http://news.yahoo.com/…

When undercover detectives busted Jose and Maximo Colon last year for selling cocaine at a seedy club in Queens, there was a glaring problem: The brothers hadn’t done anything wrong.

But proclaiming innocence wasn’t going to be good enough. The Dominican immigrants needed proof.

“I sat in the jail and thought … how could I prove this? What could I do?” Jose, 24, recalled in Spanish during a recent interview.

As he glanced around a holding cell, the answer came to him: Security cameras. Since then, a vindicating video from the club’s cameras has spared the brothers a possible prison term, resulted in two officers’ arrest and become the basis for a multimillion-dollar lawsuit.

The officers, who are due back in court June 26, have pleaded not guilty, and New York Police Department officials have downplayed their case.

But the drug corruption case isn’t alone.

On May 13, another NYPD officer was arrested for plotting to invade a Manhattan apartment where he hoped to steal $900,000 in drug money. In another pending case, prosecutors in Brooklyn say officers were caught in a 2007 sting using seized drugs to reward a snitch for information. And in the Bronx, prosecutors have charged a detective with lying about a drug bust captured on a surveillance tape that contradicts her story.

Elsewhere, Philadelphia prosecutors dismissed more than a dozen drug and gun charges against a man last month when a narcotics officer was accused of making up information on search warrants.

The revelations in New York have triggered internal affairs inquiries, transfers of commanders and reviews of dozens of other arrests involving the accused officers. Many drug defendants’ cases have been tossed out. Others have won favorable plea deals.

The misconduct “strikes at the very heart of our system of justice and erodes public confidence in our courts,” said Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson.

Despite the fallout, authorities describe the corruption allegations as aberrations in a city where officers daily make hundreds of drugs arrests that routinely hold up in court. They also note none of the cases involved accusations of organized crews of officers using their badges to steal or extort drugs or money for personal gain — the story line of full-blown corruption scandals from bygone eras.

Peter Moskos, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, agrees the majority of narcotics officers probably are clean. But he also believes the city’s unending war on drugs will always invite corruption by some who don’t think twice about framing suspects they’re convinced are guilty anyway.

Prohibition creates a black market and a black market creates a distorted market situation waiting to be exploited. And those who are most incentivized to exploit it are those closest to it with the most power to cover up their actions.

http://bergennow.com/…

RAMSEY, NJ – A large-scale prostitution ring operating throughout the Bergen and Rockland County areas was shut down yesterday, authorities say.

The reported ringleader, John Lanza, 42, of the Bronx, was arrested on Wednesday, June 3 at approximately 3:30 p.m. on the charge of promoting prostitution. Also arrested, on the charge of engaging in prostitution, were Wol Lee, 28, of Queens, NY, and Hye Yeun Bang, 37, also of Queens.

According to authorities, the arrest stemmed from an investigation in which John Lanza was operating a large scale prostitution organization throughout the Bergen and Rockland County areas. Utilizing Internet advertisements and area hotels, Lanza would arrange for encounters where persons would either engage in or facilitate prostitution.

The arrests came about as a result of an investigation conducted by members of the Ramsey Police Department, under the direction Chief Bryan Gurney; numerous local law enforcment officers from the Bergen County Police Department and the police departments of Fort Lee, Saddle River, Hillsdale, Rochelle Park, River Vale, Park Ridge, Ridgewood, Bogota, and Tenafly; and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Computer Crimes Task Force.

The suspects have all been released on their own recognizance.

And where’s the victim?

No victim, no crime. Aren’t there some actual crimes these cops could be investigating? Some theft or murder cases they could be working on? I somehow doubt all natural crime in the Bergen and Rockland County area has been eradicated.

http://www.buffalonews.com/…

It is legally permissible for police to zap a suspect with a Taser to obtain a DNA sample, as long as it’s not done “maliciously, or to an excessive extent, or with resulting injury,” a county judge has ruled in the first case of its kind in New York State, and possibly the nation.

Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza decided that the DNA sample obtained Sept. 29 from Ryan S. Smith of Niagara Falls — which ties him to a shooting and a gas station robbery— is legally valid and can be used at his trial.

Smith was handcuffed and sitting on the floor of Niagara Falls Police Headquarters when he was zapped with the 50,000- volt electronic stun gun after he insisted he would not give a DNA sample.

He already had given a sample, a swab of the inside of his cheek, without protest the previous month. But police sent it to the wrong lab, where it was opened and spoiled. Prosecutors who had obtained a court order for the first sample went back to Sperrazza, who signed another order without consulting the defense.

Defense lawyer Patrick M. Balkin denounced the ruling in an interview with The Buffalo News.

“They have now given the Niagara Falls police discretion to Taser anybody anytime they think it’s reasonable,” he asserted. “Her decision says you can enforce a court order by force. If you extrapolate that, we no longer have to have child support hearings; you can just Taser the parent.”

A police officer said that when Smith was ordered by officers to give his DNA, he adamantly refused.

“I ain’t giving up my DNA again. I already gave it up once. I’ll sit in jail. I ain’t giving it up. You’re going to have to Tase me,” the officer’s report stated.

The officer wrote that he then applied the stun gun to Smith’s left shoulder, a “drive stun” that is regarded as less painful than shooting electric prongs into a person, which is the usual Taser approach. Smith then consented to the sample, and he was arrested on a contempt of court charge.

In her ruling, Sperrazza cited numerous legal precedents and the state’s Criminal Procedure Law, allowing the use of reasonable force to carry out a court order.

Although there are no New York cases specifically dealing with using a Taser to accomplish that, the judge did find a Wyoming case where a court ruled it was legal to use a Taser to force a suspect to open his hand for a search.

Smith is charged with shooting a man in the groin July 27, 2006, after allegedly invading his ex-girlfriend’s home, tying up her two children and forcing the woman to take him to the shooting victim’s home.

He is also accused of taking part in the Dec. 24, 2006, armed robbery of a Sunoco station in Niagara Falls. A codefendant in the robbery, Christopher T. Walker Jr., now 21, pleaded guilty and is serving a 10-year state prison sentence.

Sounds like the guy committed the crimes charged against him. In a free market justice system I suspect that this would be perfectly acceptable and expected. HOWEVER, there would be much more weight placed on such an action because the individuals and businesses performing this tase and swipe are going to be held responsible for any harm done to the individual. Especially should he be found innocent. Today the individual could bring a civil suit against the officers or department but those rarely work out in their favor. And even when they do it’s the taxpayer often stuck with paying the settlement rather then the aggressors.

This however is still troubling as it sets a president that will most definately be abused.

http://freekeene.com/…

I’m writing in response to Keene Sentinel columnist Michael Schuman’s story titled “Will the Free Staters Please Sit Down?” I must admit, a couple of years ago, before coming to understand the message of liberty, I would have agreed with Schuman’s opinions.

Schuman’s views are consistent with what many would describe as main stream America. Unfortunately many of his ideas are based in ignorance and misunderstanding that stems from a lack of critical thinking. Like most of us, Schuman probably attended government indoctrination centers where school children are taught to stand on their X, respect authority, and do as you’re told without question.

Take a look at the pledge of allegiance. How many other countries have one? How many of you know it was written by Fancis Bellamy, a National Socialist (Nazi) flag salesman, to “instill a strong belief in the state.” Dont believe me? Look it up on the internet. You’re likely to find the same picture I did of school children doing a Roman salute – the same one Hitler’s army used – before that was changed after WWII.

Schuman’s description of a classical libertarian is severely flawed and his examples display an ignorance of private property vs. individual rights.
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Dale Everett, Richard Onley, Ian Freeman, Keith Carlsen, and Patrick Shields (from left) discussed efforts yesterday to obtain the release of fellow Free Stater Sam A. Miller from jail. They were not successful. (Cheryl Senter for The Boston Globe)

By Sarah Schweitzer
Globe Staff / May 29, 2009

KEENE, N.H. – From a jail cell in this rural corner of New Hampshire, Sam A. Miller waged a philosophical battle, one milk carton at a time.

The soft-spoken electrical engineer declined food for nearly a month, save for swigs of milk. To eat, he said, would be caving to the tyrannical government powers that placed him here for illegally filming in a courthouse and refusing to reveal his legal name to jail officials. (He says it’s private; jail officials obtained it from a fingerprint trace.)

His resistance has made him a folk hero among antigovernment types who have been making their way to New Hampshire from points across the country since their leaders put out a clarion call six years ago.

The Free Staters, as they are known, hope to lure thousands of like-minded souls to the state, with the goal of paring government to a bare minimum by eliminating things like taxes, speed limits, and zoning laws.

Thus far, just 427 Free Staters have relocated. Yet, here in Keene and in pockets across New Hampshire, Free Staters are making their case in increasingly provocative ways.

“Like Ghandi, like Martin Luther King, we need to educate and enlighten the public,” said Miller, who joined the Free State movement after breaking up with his fiancée.

The actions have ranged from the odd, such as when Free Staters filed another person’s fingernails without a manicurist’s license on a public sidewalk or held an unlicensed puppet show, to the irksome, as when they tried to dig a garden in a downtown Keene park, to the instigative, such as the day they stood on a street corner with a marijuana bud held aloft. Sometimes, they simply veer toward obstinate, wearing hats in a courtroom after being asked to take them off or refusing to remove a couch from a lawn.

When arrests have followed, Free Staters have sought to film the criminal proceedings from beginning to end, including scenes from courthouse lobbies, where filming is not allowed in some cases, such as in Keene District Court. The lobby filming has yielded more arrests (often, with Free Staters going limp as officers approach) and more footage that Free Staters post on websites such as FreeKeene.com, which has proved an effective recruiting tool.

The so-called liberty actions have been met with some bemusement by residents of this gently tolerant city, population 22,800, home to Keene State College, near the border of Vermont. But some say the tactics have taken on a menacing hue, such as when Free Staters have gathered on the streets of downtown Keene with holstered guns on their waists, visible on their waists.

“When they first came to town, there was a welcoming spirit. A lot of people were like, ‘OK,’ ” said Richard Van Wickler, a Keene resident and superintendent of the Cheshire County Department of Corrections. “But unfortunately what happens is that when [Free Staters] take the radical approach, that invites people to get angry.”
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http://www.reuters.com/…

NEW YORK, May 26 (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury debt prices weakened further on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve bought $1.55 billion of the $8.52 billion of Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) dealers had submitted.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note’s yield, which moves inversely to its price, rose to 3.46 percent <US10YT=RR>, from 3.45 percent shortly before details of the Fed operation. (Reporting by John Parry; Editing by Leslie Adler)

What?! The FED bought inflation proof treasuries. Price inflation that they primarily create through monetary inflation. Is this normal? I’ve not noticed it before.