetings with the USAO and Wilkins’s testimony to the federal Grand Jury. I first found this out from Buddy before the USAO asked e to record Wilkins. Buddy told me that Gene Murphy’s legal assistant (Diana? no last name, but her identity can be established easily.) Buddy told me that Gene Murphy would call Duffy, Ziegelmueller and or Tony Rezko often before talking to Welkins’. Murphy would take direction from Duffy and his crew telling Murphy to tell Wilkins what to do and say to the USAO and the Federal Grand jury. Wilkins told me that Wilkins’ legal fees were paid by the Tony Rezko defense fund. Murphy withdrew as Buddy’s attorney under pressure from the USAO’s office.

F)     Richard Friedman Attorney-There are many Richard Friedman’s listed in the Chicago area as Attorney’s; this Richard Friedman is a friend of Gene Murphy and was appointed by Murphy to represent Buddy Wilkins. Friedman continued co-operating with Duffy and crew. Friedman was never taped directly, but I had many taped recordings with Buddy Wilkins I which Wilkins mentions many conversations between Duffy, William P. Ziegelmueller and Richard Friedman. Friedman related to Buddy on more than one occasion that Duffy and Ziegelmueller had urged Tony Rezko to get a check to Buddy Wilkins. (Rezko owed Wilkins $25,000.) Rezko made the payments to Wilkins, usually before an appearance before the Federal Grand jury by Wilkins. I taped Buddy the night before his 2nd to last Federal Grand Jury appearance. Wilkins was flown to Chicago from North Carolina at government expense to testify before the grand jury the following morning. I picked Buddy up at O’Hare airport after meeting with FBI agents who gave me a recording advice and instructions. I received a call from the agents and the USAO’s office. The Government people were very discouraged, because the recorder malfunctioned and Wilkins stonewalled the Federal Grand Jury. I told them not to worry I could meet Buddy before he flew back to N. C. I spent hours recording Buddy and gave Buddy a ride to a friend of his house in the Southern Suburbs. The recording was very successful. Upon Buddy’s return to N.C. Buddy was taken into custody by the FBI and flown back to Chicago. Buddy finally told the truth to the Grand jury and received immunity or at least was never prosecuted and I can confirm that. The USAO asked me not to contact Buddy after that. I always felt good about this, because Buddy’s attorney’s represented Tony not Buddy (similar to what Weaver did to me) Buddy did not deserve to go to jail and had I not recorded buddy he would have followed advice from attorney’s who were supposed to represent him and did not.

 

 II) I never taped Duffy, Ziegelmueller, Murphy or Friedman however Buddy mentioned them innumerable times.

A)    The said incidents all happened.

B)     Said incidents can be proven by government tapes and by witnesses both with the government and others outside the Employment of the Federal Government.


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30Apr/12

The Frawley-Cooley emails, more to come

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Ernie Souchak, Editor-in-Chief, Illinois PayToPlay

 

Since last February 27, Illinois PayToPlay (IP2P) has posted five emails sent to Robert “Bob” Cooley by Daniel T. Frawley. Here are links to the five articles that highlighted those emails:  February 27March 1; April 8; April 17; and April 19.

There are more to come in the days ahead.

IP2P readers know that Cooley was the star witness in a series of Chicago trials in federal court in the early 1990’s that, as part of Operation Gambat,resulted in over a score of convictions involving a sitting Federal Judge, prominent Illinois politicians, and the Chicago City Council’s 1st Ward Alderman, a member of the Chicago “outfit”.

IP2P readers also know that Daniel T. Frawley was once a Chicago cop, then a business partner of Antoin “Tony” Rezko, and is now a sentenced felon who pled guilty to bank fraud. They also know that Frawley cooperated, for years, with the U.S. Attorney’s office in the investigation of Rezko and, although not called to testify against Rezko, helped put Tony behind bars.

Frawley was recently sentenced for one year and one day, after multiple sentencing delays. The judge tainted his sentence by questioning Frawley’s mental stability.  At IP2P we believe his sentence was as much, perhaps more, about what he knows than what he did.  And, that the timing of the jail time is aimed to keep him quiet until after the November election.

We suspect that the reference to Frawley’s potential mental instability by the sentencing judge was aimed at impugning his credibility in these emails, even after the feds used Frawley to gather information on Rezko, and in “at least a half-dozen different criminal investigations”.  Although Frawley has committed to making restitution of over four million dollars, probation was never in the cards for him.  (or was it ?)

Meanwhile, the two big Chicago daily newspapers, the Tribune and the Sun Times, have displayed no interest in pursuing multiple story leads that have surfaced from Frawley’s emails to Cooley.

IP2P asks - Why is that?

We think Steve Bartin, writing for the website NewGeography.com, in an article entitled “Blago’s Historic Sentencing: Organized Crime in Illinois,” may have hit upon the Tribune-Times problem when he asked, “Could a more vigilant press have stopped the amazing political career of Rod Blagojevich?”

The answer to Bartin’s rhetorical question is – Yes, of course.

That endemic Chicago corruption continues to exist is due, in no small part, to the complicity of the city’s two major daily newspapers, be that complicity benign, malignant, or a blend.

Nationally, Chicago is recognized as synonymous with corruption.

IP2P asks - Where’s the shame at the Tribune and Times?

In the future, IP2P will release more Frawley-Cooley emails, providing the two papers more leads to ignore.  Until, perhaps, the citizens of Chicago begin to pressure their two major newspapers to take their jobs seriously.

A somnolent press cannot long remain free.

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22Apr/12

Sun Times Reporter Promotes Democrats War-on-Women Meme

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Annabel Kent, Chicago Media Critic

Sun Times reporter Carol Marin’s April 20, 2012 article entitled “Vatican waging a war on nuns,” begins with this sentence: “You decide if this makes sense.”

We at Illinois PayToPlay have decided. It does – and it doesn’t – make sense.  Here’s how:

In a transparent attempt to stir up a gender conflict within the professional servant ranks of the Roman Catholic Church, Marin begins her piece with a short litany of misbehaviors by Catholic priests.  All males, of course.

From there, she launches into a screed accusing the Vatican of a “surreal” assault on the nuns in order to “alienate American Catholics from a faith they love and from a hierarchy that has compromised much of its moral authority.”  Of course, that hierarchy is made up of…all males.

Marin continues in that vein throughout most of her article.  The corrupt, all-male hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church is waging a war on the poor nuns, while the nuns are merely focused on “issues of poverty, war, health care and homosexuality”.

Therein we have a rendition of the Democrats’ current-running meme that accuses the Republicans of engaging in a “war-on-women.” Except in Marin’s case it comes from a Chicago daily newspaper that purports to report on, and deal in, facts.

So, yes, Marin’s article does make sense – given its biased, meta-message agenda.

But, no, it doesn’t make sense as to the reality – as opposed to Marin’s accusation of surreality – of the situation.

The substance of the current conflict between the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWC) and the Vatican has a definite religio-political aspect. “The religious disagreement between the Vatican and the LCWR has a lot to do with end-of-life and abortion debates in the U.S., especially in the context of President Obama's health care reform law,” reports The Slatest.

It’s beyond dispute that the LCWC has a left-progressive agenda. It makes no attempt to hide that. For example, in their Spring 2012Resolution To Action: We are the 99% - The Occupy Movement,” LCWC calls on its readers to “Participate with the local Occupy group in your city by attending their assembly gatherings. Support the Occupy Movement with a personal or local house donation.”

Accompanying Marin’s article is this photo of The Sisters of Life order of New York, preparing for Pope Benedict XVI's visit to in Madrid in August 2011.

Marin should have selected a different order of nuns to illustrate her agenda.  Part of the Sisters of Life’s mission is to minister to women who are suffering the painful psychological consequences of having had an abortion. Their literature quotes John Paul II:  “I would now like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope.”

Fundamentally, Marin’s hostile bias is aimed squarely at the male hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, who, Marin clearly believes, oppress nuns as well as all the Church’s female laity.  In that regard, the priests are Marin’s metaphor for women-oppressing Republican politicians.

And this is big-time journalism?

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21Apr/12

The Chicago Gulag discredits “CI2”

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Introducing Nimat Tovakaz, Illinois PayToPlay’s Foreign Correspondent, The Istanbulum Gazetesi

Regarding the federal sentencing of Daniel T. Frawley, former business partner of Antoin “Tony” Rezko, the Sun Times reports that,

“[Judge Ronald] Guzman ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation and to serve time in a facility that has mental health services.”

This statement came in the context of Guzman’s noting that it’s been six years since Frawley was arrested for the crime for which he now faces jail time.

Also, it came in the context of the Times’ statement that,

“Over three years, Daniel T. Frawley would meet with government agents in an ‘off-campus,’ secret location. There, he divulged details used in at least a half-dozen different investigations, including the federal government’s case against Tony Rezko, a onetime fundraiser for ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Barack Obama before he became president.”

According to his attorney, being “wired up” was a “risky endeavor” for Frawley.

Thomas M. Durkin, one of Frawley’s attorneys, is quoted saying that Frawley was involved in investigation of “several significant public corruption cases”.

What cases were those?  Are they still pending?  If they are, what did the feds just say about the mental stability of their potential confidential informant?

Plus, what impact does the judge’s words have on the alleged “Whistleblower” law suit that the Times contends Frawley filed against his relatives, the McMahon’s, that is allegedly under seal?

If the “significant public corruption cases” Frawley was involved with are buried today, why is that?

No one in the old Chicago media is asking these questions today. Perhaps they’re not authorized to ask.

Frawley is referred to in the government’s motion to arrest Tony Rezko as “CI2,” for confidential informant #2.  His stability was good enough back then to take Tony off the streets while Tony awaited trial, and subsequent conviction.

But at Frawley’s sentencing, the judge tainted Frawley’s character with an implied judgment that Frawley needs medical mental treatment.

Well, perhaps he does.  But not that long ago, Frawley was mentally stable enough to wear a federal wire in dangerous situations.  So now he’s a head case?

Looking at this episode from a foreign perspective, is this what’s going on here in the Gulag that’s Chicago justice?

Forensic psychiatry in Eastern Europe, and in particular in the former Soviet Union, was closely and directly involved in the systematic use of psychiatry for political purposes by declaring political and religious dissidents mentally ill.” (Block, S., & Reddaway, P., 1997, Russia’s Political Hospital, London: Gollancz.)

Leningrad Special Psychiatric Hospital

USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs

 

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