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The Federally Protected Child Rapist

A federal / state narcotic task force in Albuquerque, New Mexico, took a child rapist who had raped so many young boys in the past that “he lost count,” as their undercover informant. Yes, they removed him from custody. While working under the protection of the feds, the informant, MICHAEL ROBINSON. continued to rape young boys; on one occasion raping two boys in one day. The allegations are that the feds knew that their informant was the predatory rapist being hunted by local police and continued to protect him so that he would not be discredited as a witness in a drug case.

Tonight, Mike and Mark speak with retired detective Jeannie Webb, the officer who courageously arrested ROBINSON (in spite of the feds) and subsequently paid with her career.

About the Guest:

Jeannie Webb was a Detective in the Crimes Against Children/Sex Crimes unit (they handled all adult assaults as well). She’s had a total of 24 years experience in Law Enforcement, 20 of those years with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department.

She retired in 2004 and is now working part time as the Foster Care Coordinator for Rio Grande and Mineral Counties in Colorado.

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The House of Death 12

The House of Death 12, Plagiarism, and the Rick Horn Case.

The House of Death is the story of how an informant for Homeland Security, working “undercover” under the direct control of a Bush appointed United States Attorney, participated in a macabre house of horrors in which more than a dozen people were tortured to death. There have been a continuing series of articles at Narco News on the subject, reported by Bill Conroy, who has been a frequent guest.

In previous broadcasts, for the first time anywhere, Bill Conroy brought us the voice of the informant himself. Now, after an extended court battle, that informant has won the right to stay in the U.S. – as extradition to Mexico would certainly result in his death.

Tonight, Mike and Mark speak with Bill Conroy about the House of Death and this informant – and also about how another online organization has taken to plagiarizing Bill’s work on the subject. See below for details.

Lastly – we discuss the latest in the Richard Horn case.

About the Guest:

Bill Conroy has worked as a reporter or editor for the past eighteen years at newspapers in Wisconsin, Arizona, Minnesota and Texas. His investigative reporting over the past five years has focused on corruption and discrimination within federal law enforcement agencies. He is also a journalist for Narco News. His investigative pieces, particularly those on the House of Death, have made him our most-favored guest.

More info on related topics:
Read Bill Conroy’s Investigative pieces on the House of Death

Bill Conroy’s article on the court decision for the HOD informant

Bill Conroy’s article about the HOD and plagiarism.

read the Examiner article for yourself – and feel free to leave a comment.

Bill’s article about the Richard Horn case.

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DOPE

The U.S. domestic War on Drugs is still being waged IN YOUR NAME with numerous atrocities and injustices that would shock you, except that no one is paying any attention. Do not miss the major new article by T.J. ENGLISH entitled DOPE in the Dec. ’09 issue of Playboy. The article details the story of Lee Lucas, a corrupt DEA agent who framed innocent people on narcotics charges and is soon to go on trial in Cleveland for civil rights violations, falsification of evidence and other criminal charges. It is a story that you should know about if you care about issues of criminal justice and the drug war, America’s longest-running war (now going on 40 years!).

Tonight, Mike and Mark speak with T.J. English about this devastating article.

About the guest:

Thomas Joseph “T.J.” English comes from a large Irish Catholic family of ten brothers and sisters. Early in his writing career, English worked as a freelance journalist in New York City during the day and drove a taxi at night. He often refers to cab driving as a metaphor for what he does as a writer – cruising the streets, interviewing strangers, exploring the unknown, reporting on what he sees and hears from his sojourns in and around the underworld.

In 1990, English published his first book, The Westies, an account of the last of the Irish Mob in the infamous Manhattan neighborhood known as “Hell’s Kitchen.” The book was the result of a series of reports English wrote for a weekly Irish American newspaper based in New York…
His second book, Born to Kill (1995), was an unprecedented inside account of a violent Vietnamese gang based in New York’s Chinatown, that operated up and down the East Coast. In 2005, English published Paddy Whacked, a sweeping history of the Irish American gangster in New York, Chicago, Boston, New Orleans, and other U.S. cities. Most recently, English published Havana Nocturne (2008), an investigative account of U.S. mobster infiltration of Havana, Cuba, in the years before the Revolution swept Fidel Castro into power.

As a journalist, English has written for many magazines and newspapers including: Esquire, Playboy, Irish America, The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times…

In the mid-1990s, he wrote a three-part series for Playboy entitled “The New Mob” that explored the changing face of organized crime in America. His work as a writer has taken him to Cuba, Jamaica, Hong Kong, Mexico, Ireland, and all around the U.S… Most of his articles are on the subject of crime and criminal justice, though English writes on a wide variety of subjects including music, politics, and movies. He has published full-length interviews with Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, actor Bill Murray, director Martin Scorsese, and comedy legend George Carlin, to name a few.

In addition, English is a screenwriter and has penned episodes for the television crime dramas “NYPD Blue” and “Homicide,” for which he was awarded the prestigious Humanitas Prize.

He lives in New York City.

You can find out more about him at his website.

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Essay: KING RAT

KING RAT[1]
The American Justice System – Where the Rat is King.

by Michael Levine

“Gentlemen, in this business, you’re only
as good
as your rats.”—Lecture on the Handling of
Criminal Informants (CIs) from U.S. Treasury Law
Enforcement Academy, August, 1965

“I’m looking for Mike Levine, ex-DEA,” said the man’s voice.

“How’d you get this number?” I said. It was close to midnight and my wife and I were in a San Francisco hotel on business.

“Man, you don’t know what I went through to find you.”

The voice belonged to a well known California defense attorney who said that he’d tracked me through my publisher.

“I’m in the middle of trying a case,” he said. “I need you to testify as an expert witness.  The judge gave me over the weekend to find you and bring you here—”

“Whoa! Whoa!” I said. “Back up.  I’m not a legal consultant—”

Continue reading Essay: KING RAT

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Mafia Son

The Scarpa Mob Family, The FBI, And A Story of Betrayal

A sensational, epic true story of a modern Mafia dynasty, by an author with incredible inside access to both the Mob and the FBI.

The Scarpas were a Mafia dynasty led by Greg Scarpa Sr., a man addicted to murder. His son, Gregory Jr., a promising athlete, worshipped his ruthless father, and was slowly drawn into his dark world. What only father and son knew was that for thirty years Scarpa Sr. was an FBI informant. For decades, his connection to the FBI granted him a virtual license to kill. But when facing arrest in the late 1980′s, Scarpa asked his son to leave his wife and children, and take the rap for his father.

After years in prison, in 1995, Gregory Jr, imprisoned alongside Ramzi Yousef, architect of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, agreed to extract information from Yousef in exchange for leniency, furnishing the FBI with detailed intelligence on what would result in 9/11. Incredibly, Greg’s desperate warnings were unheeded, and he was sentenced to forty-years-to-life at the notorious ADMAX. There he would supply the FBI with intelligence on Oklahoma City bomber and fellow prisoner, Terry Nichols. Again his contribution was ignored, and Gregory Jr. remains at ADMAX, where he believes he will one day be murdered.

Tonight, Mike and Mark speak with author Sandra Harmon about this amazing story.

About the guest:

Sandra Harmon, author of “MAFIA SON, the Scarpa Mob Family, The FBI, And A Story of Betrayal”, has had an extraordinary career as a best-selling author, journalist, television writer, producer and film maker. .

She wrote and produced the television movie, “Fast Friends” for NBC, which was based on her own experiences as a writer on “The Dick Cavett Show”. The film starred Dick Shawn as a popular talk show host who goes berserk on stage and is replaced by a young, unknown comedian, played by David Letterman. At the time, Letterman was himself an unknown comedian until Sandra discovered him and cast him in her film.

Sandra also produced the highly acclaimed “Promises to Keep” a CBS television movie starring Claire Bloom and Robert Mitchum, Mitchum’s real son, Chris Mitchum and his grandson, Bentley Mitchum. “Promises To Keep” tells the story of a family in crisis who finally come together when the grandfather makes amends, and in a case of reality imitating art, the shooting of the movie brought together the Mitchum family, who had been estranged for many years.

Sandra’s popular first novel, the critically acclaimed, “A Girl Like Me”, was published by Dutton Books in hardcover and Bantam Books in paperback. Norman Mailer wrote, “So let us welcome Sandra Harmon to the novelists. She begins with two splendid qualities. She is beautiful, and so we may depend on her to have much original material, and she is honest – the eye from which she writes is the eye to which it happened.”

Sandra is also the co-author of the internationally known, runaway best-seller, “Elvis and Me” – (the story of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley – written with Priscilla Presley ) – which sold nearly one million copies in hard cover and three million in paperback and was, according to The Wall Street Journal, the tenth largest seller of the l980′s, occupying the #l spot on the New York Times Best seller listfor more than fifty weeks in both hard and soft cover.

Adapted for television by ABC,TV, “Elvis and Me” was then turned into one of the network’s highest-rated four hour miniseries of all times, putting the paperback of “Elvis and Me” back on the best-seller list.

Sandra next wrote the best-seller, “Getting To I Do”, in which she taught women everywhere, how to find the “right man”, begin a healthy sexual relationship, and get engaged, by the end of the first year.

This was followed by the sequel; “Staying Married and Loving It!” which teaches couples how to maintain a loving, erotic, successful long term relationship.

Links:

Mafia Son Website

Sandra Harmon’s Website

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Inside a 9/11 Interrogation | Cele Castillo

In the first segment, Mike and Mark discuss THIS New York Times article, but more importantly, the subject of informant handling, who does it, and who hires them.

In the second part, we speak with Celerino Castillo – Vietnam Vet and Ex-DEA agent – about Iran Contra, Death Squads, government complicity in drug smuggling, Oliver North and Cele’s recent arrest..

About the Guest:

CELERINO “CELE” CASTILLO III, is a 20-year veteran of both state and federal law enforcement with 12-year service in the U. S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration. Mr. Castillo is a highly decorated DEA agent for his undercover operations in Central and South America. For several years, he was also placed in major cities like San Francisco and New York City for deep cover operations. He is an author of “Powderburns” Cocaine, Contras And The Drug War, and is an acclaimed public speaker and educator.

COURT QUALIFIED EXPERT WITNESS: For 20 years Mr. Castillo has qualified as an “expert witness” in criminal and civil trials, both for and against various state and federal law enforcement agencies, in the following subjects: Undercover tactics, entrapment, informant handling practices and procedures, all subjects related to drugs trafficking, money laundering, and international narcotics investigations, police profiling, research on federal documentation for the defense. (Bates)

MR. CASTILLO has written several internationally known articles against federal law enforcement corruption: “Written Statement of Celerino Castillo III, for The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence” 1998. He was mentioned in several articles on Informant Handling for The National Law Journal. ABC’s Primetime Live, Dateline NBC, Discovery Channel and other numerous news magazines have done exclusive interviews on Mr. Castillo pertaining to “Outrageous Conduct” by the U.S. Government.

Links:

Cele Castillo’s Website – powderburns.org

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The Disappearance of Bob Levinson

American citizen Robert Levinson disappeared in Iran a year ago during a March 8-9, 2007 business trip to Kish Island.

Mr. Levinson’s wife Christine, his son and sister-in-law visited Iran in December in an effort to gather information about his disappearance and press the Iranian government on his case. While the Iranian authorities guaranteed the security of the family during their journey, they provided few details from their investigation.

Tonight, we talk with Christine Levinson about the disappearance of Bob Levinson, and his family’s efforts to bring him home safely.

Then, we talk with Bill Conroy of Narco News about the latest in the House of Death and CIA plane stories.

Links:

www.helpboblevinson.com

Bill Conroy’s latest Narco News article

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Torture

This week, Mike and Mark are joined by Celerino Castillo – Vietnam Vet and Ex-DEA agent – to talk about torture, the sorry state of the justice system and the “war on drugs”. Listeners will want to check out the article on waterboarding referenced in the show, by Federal Judge Evan Wallach.

About the Guest:

CELERINO “CELE” CASTILLO III, is a 20-year veteran of both state and federal law enforcement with 12-year service in the U. S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration. Mr. Castillo is a highly decorated DEA agent for his undercover operations in Central and South America. For several years, he was also placed in major cities like San Francisco and New York City for deep cover operations. He is an author of “Powderburns” Cocaine, Contras And The Drug War, and is an acclaimed public speaker and educator.

COURT QUALIFIED EXPERT WITNESS: For 20 years Mr. Castillo has qualified as an “expert witness” in criminal and civil trials, both for and against various state and federal law enforcement agencies, in the following subjects: Undercover tactics, entrapment, informant handling practices and procedures, all subjects related to drugs trafficking, money laundering, and international narcotics investigations, police profiling, research on federal documentation for the defense. (Bates)

Continue reading Torture

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TRIPLE CROSS

“This is the most dangerous man I have ever met.
We cannot let this man out on the street.”
—Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, 1997

In the years leading to the 9/11 attacks, no single agent of al Qaeda was more successful in compromising the U.S. intelligence community than Ali Mohamed. A former Egyptian army captain, Mohamed succeeded in infiltrating the CIA in Europe, the Green Berets at Fort Bragg, and the FBI in California—even as he helped to orchestrate the al Qaeda campaign of terror that culminated in 9/11. As investigative reporter Peter Lance demonstrates in this gripping narrative, senior U.S. law enforcement officials—including the now-celebrated U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who personally interviewed Mohamed long before he was brought to ground—were powerless to stop him. In the annals of espionage, few men have moved between the hunters and the hunted with as much audacity as Ali Mohamed. For almost two decades, the former Egyptian army commando succeeded in living a double life. Brazenly slipping past watch lists, he moved in and out of the U.S. with impunity, marrying an American woman, becoming a naturalized citizen, and posing as an FBI informant—all while acting as chief of security for Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri. Known to his fellow terrorists as Ali Amiriki, or “Ali the American,” Mohamed gained access to the most sensitive intelligence in the U.S. counterterrorism arsenal while brokering terror summits, planning bombing missions, and training jihadis in bomb building, assassination, the creation of sleeper cells, and other acts of espionage.Building on the investigation he first chronicled in his previous books, 1000 Years for Revenge and Cover Up, Lance uses Mohamed to trace the untold story of al Qaeda’s rise in the 1980s and 1990s. Incredibly, Mohamed, who remains in custodial witness protection today, has never been sentenced for his crimes. He exists under a veil of secrecy—a living witness to how the U.S. intelligence community was outflanked for years by the terror network. From his first appearance on the FBI’s radar in 1989—training Islamic extremists on Long Island—to his presence in the database of Operation Able Danger eighteen months before 9/11, this devious triple agent was the one terrorist they had to sweep under the rug. Filled with news-making revelations, Triple Cross exposes the incompetence and duplicity of the FBI and Justice Department before 9/11 . . . and raises serious questions about how many more secrets the Feds may still be hiding.

Continue reading TRIPLE CROSS

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Some Prior Guests

David Moorhouse

Ray McGovern

Dr. Rick Nuccio

Renee Boje

Daniel Ellsberg

Richard Stratton

Gerard Colby

Greg Palast

Dennis Dayle

Ralph McGeehee

Stan Goff

Mark Levine

Vincent Bugliosi

J.H. Hatfield

Siobhan Reynolds

Charles Bowden

Katherine Gun

Bob Parry

Sandy Gonzalez

Sibel Edmonds

Ellen Mariani

Peter Lance

Senator Bob Graham

Cele Castillo

Tosh Plumlee

Donald Bains

Will Northrop

Aukai Collin

John Loftus

Joyce Reilly Von Kliest

Kelly O' Meara

John P. Flannery

Bill Conroy

Sander Hicks

Paul Williams