133 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
133 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 7 Num. 26
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======================================
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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OPERATION SILVER SHOVEL
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=======================
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This story has been big in the Chicago area. However for those
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not local to Chicago, you may not have heard of it. Because CN
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goes out to an international audience, it was agreed between Mr.
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Sherman Skolnick and myself that some background on "Silver
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Shovel" ought to be given before offering further details (next
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issue).
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An article in the Chicago Tribune apparently dated January 15,
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1996, tells the gist of it. John Christopher was an FBI "mole":
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he was used by the FBI to infiltrate certain political and
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business relationships. Christopher and others "took advantage of
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a legal loophole and exploited the economics of the late 1980s
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and early 1990s to make millions in profits by piling up
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mountains of construction debris on vacant lots in poor
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residential or industrial neighborhoods."
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Fees for dumping waste in licensed landfills are much higher than
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for dumping in illegal landfills. So, contractors would want to
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save money by dumping in the unlicensed landfills. The consequent
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increased business brought in a lot of money to operators of the
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illegal, unlicensed dumps. What is more, it is *feared*
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(according to the Jan. 15 Tribune article) that toxic chemicals
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will turn up at these sites.
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"For neighborhoods such as the one around the dump at Roosevelt
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Road and Kostner Avenue [Chicago's west side; a poor, African-
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American neighborhood], the damage has been done. The ugly,
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jagged mound of concrete, dirt and other garbage rises above the
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struggling community."
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The article goes on to note that the illegal dumps tend to be
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located in "lower-income black and Latino communities."
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The Operation Silver Shovel investigation "centered on city
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contracts for hauling construction debris," says the Jan. 7, 1996
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Chicago Tribune. The FBI mole, John Christopher, "a waste hauler
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with a criminal past and reputed ties to organized crime," wore a
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hidden microphone which allowed the feds to secretly tape his
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conversations. Christopher agreed to do this, according to the
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Washington Post ("Probe Unearths Another Load Of Graft at Chicago
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City Hall," Jan. 12, 1996) "after he became the target of a fraud
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investigation in connection with the collapse of a local bank."
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Because Christopher had developed political associations as he
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sought city contracts, he was a "ready-made mole" for
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investigators looking into ongoing corruption in Cook County.
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(Chicago is in Cook County, Illinois.)
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Another Tribune article, dated January 10, 1996, also mentions
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"Operation Greylord", often mentioned by Mr. Skolnick:
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In the 1980s, the federal Operation Greylord investigation of
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the Cook County courts unearthed scores of sleazy lawyers and
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judges who were sent to jail, disbarred or suspended for
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their misdeeds. The scope of corruption was incredible.
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Yet even more remarkable than that, right when the scoundrels
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were heading off to jail and everyone knew that the feds were
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crawling all over the courts, some lawyers and judges kept
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fixing cases. That produced Operation Gambat, which sent more
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crooks off to jail.
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Operation Silver Shovel, the latest sting operation to focus
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on Chicago politicians, looks like a big haul.
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The central accusation is particularly galling: that
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politicians took bribes to allow the illegal dumping of
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industrial waste in their own neighborhoods.
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The one positive element is that the leaders of the city's
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Department of Environment apparently have made an honest,
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dogged and successful legal effort to stop John Christopher,
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the FBI mole who operated five dump sites in the city.
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The city officials who fought Christopher question whether
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the FBI's embrace of their nemesis in any way hampered their
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efforts. The question deserves an answer, and the feds ought
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to provide it. ["Caught With a Silver Shovel in Hand," Chicago
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Tribune, Jan. 10, 1996. *Excerpts only*]
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So in other words, Christopher was in the illegal dumping
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business, he knew "all the right people", and the FBI used him to
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trap others -- especially bribe-taking politicians -- in return
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for going easy on him in regard to the previously mentioned bank
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collapse and other unsavory associations.
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The story is summarized in the abovementioned Washington Post
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article. Writing in the Post, Edward Walsh reports that
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"investigators had uncovered evidence of more than $150,000 in
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bribes and other payoffs involving public officials, other bribes
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involving labor union activities, cocaine purchases and money
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laundering of more than $2.2 million..."
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Says U.S. Attorney James B. Burns, quoted by Walsh in his Post
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article, "Unfortunately, [the investigation] demonstrates that
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Chicago's time-honored tradition of political corruption,
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including payoffs and extortion, has not vanished despite
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previous successful undercover corruption probes."
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Want to know more about Whitewater, Oklahoma City bombing, etc?
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(1) telnet prairienet.org (2) logon as "visitor" (3) go citcom
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See also: http://www.europa.com/~johnlf/cn.html
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See also: ftp.shout.net pub/users/bigred
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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