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Article 4 of 27, Article ID: 8701080525

Published on 02/06/1987, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

MOST CHARGES DISMISSED AGAINST 2 MASTRONARDOS

TEXT: A federal court judge yesterday dismissed most of the charges against John V. Mastronardo and his father, Joseph V. Mastronardo Sr., two of seven defendants accused of running a multimillion-dollar gambling and money- laundering operation based in Philadelphia.

U.S. District Court Judge Anthony J. Scirica left intact 36 of 42 charges against Joseph Mastronardo Jr., 36, the son-in-law of former Mayor Frank L. Rizzo and the man prosecutors say masterminded the alleged sports-bookmak i

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Article 5 of 27, Article ID: 8802160950

Published on 07/29/1988, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

FIVE SQUAD PROSECUTOR HINTS AT A MURDER PLOT

TEXT: A federal prosecutor alleged yesterday that some of the six former members of an elite Philadelphia police drug unit who have been indicted on racketeering charges plotted last year to kill a witness during the federal tax-evasion trial of another colleague.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. Pucci made the allegation during an arraignment for Ronald Giongo, one of the six Five Squad members who were indicted July 19 by a federal grand jury on charges of stealing drugs and more than $40

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Article 6 of 27, Article ID: 8901040756

Published on 01/18/1989, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

DEFENSE ATTACKS RYAN'S CONFLICTS IN DRUG-UNIT TRIAL

TEXT: The defense in the federal racketeering trial of six former Philadelphia police officers focused yesterday on the differences between Leo Ryan's testimony and his earlier statements.

A key government witness and former police officer, Ryan was cross-examined for a third day, questioned about his turbulent marriage, his one-time addiction to Valium and his relationships with the men who once worked with him in Five Squad, the now-defunct drug unit.

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Article 7 of 27, Article ID: 8901130287

Published on 02/25/1989, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

HUND FINISHES FIVE SQUAD TESTIMONY

TEXT: Former police officer Charles A. Hund 3d underwent his final day of cross- examination yesterday as the defense in the racketeering trial of six former narcotics officers continued trying to portray him as the epitome of corruption.

Hund, 39, has given seven days of pointed testimony against six of his former colleagues in Five Squad, a now-defunct drug unit.

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Article 8 of 27, Article ID: 8901140718

Published on 03/03/1989, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

FIVE SQUAD DEFENSE OPENS CASE

DEFENDANT'S CHILDREN CONTRADICT HUND

TEXT: The son and teenage daughter of former Philadelphia narcotics officer Ronald Giongo Sr. took the stand yesterday in U.S. District Court to help defend their father against charges of corruption.

Ronald Giongo Jr., 24, said he frequently had to lend money to his dad. He said that his father never owned a new car, and that the family home in the mountains was just a small trailer on a chunk of property, half of which was swamp.

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Article 9 of 27, Article ID: 8901150905

Published on 03/09/1989, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

FIVE SQUAD DEFENSE ON ATTACK

SAYS EVIDENCE 'REEKS OF DOUBT'

TEXT: The defense in the federal racketeering trial of six former Philadelphia narcotics officers yesterday blasted away at the government's case, contending that the evidence boiled down to the unbelievable testimony of two crooked cops and three dozen drug dealers.

"The evidence is fit for a cesspool and it reeks of doubt," declared defense attorney John Rogers Carroll, who represents defendant John Wilson, the man who headed Five Squad, a now-defunct drug unit.

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Article 10 of 27, Article ID: 8901180025

Published on 03/15/1989, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

CENTER CITY DEFENSE LAWYER FACES 26 FRAUD AND INCOME TAX CHARGES

TEXT: A federal grand jury yesterday accused a Center City lawyer of carrying out two complex schemes to defraud his mortgage company and his creditors by providing false information and misstating personal assets.

David E. Shapiro, 40, a defense lawyer who lives in Huntingdon Valley and has offices in the Lewis Tower Building on South 15th Street, was charged with 16 counts of mail and wire fraud and one count of transferring and concealing property of a bankruptcy estate.

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Article 11 of 27, Article ID: 8902130232

Published on 07/07/1989, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

GUILTY PLEA IS ENTERED BY LAWYER

TEXT: A Center City lawyer yesterday pleaded guilty to defrauding his mortgage company and his creditors by providing false information and misstating personal assets.

David E. Shapiro, a criminal-defense lawyer with offices in the Lewis Tower Building on South 15th Street, pleaded guilty to all 26 counts of a federal indictment that charged him with fraud and tax violations in connection with the schemes.

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Article 12 of 27, Article ID: 8903150570

Published on 11/15/1989, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

EX-LAWYER GETS PRISON FOR 2 SCAMS

TEXT: A suspended Center City lawyer was sentenced yesterday to two years in federal prison and five years' probation for carrying out two intricate schemes to defraud his mortgage company and his creditors by providing false information and misstating personal assets.

David E. Shapiro, 41, who practiced criminal law in the Lewis Tower on South 15th Street, also was ordered by U.S. District Judge Louis C. Bechtle to perform 1,000 hours of community service.

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Article 13 of 27, Article ID: 9102110275

Published on 07/20/1991, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

FORMER GRAY ACCOUNTANT CHARGED WITH MISREPRESENTATION ON LOAN

TEXT: A Center City accountant who formerly worked for U.S. Rep. William H. Gray 3d was charged yesterday by federal authorities with one count of wire fraud, alleging that he made misrepresentations when he applied for a bank loan in 1984.

Neil B. Godick, 50, had emerged two years ago as a key figure in an investigation involving Gray. After news reports about the inquiry, the Justice Department - in a highly unusual move - announced that Gray was not a target of an investigation.

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Article 14 of 27, Article ID: 9102220459

Published on 09/16/1991, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

A SMALL-TIME BONFIRE OF VANITIES BURNS 170

TEXT: Despite the confidence he inspired in his clients, aspiring investment mogul Donald Matthew Greth never moved with Wall Street's rich and powerful.

He ate no power lunches with the likes of Ivan Boesky or Michael Milken. He had no fancy high-rise office. His D.M.G. Investment Systems and Common Unity Fund Systems had no glossy brochures or detailed prospectuses.

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Article 15 of 27, Article ID: 9102220734

Published on 09/17/1991, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

PYRAMID DEFENDANT GETS 21-MONTH TERM

TEXT: A Montgomery County man who promised investors fantastic financial returns in a crude pyramid scheme that fell apart after taking in more than $1.5 million was sentenced yesterday to repay the money and spend 21 months in federal prison.


Donald Matthew Greth, 36, called the punishment "a sentence I deserve," after leaving the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Charles R. Weiner in Philadelphia.

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Article 16 of 27, Article ID: 9103060724

Published on 11/14/1991, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

EX-GRAY ACCOUNTANT ADMITS 1984 FRAUD

TEXT: A Center City accountant who once worked for former U.S. Rep. William H. Gray 3d pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to one count of wire fraud, admitting that he made misrepresentations when he applied for a bank loan in 1984.

Neil B. Godick, 50, had emerged two years ago as a key figure in a federal investigation involving Gray. After news reports about the inquiry mentioned Gray, the Justice Department announced that the congressman was not a target of an investigation

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Article 17 of 27, Article ID: 9201080398

Published on 02/07/1992, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

FORMER GRAY EMPLOYEE IS GUILTY OF LYING ON LOAN FORM

TEXT: A Center City accountant who once worked for former U.S. Rep. William H. Gray 3d was placed on probation for five years and fined $25,000 yesterday for lying about collateral when he applied for a bank loan in 1984.

Neil B. Godick, 50, received the sentence from U.S. District Judge Herbert J. Hutton, who also ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service during his probation term.

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Article 18 of 27, Article ID: 9402010506

Published on 06/09/1994, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

AFTER BUSINESS DEAL GOES AWRY, A RUSSIAN PARTNER LIVES IN FEAR

THE RISKS OF CAPITALISM CAN MEAN DIFFERENT THINGS IN U.S., SIBERIA.

TEXT: For Philadelphia businessman Neil B. Godick, his foray into Siberian capitalism represents a business deal gone awry. But for Alexander Brodsky, the Russian who worked with Godick, it's much more.

It is, says Brodsky, a dispute that has left him in desperate straits, facing possible retaliation from Russian racketeers.

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Article 20 of 27, Article ID: 9501220910

Published on 04/17/1995, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

IRS TRIES TO IMPROVE ITS RATE OF COLLECTION

ACCORDING TO EXPERTS, WHERE THERE'S A TAX, THERE'S A WAY TO CHEAT.

TEXT: Today is tax day. Listen to how easy it was for one man to rip off the Internal Revenue Service:

"My company filed a total of 9,000 returns in 1992, for tax year 1991, which netted my customers approximately $8 million in total refunds. Of that total, I would guess that roughly half of the returns contained false information about dependents, wages or filing status. That year . . . I recognized how easy it was."

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Article 21 of 27, Article ID: 9503070976

Published on 11/28/1995, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

DOCTOR AND STAFF ACCUSED OF SCAM

PROSECUTORS SAY JACK A. DANTON AND FIVE OTHERS

DEFRAUDED 13 INSURANCE COMPANIES OF $4 MILLION.

TEXT: By March 18, 1992, it was no longer business as usual in the office of Northeast Philadelphia osteopath Jack A. Danton.

The FBI had ordered Danton to bring his patients' files for review by a federal grand jury looking into insurance fraud. Federal prosecutors say Danton responded quickly, if not legally. They say he and a secretary went through patient files, destroying some documents and hiding others.

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Article 22 of 27, Article ID: 9701110100

Published on 01/10/1997, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

INSURANCE FRAUD TRIAL BEGINS

PROSECUTORS SAY HUNTINGDON VALLEY OSTEOPATH JACK

A. DANTON WAS A PARTICIPANT IN A MASSIVE SCAM.

TEXT: A massive insurance fraud case that has brought down several doctors and lawyers in recent years reopened in federal court yesterday with the trial of a doctor alleged to be a key participant.

Huntingdon Valley osteopath Jack A. Danton is accused of playing a major role in an 11-year scheme to defraud insurance companies of about $4 million by inflating claims for people injured in accidents.

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Article 23 of 27, Article ID: 9702120056

Published on 02/11/1997, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

AREA DOCTOR CONVICTED OF MAIL FRAUD

THE JURY DEADLOCKED ON A RACKETEERING CHARGE AGAINST

OSTEOPATH JACK DANTON. HE COULD BE RETRIED.

TEXT: Huntingdon Valley osteopath Jack Danton was found guilty of mail fraud yesterday for participating in a scheme that defrauded insurance companies of $4 million. But the jury in federal court deadlocked on more serious charges of racketeering and interstate transportation of a security.

The verdict was a letdown for federal prosecutors, who had compiled a wealth of evidence against Danton in a five-year investigation that culminated in his trial in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

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Article 24 of 27, Article ID: 9708200038

Published on 08/19/1997, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

PHYSICIAN IS SENTENCED IN SCAM

JACK A. DANTON OF HUNTINGDON VALLEY RECEIVED FIVE

YEARS AND WAS ORDERED TO PAY MORE THAN $400,000.

TEXT: Huntingdon Valley physician Jack A. Danton blamed his secretary for continuing a $4 million health insurance scam long after he had withdrawn from any illicit activities.

But a federal judge didn't buy it.

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Article 25 of 27, Article ID: 9909160152

Published on 09/15/1999, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

PHILA. EXECUTIVE TIED TO SCHEME

THE SEC SAID HE SIGNED LETTERS THAT OVERSTATED THE

VALUE OF ACCOUNTS MANAGED BY PRINCETON ECONOMICS.

TEXT: A Philadelphia securities executive enabled a Princeton money manager to hide more than half a billion dollars in losses by its Japanese clients, according to federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

William H. Rogers, who was recently suspended as head of futures trading at Republic New York Securities' Philadelphia office, signed up to 200 letters that "falsely overstate" the value of accounts managed by Princeton Economics International, of Princeton, N.J., according

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Article 26 of 27, Article ID: 9909220101

Published on 09/21/1999, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

LONGTIME JANNEY CHIEF TO YIELD TO THE CHAIRMAN

TEXT: Norman T. Wilde Jr. has been running Janney Montgomery Scott since Richard Nixon moved into the White House. Now at age 69, he says it's time to go.

Wilde will step aside Dec. 31 as chief executive of the 800-broker, $12 billion-asset firm - one of the few big financial companies still based in Center City - in favor of Janney's chairman, Rudolph "Rick" C. Sander. Sander, an Upper Darby native, attended night school at Villanova and Penn, then rose through the ranks at the old Philadelphia b

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Article 27 of 27, Article ID: 9909250146

Published on 09/24/1999, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

ACCUSED FINANCIER TRIED TO LIQUIDATE COMPANY

U.S. PROSECUTORS GOT A COURT ORDER TO STOP THE MOVE BY

MARTIN ARMSTRONG, ACCUSED OF BILKING JAPANESE INVESTORS.

TEXT: Martin A. Armstrong Jr., the financial guru accused of bilking Japanese investors out of about $1 billion, may have attempted to thwart U.S. prosecutors by trying to liquidate his New Jersey company in a West Indies island court.


Princeton Economics International Ltd., the firm run by Armstrong at the heart of the investment turmoil, filed for bankruptcy last Friday in the Turks and Caicos Islands, where it is incorporated.

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(1/1/1987 to 1/1/2000)" were found.

Returning 31 articles.



Article 4 of 31, Article ID: 9708200038

Published on 08/19/1997, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

PHYSICIAN IS SENTENCED IN SCAM

JACK A. DANTON OF HUNTINGDON VALLEY RECEIVED FIVE

YEARS AND WAS ORDERED TO PAY MORE THAN $400,000.

TEXT: Huntingdon Valley physician Jack A. Danton blamed his secretary for continuing a $4 million health insurance scam long after he had withdrawn from any illicit activities.

But a federal judge didn't buy it.

Your search terms appear 4 times in this article.

Complete Article, 569 words ( $1.95 )




Article 6 of 31, Article ID: 9702120056

Published on 02/11/1997, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

AREA DOCTOR CONVICTED OF MAIL FRAUD

THE JURY DEADLOCKED ON A RACKETEERING CHARGE AGAINST

OSTEOPATH JACK DANTON. HE COULD BE RETRIED.

TEXT: Huntingdon Valley osteopath Jack Danton was found guilty of mail fraud yesterday for participating in a scheme that defrauded insurance companies of $4 million. But the jury in federal court deadlocked on more serious charges of racketeering and interstate transportation of a security.

The verdict was a letdown for federal prosecutors, who had compiled a wealth of evidence against Danton in a five-year investigation that culminated in his trial in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

Your search terms appear 5 times in this article.

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Article 7 of 31, Article ID: 9701110100

Published on 01/10/1997, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

INSURANCE FRAUD TRIAL BEGINS

PROSECUTORS SAY HUNTINGDON VALLEY OSTEOPATH JACK

A. DANTON WAS A PARTICIPANT IN A MASSIVE SCAM.

TEXT: A massive insurance fraud case that has brought down several doctors and lawyers in recent years reopened in federal court yesterday with the trial of a doctor alleged to be a key participant.

Huntingdon Valley osteopath Jack A. Danton is accused of playing a major role in an 11-year scheme to defraud insurance companies of about $4 million by inflating claims for people injured in accidents.

Your search terms appear 5 times in this article.

Complete Article, 509 words ( $1.95 )




Article 9 of 31, Article ID: 9503070976

Published on 11/28/1995, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

DOCTOR AND STAFF ACCUSED OF SCAM

PROSECUTORS SAY JACK A. DANTON AND FIVE OTHERS

DEFRAUDED 13 INSURANCE COMPANIES OF $4 MILLION.

TEXT: By March 18, 1992, it was no longer business as usual in the office of Northeast Philadelphia osteopath Jack A. Danton.

The FBI had ordered Danton to bring his patients' files for review by a federal grand jury looking into insurance fraud. Federal prosecutors say Danton responded quickly, if not legally. They say he and a secretary went through patient files, destroying some documents and hiding others.

Your search terms appear 5 times in this article.

Complete Article, 907 words ( $1.95 )





Article 11 of 31, Article ID: 9501220910

Published on 04/17/1995, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

IRS TRIES TO IMPROVE ITS RATE OF COLLECTION

ACCORDING TO EXPERTS, WHERE THERE'S A TAX, THERE'S A WAY TO CHEAT.

TEXT: Today is tax day. Listen to how easy it was for one man to rip off the Internal Revenue Service:

"My company filed a total of 9,000 returns in 1992, for tax year 1991, which netted my customers approximately $8 million in total refunds. Of that total, I would guess that roughly half of the returns contained false information about dependents, wages or filing status. That year . . . I recognized how easy it was."

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Article 13 of 31, Article ID: 9203050983

Published on 11/14/1992, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

SUBURBAN DRUG RING HELPER IS SENTENCED

ALAN I. ROOMBERG LAUNDERED MONEY FOR DRUG DEALER

FRANK J. FORLANO. HE RECEIVED A 2 1/2-YEAR JAIL TERM.

TEXT: The former accountant for convicted suburban drug trafficker Frank J. Forlano was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison yesterday for his role in

helping Forlano launder cash generated by the lucrative drug ring.

"This is actually a relief that after nearly 4 1/2 years I can begin to finally pay my debt," Alan I. Roomberg told U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter, referring to the time that has elapsed since Forlano's drug organization began to crumble in August 1988.

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Article 15 of 31, Article ID: 9103060724

Published on 11/14/1991, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

EX-GRAY ACCOUNTANT ADMITS 1984 FRAUD

TEXT: A Center City accountant who once worked for former U.S. Rep. William H. Gray 3d pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to one count of wire fraud, admitting that he made misrepresentations when he applied for a bank loan in 1984.

Neil B. Godick, 50, had emerged two years ago as a key figure in a federal investigation involving Gray. After news reports about the inquiry mentioned Gray, the Justice Department announced that the congressman was not a target of an investigation

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Article 16 of 31, Article ID: 9102220734

Published on 09/17/1991, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

PYRAMID DEFENDANT GETS 21-MONTH TERM

TEXT: A Montgomery County man who promised investors fantastic financial returns in a crude pyramid scheme that fell apart after taking in more than $1.5 million was sentenced yesterday to repay the money and spend 21 months in federal prison.

Donald Matthew Greth, 36, called the punishment "a sentence I deserve," after leaving the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Charles R. Weiner in Philadelphia.

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Article 20 of 31, Article ID: 8903150570

Published on 11/15/1989, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

EX-LAWYER GETS PRISON FOR 2 SCAMS

TEXT: A suspended Center City lawyer was sentenced yesterday to two years in federal prison and five years' probation for carrying out two intricate schemes to defraud his mortgage company and his creditors by providing false information and misstating personal assets.

David E. Shapiro, 41, who practiced criminal law in the Lewis Tower on South 15th Street, also was ordered by U.S. District Judge Louis C. Bechtle to perform 1,000 hours of community service.

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Article 22 of 31, Article ID: 8902130232

Published on 07/07/1989, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

GUILTY PLEA IS ENTERED BY LAWYER

TEXT: A Center City lawyer yesterday pleaded guilty to defrauding his mortgage company and his creditors by providing false information and misstating personal assets.

David E. Shapiro, a criminal-defense lawyer with offices in the Lewis Tower Building on South 15th Street, pleaded guilty to all 26 counts of a federal indictment that charged him with fraud and tax violations in connection with the schemes.

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Article 23 of 31, Article ID: 8902110127

Published on 06/27/1989, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

SOURCE: FBI ASKED GRAY ABOUT PHILA. ACCOUNTANT

TEXT: FBI agents who met with Rep. William H. Gray 3d in recent weeks questioned him extensively about a financially troubled Philadelphia accountant who frequently worked for the Democratic congressman, according to a source close to Gray.

The source said the bulk of specific questions put to Gray by the agents concerned Neil B. Godick, president of Godick & Co., a Philadelphia accounting firm that filed for bankruptcy in 1987. One of the creditors in those bankruptcy proceedings has accu

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Article 24 of 31, Article ID: 8901180025

Published on 03/15/1989, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

CENTER CITY DEFENSE LAWYER FACES 26 FRAUD AND INCOME TAX CHARGES

TEXT: A federal grand jury yesterday accused a Center City lawyer of carrying out two complex schemes to defraud his mortgage company and his creditors by providing false information and misstating personal assets.

David E. Shapiro, 40, a defense lawyer who lives in Huntingdon Valley and has offices in the Lewis Tower Building on South 15th Street, was charged with 16 counts of mail and wire fraud and one count of transferring and concealing property of a bankruptcy estate.

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Article 25 of 31, Article ID: 8901130287

Published on 02/25/1989, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

HUND FINISHES FIVE SQUAD TESTIMONY

TEXT: Former police officer Charles A. Hund 3d underwent his final day of cross- examination yesterday as the defense in the racketeering trial of six former narcotics officers continued trying to portray him as the epitome of corruption.

Hund, 39, has given seven days of pointed testimony against six of his former colleagues in Five Squad, a now-defunct drug unit.

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Complete Article, 371 words ( $1.95 )




Article 26 of 31, Article ID: 8901040756

Published on 01/18/1989, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

DEFENSE ATTACKS RYAN'S CONFLICTS IN DRUG-UNIT TRIAL

TEXT: The defense in the federal racketeering trial of six former Philadelphia police officers focused yesterday on the differences between Leo Ryan's testimony and his earlier statements.

A key government witness and former police officer, Ryan was cross-examined for a third day, questioned about his turbulent marriage, his one-time addiction to Valium and his relationships with the men who once worked with him in Five Squad, the now-defunct drug unit.

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Article 31 of 31, Article ID: 8701080525

Published on 02/06/1987, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

MOST CHARGES DISMISSED AGAINST 2 MASTRONARDOS

TEXT: A federal court judge yesterday dismissed most of the charges against John V. Mastronardo and his father, Joseph V. Mastronardo Sr., two of seven defendants accused of running a multimillion-dollar gambling and money- laundering operation based in Philadelphia.

U.S. District Court Judge Anthony J. Scirica left intact 36 of 42 charges against Joseph Mastronardo Jr., 36, the son-in-law of former Mayor Frank L. Rizzo and the man prosecutors say masterminded the alleged sports-bookmak i

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MONEY

The Leaveless Plant

The Leaveless Plant

by Cody Gambill

© 2006

I am a plant without any roots

I bring no syrup I bear no fruits

I am not much to look at without any flowers

All I do is sit and stare for hours

Every so often I wander off to find a new spot

Feeling no attachment to anything I’ve got

Every time I move I lose a leaf or two

But no one will notice because here I am new

After moving a while I look down to see

How oblivious I am to my nudity

All of my moving has shaken me bare

Embarrassed and all I ignore the stares

But the more I think the better I feel

Because the leaves from me provided a meal

So I am important like all on this earth

Think I’ll settle down and show this world what I’m worth

-Cody Gambill

8-25-2006

BP VIDEO THAT HAS BEEN REMOVED! >> DOWNLOAD

"Gold and the Myth of Free Markets" 05/11/2010

Gold and the Myth of Free Markets

by Darryl Schoon | May 11, 2010

Print

Some conspire to take power; others conspire to keep it

What we don’t know explains what we don’t understand. This is why the work of the Gold Anti-Trust Action committee, GATA, is to be admired. Much of the exposure of the US government’s hidden hand in the manipulation of the gold markets is due to GATA’s work. What most still do not understand is the extent of that hidden hand and its effect on America, a nation many believe to be free.

The sewers of influence that course through America’s financial system are hidden from the public eye and for good reason. If Americans understood the intent and motives of those who control the nation’s finances, they would realize they’re the patsies in an on-going suckers game with political parties the hired hacks who work on behalf of those who run the country; but, of course, Americans don’t understand and the game goes on.

Voting: A sucker’s bet in a fixed game

On GATA’s Board of Directors is Catherine Austin-Fitts, a person not known to many. She should be. From 1978 to 1989, she was at Dillon Read, a powerful and prestigious New York investment bank (later merged with S.G. Warburg and then UBS) where she was both Managing Director and a Member of its Board of Directors.

It was at Dillon Read where Catherine Austin-Fitts witnessed America’s heavily denied transformation, a transformation where America’s elites and Wall Street conspired with the Clinton Administration to turn Nixon’s “War on Drugs” into profit-driven genocide.

…I decided to write “Dillon Read & Co Inc. and the Aristocracy of Stock Profits” as a case study designed to help illuminate the deeper system… Dillon Read…and the Clinton Administration with the full support of a bipartisan Congress ..[colluded to profit] by ensnaring our youth in a pincer movement of drugs and prisons and wins middle class support for these policies through a steady and growing stream of government funding and contracts for War on Drugs activities at federal, state and local levels… This is genocide — a much more subtle and lethal version than ever before perpetrated by the scoundrels of our history texts. Catherine Austin-Fitts, US Assistant  Secretary of Housing (HUD) Bush Administration 1989-1990, Managing Director and Member Board of Directors, Dillon Read, 1986-1989

Because of Wall Street’s participation in America’s War on Drugs, large amounts of money were involved; and to start the money flowing, more Americans would have to go jail and they did. It’s no coincidence that the US is now the world’s number one jailor with the highest percentage of its citizens behind bars.

Under President William Jefferson No, I did not inhale Clinton, America’s prison population began to significantly rise, surpassing the numbers arrested under President Ronald Reagan. Thus began the diaspora of America’s underclass, especially black Americans into increasingly private prison cells in larger and larger numbers.

http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/01-02_REP_TooLittleTooLate_AC.pdf

America’s genocide as told by Wall Street and Washington insider and GATA board member, Catherine Austin-Fitts, involves the US government, banks, powerful elites, both political parties and the Rothschilds. To read her story, see http://www.dunwalke.com/1_Brady_Bush_Bechtel.htm  

GATA, MARTIN ARMSTRONG AND FREE MARKETS

GATA was incorporated by Bill Murphy in January 1999 to advocate and undertake litigation against illegal collusion to control the price and supply of gold and related financial securities. Exactly one year later in January 2000, Bill Murphy was to become personally acquainted with Martin Armstrong of Princeton Economics.

At the time gold was $280/oz , silver was $5.18  and GATA’s Bill Murphy was hearing rumors that Martin Armstrong was heavily involved in shorting gold. Then, on January 5, 2000 the following article, a revelatory bombshell, was posted on Kitco.

Date: Wed Jan 05 2000 04:24

GoldBird1 ( Armstrong-Republic-manipulations ) ID#396247:

Copyright © 1999 GoldBird1/Kitco Inc. All rights reserved

Whilst I have read a lot on this site about Armstrong and his supposed short gold position, etc., etc., etc., I just thought everyone should know that it is all BS. I have worked inside Republic Bank and quite frankly the whole thing stinks of a major set up intended to frame Armstrong big time. Armstrong was right about the manipulation of silver and a whole lot more.

Not only was silver manipulated, they do it all the time. If you want to know the truth, it was Republic who has been behind almost every manipulation I know of for at least the last 10 years, I've seen it first hand. Buffet is not lily white and this silver purchase of his was not the first. The manipulation by Phibro in 1995 when they exercised the call options way out of the money was executed by Andy Heck who now works for Republic. The CFTC went to Phibro demanding to know who the client was behind the trade and they refused to give up the name. The CFTC did not do their job, as usual, and just walked away demanding that they exit the trade. Phibro was owned by Salomon Bros and the authorization to squeeze silver was given personally by Buffet.

Does anyone really think that a small sub like Phibro could do a $1 billion trade without board approval from above? It doesn't end there. Bribes were paid to Russian officials to "recall" platinum so it could be inventoried. Republic helped Tiger corner the market in palladium and stored it for them just like they moved the silver from NY to London for Buffet. This thing even goes back to the manipulation of the US Treasury Auctions. The govt boys are so stupid, when they threatened to take the license away from Salomon Bros, Buffet came to the rescue. Ha! He was behind that trade as well and his name was concealed then, as always. Then that trader left and started LTCM and had a real merry old time. Look at who his investors were! Just before it blew up, Buffet agreed to bailout that operation and wrote a letter stating that if his offer were ever revealed, it would be void. That letter was published in the WSJ because it blew up before Buffet could put the deal to bed.

The point is, Armstrong was trying to fight the crowd. He knew what was going on and the word inside the bank was that he might even have tapes of conversations between a lot of the players. Everyone is really worried about that for sure. These guys take the market up get all you suckers believing the rally is real and then slam it again. How do you think they make their billions? They don't care about bull markets. They shag the markets to make their billions off of the people who don't have a clue. They rotate between the markets. All the same names were on the short-side in copper. Sumitomo tried to fight these guys. They baited the Japanese into the trades offering them untold credit. They then would short copper against them. Sumitomo tried to defend their position and ended up buying the entire inventory. When they had Sumitomo loaded, they ran to the authorities and did them in calling it a manipulation. They made a fortune on that short trade. To add insult to injury, Sumitomo ran to Goldman Sachs for help, Goldman started selling thousands of contracts in copper that day and then accepted the work out the following day after front-running their own client. Jimmy Goldsmith was involved in this one as well as Safra, Tiger and a host of others. They amazingly are all on the right side of every one of these trades.

Hell - bribes were even paid to bank officials at the Central Bank of Thailand to start the Asian Crisis! That was the evidence the Japanese took to the G7 meeting and demanded controls against the organized hedge funds.

The US govt refused to do anything against the group of players because this thing is so dirty nobody wants the truth out there. They told the Japs they would agree to sanctions only. That's why Armstrong is being served up as the Xmas turkey. Quite frankly, he knows too much.

Safra was paying bribes to people inside the IMF as well. They all thought they had the IMF in their pocket. That's why they all invested so much into Russia. They even set up Bank of New York on behalf of a rival group of thugs in Russia and because Republic hates Bank of New York because they are not part of the club.

These markets are never going to breakout until someone breaks up this organized mob of billionaires. The govt is either too stupid or they are involved with them ==== a high probability! After all, Armstrong had a $1 billion credit line in the bank and everyone knew it. Suddenly, his credit line was pulled and Republic took $500 million of his clients money pretending it was never there. That order came from good old Mr. Safra himself and was carried out by George Wendler personally. And if anyone believes that story about Safra's death, I guess they believe in Santa Claus and a few other sudden deaths when the heat got turned up. If Armstrong or his clients got Safra on the stand, the whole thing could have unraveled. His bodyguard was changed just after this affair started. You fill in the blanks.

Armstrong was never short 700 tons of gold. In fact, to get the silver manipulation going, Armstrong was out of the country and they ran their orders through Republic to make everyone think it was Armstrong covering short positions he never had. The records are all there!

All this stuff is on tapes, docs and emails. The question is, will the govt go along with the big boys and cover everything up again? [They did] If so, they say already Armstrong won't make it to trial. They cannot afford a open trial with everything Armstrong knows. He probably knows far more than what has been written here. They just can't afford for the world to know how rigged this game truly is and how these billionaires really make their money at the expense of everyone else.

That's the real story. Take it for what it's worth.

End

[note: The govt is either too stupid or they are involved with them.. the answer may be some of both—some are too stupid and some are involved.]

Subsequent events have shown the writer was probably correct that Martin Armstrong was being set up and that market manipulation occurs far more often than anyone knows. Markets aren’t free. They’re rigged. Free markets are a myth. In actuality, markets have been rigged as long as it has been possible to do so

When investors have sufficient wealth and power, rigging markets is preferable to investing as the odds are far better when chance is replaced by manipulation; and, the belief that market regulators, e.g. the SEC, the CFTC, the FDA, etc. are neutral and honest is as vain and naïve as believing JFK was gunned down by a lone gunman or that Building 7 in the World Trade Center suddenly collapsed on 9/11 without any intervening exogenous force; or that bankers Edmund Safra, Michele Sindona, and Roberto Calvi were not in trouble with the powers that be when they were murdered—Safra burned to death by his newly-hired bodyguard trapped in his fortress-like penthouse in Monaco, Sindona poisoned in prison after drinking coffee laced with cyanide and Calvi found hanging by his neck beneath Blackfriar’s Bridge in London, his pockets filled with bricks while out on bail.

EVEN EVIL RUNS OUT OF LUCK

The governments and bankers behind the manipulation of gold are running out of options. Their supplies of physical gold are dwindling as demand is rising. Their attempts to force down the price of gold has lasted almost 30 years but even evil runs out of luck.

Their attempts to re-liquefy the markets are backfiring as Gary Dorsch, editor of Global Money Trends, points out that when central banks now pump in new debt, it forces the price of gold higher: The Fed has monetized trillions of dollars of new debt, through its QE scheme, and many investors have lost all faith in the value of paper money. In fact, the ballooning size of the US Treasury’s debt, which hit a record $12.8-trillion last month, has been a steady linchpin supporting the historic rally in the gold market over the past decade. As a general rule of thumb, every $1-trillion of fresh debt issued by the Treasury equates with a $125 /ounce increase in the price of gold. As long as the Fed and G-20 central banks continue to peg ultra-low interest rates, - and G-20 governments continue to flood the debt markets with huge quantities of IOU’s, - it translates into monetization, and the trajectory for the gold market would stay bullish. http://www.sirchartsalot.com/

Gold has now again broken above the $1200.mark. The price of gold has quadrupled since GATA was incorporated in January 1999. It will even go higher as central bankers continue to fight in vain to maintain capitalism’s crumbling fiefdom of paper money. John Exter’s inverse pyramid denoting the deflationary flight to safety has now reached government bonds, i.e. sovereign debt. Gold is the ultimate destination of deflating wealth. www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article13848.html

FREE MARKETS AND CAPITALISM

There is a controversy regarding capitalism that should be addressed. Rather than defining capitalism in contradistinction to communism, i.e. free versus managed markets, it is more useful to define what capitalism actually is:

Capitalism’s distinguishing feature is the nature of money used in capital markets

In his book, Capitalism (Polity Press 2008), Geoffrey Ingham writes: It might seem unnecessary to draw attention to the fact that money is an essential component of the capitalist system…Capitalist societies…share certain fundamental features: (i) the private credit and the banking system ‘money multiplier’: (ii) state debt as the ultimate foundation of credit-money; (iii) the pivotal role of the central bank: and, (iv) the three cornered struggle between state, money market and taxpayer.

Capitalist economies came into existence when the Bank of England was established in 1694, a central bank which issued money in the form of debt, a monetary phenomena that had never before occurred in history. In capitalist economies, money is debt.

The substitution of debt for savings as money led to the acceleration of Gresham’s Law where bad (debt-based) money drives out good (savings-based). This explains much about our present circumstances. The issue of free versus managed markets came only after the appearance of communism.

The rise of communism shifted the focus away from capitalism’s shortcomings (debt) and advantages (credit) to communism’s egregious, obvious and brutal oppression, a phenomenon that occurs whenever and wherever power is centralized.

The greater the centralization of power the greater the opportunity for oppression

It should be understood, especially today, that capitalism is no more a protector against oppression than is democracy (see Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville) and, if capitalist/democratic societies, e.g. the US, the UK, the EU, etc, continue their present trajectory; their end will be but another iteration of state tyranny.

… democratic societies which are not free may well be prosperous, cultured, pleasing to the eye, and even magnificent, such is the sense of power implicit in their massive uniformity; in them may flourish many private virtues, good fathers, honest merchants, exemplary landowners, and good Christians too…But, I make bold to say, never shall we find under such conditions a great citizen, still less than a great nation
Democracy in America, Alexis de Toqueville, 1835

Today in America, under the guise of protecting the nation, long-standing constitutionally guaranteed freedoms are being dismissed and dismantled in the US at an accelerating pace. The dispersion of power that the Founding Father embedded in the Constitution in 1776 has now been replaced by a highly centralized government.

In America, markets aren’t free and neither are Americans

The US Patriot Act—Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001—is the blueprint for the new America. Written by legal hacks, foisted on the nation by the Republican Party in the darkly contrived shadow of 9/11 and extended by the Democrats, the right of the US government to intrude and override America’s civil liberties is now the law of the land.

MARTIN ARMSTRONG AND THE US GOVERNMENT

I am not sure what is going on. I have been told that the receiver is now going to try a contempt charge for my not handing in my keys despite the fact that the locks and security codes have been changed… It appears that a contempt-of- court can land you in jail for about one year. After that, higher courts deem it to be cruel and unusual punishment. Martin Armstrong

The above was excerpted from an email sent to GATA’s Chris Powell from Martin Armstrong in early January 2000. The court receiver who accused Mr. Armstrong of contempt was Alan Cohen, a lawyer at the powerful and prestigious firm, O’Melveny & Myers. On January 14, 2000, Martin Armstrong was arrested based on Mr. Cohen’s allegations.

For the next seven years, Armstrong would be held without trial. Appellate courts would dismiss Armstrong’s appeals that such an unprecedented incarceration on contempt charges constituted cruel and unusual punishment; the courts instead found that cruel and unusual rulings apply only to persons, not to corporations or corporate officers such as Mr. Armstrong.

This is legal parsing at its most scurrilous, equal to those written by John Yoo, the Bush Administration lawyer who provided cover for America’s legalization of torture; cover, that if extended, could exonerate those convicted at Nuremberg.

Such is the current state of American jurisprudence, a country based on the rule of law—or, so it proclaims. If so, the question must then be asked: Whose rule? Whose law? And, most importantly, whose country? If you haven’t asked those questions, you don’t know the answers.

As would be expected, those who serve power, e.g. John Yoo, Alan Cohen, Bill Clinton et. al., are well-rewarded in a country as wealthy and powerful as America. Yoo is a professor at Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley, Cohen is Executive Vice President and Global Head of Compliance at Goldman Sachs and Clinton receives $5-$8 million annually in speaking fees as a respected former US president.

Currently, Martin Armstrong is serving a five-year sentence at Fort Dix federal prison; as his time served on contempt charges—seven years (a record)—was not credited against his sentence. For Armstrong’s case and information on his incarceration, see http://princetoneconomics.blogspot.com/

Martin Armstrong’s Pi Cycle Economic Confidence Model which predicted the exact top of the Japanese stock market is a noteworthy achievement in matters of economic theory. While incarcerated Armstrong continues to write, even when in solitary confinement; and when he’s not allowed access to a typewriter, he will use a pen, see http://armstrongeconomics.com/writings/.  

Martin Armstrong in prison at Fort Dix Federal Penitentiary and Catherine Austin-Fitts, Bill Murphy and Chris Powell at GATA deserve our support in these consequential times. John Yoo, Alan Cohen, Bill Clinton and the many others who serve power and wealth do not.

In America, real power is held by those who pay Yoo, Cohen, and Clinton to do their bidding; coalescing power, control and wealth in a nation that still believes itself free—while those who are governed remain oblivious and unconcerned as to their true state.

Sleep, America, sleep
Dream, America, dream
For only in your sleep and dreams
Are you free and awake

America, however, is about to wake up. Its awakening will not be pleasant. The pain has only just begun.

Copyright © 2010 Darryl Schoon
Editorial Archive

"How To Survive The Crisis And Profit In the Process"

contact information

Darryl Schoon | Personal Website | Survive the Crisis

The opinions of FSU contributors do not necessarily reflect those of Financial Sense.

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Cop’s death in ‘78 clash was a spark | Philadelphia keep digging @CopBlock #Corruption #FiveSquad

RON WILLIAMS / Philadelphia Jounral via UPI

Police and firefighters duck after others were hit by gunfire at the start of the Aug. 8, 1978, shoot-out. Officer James Ramp was killed and many others were injured.

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Posted on Thu, May. 6, 2010

Cop’s death in ‘78 clash was a spark

By KITTY CAPARELLA
Philadelphia Daily News

caparek@phillynews.com 215-854-5880

"OH MY GOD! They shot a cop!"

I shouted into the phone to a Daily News editor who was taking notes as police surrounded the MOVE compound in Powelton Village.

Cops were trying to get the radical cult members to drop their weapons and come out of the basement with their children.

Suddenly, gunshots came from the basement window of the MOVE house.

From a third-floor apartment window, I looked down to where stakeout cop James Ramp was slowly kneeling to take a shooting position on the sidewalk with others. Ramp abruptly fell backward, blood coming out of his mouth.

It was 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 8, 1978, in the first armed battle between MOVE and the Philadelphia Police Department. Ramp was killed and 16 cops and firefighters were injured.

At 6 a.m., an officer had read a warrant and ordered the MOVE members to surrender, then Msgr. Charles Devlin, of the Cardinal's Commission on Human Relations, and many others appealed to MOVE to end the siege.

"Please on behalf of everything that is sane and honest, send out the children," said Devlin.

Bulldozers shoved away the parapet where for 15 months MOVE had threatened a showdown if four of their members weren't released from prison. Using a battering ram, flak-jacketed cops rammed the front, side and basement windows, then a wall, revealing a bag of onions, peanut butter, potatoes and waxed paper.

Deluge tanks were positioned close to the house, where they discharged columns of water directly into the basement.

Hundreds of rats and dozens of dogs emerged from the house all morning, eventually followed by 11 MOVE members and 11 children.

But the rage felt by some police upset by the death of one of their own was saved for the vitriolic Delbert Orr Africa, an ex-Black Panther member and Army vet who counted dead soldiers before shipping them home from Vietnam.

When Delbert Africa climbed through the basement window, a cop grabbed his dreadlocks, dragging him down the street, while others kicked and pounded his body. Other officers jumped the cops to pull them off.

Daily News photographer Norman Lono, who had hidden in the shower of the same apartment as I had, documented the horror from beginning to end.

The next morning I awoke screaming from the images of war. Covering MOVE was a recurring nightmare.

 

The siege begins

 

Only 15 months earlier during a nine-hour standoff with police, 18 MOVE members, in tan fatigues and black berets, brandished rifles and handguns on the parapet at the MOVE compound, a twin house illegally taken over at 33rd and Pearl streets.

They demanded that four jailed members be freed and threatened to kill city officials, judges, cops and reporters. After nine hours, Civil Affairs Inspector George Fencl persuaded the members to put away their weapons.

From that day on - May 20, 1977 - police began a 24-hour surveillance of MOVE, whose members relished the attention and publicity, and incited crowds with racial epithets and harangues against city officials.

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it actually begins in 1972... perhaps even earlier. for additional reading, i suggest you follow the investigation into Police Corrupution that will take straight to the top. From Nixon to War on Drugs that apponted the infamous Five Squad. The hunted, the haunted and The Powers That Beat.

1978.

Next.... 1982.

1985.

1995.

1996.

Present.

The trial of Jofn Africa was memorable. The only one ever lost by a man named Les. And the man who would became who became John Africa lived and died as Vincent Leaphart.

It was not a suicide yet somehow it went down in the books that way... petitions curculated to change the cause of death.

Vincent broke the golden rule set forth by the chief prosecutor... he was given a choice... surrender now!

In the words Ghengis Kahn reveal a twisted pattern of criminal activity in the underbelly of The Powers That Beat.

The truth exists in the buried archives of "unpublished opinions"

What were the motives and was the voice beneath the statement, "Surrender Now?"

Surrender Now" will ultimately reveal a deep and disturbing pattern of corruption that goes far beyond the City of Brotherly Love.

just me.

@ElyssaD

FIVE SQUAD, CORRUPTION, WAR ON DRUGS, WAR ON CRIME,
THE WAR AT HOME!

Incorporated in Delaware, 1972.
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/special/20100506_Cops_death_in_78_clash_was_a...

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An inauspicious beginning | Philadelphia Daily News | 05/07/2010

THE POLITICAL hellfires of the 1960s - like a lot of things - came a little late to Philadelphia. In the case of the radical group MOVE and the inferno that it sparked, the flaming embers have never fully burned out.

The beginnings seemed unremarkable. In 1972, a militant student activist named Donald Glassey came to Philadelphia from the Michigan State campus as a grad student and social worker.

One of the people he met in his Powelton Village neighborhood was a 41-year-old handyman with a third-grade education named Vincent Leaphart, who was known as something of a street-corner philosopher.

The white student radical, Glassey, was so taken with the urban black activist, that he transcribed some of Leaphart's ideas into a manuscript called The Guideline, a blueprint for a neighborhood activist group that at first was simply called "Vinnie's Gang" and then the Community Action Movement, later shortened to MOVE.

"MOVE is in the tradition of the more progressive leftist groups like the Black Panthers and groups like that, that were emerging. This was a variant," said Paul Wahrhaftig, author of The MOVE Crisis in Philadelphia: Extremist Groups and Conflict Resolution.

The 1970s was a tumultuous decade in Philadelphia - with urban unrest, gang warfare and the iconic law-and-order regime of tough-cop-turned-mayor Frank L. Rizzo. But as it wore on, MOVE began to stand out for its eccentric views on technology and "getting back to nature."

There were about 30 people in "Vinnie's Gang," many living in a large Victorian house in Powelton Village. They garnered headlines for protesting the captivity of animals at the nearby Philadelphia Zoo, while drawing complaints from neighbors for trash dumping and rat infestation.

MOVE gradually moved further from its community- activist roots and into stranger territory. Leaphart changed his name to John Africa, in keeping with a "back to Africa" philosophy. Soon most of his followers grew dreadlocks and changed their own surnames to "Africa" as well - some of John Africa's followers even believed he had supernatural powers - and the group became more militant. By the late 1970s, co-founder Glassey had split from the group and was cooperating with law enforcement.

On Aug. 8, 1978, Rizzo, armed with an order to evict MOVE from the Powelton Village home and then bulldoze it, ordered police to storm the building. A shootout ensued and when the smoke cleared, one police officer - James J. Ramp - lay dead. Nine members of the group were convicted of murder.

John Africa, facing weapons charges, spent several years on the lam, but MOVE did not disappear.

Instead, by 1981, the movement had regrouped in a house at 6221 Osage Ave. in West Philadelphia that was owned by John Africa's sister, Louise James. Soon, the MOVE members had fortified the home and also set up a loudspeaker that sent a constant barrage of noise into the surrounding streets.

The rowhouses on and around Osage had been settled by black working-class families in the 1960s. Many of these homeowners demanded action, especially after voters elected W. Wilson Goode as Philadelphia's first black mayor, who defeated Rizzo in a close election in 1983.

On May 1, 1985, the MOVE neighbors went public with their demands that City Hall act. Goode, who initially told neighbors he was stumped over what to do about the radical group, was convinced by cops and then-District Attorney Ed Rendell that there was enough evidence for a search warrant, signed by Common Pleas Judge Lynne Abraham, the future D.A. Police barricaded the neighborhood on Mother's Day, May 12, asked residents to leave, and took up their positions.

When the sun rose on Monday, May 13, 1985, then-Police Commissioner Gregore J. Sambor appeared with his own bullhorn to order MOVE out, announcing: "Attention, MOVE. This is America." The first shots were fired before 6 a.m., and police efforts to roust the radicals with water cannons and tear gas failed. At 5:27 p.m., as much of Philadelphia watched on TV, a state police helicopter dropped explosives on the rooftop bunker.

Soon flames appeared, but firefighters were initially paralyzed by the raging gunfighters. Two survivors, Ramona Africa and the then-13-year-old known as Birdie Africa, fled the home and were arrested while the fire spread through the neighborhood before it was brought under control, about midnight. Eleven bodies - including John Africa's - would be found in the rubble; 53 homes were destroyed, eight others were damaged and all 61 were razed.

A special commission created to probe the tragedy said that Goode and other top officials had acted with "reckless disregard" and that the debacle would not have happened in a predominantly white neighborhood. Panel member Bruce Kaufmann, now a federal judge, dissented: "The tragic events of that day were caused, purely and simply, by incompetence, bad judgment and other errors."

Goode again defeated Rizzo for re-election in 1987, but his own legacy is forever singed by the decision to drop the bomb. Meanwhile, efforts to rebuild the neighborhood and bring peace back to Osage Avenue have instead brought more turmoil.

An initial attempt to rebuild the destroyed block was plagued by shoddy construction and corruption. The developer, Ernest Edwards, went to jail. The city reached a settlement with homeowners, but today more than half the block remains vacant, windows shrouded in plywood.

On a recent warm April night, the jingle of an ice-cream truck passed by and only a couple of adults were outside on their front stoops. But James Taylor Jr., 45, who's lived on Osage Avenue since the early 1970s, said the people who are left still look out for each other:

"This isn't a block - it's an extended family," Taylor said.

Taylor is just one of many Philadelphians - from the powerful to everyday people - still dealing with the aftermath of May 13, 1985. In the following pages, you will hear their stories.

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“The Roof is on Fire” and Philadelphia’s Burning” | Philadelphia Daily News | 05/10/2010

As summer broke in 1985, a thumping song boomed in nightclubs across the country. Here in Philadelphia, its lyrics were loaded, linked to a vivid travesty.

"The Roof Is on Fire" was released by Rock Master Scott and the Dynamic Three six months before the MOVE conflagration.

The lyrics, which had nothing to do with the incident, became a popular dance-floor chant:

"The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. We don't need no water, let the motherf----- burn. Burn, motherf-----, burn."

Charles "Charlie Prince" Pettiford, a member of the group from the Bronx that wrote and performed the song, said he knew nothing about the MOVE incident at the time and still knows very little about it now.

"What planet does he live on?" asked Ramona Africa, a MOVE survivor who spent seven years in prison after the incident.

Africa says she can't help but link the song and fire.

"It definitely reminds me of what happened on May 13," she said. "I never thought it was written for that. But you automatically connect the two."

The song entered popular culture linked to MOVE, but another tune inspired by the fire quickly became too politically hot to handle by local song legends.

Bunny Sigler, the famous Philadelphia R&B singer, songwriter and producer, said he was working with other musicians in a studio at 6th Street and Olney Avenue on the day of the MOVE fire. They could see the smoke off in the distance as the fire raged through the day.

Then they went to work.

"These guys started playing this song," Sigler recalled. "It was something. They felt that pain. They played the funkiest baseline that I ever heard."

But Sigler said his management, Philadelphia International Records, was "very tight" with then-Mayor W. Wilson Goode Sr. and didn't want the song.

"They said, 'Hands off! Hands off!' " Sigler said. "They wouldn't use it."

Sigler, who now has different management, started thinking about the song, "Philadelphia's Burning," this year, after a fire ravaged the offices of Philadelphia International Records. He decided to revive it, collecting footage from the incident and shooting scenes out on Osage Avenue for a new music video.

Some lyrics:

"Bullhorns were shouting profanities. Led to all this misery. People told the mayor we can't take no more. You do something before we knock down the door."

"Philadelphia's burning, what a shame. Philadelphia's burning, who's to blame?"

"When you hear the song, the whole story is there," Sigler said. "People might get mad at me but I'm going to tell the story."

 

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The Daily Dose of TMI: May 13, 2010 : THE COINTELPRO LEGACY

Daily dose of TMI: May 13, 3010

Staus: Halted in progress (yay me @ElyssaD)

I don't if know if you received this email. My netbook crashed as I

was sending and it froze for 26 hours.

But I did the information for SafeLink program which is wonderful

because my extremely "bazaar" and changes the cell service every few

days without informing me. Tmobile will not provide information at all

so I can't access email because they reset the password. Itonically, the ONE legal snafu with that lttle welfare phone...  the bitch fucked me there too... by claiming me AGAIN as a dependent in New York State.

As you know she claimed as a dependent on her tax returns without my

consent or knowledge.

The IRS informed me of this breach since every time I went to file my

taxed they were rejected by the IRS because it showed up a duplicate

Tax (Social Security ID)

She claims that her accountant did and she knew nothing about it (if

you could only picture my face and feel the sarcasm in voice as I am

forced to repeat this information time and time again to any and all

"agencies" who make inquired) she however does see this as a problem

and refuses to file an amended return (cost $70.00) so once again I am

rendered incapable of establishing independent (in every sense of the

word)

In addition, my father, well... Here we go...

My father as you know agreed to be my representative payee for Social

Security disability. Obviously that was a big mistake on my part and

has yet to be resolved. Congressman Cooper's office totally dropped

the ball and said there is nothing they can do. I requested that

reopen the investigation, and despite my persistent nice (which is both

annoying and immense) they simply do pretend that I don't exist.

Governor Bredesen sent an email telling me to call the President.

Seriously, are you kidding me?

So this is where we stand: no Social Security never received the money

that received in IOTOLA account during the months I spent sleeping in

my car or at the lake last summer.

And yes. I did spend a week or so at "The Mission" when I ran out of

gas, energy, and hope last August. My father still was receiving the

money, but did not pay bills, or release to me in time to prevent the

inevitable total disconnection of any and all services (utilities)

making it near impossible to re-establish service. They required

excessive fees for deposits and past due balances.

As per federal law, my father, Marc Durant is responsible for paying

those fees as they were a direct result of his failure to act in my

best interest but also a breach of fiduciary duty.

Now, to make matters worse, every time they seem to locate the

paperwork it gets redirected to the Philadelphia field office. So

The US Dept of Treasury located the funds that were never sent "in

error" some bank account (probably in the Cayman's or wherever rich

people go to hide there money ~ note both the sarcasm and the simple

fact that this is most likely true. It is sad that even to put in

these little side notes to even use the one things that through this

mess...

Dark sarcasm and a little bit of humor. I'm sick of making

excuses for these people (mother: Karen, and father: Leslie Marc

Durant) so I am laying it down on the table for whomever it cares to

question and blame me for this "unfortunate situation..

These are the facts. And I need to take a break because my fingers are

getting cramps and my back is in spasm.

But I will continue to "the facts" out as long so that I can be free

of the constant struggle to be independent, self-sufficient and

EMPLOYED! This is absurdity and I realize I have people who do see the

obvious truth here. Yet in the real world and the everyday struggle to

be "human" continues.

My mother will always be #batshitcrazy. My father will always be #abovethelaw.

But I will not always have the strength or the ability to communicate

effectively given my financial, physical and emotional reality.

I am aware. I am aware that this is too much for one person to handle

and I don't blame those walk away in disgust and frustration because

they don't understand the intricate details of the law or the immense

emotional drama AND trauma that I face each day without resolution.

I understand that people need to believe that these are the ramblings

of a mad woman. If that were true I would say by all means, give me

the strongest does of anti psychotics asap. As I think most people are

starting to realize, unfortunately, these facts check out.

There is no treatment for the habitual and continued ignorance of the

public at large.

It is not my job soothe them or educate them as in law, sociology, and

"the world according to me @ElyssaD"

I do the best I can because I know how serious and pervasive certain

components of my story ring true for a number of people.

I will do the best I can to fight that stigma and the emotional

torture I live with every single say.

Godammit, I hope this thing sends. It is bad enough that I am typing

all this shit on cell phone because AT&T wants a $400 non refundable

fee plus $150 deposit, plus $49 for installation for internet

So in the spirit of which it was intended: Send, send, send!

and don't bounce back now, ya hear?

Wishing myself luck. I know these words are dangerous to some,

especially in light of the guy who got arrested for sending out a

threatening tweet. Yeah, ~ insert sarcasm about here ~ if you think

my words are "dangerous" than you need you deserve to be scared!

(Laughs to oneself as I know I am not a physical threat to anyone but

let's face it, if you don't get it you never will. And if this is a

lesson is Social Darwinism, let the dumb ones live in fear! And to

quote (without permission or proper citation to be added!) But

"If this tweet offends you, probably deserve it!"

 @icpchad Yes. I am aware. Now format this bitch and enter it into your contest.

I deserve win something. Maybe an iTHINGY or iNTERNET. Not just iWANT

that is a legitimate iNEED in the world I live in.

File under: Disambiguation, Crime, Social Justice / Human Rights;

Crime, Crisis, Digital Divide, Cognitive Dissonance, Conspiracy Theory

This is me, just me

@ElyssaD

View all

Get your own

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

From: Elyssa Durant

Date: Tue, 11 May 2010 19:32:58 -0500

Subject: New Microsoft Office Word Document

To: elyssa.durant@yahoo.com, ELYSSA DURANT

Thanks Stacy... I had a hearing at Social Security about two weeks ago.

Very depressing. It cost $44 to or transportation, and they already

reversed the decision now I have to go back again and file the same

paperwork.

I have not received anything from Section 8 which has me concerned,

and my I am a really difficult time with without internet, TV,

transportation.... or even a library w/in walking distance.

Especially with the weather this weekend... I had no idea until I

heard the sirens. and then of everything was closed... and in 'the

hood" it is cash culture, so of course ppl became very aggressive [aka

mean] fighting over bottle of water and at the gas station when they

reopened.

my mother cancelled changed the password on the "family plan" after we

had "words" regarding well... really nothing... but today has just

been especially difficult since I don't have reliable phone service...

which of course is both a security and comfort issue for someone who

writes as a form of therapy..

I just this alert on my computer email... I don't even know where to start...

I received the invitation to the info session on WIPA that you guys

did...unfortunately transportation is problematic.

I have been receiving of lot of from people online... as silly as it

sounds there are so many ppl isolated and lonely. So I found they have

forums for ppl with PTSD and it has been very helpful to have eed back

that I am not the only one feeling left behind in the disability

movement.

Apparently I managed to reach a few ppl locally who call [my number is

public] to ask if I had any success with the housing and re-employment

programs. it makes me feel like I can be of some service to the

community... social services just got hear so I need to sign off but I

have received so many fraud alert that other people e.g., EFF and

other human right agencies have started to ask about my story.

All I can say is that I did write a review online for the Ctr 4 Ind

living at disabilty.gov website when they were looking to for feedback

on reemployment programs... I also had an I usa today and the

hufffington post that made me hopeful and regret at the same time...

this is a recent post ii got tons of feed back on... it is long, but

ppl really seen=m to relate...

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Elyssa Durant, Ed.M.

Nashville, Tennessee

(615) 424-8810

"You may not care how much I know, but you don't know how much I care."

ungman , post, Activity on this account,

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(68.171.235.26) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile United States

(CA) (206.53.157.233) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile United States

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States (CA) (206.53.157.186) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile United

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United States (NY) (68.171.233.175) May 3 (2 days ago), Mobile

United States (NY) (68.171.233.42) May 3 (2 days

ago)______________________________

On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 9:29 AM, Stacy Youngman wrote:

Hey Elyssa,

I was just wondering how things are going and if you are doing ok.

Please let me know!

Hope you are well.

Thanks,

Stacy Youngman, MSSW

Community Work Incentives Coordinator

Center for Independent Living

955 Woodland Street

Nashville, TN 37206

Phone: (615) 292-5803

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more, Access Type [ ? ], (Browser, mobile, POP3, etc.) Location (IP

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ago), Unknown United States (CA) (75.101.223.83) May

1 (4 days ago), Browser * United States (TN) (69.171.173.160)

2:45 pm (0 minutes ago), Browser United States (NY)

(68.171.235.26) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile United States (NY)

(68.171.235.26) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile United States

(CA) (206.53.157.233) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile United States

(CA) (206.53.157.244) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile United States

(NY) (68.171.234.76) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile United

States (CA) (206.53.157.186) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile United

States (DC) (206.53.153.169) May 3 (2 days ago), Mobile

United States (NY) (68.171.233.175) May 3 (2 days ago), Mobile

United States (NY) (68.171.233.42) May 3 (2 days ago)

On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 9:29 AM, Stacy Youngman wrote:

Hey Elyssa,

I was just wondering how things are going and if you are doing ok.

Please let me know!

Hope you are well.

Thanks,

Stacy Youngman, MSSW

Community Work Incentives Coordinator

Center for Independent Living

955 Woodland Street

Nashville, TN 37206

Phone: (615) 292-5803

ungman , post, Activity on this account,

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more, Access Type [ ? ], (Browser, mobile, POP3, etc.) Location

(IP address) [ ? ] Date/Time, (Displayed in your time zone),

Unknown United States (IL) (174.129.93.190) May 1 (4

days ago), Unknown United States (CA) (75.101.223.83) May 1

(4 days ago), Browser * United States (TN) (69.171.173.160)

2:45 pm (0 minutes ago), Browser United States (NY)

(68.171.235.26) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile United States (NY)

(68.171.235.26) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile United States (CA)

(206.53.157.233) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile United

States (CA) (206.53.157.244) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile

United States (NY) (68.171.234.76) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile United

States (CA) (206.53.157.186) May 4 (1 day ago), Mobile

United States (DC) (206.53.153.169) May 3 (2 days ago),

Mobile United States (NY) (68.171.233.175) May 3 (2 days

ago), Mobile United States (NY) (68.171.233.42) May 3 (2 days

ago)

_________________________________________________________________

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