Interesting item with mention of course of J.J Cafaro - this man has contributed somuch to the Democrat Party but Gore got beat - maybe he will spend some time in the slammer. This oh so casual reference to murder but at lest with Traficant - we know with whom we are dealing and I prefer him to a Condit whom some thought might be running for higher office in near future - but now he has no future> This Cafaro and his link to Klingle Mansion area with the big bucks involved where they look for Chandra makes me wonder, for evidently this is a mob burying ground and dumping field - right on their own turf....keep thinking of Judge Crater and Jimmy Hoffa - for FBI was led to a farm a short way from my home to look for body of Hoffa - and this same farm they believed munitions from the Schlumberger robbery were still buried.....farm where Meyer Lansky spent quite a bit of time as he was in Ohio and Kentucky looking into oil and gas fields? So this item while somewhat redundant tells of the type of individuals we have in Congress.....like the jewish Mafia Hit man who lived on this farm - got caught murdering black doctor while he wore a Deputy Sheriff suit assisted by a County Coroner (Asst) who bought the "piece" that shot same? US Bureau of Prisons where Chandra worked - it is said she might have made acquaintance with a former prisoner - well, look for the killers within the democrat compound - and then Remember Waco and Ruby Ridge and the voices of silence when it came to murder by executive order. Verbal of course. You wonder why CIA does not want some of this garbage in congress to know what is going on? Hoodlums playing "CIA" as if they had the government behind them when they do not? After all any unauthorized murders or acts of treason are not to be dismissed lightly. CONGRESSMAN JAMES TRAFICANT AND THE MURDER OF MOBSTER CHARLIE CARABBIA . by James Ridgway de Szigethy .. CONGRESSMAN JAMES TRAFICANT, ONE OF WASHINGTON'S MOST COLORFUL REPRESENTATIVES, WAS ONCE CONSIDERED LIKELY TO SUCCEED HERO-ASTRONAUT JOHN GLENN UPON HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE U. S. SENATE. TRAFICANT'S AMBITION HAS BEEN THWARTED BY EMERGING SCANDALS INVOLVING HIS CLOSEST ITALIAN MAFIA ASSOCIATES, AS WELL AS BY RENEWED INTEREST IN THE MURDER OF CLEVELAND MOBSTER CHARLIE "THE CRAB" CARABBIA, WHO GAVE TRAFICANT A $163,000 BRIBE DURING HIS RACE FOR COUNTY SHERIFF. WHO IS JAMES TRAFICANT, WHO WAS CHARLIE THE CRAB, AND WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS MURDER? CONGRESSMAN TRAFICANT HAS CHOSEN TO APPEAR ON HIS WEBSITE (AT LEFT) SHAKING A BAT AND HAS ALSO ALTERED HIS IMAGE TO PORTRAY AN EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL FROM THE PLANET 'VULCA' ON THE HIT TV SERIES 'STAR TREK!' The story of how the murder of a Mobster is connected by just one degree of separation from the hallowed halls of Congress begins on October 6, 1977 in the Cleveland suburb of Lyndhurst, when a quiet shopping center was shattered by an explosion in the parking lot. One hundred feet from the epi-center authorities found the arm of a man, one finger encircled by a ring of gold and 5 emeralds. The arm was soon identified as belonging to Danny Greene, a flamboyant member of the Irish Mob. . THE RELUCTANT GODFATHER .. This murder was the product of a turf war that began one year earlier when John Scalish, Godfather of the Cleveland Mob, died after open-heart surgery. His heir apparent was assumed by most to be "Big Ange" Lonardo, who assisted Scalish during his remarkable 32 year reign, but Underboss Milton "Deer Hunter" Rockman astounded everyone with his claim that it was Scalish' dying wish that "Jack White" Licavoli succeed as Godfather. The ambitious "Big Ange" coveted the position of Godfather whereas the elder Licavoli, an unassuming 72-year-old bachelor living a comfortable old age as head of the Youngstown rackets, did not want the job. No one, however, wanted to betray the final wish of their respected deceased leader and "Jack White" reluctantly agreed to assume the position as head of the Family. The new Godfather named his cousin "Lips" Moceri, head of the Akron rackets, as Underboss. Some, including Big Ange, suspected Deer Hunter was lying about the Godfather's "dying wish" and wanted a head of the family such as the bumbling Jack White whom he could more easily influence and control. While quietly going along with this new appointment, many within the Family did not believe that Licavoli was ruthless enough nor possessing of enough cunning to effectively perform as Godfather. The job of running a major Mafia family is an extremely challenging position, requiring a wide range of inter-personal skills and abilities; among other responsibilities, the Godfather has the final decision when subordinates request permission to murder a fellow Mobster. Such life and death decisions can cause anger and resentment among the family and friends of those selected to be murdered, sometimes leading to plots to rub out the head and establish a new Godfather, as would be the fate of Gambino Family Godfather Paul Castellano. Godfathers also have to exercise leadership in resolving disputes over territorial rights to member's drug trafficking, extortion, gambling and stolen property rackets; not an easy task when one considers that members of organized crime are known for their eagerness to resort to violence. . Then there is the FBI. Those at the top of an organized crime syndicate are the targets of plots by the FBI and Justice Department to bring them down, even if it means making "sweetheart" deals with serial murderers such as "Sammy the Bull" Gravano. Despite the Hollywood hype that portrays them as ambitious men determined to rise to the top, most members of the Mob do not aspire to become anything more than a 'Made' member of the Family who can derive their livelihood from the various traditional rackets the Mob thrives on. As in the unexpected and unwanted elevation of the bumbling Claudius as Emperor of Rome, Jack White Licavoli proved to be an unorthodox and uncertain choice as Godfather. Unfamiliar with Mafia rules and protocol, it was Big Ange who had to prompt Licavoli on the traditional behavior expected by members of both their own Family and the heads of the five ruling Families of New York City that make up the "Commission," which serves as the "Board of Directors" of the Mafia. Such apparent incompetence on the part of Jack White served to spawn plots against his authority by another faction determined to take over the Ohio rackets. John Nardi, a high-ranking member of the Teamster's union and his partner Danny Greene of the Irish Mob led this crew. Greene accepted a contract from Nardi on the life of Lips Moceri, who then disappeared, his bloodstained car found abandoned in Akron. His body has never been found. . The murder of Lips was a stunning personal blow to Licavoli and a serious challenge not only to his authority as Godfather but to the very existence of the long-established Cleveland Family. Nardi's mistaking Licavoli's bumbling manner for weakness proved to be a fatal mistake; he was soon blown to pieces by a car bomb in the parking lot at his Teamster's office. Only the murder of Danny Greene remained for the Cleveland Family's revenge for the murder of Lips Moceri. Wearing his signature green apparel and signing for his tabs with a pen that oozed green ink, Danny Greene was a flamboyant, "in-your-face" Mobster who included Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy among his role models. Ohio police officer Rick Porrello, author of the definitive Greene biography TO KILL THE IRISHMAN: THE WAR THAT CRIPPLED THE MAFIA, tells CRIME & PUNISHMENT that Greene was a ruthless self-promoter who worked his way up in the Labor movement while living a life of reckless behavior. Greene believed himself an indestructible, modern-day "Celtic hero" protected by the "luck of the Irish" and even members of the Cleveland Mob began to buy into the myth Greene had created for himself after he emerged unscathed from several assassination attempts, including the complete destruction of his house by a bomb. Frustrated, the Cleveland Mob hired an outside professional hit man, Raymond Ferritto, who met with Licavoli and Big Ange on a boat on Ohio's Mosquito Lake on October 4, 1977. At that meeting, the wiseguys listened to a tape recording made by a private investigator who had tapped the telephone line of one of Greene's girlfriends. On the tape Greene casually complained that he had a dentist's appointment in 2 days time, and how he dreaded going to the dentist. . IRISH MOBSTER DANNY GREENE (LEFT), AND CLEVELAND MAFIA FIGURE "BIG ANGE" LONARDO . Finally, the Italians saw their chance. Greene showed up for his dentist appointment as planned, after which Ronnie Carabbia, head of the Warren rackets, pulled up in his own car, parking next to Greene's. Inside a hollowed-out portion of the passenger side door was a bomb. Carabbia then slipped into a car driven by Ferritto and later, when they covertly observed Greene open the door to his car, Carabbia pushed the button of the remote control bomb that blew the car - and Greene's body - into pieces. As Fate would have it, an alert artist was passing by and drew a sketch of Ferritto and his license plate. She gave this to her father, who happened to be a cop, and the two murderers, along with Jack White, Big Ange, and 15 other members of the Cleveland Family were indicted. Ferritto "flipped" and turned State's witness, but only Carabbia and his associate Pasquale "Butchie" Cisternino were convicted. . The fight for control of the Ohio rackets, however, was not over; with these convictions, responsibility for providing for Carabbia's family fell to his younger brother Charlie "The Crab" who ran Youngstown's portion of the Cleveland Mob's gambling operations, the remainder being run by Jimmy Prato, Joey Naples, and Lenny Strollo of the rival Pittsburgh Family. At that time in the 1970s, most of the Mob's money came not from drug trafficking, which is the huge moneymaker today, but from gambling. While Mobsters such as Carabbia raked in income from illegal slot machines, the bulk of the mob's gambling income came from the wagering by average citizens on sporting events, especially professional and collegiate football games. The links between the Cleveland Mob and those in the world of football were extensive. One of the Cleveland Godfather's golfing buddies was Cleveland Browns legendary fullback Jim Brown. Although the FBI investigated Brown for his wagers with Licavoli on their golf matches, no action was ever taken against Brown by the National Football league. However, Brown's rap sheet includes arrests in 1968, 1986, and 1999 for assault, an arrest in 1985 for rape, and a 1978 conviction for assaulting professional golfer Frank Snow. Representing Brown was attorney Johnnie Cochran, who would go on to defend other professional football players accused of crimes of violence. . According to Dan Moldea in his book INTERFERENCE, an exhaustive expose on the links between Professional Football and the Mafia, Youngstown native Edward DeBartolo Sr., who in 1977 bought the San Francisco 49ers football team for his son Edward Jr., was a gambling partner of Ronnie Carabbia and the two made frequent trips together to the Tropicana casino in Las Vegas. DeBartolo had built his fortune in the Mob-influenced construction industry and his company facilities were bombed 6 times between 1952-1954. In 1970, the senior DeBartolo was linked in a Justice Department memo as an associate of organized crime figures Meyer Lansky, Carlos Marcello, and Santos Trafficante. These mobsters had for many years been involved in a scam in which quarterbacks on college football teams were bribed to "shave" points in favor of the Mob's point spread. Because college athletes do not earn the huge salaries of professionals, because many are from low-income backgrounds, and also because by shaving points the bribed athletes do not cause their teams to lose, such athletes are easy targets for recruitment by the Mob. Such were the traditional gambling operations of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Families and Charlie Carabbia saw the chaos in the aftermath of the Nardi/Greene war as the perfect opportunity to expand his operations at the expense of the rival Pittsburgh Family. . ENTER JAMES TRAFICANT . The product of a traditional Italian Catholic family from the tough, low-income Youngstown neighborhood known as 'Hunkytown,' Traficant grew up learning to fight with his fists, as well as his mouth. Just as Youngstown native Edward DeBartolo would change his name from that of his father, Italian immigrant Anthony Poanessa, so would Traficant's family become more "Americanized" by dropping the 'e' from their original name, "Traficante." In the late 1950s Traficant tasted the roar of the crowd as the popular star quarterback of his high school football team. He parlayed this success into a football scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh, which for decades has operated one of the nation's most successful and lucrative programs, winning several national championships. Once his heady football career in Pittsburgh was finished, Traficant returned to Youngstown to run Mahoning County's substance abuse treatment program. Two developments of the 1970s would shape Traficant's life forever. One was the then-popular and outrageous polyester leisure suits and casual clothes that has become the trademark of Traficant's own colorful and personal style. The second was much more serious; the souring of the Youngstown economy. During the 70s, Japan began dumping into the United States low-priced steel that was subsidized by the Japanese government. Unable to compete with these unfair practices, the steel industry throughout American was devastated, sending thousands of once-proud steelworkers into the ranks of the unemployed. The resultant discontent turned the blue-collar residents of Mahoning County against the government "Establishment," a constituency Traficant perfectly symbolized as someone who grew up on the wrong side of town. . In 1980 Traficant saw his chance and declared his candidacy for County Sheriff. Charlie the Crab, who had known Traficant for years, saw this as his opportunity and approached Traficant with the offer of $163,000 in bribe money to finance his campaign. Part of this money came from Carabbia's Cleveland Family and the rival Prato/Naples/Strollo faction of the Pittsburgh Family contributed the rest. As both had lucrative gambling interests in Mahoning County it was necessary for both to bribe the man who might be next elected Sheriff so that those rackets could be protected. Traficant accepted the Mob's, money, agreed to protect their gambling rackets, and was elected Sheriff. Then, on the afternoon of December 13, 1980, just weeks after Traficant's election, Charlie the Crab got a phone call from Lenny Strollo asking him to meet him at a local donut shop A Mahoning County Sheriff's Deputy would report seeing Carabbia's car parked outside the donut shop with the lights on and the doors locked. 24 Hours later the car was found abandoned in Cleveland, the keys in the ignition. Charlie the Crab has not been seen since. . Convinced her husband had been murdered and that Traficant was responsible, Mrs. Carabbia and members of her family took measures that led to the FBI making a stunning discovery; Charlie the Crab had secretly tape recorded conversations between himself and Traficant which detailed their illegal activities together. The tapes were eventually recovered and they reveal Charlie the Crab's concern that Traficant had long been aligned with the Prato/Naples/Strollo faction of the Pittsburgh Family. "I am a loyal !!!!!" Traficant tells Carabbia reassuringly on one tape, "and my loyalty is here!" "And now we've gotta set up the business that they've (Pittsburgh) run for all these !!!!!!! years and swing that business over to you . . .That's why you financed me!" Traficant and The Crab also talk about how Traficant laundered $10,000 of the Mob's money through Ed Flask, a partner in the Youngstown law firm of Flask & Policy. When Traficant expresses his concern that Flask knows that he has been bribed by the Mob, Charlie the Crab tells Traficant not to worry, as he has in his possession "prejudicial, compromising photographs of Flask which would ensure his silence." "Do you know what kind of pictures I'm talking about?" The Crab asks Traficant. Carabbia does not elaborate as to the contents of the photographs, but it is clear to Traficant at that point in the conversation that Charlie, in addition to being a briber, gambler and racketeer, is also a blackmailer. . AT LEFT, CHARLIE "THE CRAB" CARABBIA OF THE CLEVELAND MAFIA FAMILY AND LENNY STROLLO OF THE PITTSBURGH MAFIA FAMILY. . TRIAL AND ERROR . On August 9, 1982, Sheriff Traficant was indicted by the U. S. Attorney's office for accepting bribes from organized crime figures and for knowingly filing a false 1980 personal income tax return. When arrested, the FBI played for Traficant Charlie the Crab's tapes and the Sheriff offered a full confession. The indicted Sheriff then turned to attorney Carmen Policy, Ed Flask's law partner, to represent him in his bid to escape jail time. However, Traficant then called a press conference to spill the beans about the widespread corruption and Mob activity in Mahoning County; an outraged Carmen Policy then dropped Traficant as his client. Sensing Traficant's vulnerability once his attorney had abandoned him, the government offered Traficant the opportunity to become a co-operating witness in their prosecution of the Mafia. Such an agreement would spare Traficant serious prison time but the down side of such an arrangement meant Traficant would have to spend years hiding in the Witness Protection Program. Traficant knew that members of both the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Families would be looking for him, hoping to park a certain type of automobile in his vicinity. With not only his own safety to think of but also that of his wife and two daughters, Traficant made a bold, gutsy decision; he would reject the government's offer and stand trial, acting as his own attorney. . At his trial in the Federal Courthouse in Cleveland, the government presented a strong case against Traficant, including the damaging statements on Charlie the Crab's tapes. Perhaps the most bizarre testimony came from Traficant's friend and colleague Joseph Hudak, head of the Sheriff's office narcotics unit. Sergeant Hudak testified that for 5 times in the previous 10 months, Traficant had begged him to shoot him - but just slightly, so that he could blame such an 'assassination attempt' on the Mob and thus postpone his trial and gain public sympathy. "At first, he suggested I shoot him in the shoulder," Hudak testified. "Then he said he would put his hand up and I should shoot him through the hand!" Testifying on Traficant's behalf was former Deputy Anthony Gutierrez, who had a bit of a credibility problem in that just months earlier he had been fired for allegedly threatening to murder Youngstown Mayor George Vukovich. Undaunted, Traficant persisted in his defense and maintained he had returned to Charlie the Crab the bribe money he was on trial for accepting. With Carabbia conveniently dead, Traficant was able to explain the contents of the tapes by telling the jury that he had joined neither Mob faction by accepting their money, but rather was conducting his own "undercover sting operation" against the Mob so that he would know whom to arrest for corruption once elected Sheriff. After four days of deliberations an exhausted jury acquitted Traficant of all charges. . James Traficant had single-handedly beaten the United States government, the same government that the residents of Mahoning County held responsible for the closing down of the area steel mills. "This is America in 1983 - not (Nazi) Germany in 1940!" a jubilant Traficant told his group of supporters. "The Mob will really fear me now!" Thus, Sheriff Traficant returned to a hero's welcome in Youngstown; tee-shirts with his image emblazoned on them sold out in minutes outside a Church reception; crowds jammed the victory celebration while a parade of supporters in automobiles turned the event into a Media circus. Traficant had proved Zsa Zsa Gabor right; there IS no such thing as "bad publicity!" Sheriff Traficant then declared total war on the "Establishment," filing intimidation and grand theft charges against the FBI agents assigned to the Youngstown office, in addition to dereliction of duty charges against them and Mayor Vukovich. Don Hanni, local chairman of the Democratic Party, called Traficant a "nitwit, a lunatic and a raving maniac" and tried to have Traficant declared legally insane so he could be removed from office. Skillfully learning to manipulate the press and public opinion, Traficant boasted publicly: "I am a powerful bastard! I'm unique; I'm a little crazy!" Traficant's popularity soared. Despite the opposition of the local Democratic Party, Sheriff Traficant rode the wave of his 'anti-Establishment' notoriety into Congress in the elections of 1984. He was, in fact, the only Democrat nationwide to unseat an incumbent Republican in the Republican landslide generated by the re-election of popular President Ronald Reagan. But if James Traficant was in fact a self-styled, heroic "Mob-buster," he would fail miserably in one of his first acts as Congressman by hiring his old pal Charles O'Nesti, a close associate of the Prato/Naples/Strollo Pittsburgh Mafia faction, as Chief of Staff of his Youngstown Congressional office. . THE REVENGE OF BIG ANGE . A few months after Traficant's acquittal, Cleveland Underboss Big Ange Lonardo, who along with Godfather Licavoli had been convicted in Federal Court on racketeering charges, quietly 'flipped' and became a co-operating witness for the United States government. Pre-shadowing the later flipping of Gambino Family Underboss Sammy the Bull Gravano, it was the highest-ranking defection amongst the Mob up until that time. Big Ange would not disappoint the government, helping convict many Mobsters, including "Fat Tony" Salerno, Godfather of New York's Genovese Family. Big Ange also testified against "Deer Hunter" Rockman, the man he believed lied about Godfather Scalish's wish that Licavoli succeed as head of the Cleveland Family, thus depriving Big Ange of his lifelong dream. Upon Big Ange's testimony, the Deer Hunter was convicted of skimming profits from two Las Vegas casinos; thus did Big Ange exact his revenge. . Only after the flipping of Big Ange did facts surrounding the murder of Charlie the Crab begin to emerge. Big Ange told the FBI that after Traficant was offered the bribe money, Jimmy Prato and Joey Naples of the Pittsburgh Family approached him and Godfather Jack White to request permission to murder Charlie the Crab. They suspected The Crab was cheating them by lying about the size of his gambling rackets in Youngstown. Most disturbingly, the two wiseguys reported that Charlie was now in the habit of going out to public bars, getting very drunk, and making statements against them as well as members of his own Cleveland Family. It was evident to the four Mobsters that something was deeply troubling Charlie the Crab; either he was becoming greedy and trying to take over all of the Youngstown rackets for himself, or he was on the verge of "'flipping' for the government, as had hitman Ferritto. Prato and Naples smelled a 'rat' and wanted Charlie dead. . After giving the matter considerable thought, the Godfather decided that if Charlie was murdered, his brother Ronnie, in prison for the murder of Danny Greene, would likely retaliate by himself becoming a government witness. Ronnie, they all knew, could bring down everyone, but would likely stay in line as long as Charlie was alive to provide for his brother's family. The Godfather denied Prato's and Naples' request, although he did grant permission to murder Charlie the Crab if he continued this erratic and unexplained behavior. Shortly after his disappearance, Prato and Naples confessed to Big Ange that they had murdered Charlie the Crab. The two wiseguys did not mention Lenny Strollo's involvement, nor the man who actually did the murder, Sam Scaffidi, nor the man who disposed of Charlie's body and car. They did, however, apologize for the fact that the car was disposed of in Cleveland, which would suggest to law enforcement that Charlie's disappearance was the work of the Cleveland Family. . WHO WAS THIS 'FIFTH MAN' INVOLVED IN THE MURDER OF CHARLIE THE CRAB? WAS HE SOMEONE WHOM CHARLIE HAD SECRETLY PHOTOGRAPHED OR TAPE-RECORDED FOR THE PURPOSES OF BLACKMAIL, AND WOULD THUS HAVE A MOTIVE TO KILL HIM? . All that is certain is that he was an associate of Jimmy Prato, Joey Naples, and Lenny Strollo of the Pittsburgh Mafia Family, was probably, like most of their associates, an Italian-American. Unlike the bloodstained car of Lips Moceri, authorities found no evidence inside The Crab's car that a violent event had taken place. . THE TALE OF THE TAPES . In 1987 Congressman Traficant faced a civil trial for back taxes on the bribe money he did not declare on his income tax. Advising Traficant during this trial was Youngstown attorney George Alexander. Traficant claimed that the money was campaign contributions, which are non-taxable, although he failed to report the money on campaign, finance reports. Traficant refused to testify about his statements on the FBI tapes, perhaps fearing a Perjury trap should the government ever 'flip' Prato or Naples. Judge B. John Williams Jr. concluded that Traficant's refusal to testify confirmed the damning evidence on the tapes and convicted Traficant of all charges. In his decision, Judge Williams cited the secretly recorded conversations that were the final legacy of Charlie the Crab. In the age of electronic surveillance, dead men DO live on to tell tales. Shortly after Traficant's conviction, Jimmy Prato died of a heart attack. Despite his life of crime Prato had only spent one day of his life in jail. In August 1991 Joey Naples was blown away by an assassin laying in wait for him in a cornfield across the site of the construction of his retirement home. At Naples' funeral, the Reverend John DeMarinis called his murder "tragic." "He was always there to help!" Traficant, in town during the August Congressional recess, had no comment. . THE CONGRESSIONAL FOLLIES . James Traficant's career in Congress has been just as controversial as his tenure as Sheriff of Mahoning County, once again involving a single subject; murder. One of Congressman Traficant's most publicized acts has been his championing of John Demjanjuk, the retired auto worker whom the Justice Department deported to Israel to face charges he was "Ivan the Terrible," the notorious Nazi concentration camp murderer. Traficant insisted that the Justice Department had "gotten the wrong guy" and rose to Demjanjuk's defense. (This was, of course, the SAME Justice Department that Traficant had compared to Nazi Germany after his own acquittal.) Although Demjanjuk was found guilty, the Israeli Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1993 and Traficant personally flew to Israel to escort the accused Nazi mass murderer back to the United States. Traficant also has traveled to Gwinnett County, Georgia to show his support for former police officer Mike Chapel, who was convicted of the robbery and murder of a 53 year old woman. In August, 2000 Congressman Traficant accused former Attorney General Janet Reno of Treason during an appearance on the live Fox News Channel talk show Hannity and Colmes. Traficant also claimed that Reno was "Mobbed-up," and that the Mafia was blackmailing Reno through possession of a secretly-recorded videotape in which Reno is seen having sex with a Mobbed-up call girl and that the Mafia used this tape to prevent Reno from appointing a Special Prosecutor to investigate the illegal transfer of secret nuclear and missile technology to the government of Communist China. . Congressman Traficant's greatest controversy involves his claim that officers of the CIA were responsible for the murders of the 270 people who died as a result of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988. Shortly after this terrorist attack, Traficant called a press conference, at which he claimed that a CIA drug trafficking scheme gone awry had allowed the bomb to be smuggled onboard. ABC News London correspondent Pierre Salinger then picked up the story, utilizing Traficant, government informant Lester Coleman, and private investigator Juval Aviv as his sources. Eventually, the Justice Department indicted two agents of Libyan Intelligence for the bombing and Traficant's and Salinger's CIA theory lost credibility as the press began to scrutinize its proponents. Lester Coleman was able to get his allegations published in a book in which he portrayed himself as a daring "superspy" but Michael Hurley of the Drug Enforcement Administration filed a lawsuit, and the publisher, Bloomsbury, issued a public apology to Hurley, $155,000 in damages, $465,000 in legal fees, and agreed to shred all remaining copies of Coleman's book. Coleman later pleaded guilty to Perjury charges and admitted the whole Pan Am/CIA story was a hoax. Juval Aviv, the private investigator whose report for Pan Am implicated the CIA, also is the author of a book, "Vengeance," an account of what he claimed was his life as a "superspy" for Israel's Mossad. The Israeli government denied Aviv's claims and the President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism would later conclude that Aviv had fabricated his past as a spy. In 1996 Aviv was put on trial in Manhattan on Federal fraud charges unrelated to the Pan Am case. He was acquitted. . Upon Aviv's indictment Congressman Traficant found a replacement in Prince Boris de Korczak, a retired "superspy" from Poland who, like Aviv, immigrated to America to become a private investigator. De Korczak joined Traficant's office as his lead researcher in his quest to prove CIA responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Boris is best known for the lawsuit he filed in 1996 against the CIA claiming he is owed money from an alleged recruitment in the 1970s as a double agent against the KGB. At a 1979 party at the Soviet Embassy in Denmark, Boris claims, his 'cover' was blown by a drunken U. S. Embassy official, resulting in a shoot-out with the KGB during a wild car chase through the streets of Copenhagen. Boris also swears that once he had entered the United States, his CIA case officer demanded a bribe of Medieval Russian icons worth $300,000 in exchange for help obtaining the pension he claims he is owed. Boris claims he turned over the bribe, only to be shot in the kidney 3 months later by an unknown assailant armed with a pellet gun. The CIA denied Boris' claims he is owed monetary compensation and also denied any of its employees shot Boris with a pellet gun. Boris' case was dismissed and the decision was upheld on Appeal. In January 1998, Traficant introduced into Congress a bill that would compel the CIA to compensate Boris. The Bill did not pass. In March, 2001 a Scottish Court convicted Abdel Basset Ali Al-Megrahi for planting the bomb that made it's way onboard Pan Am Flight 103. Lamen Khlifa Fhimah was acquitted. . LAMEN KHLIFA FHIMAH THE LIBYAN SPIES INDICTED FOR BOMBING PAN AM FLIGHT 103. IN AN IMPASSIONED CONGRESSIONAL SPEACH IN MARCH, 1996, CONGRESSMAN TRAFICANT DEFENDED THE TWO. AL-MEGRAHI WAS CONVICTED IN 2001. ABDEL BASSET ALI AL-MEGRAHI . THE GREAT YOUNGSTOWN WATER SCANDAL . Like James Traficant, the former Sheriff's attorneys Carmen Policy and Ed Flask would move on to bigger and better things after Traficant's acquittal on bribery charges. Policy would become President of the San Francisco 49ers professional football team, whose owner Edward DeBartolo Jr., the son of Ronnie Carabbia's gambling partner, would resign his position in December, 1997 after the Media reported he was likely to be indicted along with former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards on Federal illegal gambling charges. Edwards and De Bartolo were eventually indicted and De Bartolo then 'flipped' and agreed to testify against former governor Edwards. Edwards was later convicted on Federal bribery charges. Ed Flask went on to head the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, the public utility that supplies water to the valley's 300,000 residents. Flask's downfall began in 1995, when James Callen, Chairman of the Citizen's League of Greater Youngstown, testified before the Ohio State Legislature. Callen was concerned that Charlie the Crab's photographs might be used by the Mob to compromise Flask's actions in the public interest. Callen testified: "If organized crime figures do, in fact, have 'prejudicial, compromising photographs' of Mr. Flask that could be used to blackmail him regarding bribes to political candidates, what assurance do citizens of the Mahoning Valley have that the same photographs will not be used to influence his performance as Director of the MVSD?" Callen's testimony prompted an investigation of the MVSD by Ohio State Auditor Jim Petro and in August, 1997 Petro released a scathing report, accusing Ed Flask of awarding multi-million dollar contracts to a variety of corporations and then receiving $1.9 million in payments from those same companies. Petro is seeking the recovery of $2.7 million in taxpayer funds, while an MVSD Special Prosecutor has joined the FBI and the Justice Department in their investigation of Youngstown attorneys, judges, politicians, and Mobsters implicated in an elaborate bribery and influence peddling scam. Ed Flask later pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering. . To date, over 70 Youngstown officials have been charged and convicted. Charles O'Nesti, who for 13 years worked as Traficant's Chief of Staff of his Youngstown Congressional office, pleaded guilty to Perjury and racketeering charges regarding his efforts with Pittsburgh Mobster Lenny Strollo to bribe Mahoning County Sheriff Philip Chance and to extort money from Mahoning County contractors. Strollo, the successor to Jimmy Prato and Joey Naples whom Traficant admits to "having conversations with," 'flipped' and testified against Sheriff Chance, who was convicted on all charges. Strollo also pleaded guilty to the Mafia conspiracy that resulted in the Christmas Eve shooting of "Untouchable" Youngstown District Attorney Paul Gains, who was targeted for assassination because he would not accept the Mob's bribe money. . Traficant's former attorney George Alexander has pleaded guilty to charges and is also co-operating with the various investigations. In 1985 and 1986, $13,000 was paid from Traficant's payroll to Alexander's two daughters, who performed little or no work for those funds. Contractor David Arthur Sugar has also pleaded guilty to charges he tried to cover-up his financial dealings with Traficant. Youngstown millionaire J. J. Cafaro has also pleaded guilty to bribing Congressman Traficant in exchange for Traficant's help in obtaining Federal Contracts for a high-tech business venture Cafaro was involved in. Clarence Broad, who for many years has worked as a horse trainer on Traficant's horse farm, has also pleaded guilty for his efforts to hire a hitman to murder another Traficant employee who appeared before the Grand Jury in Cleveland investigating Youngstown corruption. That witness was placed in protective custody by the FBI for several months until Broad was indicted. Upon hearing the secretly recorded tapes of Broad trying to convince a 'hitman' to commit this murder, the intended victim concluded that Traficant was behind the murder for hire plot, according to aMedia report. In May, 2001 Traficant was again indicted by the Feds in Cleveland on 10 counts that include bribery, Obstruction of Justice, racketeering, and conspiracy. At his arraignment, Traficant pleaded "Not Guilty by Reason of Sanity" and stated that he would, once again act as his own attorney. EPILOGUE . The last major investigation by the Media of Congressman Traficant was a 1990 profile in the Washington Post, which detailed Traficant's erratic and violent behavior. One Congressional Aide complained: "He once physically accosted my boss in the middle of the street about a particular bill!" "He stopped traffic and wouldn't let go of his arm!" Traficant, who lives alone on a boat, pulled no punches in telling the Post of his willingness to resort to violence under certain conditions, volunteering that he sleeps with a loaded shotgun at his side. "There's no question about it!" the Congressman warned. "If I see someone in my house at night, I'm not going to ask them what they're doing there; I'm going to kill them!" This story was originally published in November 1998 at the website AmericanMafia.com . OTHER STORIES BY THIS AUTHOR ABOUT CONGRESSMAN TRAFICANT: CHRISTMAS IN MURDERTOWN .. .MOBBED-UP? . .J. R.'S MAFIA YEAR IN REVIEW - 2000 . . IN THE MONEY: CONGRESSMAN JAMES TRAFICANT'S CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTORS Crime & Punishment Home Page.
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