Archives for April 2017

“All the News…” (Part II)

In my previous post – “A Bomb For President Clinton” (subtitled: “All the News…” Part I) I got to thinking  about what circumstances cause  a news item to wind its way into the public discourse.  And if it doesn’t – well then, for all intents and purposes – it never happened –  right?  But if it fits a tried and true story line… the more salacious the better… hitmen really make the grade – you can pretty much count on hearing about it, if not in the New York Times, at least in the Enquirer.  Or some 7:30 p.m. trash TV show. [Read more…] about A Bomb for President Clinton vs Murder, Arson and Hitmen

Who writes history?  (“All the News…” Part I)

Over the past 10 days or so, as the media’s daily advisements were issued with appropriate alarm, the Wisconsin nut-job who burglarized (not “robbed”….this is becoming tedious) a gun store on April 4 had been the subject of a massive manhunt.   This was presumably because in addition to the minor arsenal he helped himself to, he also penned a reportedly disturbing 161 page “manifesto”, addressed to  President Trump.

Certainly newsworthy, and the dissemination of the culprit’s photos was I hope) a positive contribution by news outlets.  Bravo.

The coverage, however, reminded me just how arbitrarily seemingly newsworthy items are brought to the attention of the public.   Specifically, it conjured up memories of a couple of my cases. Sometimes it is the pure whim of an individual reporter which determines, essentially, whether that tree ever did fall in the forest.

One case similar to the Wisconsin manhunt involved a gentleman name Frank Darwin Alexander, of Morgan City Louisiana.

Frank Darwin Alexander

Does the name Frank Darwin Alexander ring a bell?   He too, was dissatisfied with the Commander-in-Chief, who at the time was President Clinton.

[Let me note that is is very tough to wrote a “blog”; that is, to keep my observations short.  I could probably write a book – a very long book – about a number cases I handled over 30 years – and may do so yet.]

For purposes os this discussion, allow me to cut to the chase regarding Mr. Alexander – he mailed not a “manifesto”. but a package containing a  bomb, addressed to “W.J.C.“.  The address was “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.”   The White House.

A second device was mailed to televangelist John Hagee’s Cornerstone Ministries in San Antonio.

Eerily, each bomb contained a tarot card which separated electrical contact points; once the cards were moved, contact would be made and detonation triggered. Alexander had carefully selected the appropriate tarot cards for each package. While President Clinton was to be the recipient of “Thor”,  Minister Hagee would receive “Mother”.

Leaving out many, many disturbing details, let me cut the tension by disclosing that the Hagee bomb detonated on a conveyor belt in a Dallas mail facility.  And the President Clinton bomb blew up in the back of a mail truck in Washington, causing smoke to pour out of the truck and resulting in a thorough dousing of water.   A lot of damaged mail, but thankfully no injuries.

So why did this receive so little national news coverage?   Some pretty chilling details about Alexander were disclosed, locally, at his detention hearing.

If you’re wondering about the third bomb alluded to in the headline, once Alexander took a Greyhound bus from Louisiana to Las Vegas, he attempted to mail another bomb – to the local ATF office.  This one was “Atlas”. Looong story – too long for here.  It was, ultimately, however, dismantled safely.   Eventual end of story:  Alexander pled guilty to all three attempted bombings.

On January 3, 2000, Frank Alexander was sentenced to life imprisonment.

I heard it again a couple of weeks ago on the evening news – “Fake News”?   Maybe not.  But “Las Vegas True Crime”?  Nope.

“Like something straight out of Ocean’s 11!!!” blared the TV. What?

This time it was an “Armed Robbery”, of the Bellagio Hotel and Casino, with shots fired!

What made this brazen, violent crime even more chilling: the trigger-happy robbers wore horrific pig masks!

Then…the heinous crime was downgraded by the media to an “Armed Burglary” – but remained an “active shooter” situation.

Let’s just stick to the facts, ma’am.

For starters,  there was no robbery at the Bellagio at all – what really occurred was a burglary – no force, no victim in the form of a person.

And no shots were fired.  What witnesses heard was, as Nick Lowe once put it, “the sound of breaking glass”, specifically the display cases in a Rolex retailer within the Bellagio – not the casino – shopping mall, which was closed for the night.

And one burglar wore a pig mask.

Moreover, the fictitious Ocean’s 11 caper wasn’t a robbery at all.  And the pig mask (one) brought “Point Break”, not Ocean’s 11, to mind (although the guises in that film were of former Presidents).

To be fair, we all know that news reports often evolve as facts become known.  But reporters rarely fail to exaggerate, over-dramatize, and sometimes even fabricate things for ratings.  It’s true!

Ocean’s 11 posited that nobody had ever successfully “robbed” a major Las Vegas casino.

As was obvious to me when I saw the 2001 version of “Ocean’s”, the wealthy casino owner (Andy Garcia) was based on Steve Wynn.  And according to IMDb , his statement to master thief Brad Pitt “If you should be picked up buying a $100,000 sports car in Newport Beach, I’m going to be supremely disappointed”  was a reference to the kidnapping of Steve Wynn’s daughter, Kevyn Wynn.

IMDb went on to explain that “The (Wynn) kidnappers were caught trying to spend some of the ransom money in Newport Beach as they attempted to buy a very expensive car in cash.”

In fact it was an almost $200,000 Ferrari.  Only one of the three kidnappers had laundered some of the $1.45 million in ransom money and attempted to complete the purchase at Newport Imports, on PCH – Pacific Coast Highway.  That’s where and when, after an extended surveillance, he was arrested.

That reference jumped out at me because I was assigned that case, first thing in the morning after it happened.  I investigated it for a year, and tried it, along with another AUSA I brought on board.  I’ve always felt that two heads are better than one.  Especially when someone as good as AUSA Jay Angelo is added to the team.

I had a notably similar experience regarding not quite accurate reporting when a few years ago, “Storming Las Vegas” was published.  The book was written by John Huddy.   Mr. Huddy is the father of FoxNews reporter John Huddy, and former FoxNews reporter Juliet Huddy.  The storyline revolved around one Jose Vigoa, the mastermind behind a string of Las Vegas robberies in 1998.  It also recycled the premise that no casinos had ever been victimized, that is, before Vigoa and his crew.

In fact, a string of violent takeover robberies, which included Vegas casinos, banks, and jewelry stores had been perpetrated by Los Angeles Crips and Bloods between 1992 and 1994.  I caught many of these cases, and tried the first (a Bank of America branch)….

……and the last (Harrah’s Hotel and Casino).

For the Harrah’s trial, I once again called upon a colleague to try the case with me, another AUSA  who I knew would make me look good – Howard Zlotnick.  Before it was all over,  the U.S. Attorney’s Office, with the help of IRS Special Agent Shaun Healy, several police departments in California, Las Vegas Metro and the FBI, took the leader/organizers of the enterprise out of circulation.

(As it happens, the duo of Howard and Jay had convicted Jose Vigoa in a drug case years before the activities chronicled in “Storming”.   Small world.)

When “Storming” came out, I made contact with the author.   He was quite affable, considering my purpose was to disabuse him of his misapprehension concerning the “first” successful Las Vegas casino robberies.  Chalk it up to literary license.  Hey, the book sold.  He told me he had optioned the rights to a major film company, but that he was dealing with serious health problems.  I thanked him for his time and wished him the best.

The funny part is our robberies were a well kept secret – until the Flamingo and Harrah’s were hit, on consecutive nights in April, 1994 – just as I was rapping up the Wynn trial. The graphic Harrah’s video was played and replayed on several national TV networks.   I guess nobody had been  paying attention.

With one exception – Las Vegas Sun reporter Jeff German, who doggedly covered the Wynn case, was on to the scope of our robberies before anyone else in the media.  He wrote a column summarizing the Blitz of the Strip after the Harrah’s OGs were convicted.

His column closed with “…the casino industry, it seems, owes a debt of gratitude to the lawmen who brought an end to a three year nightmare on the Strip.”

P.S.  I’m still waiting to hear from “The Strip” regarding their “debt of gratitude”.   Surprise!