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NYPD Cop Pleads Not Guilty to Killing Innocent Man

Originally published on February 12, 2015, at NationofChange.org

An NYPD officer pleaded not guilty on Wednesday after a grand jury indicted him on charges involving the shooting of an unarmed innocent man. Charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and two counts of official misconduct, Officer Peter Liang claims his gun accidentally discharged when he opened the door to a dimly lit stairwell. But according to prosecutors, Liang’s failure to follow training or administer first aid resulted in the death of an innocent man.

On November 20, NYPD officers Peter Liang and Shaun Landau were conducting vertical patrols on the eighth floor of the Louis H. Pink housing project in Brooklyn. Although Deputy Inspector Miguel Iglesias had ordered them not to conduct vertical patrols inside the building, Liang reportedly opened the door accessing the stairwell with the same hand holding his Glock .9mm pistol. Instead of opening the door with his right hand which held his flashlight, Liang claims that he accidentally fired a shot that ricocheted off the wall and into Akai Gurley’s chest.

“They didn’t identify themselves,” recalled Gurley’s girlfriend, Melissa Butler. “No nothing. They didn’t give no explanation. They just pulled a gun and shot him in the chest.”

Standing on the floor below them, Gurley staggered down to the fifth floor where he collapsed. Melissa Butler ran to an apartment to ask for help and called 911. As the operator instructed Butler to administer first aid until the paramedics arrived, Liang and Landau remained upstairs texting their union rep instead of calling in the shooting.

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2 Cops Charged with Aggravated Assault After Video Reveals Savage Beating

Originally published on February 8, 2015, at NationofChange.org

Two Philadelphia police officers were arrested this week for assaulting a man then falsely charging him with aggravated assault and resisting arrest. After the suspect’s girlfriend tracked down the surveillance camera that recorded the incident, the charges against the suspect were dropped. The video revealed the officers had lied about the suspect accidentally crashing his motor scooter and brutally attacking them.

Around 10pm on May 29, 2013, Philadelphia police officers Sean McKnight and Kevin Robinson pulled over Najee Rivera after allegedly running a Stop sign on his scooter. As the officers exited their patrol car with batons in hand, Rivera panicked and drove away in fear. The officers chased Rivera but never turned on their lights or siren.

They claimed Rivera lost control of his bike and fell off the scooter a few blocks away. After they exited their vehicle, the officers asserted that Rivera slammed Officer Robinson into a brick wall and began throwing elbows at him. While assaulting Robinson, Rivera allegedly attempted to take Officer McKnight’s baton before they finally subdued him.

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No Honor Among Thieves: Corrupt Cops Sentenced to Prison

Originally published on February 7, 2015, at NationofChange.org

Two former Philadelphia police officers were sentenced to prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to robbing drug dealers, falsifying arrest reports, and selling heroin while on duty. After the FBI arrested Officer Jonathan Garcia for selling heroin while in uniform, Garcia informed on his partner in the hopes of reducing his sentence. Although Garcia began cooperating with authorities early on in the investigation, he received a harsher sentence due to the fact that his partner never sold heroin with him.

Between December 2009 and June 2012, Philadelphia police officers Jonathan Garcia and Sydemy Joanis devised a plan to arrest suspected drug dealers, rob them, and falsify seizure reports by failing to disclose the correct amount of money or drugs confiscated during the arrests. After becoming partners in 2009, Garcia and Joanis seized a large amount of marijuana during an arrest. Garcia convinced Joanis to falsify their report and keep half of the marijuana for themselves. After that initial theft, the officers developed a pattern of robbing drug dealers and lying on their reports.

“I had a decision to make,” Joanis recalled. “Whether I was going to turn someone in that I cared about, or just hope that no one ever found out. I didn’t have the courage to do the right thing.”

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Dead Prosecutor Drafted Arrest Warrant for Argentine President

Originally published on February 5, 2015, at NationofChange.org

The lead investigator into the suspicious death of Argentine federal prosecutor Alberto Nisman announced this week that the deceased prosecutor had drafted warrants for the arrest of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman before his death. Five days after accusing the president, foreign minister, and other politicians of covering up Iran’s involvement in the 1994 terrorist attack in Buenos Aires, Nisman was found dead of a gunshot wound in his apartment. President Kirchner claims Nisman was murdered by rogue operatives within Argentina’s intelligence agency, the Secretaria de Intelligencia (SI).

On July 18, 1994, a suicide bomber drove a van loaded with explosives into the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association building in Buenos Aires and killed 85 people. Five suspects, including four police officers, were originally charged with the bombing but were acquitted in 2004 due to lack of evidence. A year later, the federal judge in charge of the case, Judge Juan José Galeano, was impeached for serious irregularities and his mishandling of the investigation. On October 25, 2006, Nisman formally accused the Iranian government of orchestrating the bombing and using Hezbollah to carry out the attack.

In 2008, Nisman requested the detention of former President Carlos Menem and Judge Galeano for their involvement in covering up evidence related to the bombing. On January 14, Nisman filed a 289-page criminal complaint against President Kirchner, Foreign Minister Timerman, and several prominent politicians accusing them of covering up Iran’s involvement in the 1994 bombing. Five days later, Nisman was found dead of a gunshot wound. On the day his body was found, Nisman had been scheduled to appear before congress to brief legislators on his evidence against the president.

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Not Immune: Sheriff’s Captain Convicted of Civil Rights Violation

Originally published on January 31, 2015, at NationofChange.org

A former captain with the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office has been convicted on charges of violating the civil rights of an arrestee, obstruction of justice, and making false statements in a federal investigation. Abusing his power and authority, Captain James “Jim” Corder stole $1,785 from a handcuffed suspect during an arrest and failed to log the money into evidence. Although witnesses saw Capt. Corder steal the cash, Corder later lied to the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) agents investigating the theft.

In July 2013, William “Billy” Easterwood and his wife Amy were arrested on suspected burglary charges. As Capt. Corder placed Billy Easterwood in the back of a sheriff’s car, Billy asked his mother to take the money from his pocket. A day before the Easterwoods’ arrest, the couple had sold their dog and their camper for $1,785 in cash.

With his hands cuffed behind his back, Billy could not physically give the money to his mother. According to Billy’s mother, Corder took the cash from Billy’s pocket claiming it was for restitution. Instead of logging the $1,785 into evidence, Corder kept the money and refused to return it to Billy.

Depicting Corder as a crooked cop who routinely took liberty with arrestees’ property, Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Rhew-Miller told jurors, “When Jim Corder gets a hold of a prisoner’s property, he does whatever he wants with it.”

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CIA Whistleblower Faces 100 Years in Prison for Talking to NY Times Reporter

Originally published on January 29, 2015, at NationofChange.org

A former CIA case officer has been convicted for telling a New York Times reporter details concerning a reckless CIA operation that potentially sped up Iran’s nuclear advancement. Although the case against the CIA whistleblower was largely circumstantial and lacking evidence, former case officer Jeffrey Sterling faces a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison for speaking to New York Times reporter James Risen. Under threat of arrest, Risen tenaciously refused to reveal his sources to the government.

After joining the CIA on May 14, 1993, Sterling eventually rose to the rank of case officer and began working with the agency’s Iran Task Force. Between November 1998 and May 2000, Sterling had been assigned to a mission conspiring to deliver flawed nuclear blueprints to the Iranian government codenamed Operation Merlin. Unaware of the design flaws, the Iranian government would waste years devising a nuclear weapon that could not detonate.

The CIA planned to use a Russian nuclear engineer codenamed Merlin to transport the nuclear blueprints to the Iranians. In a luxurious hotel room in San Francisco, Sterling and a senior CIA officer gave the blueprints to Merlin, who immediately identified a flaw even though he had not been debriefed. Instead of aborting the mission because the design flaw was too obvious, the senior CIA officer went ahead with the operation.

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FBI Arrests Cop on Charges of Police Brutality and Falsifying Records

Originally published on January 28, 2015, at NationofChange.org

The FBI arrested a New Jersey police officer on Friday after a federal grand jury charged him with violating a defendant’s civil rights by using excessive force during an arrest and falsifying records in an attempt to conceal the alleged crime. According to a lawsuit filed by the victim and his family against the Bayonne Police Department, Officer Domenico Lillo repeatedly struck the handcuffed victim in the face with a metal flashlight knocking out most of his front teeth. In 2011, the City of Bayonne paid roughly $100,000 to settle a previous suit accusing Lillo and other officers of conspiracy, deliberate indifference, deprivation of due process, deprivation of property, excessive force, failure to intervene, malicious prosecution, and wrongful arrest.

On the evening of December 27, 2013, Bayonne police officers Domenico Lillo, Francis Styles, and James Wade responded to Kathy Walsh’s residence to execute an arrest warrant for her son, Brandon. According to police, Brandon Walsh answered the door but refused to step outside with the officers. Pushing one of them back, Walsh allegedly attempted to force the door closed when one of the officers grabbed the front of his shirt. Walsh reportedly struck the cop on the side of the face and the top of the head before they restrained him with handcuffs.

But according to a federal lawsuit against the police department, officers Lillo, Styles, and Wade had stormed into the residence pepper spraying Walsh and throwing him to the ground. As they continued to assault Walsh on the floor, the officers also doused his mother’s face with pepper spray when she asked why they were attacking her son. Suffering from the noxious fumes of the pepper spray, Kathy Walsh, her children, and her grandchildren watched as the police handcuffed Walsh and escorted him down the front steps.

The police claim Walsh cut his forehead when he tried to pull away, causing an officer to fall onto of him. In contrast, Walsh’s family asserts Walsh had accidentally fallen down the stairs. After getting up off the ground, the officers continued escorting Walsh to their patrol car when Lillo pulled a metal flashlight from his belt and repeatedly beat Walsh across the face while Walsh’s hands were cuffed behind his back.

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NY Assembly Speaker Arrested for Accepting $4 Million in Bribes

Originally published on January 25, 2015, at NationofChange.org

The FBI arrested New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on Thursday charging him with multiple counts of conspiracy, fraud, and extortion. Accused of accepting roughly $4 million in bribes and kickbacks, Silver allegedly abused his position by providing state funding and other benefits to the highest bidders while funneling the dirty money through two corrupt law firms. After Silver convinced Governor Andrew Cuomo to terminate the commission investigating his illegal activities, a lobbyist and close friend of Silver decided to cooperate with the Justice Department by testifying against him.

Elected to the New York State Assembly in 1976, Silver has been Speaker since February 11, 1994. By soliciting and obtaining client referrals worth millions of dollars in exchange for official favors, Silver allegedly abused his power over the real estate industry and healthcare funding. Instead of reporting the bribes, Silver attempted to disguise the money as legitimate income earned from his work at the two law firms accused of laundering his kickbacks.

For steering real estate developers with business before the state legislature to a law firm run by a co-conspirator, Silver received approximately $700,000 in kickbacks. Although Silver had performed no legal work to earn those payments, the law firm Goldberg & Iryami received millions of dollars in legal fees from real estate developers. Goldberg & Iryami reportedly paid Silver to use his official power and influence to refer potential clients to their firm.

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US Journalist Sentenced to 5 Years and 3 Months for Posting a Link

Originally published on January 24, 2015, at NationofChange.org

Freelance journalist Barrett Brown, whose work has appeared in The Guardian, Vanity Fair, and The Huffington Post, was sentenced to 63 months in prison on Thursday for posting a hyperlink containing stolen credit card information. Initially facing a possible sentence of 105 years, Brown accepted a plea deal after prosecutors agreed to drop most of the charges against him. The judge also ordered Brown to pay $890,250 in restitution to several companies targeted by the hacker collective Anonymous.

In December 2011, Anonymous member Jeremy Hammond hacked into Strategic Forecasting, Inc. or “Stratfor” for short. A private intelligence contractor, Stratfor claims to provide governments and corporations with geopolitical analysis. After extracting Stratfor’s files, Hammond exposed several emails from Stratfor’s former CEO George Friedman revealing that Stratfor had been partnering with Shea Morenz, a former Goldman Sachs managing director, to profit from insider trading. Shea Morenz is now President and CEO of Stratfor.

More disclosures revealed that Dow Chemical hired Stratfor to spy on protestors and victims of the 1984 Bhopal disaster while maintaining surveillance on activist filmmakers, The Yes Men. Other emails exposed that The Coca-Cola Company hired Stratfor to spy on members of PETA during the 2010 Olympics. In a statement, The Coca-Cola Company responded to the emails by saying they “consider it prudent to monitor for protest activities at any major event we sponsor.”

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New GOP Chairman Suppresses Full CIA Torture Report

Originally published on January 22, 2015, at NationofChange.org

The new Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman sent a letter to the White House and several federal agencies last week demanding the return of every copy of the Committee’s entire classified CIA torture report. The new chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, also intends to return the notorious Panetta Review to the CIA. Critical of the agency’s false statements regarding the reliability of information obtained through torture, the Panetta Review’s release under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has been blocked by the CIA.

On December 9, 2014, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released nearly 500 pages of the heavily redacted Executive Summary of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program. According to the Committee, the CIA lied to Congress, the National Security Council, the Justice Department, and the American public about the severity of torture committed and the effectiveness of information gathered through enhanced interrogations. The Committee also accused former CIA Director Michael Hayden of lying to the Committee regarding prisoners’ deaths, the abusive backgrounds of CIA interrogators, threats against detainees’ family members, and reliability of information acquired through torture.

The CIA claims enhanced interrogation techniques were necessary to determine the secret locations of Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), but the Committee discovered these assertions are false. A CIA detainee provided the agency with information leading to bin Laden’s location before agents subjected him to torture. The detainees who were subjected to the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques withheld and fabricated intelligence.

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