Category: Melanie Nayer
DEA in New Bedford Making Strong Impact on Drug War
WASHINGTON, April 22–Waiting in the East Room of the White House in 1999 to hear President Clinton speak, New Bedford Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz Jr. tapped retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, then the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy on the shoulder and said, “General, we have a problem and we need some help.”
The Mayor was referring to the increasing drug problem in New Bedford, and, he recalled recently, Mr. McCaffrey “immediately came back with some logistics for the area and suggested that I meet with his staff.”
New Bedford, with a population of more than 100,000, is the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts. It is positioned on Buzzards Bay and is 54 miles south of Boston and 33 miles southeast of Providence, which makes illegal drug trafficking in New Bedford a growth industry.
In 1999, at the Mayor’s request, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) moved into New Bedford and “set up shop, boosting local law enforcement and giving us that extra punch to stop drug trafficking,” said the Mayor.
The DEA provides the largest counter-drug presence in Massachusetts, with offices in Boston, Springfield, Cape Cod, Worcester, and New Bedford. With a mobile enforcement team, the agency was established to help state and local law enforcement combat the illegal drug trade.
Determining whether federal enforcement was necessary in New Bedford, and whether it could help in dealing with the drug problem, were questions worth exploring, and the results have been significant.
“The DEA provides additional manpower or person power,” said New Bedford Police Chief Arthur Kelly. “It allows for them to work on more complicated cases, involving situations outside of state limits. Just recently, they helped with a seizure of just over 500 pounds of cocaine.”
In December, local undercover law enforcement working with the DEA seized more than 600 pounds of cocaine, worth approximately $20 million, making this the largest cocaine seizure in state history.
In February, detectives dismantled a heroin packaging operation from Providence to New Bedford worth approximately $1.4 million.
“Everything is collaborative,” Mayor Kalisz said of the effort of local law enforcement agencies and the DEA. “The fact is, with their presence we can better determine how drugs are getting here. Networking and connections have obviously paid off, and the type of networking has complemented the local law enforcement.”
In collaboration with the DEA, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in 1990 established High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) to help fight drug trafficking regionally.
The New England HIDTA, which began operating in 1999, is one of 28 in the nation. The program concentrates on drug trafficking organizations and on the drug transportation corridor running north from New York City, and is financed by the ONDCP.
Despite the federal presence, New England HIDTA concentrates specifically on the drug issues concerning New England.
“The goal of the New England HIDTA is to reduce trafficking of drugs through law enforcement investigations and coordination and cooperation among various agencies in New England,” said George Festa, the director of the New England program. “Our mission primarily is to target the criminal groups that are transporting heroin and cocaine from New York to the area.”
To qualify as a high-intensity drug trafficking area, a region must be the center of illegal drug production, manufacturing or distribution, have expressed a determination through local law enforcement to respond aggressively to the problem, and demonstrate that a significant increase in federal resources is necessary to respond to drug-related activities harmful to the community.
For New Bedford, the “primary drug is heroin. We are getting very high purities,” Mr. Festa said.
According to the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), heroin has emerged as a threat equal to or greater than cocaine in Massachusetts, mainly because of a significant rise in the drug’s purity and a steep decline in its price.
Heroin that sold for $3,000-$5,000 per ounce in March 1999 cost only $2,500-$3,100 in September of that year; today, glassine bags that typically contain one user dose of heroin sell today for $4-$30, depending on the purity of the heroin, according to NDIC availability reports.
The NDIC reported that documented heroin distribution offenses in Massachusetts rose 11 percent in 1999 and that documented heroin trafficking offenses rose 32 percent.
The nearby cities of Providence, Woonsocket and Hartford also serve as regional heroin distribution centers outside the state for transporting the drug into Massachusetts markets.
Heroin is transported to Massachusetts in privately owned, borrowed and leased vehicles or by bus along Interstate 95, as well as by boat into seaports in Fall River, Salem and New Bedford.
Drugs are transported to the New Bedford area both by air through New Bedford Regional Airport and by sea, according to the NDIC.
The most significant threat the New England HIDTA confronts is the transportation of drugs across the border from Canada and along the region’s thousands of miles of coastline.
Most heroin in New England comes from Southwest Asia (Pakistan), and has become a top priority for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston.
Although that office did not want to comment on what it is doing to help combat drug traffickers in Massachusetts, the NDIC reports that drug organizations are difficult for law enforcement to penetrate and dismantle for several reasons, including the fact that transactions are kept within the organization and that the traffickers obtain false identification papers from sources in the United States.
“There is a network of different kinds of people leading different kinds of lifestyles in different areas making them less obvious to law enforcement,” said Carl Alves, director of the New Bedford Prevention Partnership. “Obviously, there are different levels of sophistication, making it difficult to combat, but we have developed a pretty united force in the community.”
Mr. Festa said, however, that the New England HIDTA, with an annual budget of $2.8 million, is working primarily with local law enforcement to “target, investigate and disrupt or dismantle drug trafficking operations.”
The regional HIDTAs also get supplemental funds from Washington. But President Bush’s fiscal year 2003 budget would reduce HIDTA funds to $206 million from this year’s $220 million. If approved, the decrease would eliminate these supplemental funds.
“The budget is level-funded, so you know you’re going to get at least the same thing next year as you did last year,” said Kurt Schmid, National HIDTA Director of the ONDCP. “Because of a reduction in the budget, there are no excess supplement funds, so it’s important to develop management tools to determine where the priorities are in the program.”
“HIDTAs are going to essentially have to sustain a performance programáto make reasonable, sound management decisions,” Mr. Schmid said. “HIDTA dollars are one-year money that is distributed on a variety of issues. We don’t compare one HIDTA to the other – regional problems are all very unique.”
“It is critical that we gain more money to attack the heroin problem,” said Mr. Festa. “This budget money enables us to continue to grow and tackle the drug problem in New England.”
Focusing on strategy is a value-added trait of regional HIDTAs, according to Mr. Schmid, and New Bedford is spending allocated money to purchase updated technology that the ONDCP provides.
The Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center (CTAC), a branch of the ONDCP, is the central federal counterdrug technology research and development organization; it provides specific technology for specific law enforcement sites.
“Currently, our technology is in all 50 states, and we have technology useful in assisting officers on the street, such as night vision glasses and thermal imagers,” said Dr. Albert Brandenstein, CTAC’s director and the ONDCP’s chief scientist.
“All of the technology is in the state of Massachusetts,” Dr. Brandenstein said. “Since February, 45 agencies have received 74 deliveries already, and by the end of the year 79 agencies will have received 109 deliveries.”
But the importance of the federal presence in the local war on drugs is a matter of some dispute.
“In down economic times there is more drug use, but with the budget down there is less treatment,” Mr. Alves said. “If you look back in time over the past 10 years when drug use and crime was downáI believe that is because of the strong effort in the community that makes things happen – we are a strong community.”
The ONDCP added a local DEA presence to the New Bedford community, creating a “tremendous boost to local law enforcement, enabling our local officials to work with trained federal officials,” Mayor Kalisz said. “A truckload of cocaine and $1 million in cash from illegal drug activity was discovered through help with the DEA – they have caused the type of change we are seeing.”
“I think it’s great that these suppliers are getting caught and confiscated; unfortunately, there are 4-5 guys behind them waiting to take their spot,” Mr. Alves said. “People don’t use drugs for fun and experimentation -it becomes an addiction. We need to arrest the addiction and not the person.”
Mr. Alves, who also runs a treatment facility in New Bedford, believes positive reinforcement in the community and within families, with the help of law enforcement, will make a difference in reducing drug trafficking.
“I think the challenge is demand reduction. We need to work with our kids and give them positive choices and focus on demand reduction and all these things have to happen simultaneously,” Mr. Alves said. “There is a lot to be done, and we can’t get discouraged. “It’s a part of life, and it’s been here forever.”
The New Bedford community continues to advocate against drugs and violence through neighborhood watch and educational programs, which makes it easier for undercover DEA agents to produce more immediate results, Mr. Alves said.
But Mayor Kalisz expressed confidence that, the DEA’s quiet presence and undercover operations in New Bedford will eventually be recognized.
“We certainly don’t want to the DEA to leave or disappear. I am most pleased that with such a strong federal presence, the DEA goes unrecognized,” Mayor Kalisz said. “That will eventually come to an end, but for an extended period of time they have made a tremendous effect.”
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
Profile: Lorraine Rudowski
WASHINGTON, April 09--Having tap danced in a million-dollar ballroom of New Bedford to waltzing with a King in a foreign country, Lorraine Rudowski is putting on her dancing shoes one more time as she prepares to return for her 55th high school reunion.
With a Coast Guard station in New Bedford and another in Newport, R.I., right across the state line, New Bedford in the 1940s hosted young servicemen from all over the country and boasted the million-dollar ballroom for USOs.
"Wartime in New Bedford was absolutely fabulous," remembers Millie Arena, a former resident of New Bedford and a lifelong friend of Mrs. Rudowski. "There was dancing all around us. Lorraine and I danced and singed and entertained; we were even offered jobs as roller-skaters in the Rollercapades. But, Lorraine had a different agenda."
At the age of 18, Mrs. Rudowski left her cheerleading and choir days at New Bedford High School and embarked on a journey of different cultures, religions and many different countries. Although she hasn't lived here since then, New Bedford, she said, always remained her home.
The wife of a foreign service officer who traveled the globe with her husband for more than a dozen years, Mrs. Rudowski raised her five children in while traveling to different countries. When her children were almost grown, at the age of 47, Mrs. Rudowski launched a career as a nurse and nursing instructor and then at the age of 60 she joined the Army as a reserve nurse.
At the beginning of the Gulf War in 1989, Mrs. Rudowski was teaching nursing at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia and when she saw the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps recruiting her students she decided to sign her name on the dotted line and join up.
Because military nurses were in short supply, Congress had lifted the age limitation and Mrs. Rudowski "filled out all the paperwork, did the physical and the drug testing and signed up for three years."
Mrs. Rudowski began her once-a-month rotations in the OBGYN department of Walter Reed Hospital, then located in Fairfax, VA. "I would wake up at four in the morning and put on my camouflage and boots and head to the hospital," she said.
At the end of her three-year stint in the Army reserve, Mrs. Rudowski retired from the military after contracting pneumonia on a trip to Russia.
But she continued her teaching of international health courses and global health to international graduate students studying world health and policy at George Mason University.
It was while she was working in a local Fairfax hospital in 1984 that Mrs. Rudowski was offered a job in the international nursing program at George Mason and began training nursing students from the university.
"Lorraine has been invaluable - she is the individual where all the knowledge really resides," said Rita Carty, dean of the George Mason University School of Nursing. "She knows about languages, religions, customs within the countries and the cultures around the worldáshe is probably the secret to the success of the international nursing program. Our secret weapon has been Lorraine."
"She's one sexy old broad," said Dean Carty. "I've seen her charm diplomats and ambassadors all over the world."
Decked out in a red suede jacket with matching lipstick and silver nail polish, it's not hard to imagine why. And at 73, Mrs. Rudowski shows no sign of stopping.
During a nursing conference in Botswana a few years ago, Mrs. Rudowski and Dean Carty attended the wedding of the king's son, where they were escorted "in buses with guards and AK47'sáand we were told to act accordingly," Dean Carty remembers.
Standing in the receiving line, Mrs. Rudowski decided she needed a greeting for the king in his native tongue so she asked the man standing in line next to her.
"Lorraine greeted the ruling family in their language, and to this day we don't know what she said to the king, but he bent over laughing with the biggest smile," Dean Carty said. "After that, the party went to hell in a hand basket. The music started, and Lorraine must have danced with the entire ruling party of Botswana. The only thing she wasn't able to pull off was a trip to the diamond mines."
Mrs. Rudowski learned those diplomatic skills during the many years she spent overseas with her husband Daniel Rudowski who she married at the age of 19.
In 1961, at the beginning of the Vietnam War, Mr. Rudowski joined the U.S. Agency for International Development, which landed the Rudowski's and their children (five of them by then) in Laos, South Vietnam, Taiwan, Turkey, Thailand and finally Kenya from 1963 to 1976.
"The minute I got off the airplane on a Sunday in Laos, I was teaching school and started a swimming program," said Mrs. Rudowski, who had worked for the Red Cross before leaving the United States. "When I left Laos it was probably the most emotional thing, because I saw what I created, and people would just come up to me on the street and say 'thanks.' "
Wherever she went, Mrs. Rudowski made an impact. In Taiwan and Turkey, she continued to teach swimming and water safety to local and American children and received a medal from the American Red Cross for her work in developing swimming programs internationally.
In Bangkok, Mrs. Rudowski was the assistant director of the teen club and started the swimming program with the Red Cross before the family was moved to Kenya, where she also established a student following.
"During the time when we were in the Foreign Service, women weren't supposed to work," said Mrs. Rudowski. "We were to support our husbands and support our directors. And that was fine, but I always started something on my own."
By now, her children were growing up and Mrs. Rudowski decided they needed to come home.
"My kids were afraid to come back to the United States because they were afraid of the system and they didn't know the rules," she said. "Finally I told my husband, 'That's it. These kids have got to go back and learn about their own culture.' And that's when we came home."
Mr. Rudowski is retired from the State Department and his wife says "He makes dinner now. He'd better make dinner!" The couple is getting ready to celebrate their 54th wedding anniversary.
Mrs. Rudowski still works five days a week and drives there in her new gold Chrysler LeBaron, listening to rock and roll on a Washington, radio station. As she pulls up to the George Mason campus Mrs. Rudowski points and waves at people on the street who she studied nursing with more than 30 years ago.
"I know everyone," she said as she drove into the parking lot and asked the ticket attendant how she liked the new car.
Once inside, she walks down the corridor of the school to her office, hugging her foreign students and making a point of telling them, "I'm proud of you."
"My responsibility is to educate and share my knowledge on different cultures. I want my grandchildren to think like I do," Mrs. Rudowski said. "I want them to be colorblind - I don't want them to see black, yellow, and Chinese. I don't care who you are, what you are, or where you came fromá. Everyone has something to offer."
Two years ago, Mrs. Rudowski suffered a heart attack while teaching a class. When she woke, she found that her students had gathered in the Intensive Care Unit, telling the nurses in the department that they were Mrs. Rudowski's children.
"They made straight A's after that," she said.
After her heart attack, Mrs. Rudowski's five children, who are all teachers, decided it was time for her to retire. But Mrs. Rudowski didn't agree.
"I'm not quitting my job - I'm going to keep working," she said. "My kids threw me a big going away party last year, and I continued to work every day after that party. And I kept the gifts."
Now, she's looking forward to her New Bedford High School 55th high school reunion in June. She's attended a number of them, but is especially looking forward to this one.
"When I go back to Massachusetts and I see my sisters, I'm very cognizant of what they are doing. I can't wait to go back to Massachusetts and talk to my cousinsá I love hearing their stories," she said. "But New England is very conservative, and after three days visiting, I'm just like them!"
When asked if she would do anything different in her life, Mrs. Rudowski replied, "I take it one day at a time, and I'm not ready to look at that question."
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
University of Massachusetts-Darmouth Receives Grant Money From Department of Defense
WASHINGTON, March 21--The University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth is one of 102 academic institutions to be awarded money from the Department of Defense to purchase state-of-the-art research instruments.
Dr. Lou Goodman, technical director and professor in the School of Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and Dr. Ed Levine at Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, Rhode Island, wrote the proposal to the Office of Naval Research requesting $428,000 for an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), which acts like a small unmanned submarine, used to measure small scale physical processes in the ocean.
"There is a phenomenon of turbulence in the water, which occurs throughout the depth of the water column and we want to understand that relationship to ocean currents, ocean fronts, and ocean internal waves," Dr. Goodman said.
Dr. Goodman believes the study of turbulence in the water is critical in a number of importance areas to people and to the economy, including "the pollution of water and making food available, or not available, to larger living underwater organisms."
According to Dr. Goodman, the AUV will be used by students for research involving fisheries, the environment and operational oceanography.
The awards are distributed from the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) based on a merit competition conducted by the Army Research Office, Office of Naval Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Advanced Technology Development Directorate of the Missile Defense Agency.
Of the 733 proposals the research offices at the Department of Defense received, the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are among the list of 59 institutions that will receive money from the Office of Naval Research.
Steve Elgar, senior scientist in the Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) said the official funding began in January for their Nearshore Canyon Experiment (NCEX) and the most recent DURIP equipment award from the Office of Naval Research is about $400,000.
"This equipment includes an array of pressure gages (measure waves) that will be deployed in the surf-zone near a humongous submarine canyon in Southern California," Mr. Elgar said. "The goal is to understand how complicated underwater terrain, such as submarine canyons near the shore affects waves and currents."
According to Maj. Jay Steuck at the Department of Defense, all the awards, ranging between $50,000 and $1,000,000, are subject to an agreement between the institutions and the four Department of Defense research offices.
"This is an annual program from the Department of Defense," Maj. Steuck said. "Awards are not finalized and this is an ongoing project. The final amount of funding for a specific institution will be decided between the institution and the specific research office."
"We are really thankful and really appreciative of the support from the Office of Naval Research," Dr. Goodman said. "The AUV is going to be an important resource, educational and public outreach tool."
Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, Boston College, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of Massachusetts-Boston, and Northeastern University were among the other schools in Massachusetts to receive grants from one of the four research offices.
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
FBI Documents Acknowledge Barboza’s Guilt and Association with Deegan Murder
WASHINGTON, March 02--According to FBI documents recently obtained by the New Bedford Standard Times, Mafia hitman Joseph "The Animal" Barboza and other mob-connected men who were alleged to have been involved in a gangland slaying received protection from the FBI while others were convicted of the murder.
The documents are part of the evidence presented to the House Committee on Government Reform, which is investigating corruption in the FBI in association with organized crime.
In 1965, New Bedford was home to Mr. Barboza, a notorious mob hitman and an informant for the Boston FBI. Now members of the House Committee on Government Reform are calling the FBI's actions in regard to Mr. Barboza "the worst cover-up in FBI history," and questioning the reasons behind the FBI's protection of organized crime.
On March 12, 1965, mobster Edward "Teddy" Deegan was found dead in an alleyway in Chelsea, Mass., slain in "gangland fashion," and according to documents dated March 10, 1965 the FBI was aware of the upcoming "hit" on Deegan before it happened.
The March 10, 1965 document written by then FBI agent H. Paul Rico states that an informant "advised that he had just heard from 'Jimmy' Flemmi thatáRaymond Patriarca has put the word out that Edward 'Teddy' Deegan is to be "hit"áand that for the next few evenings, the informant should have a provable alibi in case he is suspected of killing Deegan."
One day after the Deegan murder, an FBI memo from Mr. Rico, detailing a conversation with an informant, described the alleged events of the murder and stated "Flemmi toldáthat Ronnie Casesso and Romeo Martin wanted to prove to Patriarca they were capable individuals, and that is why they wanted to "hit" Deegan. Flemmi indicated that they did an 'awful sloppy job.'"
Joseph Salvati, Louis Greco, Henry Tameleo and Peter Limone - the four men convicted of this murder - were not mentioned in the memo.
The internal FBI memos written by Mr. Rico were dated March 10, 1965 and March 13, 1965, respectively, but neither was distributed within the FBI until March 15, 1965 - three days after the murder of Mr. Deegan.
On March 19, 1965, a memo from the Boston division of the FBI was written to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover mentioning five people as responsible for killing Deegan - Ronnie Casesso, Joseph Romeo Martin, "Jimmy" Flemmi, Roy French and Mr. Barboza.
(Roy) "French apparently walked in behind Deegan when they were gaining entrance to the building and fired the first shot hitting Deegan in the back of the head. (Ronald) Casessa and (Romeo) Martin immediately thereafter shot Deegan from the front," the memo stated. In the 1968 murder trial in which Joseph Salvati was convicted of Deegan's murder, no members of the FBI testified about the information that existed naming others as responsible for the murder. However, Barbosa did testify, naming Salvati as responsible for the murder. After giving his testimony in the Deegan case in 1968, Barboza went into the newly created Witness Protection Program. The FBI placed Mr. Barboza in Santa Rosa, Calif., as the first member of the Witness Protection Program, under a new identity and enrolled him in cooking school. Edward Harrington, former Department of Justice lawyer and now a federal district judge in Boston, said he never saw the memos Mr. Rico wrote regarding Barboza's alleged involvement in the Deegan murder and is still "satisfied that Barboza was telling the truth."
In 1976, Barboza was gunned down on the streets of San Francisco and died at the age of 43. His killer or killers have not been identified.
According to Harrington, Barboza "paid the penalty for cooperating with the United States government."
"We know that Barboza ended up on the street," said William Delahunt, D-Mass and former district attorney in Norfolk County. "Mr. Salvati couldn't get a parole. He sat there for 30 years and he received no cooperation from the government. Is that what justice is about?"
According to Mr. Delahunt, the answer is a simple "no."
Mr. Burton and his committee have asked the Justice Department to turn over some subpoenaed documents involving FBI dealings with organized crime, over which President George W. Bush claimed executive privilege. On February 27, the justice department agreed to provide the Committee with access to the documents.
"The FBI has to be held accountable and the culture has to change. We have members of the United States Senate describing a culture of concealment and a culture of arrogance within the agency," Mr. Delahunt said. "Joseph Salvati lost 30 years because of a culture -because of an attitude. I respect the need for confidentiality, and I think it's really important, but it's about time that that culture changes."
As the committee continues with their investigation of FBI conspiring with Boston mafia informants, Mr. Salvati, paroled after 30 years from a life sentence in prison, continues to fight to clear his name.
"We all know what awesome power the Government has over our lives," said Victor Garo, Mr. Salvati's lawyer in an opening statement to the committee on February 27. "It becomes even more evident when they are trying to take away a person's freedom, or worse yet, their life."
Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., who chairs the government reform committee, said the government behaved reprehensibly in this matter.
"This is America - the land of the free and the home of the brave and we believe in fairness, equality and justice. And we find out that innocent people are being sent to jail and authorities know they are innocent. Giving the death penalty to the innocent protects mafia and underworld informants - that is a disgrace."
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
Barboza Influences FBI Corruption in Boston Mafia
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27--The House Committee on Government Reform is demanding documents from the Justice Department relating to the FBI protection of notorious New Bedford mafia hitman Joseph "The Animal" Barboza.
The committee, which is developing legislation aimed at preventing such alleged FBI misconduct, is preparing a contempt citation that would require Justice to turn over files on the FBI's involvement with Mr. Barboza.
"I think once the White House and the Justice Department realize that we are going all the way to the mat with this thing, I think they will give us the documents," said chairman Dan Burton, R-IN. "It's not in the national interest to keep this under wrap."
Since August, the committee has been denied documents relating to the FBI's involvement.
"The federal government wants this committee and those people out there listeningáto believe that Barboza would kill but he would never lie, because that is where he drew the line," said Victor Garo, the attorney for Joseph Salvati who was convicted for the 1965 murder of Teddy Deegan on the 1971testimony of Mr. Barboza. "The FBI knew Ted Deegan was going to get killed, and they didn't stop that from happening."
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, according to Mr. Garo, were given to serial killers like Mr. Barboza, Steven "The Rifleman" Flemmi and James "Whitey" Bulger, and they were given the protection of the FBI while Mr. Salvati went to prison for a crime he did not commit.
"Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - famed words from our Constitution," Mr. Garo said. "But, to the federal government in Boston and to the FBI, these words meant nothing, because it was the FBI who determined who got life, who got liberty and got to pursue happiness."
"The Animal" testified against Mr. Salvati in the Deegan murder and, according to committee members, the FBI knew Mr. Barboza was lying to the jury in the murder trial.
According to Mr. Burton, "the FBI had document after document in their possession showing who the real killers were, and they never turned them over to the defense. The question remaining on everyone's minds is how could the FBI let this happen?"
"If there is a need for any further evidence that there exists within the FBI and the Justice Department a culture of concealment, we have overwhelming evidence," William Delahunt, D-MA., said.
As for Mr. Garo, his point is clear: "We cannot allow the justice system to function the way it has in Boston in the last 30 years."
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
Bush’s Budget Hits Small Businesses, Jobs in the Ocean State
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20--President Bush's budget plan has a direct effect on the fate of small businesses and available jobs in Rhode Island, according to Lt. Gov. Charlie Fogarty.
Under the proposed budget plan, the amount of loans available to small businesses has been cut in half, making it more difficult for small businesses to obtain funding. Bush reduced section 7(a) of the Small Business Administration, which provides funding of General Business Loan and Small Business Investment Company Securities programs in half.
"This financing is a critical issue in Rhode Island," Fogarty said. "The SBA loan guarantee is a critical part of helping expand jobs in the state. The future of Rhode Island business and economy is going to be in small companies."
Fogarty, who is chairman of the Rhode Island Small Business Advisory Council, endorsed a resolution Wednesday that the council will send to the Rhode Island Congressional delegation and Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee.
The resolution requests the Rhode Island members of Congress oppose the SBA 7(a) loan guarantee budget reductions proposed by the administration in an effort to help maintain the viability of Rhode Island small businesses.
"98 percent of our businesses are small businesses and one of the things I found is that access to capital is a critical things to these companies," said Fogarty. "We are hopeful that members of Congress will rectify this situation. We need to stimulate the economy, not only in Rhode Island but nationally. We can't do that if we have a 50 percent reduction of small business loans available."
In the past 11 years the SBA has guaranteed just under $1 billion loans to Rhode Island, and without the 7(a) loan program there would be a serious lack of capital for small businesses, according to Mark S. Deion, president of Deion Associates and Strategies Inc.
"Rhode Island's backbone is small businesses and its production is positive job growth. In this state, if the 7(a) loans aren't there, you could eliminate thousands of dollars in loans to small business," said Deion. "Every single small business in Rhode Island should be communicating with the House and Senate small businesses and appropriations committees."
In 2001, Rhode Island small businesses received 961 loans statewide, totaling $94 million in loan guarantees. The net effect of the change from Bush's proposed bill is a decrease of about $47 million, according to Fogarty.
"Our goal is to show support at a state level for small businesses around Rhode Island," Fogarty said. "What we can do at a state level is point out the real impact this budget cut has on our economy. This budget cut could have a serious impact in turning our country's economy around."
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
Mob Hearings Probe FBI Informants
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14--One of the men New Bedford hitman Joseph "The Animal" Barboza accused of murder in 1967, came close to getting what he was after yesterday.
After 30 years in prison it came down to this: Joseph Salvati was asked to stand and Bob Barr, R-Georgia, acknowledged the life and hardship Mr. Salvati faced because of the information Edward Harrington withheld from the FBI in the 1971 murder case of John Deegan.
"I'm not accusing this man. And any inadvertence that my conduct did to cause problems with him, and his wife and his family, I am immensely sorry," Mr. Harrington said. "But I will tell you this - at that time, I considered myself and conducted myself with confidence and with integrity and I thought I was making a great contribution to the governments fight against organized crime."
Mr. Harrington, former assistant United States Attorney and currently sitting as a federal court judge in MA, testified in front of the committee that he believed Mr. Barboza, also known as "Joe Baron" under the Witness Protection Program, was telling the truth in the 1971 trial, even though Harrington confessed to having information that Boston mobster Joseph Flemmi asked Patriarca for a "hit on Deegan."
"Four people who were not guilty of the murder were sent to jail, and you're the defense attorney and you're telling us that you had access to this exculpatory information," said Chairman Dan Burton in a heated debate with Mr. Harrington. "For a defense counsel to have this information and not bring it out in court doesn't make any sense."
But according to Mr. Harrington, the FBI and the defense counsel knew about the false testimony Mr. Barboza made.
"They all knew it," Mr. Harrington confessed. "He was a cold-blooded killer for the mafia. That's why we used him."
What makes even less sense, according to the committee, is the kind of relationship Mr. Barboza had with Mr. Harrington.
"He liked me because Joe Barboza came from New Bedford, MA, I came from Fall River MA," said Mr. Harrington. "We are both from southeast Massachusetts and we had a regional rapport."
Former FBI Special Agent H. Paul Rico whose testimony before Congress last year shocked house members with its callousness took the Fifth and refused to answer any questions.
Mr. Rico refused to testify a day after the committee was told the FBI's plan was to help "The Animal" during a 1971 trial for a murder committed while in federal protective custody, and instead sent four innocent men to jail - some with life sentences.
The swearing in of the panel, which included the Mr. Harrington and Jay Bybee, the head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, took place at 10:45 yesterday morning and at 11:32, Rico was excused from the panel, but not before Congress had their chance to speak to Mr. Rico.
"I just want to take a look at you, you're very interesting," Mr. Barr, said after Rico made his statement. "I hope you sleep well at night."
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
House Opens 30-Year-Old Mob Investigation
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13--Thirty years after the 1971 murder of New Bedford's mob assassin Joe "The Animal" Barboza, the House Committee on Government Reform began hearings yesterday on whether the federal government withheld evidence in the 1960s and 1970s, allowing Barboza to testify falsely against innocent men.
"We don't have a democracy if we have a justice system whose integrity is at risk," said William Delahunt, (D-MA.), who was invited to attend and question the committee's witnesses on behalf of his constituents.
In 1967, Mr. Barboza was a cooperating government witness whose false testimony to a jury resulted in sending a number of innocent men to prison and some to death row. After his testimony, the Witness Protection Program was established and Mr. Barboza was relocated to Santa Rosa, Calif., where he soon committed a murder of a small time crook, Clay Wilson
Of the men sent to jail because of Mr. Barboza's testimony, two died in prison, one served 34 years before being cleared and Joe Salvati served 30 years before he was cleared. Mr. Salvati, his family and his lawyer, Victor Garo, were in Washington yesterday.
"Today we're actually seeing what the federal government did to help Joe Barboza," Mr.Garo said in an interview, "and the question presented is this - why is the federal government helping a murderer while he is in the federal Witness Protection Program?"
In his opening statement, committee chairman Dan Burton (R-IN.) said: "For decades, federal law enforcement did terrible things up in New England, and they were successful in covering it up. The FBI knew Barboza was lying, and they covered it up."
For 20 years, Mr. Garo fought on behalf of the Salvati family, without the help of federal officials, to get parole for Mr. Salvati.
"The evidence shows that the government has known since 1965 that Joe Salvati was innocent of these charges," Mr. Garo said. "We hope that this committee will be able to do things legislatively so that another family will never have to endure the tragedy and the nightmare that the Joe Salvati family has had to endure."
The three witnesses at yesterday's hearing were: Marteen Miller, the former public defender who represented Mr. Barboza in the California murder; Ed Cameron, a former investigator in the Santa Rose District Attorney's office; and Tim Brown, a former detective sergeant in the Sonoma County Sheriff's office. All said they did not know that the FBI in the mid-1960s had described Mr. Barboza "as the most dangerous individual known" when it relocated him to California.
"It is more than fair to say that we did not get cooperation from the FBI," Mr. Cameron said. "When you've been a cop long enough you get a gut feeling, and I had a feeling that something was wrong. We never got so much as a return phone call from the FBI."
Mr. Garo, in the interview, said, "The testimony of the federal government officials at the trial of Barboza was so colored that the government did not believe they could get a first-degree convictioná, and Barboza was out after less than four years in prison."
As for Mr. Salvati, he said in an interview, "I just want them to stand up and say they are sorry."
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
Hodgson Joins Emergency Response Network Initiative Group
WASHINGTON, Feb. 06--Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson has joined in a national effort to develop better communication and integration of technology at the local, state and federal levels to cope with biological or chemical warfare disasters in the 50 states.
Hodgson, who has been criticized at home for his views and policies on prison reform, has joined the Emergency Response Network Initiative (ERNI), established last week under Defense Department auspices.
The new group, which includes officials at all levels of government and has no independent budget, will be working to develop a mobile facility that is intended to serve as a communications device for rescue workers.
In a joint effort with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Col. Fenton "Dutch" Thomas, the Defense Department's liaison officer to FEMA, ERNI was set up on the assumption that the people who respond first to a disaster--police officers, firemen, medical personnel - need a way to communicate with each other at all agency levels.
The emphasis is on ways to share information via computers, radio and television during and immediately after a biological or similar attack.
"This critical information, such as a national checklist for biological chemical information and the exploration of technology to integrate in our state systems, will present a true unified response to any and all terrorist situations, domestic and national," Hodgson said in an interview.
"From a national level, we looked at the inventory and asked what's out there and what do we need to come up with the best solutions to minimize chaos and confusion in a life-threatening event," Hodgson said.
The idea of establishing emergency response units around the country was originated about three years ago in San Diego during discussions about how to improve the application of technology to civil disaster, according to Steve Murray, a government civil servant at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego.
"We've recently been dealing with the National Guard and FEMA because those are the people primarily responsible in a civil emergency or disaster," Murray said. "There are fairly strict rules about what the military can and can't do in the civil sector, and their importance escalates depending on scale."
The Office of the Secretary of Defense and the National Guard are two of the leaders of ERNI team, he said, but ERNI, he added, is "a loose confederation at this point because it's fluid and everything is up in the air."
"The goal of ERNI is to form a network of federal agencies that can speak to White House homeland security chief Tom Ridge with a common voice," Murray said. "The biggest issue is communication. Everyone has the same idea, and this is one idea that can turn it in to reality. No one would regret better integration or operability, or better communication in Washington."
Hodgson, meanwhile, has joined with four police chiefs in the area to design and implement a mobile resource center that will aid in providing medical, technological and chemical security to all personnel at the scene of a terrorist crime.
"Homeland security is about protecting our neighborhoods wherever they are, regardless of whether it is a national threat or a local threat," Hodgson said.
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
Rhode Island Residents See New Landscape From Brownsfield Redevelopment
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31--Rhode Island will receive up to $4 million in the next four years under a new law sponsored by U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) to clean up so-called brownfields sites badly polluted by hazardous chemicals.
The federal funds are to be used to restore and redevelop brownfield sites extending from Washington County through Providence.
"Whether it's office buildings, shopping-type establishments, restaurants or green spaces, the brownfields bill is a victory for the environment and a value to the community," Chafee said.
The Brownfields Revitalization and Environment Restoration Act, which Senators Bob Smith (R-N.H.), Harry Reid (D-N.V.) and Barbara Boxer (D-C.A.) sponsored along with Chafee-and which President George W. Bush signed on Jan. 11, authorizes $250 million a year for the fiscal years 2002-2006 to clean up polluted brownfield areas around the nation.
The new law provides funds to assess and clean up abandoned and underused brownfield sites, legal protection for property owners and money to augment state cleanup programs. It will also create a public record of brownfield sites and increase community involvement in site cleanup and reuse.
Brownfields are abandoned industrial or commercial properties where redevelopment and remediation have been delayed by environmental contamination and potential liability under the Superfund law, which holds prospective property owners liable for environmental hazards.
In Rhode Island, most brownfield properties were old mill sites located on the water. Their locations open doors to a host of community activities, but potential buyers are apprehensive about the potential liability associated with buying and restoring a site that may be polluted. The brownfields law places Superfund liability with the landowners.
The cleanup and redevelopment of these old industrial properties, including more than 60 sites already identified in Rhode Island, is intended to create new jobs, clean up the environment and protect small businesses from lawsuits.
"The brownfields bill is a very positive thing for the state, and it will help the economy. Most importantly, it will give people a place to live," said Susan Arnold, the chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. "Currently, these sites are a blight on the urban core, and no one would want to live on them. Once they've been redeveloped it will be better for the economy and produce more affordable housing."
The money allocated to the state for brownfields revitalization "can't help but be a positive thing for the Rhode Island economy," she added, "This bill will allow the properties to get back on the tax roles, reduce hangouts for criminal activity and will help utilize the finite number of environmental resources we have in Rhode Island."
In the late 1980s, the North Central Industrial Parks in Lincoln, occupied by approximately 20 businesses, were filled with tall buildings, green trees and buyers eager to get a piece of the land. The buyers, however, were unaware of high levels of chemical contamination that threatened the lining of the buildings, hazardous chemicals that were polluting the water and the prospect of out-of-pocket expenses that they, as property owners, would have to incur, including legal fees, to ensure the safety of area residents. Years later, the North Central Industrial Parks were labeled an environmental and health hazard.
"This is a success story because there was zero activity in the park. And then in the early nineties we did four deals within a few years, and the activity in the park increased," said Michael Giuttari, president of NAI MG Commercial Real Estate Services in Providence. "The park now has no available lots or vacancy."
Because of brownfield liability concerns, valuable property is sitting idle and providing nothing to a city's tax rolls and might also encourage crime, Chafee said. "I know that the city managers and mayors around the country are very happy because anytime you have an abandoned site it's not generating property taxes," he said. "And when you put a building on an abandoned site -- depending on the value of that building -- that generates revenue to the community."
The Rhode Island brownfield sites currently being assessed for redevelopment are important in strengthening Rhode Island's economic status, those involved in redevelopment say.
"There are a lot of positives to that," Chafee said. "Here sits this old burnt-out laundry building that sits at the gateway to the community, and what a scare it is to look at. So maybe the cost of living is lower, but no one wants it."
Because of the attractive nature of the new law, potential buyers are starting to take notice, particularly of the ability to get financing, Giuttari said.
"What we deal with are existing buildings that have environmental problems. We need to define the problem, put a remediation plan in place, get covenant not to sue and then put a brownfield mark in place and begin financing," he said "What really needs to be done is to specifically define the environmental problems for the buyers. The buyer of the building then redevelops, tears down or starts from scratch with the building in an effort to produce a better park that has no available lots or vacancy."
The Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. has set up a revolving loan program for hazardous sites, which the federal Environmental Protection Agency has called a "model for the nation."
The YMCA of Greater Providence and Save the Bay became the first recipients of the revolving loan fund in December.
"Our goal with the brownfields loan is to get people out on Narragansett Bay," said Marvin Ronning, Save the Bay's director of project planning and administration. "Save the Bay is exploring a camp for educational programming infrastructure, and we are building a new educational facility and new vessel at Fields Point."
Fields Point, a bathing area before it was developed as a shipyard and, in part, as a construction dump, will be reclaimed with six acres of parcel property where a new education facility and habitat restoration project will be built and bay-friendly practices will be demonstrated, Ronning said.
"The brownfield loan specifically helps make the area safe, which is the remediation process, and helps in the building of the site," he said. "We are excited about the site because of its beautiful location and close proximity to Providence as an urban core. We are turning back to the community what was historically public access, and everyone recognizes the public value of this."
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
