The U.S. Attorney’s Office will monitor the general election in Chicago and surrounding suburbs on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, Gary S. Shapiro, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, announced today. As part of the monitoring effort, the office will operate a hotline for candidates or the public to call to report any complaints relating to voting. In addition, Assistant U.S. Attorneys and other personnel will be monitoring certain polling places, while other attorneys will be available to respond to complaints as needed.
The hotline number, staffed on Election Day only, is (312) 469-6157.
“This office has a long tradition of monitoring the polls on Election Day to help protect the integrity of the voting process,” Mr. Shapiro said. “No one who is entitled to vote should in any way be inhibited from doing so, and we stand ready to ensure a fair process for all.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heinze coordinates the office’s election monitoring efforts and subsequent investigations, if any, in consultation with the Justice Department. The Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service will assist in this effort by following-up, if necessary, on any election fraud and voting rights complaints.
Complaints about ballot access problems or discrimination can also be made directly to the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section in Washington at 1-800-253-3931 or 202-307-2767.
Federal law protects against such crimes as intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input. It also contains special protections for the rights of voters and provides that they can vote free from acts that intimidate or harass them. For example, actions of persons designed to interrupt or intimidate voters at polling places by questioning or challenging them or by photographing or videotaping them, under the pretext that these are actions to uncover illegal voting, may violate federal voting rights law. Further, federal law protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice.
Violations of federal voting rights statutes carry penalties ranging from one to 10 years’ imprisonment and fines up to $250,000.
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Sunday, November 04, 2012
Sal Polisi Discusses "The Sinatra Club: My Life Inside the New York Mafia " on Crime Beat Radio
On November 8th
, Sal Polisi discusses his autobiography, "The Sinatra Club: My Life Inside the New York Mafia" on Crime Beat Radio.
Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program that airs every Thursday at 8 p.m. EST., on the Artist First World Radio Network at artistfirst.com/crimebeat.
Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.
, Sal Polisi discusses his autobiography, "The Sinatra Club: My Life Inside the New York Mafia" on Crime Beat Radio.
Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program that airs every Thursday at 8 p.m. EST., on the Artist First World Radio Network at artistfirst.com/crimebeat.
Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.
Saturday, November 03, 2012
Adlai Stevenson's "The Black Book", A Timely Antidote For Jaded Politics
The Stevenson family has a unique place in American political history. The first Adlai E. Stevenson, Vice President of the U.S., collected stories, jokes and aphorisms in a loose-leaf binder throughout his long career. They were jotted on napkins, cards -- anything at hand. If it was worth keeping, it went in the binder which became known as “the black book.” His son, Lewis Stevenson, Illinois Secretary of State, contributed little, but his grandson Adlai II expanded the black book in his career as a lawyer, senior official in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, Governor of Illinois, Presidential candidate and Ambassador to the UN.
Adlai E. Stevenson III inherited the black book, including contributions from friends and supporters around the world, and augmented it from his career as a Marine, lawyer, State Representative, State Treasurer, United States Senator, candidate for governor, international investment banker and ever the hereditary global sojourner and public policy activist. The black book was continuously organized and reorganized as a ready source of wit and wisdom for their speeches.
While a lack of civility is a symptom of today’s money-driven politics of ideology, tactics, religiosity and ignorance, the author believes Americans today yearn for the politics and culture which created America and made it great.
In Adlai Stevenson III’s The Black Book, he records American politics, culture and history as these men knew it. Since few, if any, American families have been as actively involved in public office and politics for as long as the Stevensons – beginning in the 1840’s with great-great-grandfather Jesse Fell who sponsored Abraham Lincoln for President -- it is a unique history covering finance and economics, law and justice, the media, politics, religion, education, war, and so much more. In order to see the future you must see the past, from The Black Book.
Adlai E. Stevenson III has lectured widely, authored numerous articles and is the recipient of many honors, including Japan’s Order of the Sacred Treasure with Gold and Silver Star, and is an Honorary Professor of Renmin University in Beijing. He is Chairman of the Adlai Stevenson Center on Democracy which aims to bring practitioners from the world together to address systemic challenges to democratic systems and also Chairman of SC&M Investment Management Corp., an international financial intermediary. A graduate of Harvard College and Law School, he maintains an office in Chicago and a home with his wife, Nancy, on a farm near Galena, Illinois.
For more information on The Black Book or Senator Stevenson, please visit: www.adlai3.com. Available at bookstores nationwide and online at http://www.adlai3.com/purchase-cart.html
Friday, November 02, 2012
White Bulger Seeks Additional 8 Month Delay in Trial
A lawyer for mobster James "Whitey" Bulger asked a judge Thursday to delay his trial by eight months, while a prosecutor argued that Bulger has already received "a 16-year continuance" by fleeing Boston and staying on the run all those years.
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns didn't immediately rule on the defense request to move the trial from March until next November. Stearns said he expects to issue a written decision within the next few days.
Bulger, the former leader of the Winter Hill Gang, is accused of playing a role in 19 murders during the 1970s and 1980s. His lawyer has said Bulger plans to testify about his claim that he received immunity to commit crimes while he was an FBI informant on the Mafia. Bulger, now 83, fled Boston in late 1994 and was not captured until June 2011, when he was found in Santa Monica, Calif.
Bulger's lead attorney, J.W. Carney Jr., has repeatedly complained about the large volume of materials he needs to review before the trial, including more than 364,000 pages of documents turned over by prosecutors.
"We cannot possibly be ready to start the trial in March," Carney said Thursday. He said it is critical for the defense to be fully prepared in order for Bulger to receive a fair trial. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Kelly said prosecutors are opposed to the delay and accused Bulger of "continually trying to stall this case."
Stearns has twice rejected a defense request that he recuse himself from Bulger's trial.
Bulger's lawyers say Stearns should not preside at the trial because he was a federal prosecutor during a time in which Bulger claims he was given immunity for crimes he committed while he was also an FBI informant on the Mafia, his gang's main rival.
In a written response denying Carney's motion for the second time, Stearns said there is no connection between his former position as chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney's office and the organized crime strike force.
Bulger claims that Jeremiah O'Sullivan, a former federal prosecutor who led the New England Organized Crime Strike Force, gave him immunity. O'Sullivan, who died in 2009, denied protecting Bulger from prosecution for violent crimes during his testimony to Congress in 2002.
In a written response filed in court Wednesday, Kelly called Bulger's immunity claim "absurd" and said his decision to flee Massachusetts is "entirely inconsistent" with someone who believed he had immunity. "Obviously, James Bulger never once thought he had legal immunity for his crimes and that is why he remained a fugitive for so long," Kelly wrote.
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns didn't immediately rule on the defense request to move the trial from March until next November. Stearns said he expects to issue a written decision within the next few days.
Bulger, the former leader of the Winter Hill Gang, is accused of playing a role in 19 murders during the 1970s and 1980s. His lawyer has said Bulger plans to testify about his claim that he received immunity to commit crimes while he was an FBI informant on the Mafia. Bulger, now 83, fled Boston in late 1994 and was not captured until June 2011, when he was found in Santa Monica, Calif.
Bulger's lead attorney, J.W. Carney Jr., has repeatedly complained about the large volume of materials he needs to review before the trial, including more than 364,000 pages of documents turned over by prosecutors.
"We cannot possibly be ready to start the trial in March," Carney said Thursday. He said it is critical for the defense to be fully prepared in order for Bulger to receive a fair trial. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Kelly said prosecutors are opposed to the delay and accused Bulger of "continually trying to stall this case."
Stearns has twice rejected a defense request that he recuse himself from Bulger's trial.
Bulger's lawyers say Stearns should not preside at the trial because he was a federal prosecutor during a time in which Bulger claims he was given immunity for crimes he committed while he was also an FBI informant on the Mafia, his gang's main rival.
In a written response denying Carney's motion for the second time, Stearns said there is no connection between his former position as chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney's office and the organized crime strike force.
Bulger claims that Jeremiah O'Sullivan, a former federal prosecutor who led the New England Organized Crime Strike Force, gave him immunity. O'Sullivan, who died in 2009, denied protecting Bulger from prosecution for violent crimes during his testimony to Congress in 2002.
In a written response filed in court Wednesday, Kelly called Bulger's immunity claim "absurd" and said his decision to flee Massachusetts is "entirely inconsistent" with someone who believed he had immunity. "Obviously, James Bulger never once thought he had legal immunity for his crimes and that is why he remained a fugitive for so long," Kelly wrote.
Monday, October 29, 2012
How Lou Peters Took Down Joseph Bonano Sr. and The Mob
In 1977, things were going well for Lou Peters—he was living the American dream with his wife and three daughters, running a successful Cadillac dealership in Lodi, California. And in June of that year, he got an offer he couldn’t refuse.
A man approached Peters expressing interest in buying the dealership. When told it wasn’t for sale, the man was insistent, telling Peters to “name any price.” Finally, Peters said he would sell it for $2 million—nearly twice what the business was worth. The man accepted—then told Peters that the buyer was none other than Joseph Bonnano, Sr., head of the Bonnano organized crime family, who wanted the dealership to launder the family’s illegal funds.
Initially taken aback upon learning of mafia involvement, Peters eventually agreed to the sale, recounting, “I didn’t understand why these people wanted to come into our county. And I wanted to find out.” He then went to a local police chief and told him what had happened. When the chief asked what he was going to do next, Peters replied, “Well, I’m going to the FBI.”
And to the FBI he went, telling all. The FBI saw an opportunity to take down Bonnano and asked Peters for help. He was on board. “I felt it was the right thing to do, and I just did it,” he said.
Over the next nearly two years, Peters played the part of a corrupt businessman, gaining remarkable access to the Bonnano family and even becoming a close companion of Joseph Bonnano, Sr. To gain his confidence, Peters recalled saying something to “the old man” along the lines of, “Well, this should really bring me into the family”—to which Bonnano replied, “Lou, you’re already in the family.”
Through it all, Peters never took his eye off the ball—gathering evidence, secretly recording conversations, and debriefing agents on what he had learned. And his efforts weren’t without personal sacrifice…besides the risk to his life, he had to obtain a (temporary) legal separation from his wife not only to protect his family but also to have a credible reason to move out of his house—and into an apartment that was being monitored by the FBI.
In the end, Peters got what we needed. When he told Bonnano—during a recorded call—that he had been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury regarding his dealings with the family, the old man directed him to destroy any records that could be linked back to him and his associates. Peters took the tape to the FBI agent on the case. While listening to it, the agent jumped up and said, “You got him!”
Thanks to Lou Peters, Joseph Bonnano, Sr. was found guilty of obstructing justice and sentenced to five years in prison—the first felony conviction in the mob boss’ long life of crime.
To show its appreciation, in October 1980 the FBI presented Peters with an award for his selfless and valiant actions…an award that has been granted annually for the past 30 years as the Louis E. Peters Memorial Service Award, bestowed upon the citizen who best exemplifies the standards set by Peters in providing service to the FBI and the nation.
Shortly before his death in 1981, Peters said, “I was very proud of what I did for my country.” The country is very proud of him, too. Thanks, Lou Peters.
A man approached Peters expressing interest in buying the dealership. When told it wasn’t for sale, the man was insistent, telling Peters to “name any price.” Finally, Peters said he would sell it for $2 million—nearly twice what the business was worth. The man accepted—then told Peters that the buyer was none other than Joseph Bonnano, Sr., head of the Bonnano organized crime family, who wanted the dealership to launder the family’s illegal funds.
Initially taken aback upon learning of mafia involvement, Peters eventually agreed to the sale, recounting, “I didn’t understand why these people wanted to come into our county. And I wanted to find out.” He then went to a local police chief and told him what had happened. When the chief asked what he was going to do next, Peters replied, “Well, I’m going to the FBI.”
And to the FBI he went, telling all. The FBI saw an opportunity to take down Bonnano and asked Peters for help. He was on board. “I felt it was the right thing to do, and I just did it,” he said.
Over the next nearly two years, Peters played the part of a corrupt businessman, gaining remarkable access to the Bonnano family and even becoming a close companion of Joseph Bonnano, Sr. To gain his confidence, Peters recalled saying something to “the old man” along the lines of, “Well, this should really bring me into the family”—to which Bonnano replied, “Lou, you’re already in the family.”
Through it all, Peters never took his eye off the ball—gathering evidence, secretly recording conversations, and debriefing agents on what he had learned. And his efforts weren’t without personal sacrifice…besides the risk to his life, he had to obtain a (temporary) legal separation from his wife not only to protect his family but also to have a credible reason to move out of his house—and into an apartment that was being monitored by the FBI.
In the end, Peters got what we needed. When he told Bonnano—during a recorded call—that he had been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury regarding his dealings with the family, the old man directed him to destroy any records that could be linked back to him and his associates. Peters took the tape to the FBI agent on the case. While listening to it, the agent jumped up and said, “You got him!”
Thanks to Lou Peters, Joseph Bonnano, Sr. was found guilty of obstructing justice and sentenced to five years in prison—the first felony conviction in the mob boss’ long life of crime.
To show its appreciation, in October 1980 the FBI presented Peters with an award for his selfless and valiant actions…an award that has been granted annually for the past 30 years as the Louis E. Peters Memorial Service Award, bestowed upon the citizen who best exemplifies the standards set by Peters in providing service to the FBI and the nation.
Shortly before his death in 1981, Peters said, “I was very proud of what I did for my country.” The country is very proud of him, too. Thanks, Lou Peters.
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