The Spy Who Was Left Behind: Russia, The United States, And The True Story Of The Betrayal And Assassination Of A CIA Agent

Veteran journalist and author Joseph C. Goulden offers a good review in the Washington Times of Michael Pullara’s The Spy Who Was Left Behind: Russia, the United States, and the Betrayal and assassination of a CIA Agent. 

The 1993 murder was a mystery from the start. A single rifle shot to the head killed Fred Woodruff, CIA branch chief in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, as he rode in a car on a remote mountain road.

The driver was the body guard for Eduard Shevardnadze, formerly foreign minister under Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Once the USSR dissolved, he became chair of Georgia’s governing State Council.

Woodruff was in Georgia to help Shevardnadze form a protective security force. The country was suffering political and social turmoil, with crime syndicates running the equivalent of a shadow government. And the Soviets were trying to regain control of Georgia.

Author Michael Pullara, a Houston attorney, became interested in the murder because he had known the Woodruff family as a boy in the small town of Searcy, Arkansas.

Early press reports blamed the killing on a Georgian soldier, Anzor Sharmaidze, 19, who was angered when the car carrying Woodruff ignored his wave for help with his own broken-down car.

Although Sharmaidze claimed he was tortured into falsely confessing, a judge found him guilty and sentenced him to six years in prison.

A veteran trial lawyer, Mr. Pullara doubted that the full truth was told. The military had fuzzed the truth about the death of his father In Vietnam, thus he was no stranger to official fibbing.

He wanted to know more. As he writes, “I wondered what I can do with a law license, a passport and a credit card.” Thus began an odyssey for the truth that consumed almost 20 years. 

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/7/book-review-the-spy-who-was-left-behind-by-michael/ 

'Gosnell' Film Strikes Nerve With Moviegoers Despite Shoestring Budget, Lack Of Media Attention

Christian Toto at the Washington Times offers a piece on the film Gosnell.

It was a movie destined for failure — relying on crowdfunding for its shoestring budget, garnering little to no attention among liberal media outlets and opening in only 673 theaters around the country.

Still, “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer” succeeded in its opening weekend at the box office, becoming the No. 12 film release last week. Its $1.16 million in ticket sales placed the film just behind “A Simple Favor” ($1.3 million) and just ahead of “Crazy Rich Asians” ($1 million), according to the Box Office Mojo website.

What’s more, “Gosnell” enjoys a 67 percent “fresh” rating among critics and a 99 percent audience “like” rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website.

The film, which chronicles the crimes and conviction of abortionist Kermit Gosnell, owes part of its success to its 29,000+ donors in its 2014 Indiegogo.com crowdfunding campaign.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/oct/18/gosnell-movie-box-office-success-despite-small-bud/?bt_ee=A6TqRFJuxZ2y28Yd%2FDJGbX%2F2ilhrELuo%2BbYF%2FY7pVBUy6HI8b%2F%2B5

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You can also read my Washington Times review of Gosnell: The Untold Story of America's Most Prolific Serial Killer, the book the film was based on, via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2017/02/my-washington-times-review-of-gosnell.html 

My Washington Times Piece On Targeting Illegal Guns In Philadelphia

The Washington Times published my piece on law enforcement targeting illegal guns in Philadelphia.

In June 1998, the National Rifle Association held its national convention in Philadelphia. The NRA met at the city’s convention center, which was only blocks from where the Founding Fathers gave birth to our freedoms, a fact noted by legendary actor Charlton Heston, who was elected president of the NRA during the convention.

“This is where it all started,” Mr. Heston told the gathering in his powerful and gripping voice. “Right here in Philadelphia.”

I covered the convention for a local newspaper and sitting in a front row, I saw Mr. Heston give his rousing speech. In the speech he presented a challenge to President Clinton — enforce the full range of existing gun laws as they pertain to criminal offenses and forgo any new gun controls that penalize law-abiding gun owners, an idea that was called Project Exile. Pick a city, Mr. Heston said, and test the zero tolerance of illegal gun use.

… On Aug. 8, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro held a press conference in Philadelphia and announced a joint effort between the attorney general’s office and city and federal law enforcement to act with an unprecedented level of cooperation to target illegal gun trafficking in Philadelphia.

The announcement was held at a recreation center in a section of South Philadelphia that has seen more than its share of gun violence. Mr. Shapiro was joined by Don Robinson, special-agent-in-charge for the Philadelphia division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF); Richard Ross, police commissioner of Philadelphia; and Larry Krasner, district attorney of Philadelphia. Also in attendance was Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, Jennifer Williams, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and local officials.

“More information-sharing and stronger collaboration is critical to effective law enforcement operations, particularly when it comes to targeting criminals who traffic in illegal guns and plague our communities,” Mr. Shapiro said. “We’re proud of the work that our Gun Violence Task Force has done already in Philadelphia, and working together with our city and federal partners, we know there is much more we can do to combat gun violence and help make our communities safer.” 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link: 

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/27/targeting-illegal-guns-in-philadelphia/  

A Look Back At The Sinking Of The USS Indianapolis

Coinciding with the anniversary of the day in 1945 when the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, I happen to be reading a fine book on the tragic story, Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic's Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fidty-Two Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man. 

My review of Indianapolis will soon appear in the Washington Times. 

Simon and Schuster offers the below on the book:

“This is an absorbing book. The attention to detail is superb, the clear result of lots of plain hard work. Yet the detail doesn’t get in the way, but rather serves, along with a driving narrative, to get the reader as close to experiencing this most tragic episode of World War II as is possible without living through it. The book is hard to put down.”
— Karl Marlantes, New York Times bestselling author of Matterhorn

The sinking of the USS Indianapolis is still the biggest single loss of life at sea to be suffered by the United States navy.

From a crew of 1,196 men, only 317 survived.

Torpedoed by the Japanese, dying of thirst and eaten by sharks.

For 70 years, the story of the USS Indianapolis has been told as a sinking story, or a shark story, or a story of military justice gone awry. But in Indianapolis, the true story of this mighty vessel is revealed.

As the USS Arizona embodies the beginning of the Pacific war, the USS Indianapolis embodies its fiery end. From its bridge, Admiral Raymond Spruance devised and executed the island-hopping campaign that decimated Japan’s Navy and Army.  Its crew led the fleet from Pearl Harbour to the islands of Japan, notching an unbroken string of victories in an exotic and uncharted theatre of war.

When the time came for President Harry S. Truman to deal Japan the decisive blow, Indianapolis answered the call. And super-spy Major Robert S. Furman climbed aboard, secreting the components of the world’s first atomic bomb.

Four days after delivering her ominous cargo to the island of Tinian, the Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine, with nearly 900 men lost. The captain, Charles B. McVay III, was wrongly court-martialled for negligence over the sinking. Decades after these events, the survivors of the Indianapolis, as well as the Japanese submarine commander who sank it, joined together to finally exonerate McVay.

“The voices of the Greatest Generation come alive in Indianapolis. Through first-person accounts we hear horrific stories of fear, pain, and anger but also of resilience, hope, and courage. Stories of the friendships the sailors forged with each other on board and the sacrifices they made for each other in their darkest hours are inspirational. Ultimately, Indianapolis is about the sacrifice these men made for our country at a time of unparalleled risk and of their lifelong search for justice for the captain of their ship. It’s a beautifully told and incredibly detailed narrative that brings this famous disaster to life.”
— Kate Andersen Brower, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Residence and First Women

You can purchase the book via the below link:

https://www.amazon.com/Indianapolis-Disaster-Fifty-Year-Exonerate-Innocent/dp/1501135945 

Smuggling By International Crime Syndicates Is What Keeps Homeland Security Chief Up At Night

David Sherfinski and Stephen Dinan at the Washington Times offer a piece on Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly (seen in the above official photo) and his concern over transnational criminal organizations.

Smuggling cartels are now a major threat to the fabric of American society, Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly declared Tuesday, saying the international crime syndicates have shown an incredible ability to sneak drugs and people — and potentially terrorists and dirty bombs — into the U.S.

Mr. Kelly, a former Marine Corps general who is three months into his tenure as secretary, said among all the other dangers facing Americans, the threat from the cartels, known in the security world as “transnational criminal organizations” is what keeps him up at night.

He said the Trump administration has already notched some victories over the criminal networks, including cutting the level of illegal immigration across the southwestern border by a staggering 70 percent. But he said the amount of drugs has increased and that the smuggling cartels share ties with the terrorist networks that the U.S. is fighting overseas.

“We know, as an example, that the money-laundering of massive amounts of profit from the U.S. drug demand — there are terrorist organizations that make money from that money-laundering process,” he said. “It’s an incredibly lucrative way to raise money. They’re not doing it in huge amounts yet, I don’t believe. But to me, it would be a next step. So the nexus between criminal networks and terrorist networks is real, and, I would predict, will get more sophisticated.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/18/john-kelly-smuggling-cartels-major-threat/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWWpWaVptVmlZams0TkRabCIsInQiOiJOc1VSdkl4UUJjcWJcL0E4WWNTSWxWT0ErUkdIcHo0cDJmUUEwRUtIblwvNmpoek5TQWV6WHpER2c0ZXI0Q2JZOXN5Ulg4UmtvU0k1NnMzQWp0WG1ZeGEwTEtPbFVFTFNraGlwMEdLKysxT0hhbFFXdjQzOEtwcE44djJuRnpHM0lHIn0%3D