Dumbest Mob Hit In Philadelphia History? A Juror's View Of The Nicodemo South Philly Murder Trial

Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia is covering the Nicodemo murder trial for Bigtrial.net.

She listened to two days of testimony in the Anthony Nicodemo murder trial last month and said she wasn't buying the defense argument that Nicodemo was carjacked and became an unwitting getaway driver in the murder of Gino DiPietro.

"The story about the carjacking was absurd," the former Common Pleas Court panelist wrote in one of several e-mail exchanges with Bigtrial.net. She also said she surmised the shooting was a mob hit even though the judge had barred any mention of organized crime. And she correctly assumed that Nicodemo was being held without bail and that he was able to afford a high priced defense attorney.

The juror agreed to share her insights from the two days she heard testimony, but asked to remain anonymous. She was the first of three jurors dismissed during the case which ended in a mistrial on May 20. Lawyers for the defense and prosecution are to meet with Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart Thursday for a status conference during which a new trial date could be set.Nicodemo, 42, has been held without bail since his arrest on the day of the shooting, December 12, 2012.

... DiPietro, 50, was a convicted drug dealer who, according to some underworld and law enforcement sources, was cooperating with authorities at the time he was killed. His murder was described by one investigator as the "dumbest" mob hit in the history of Philadelphia.

No one, the investigator said, uses their own vehicle as the getaway car. And any experienced hitman knows that the first order of business after a shooting is to dispose of the murder weapon. The shooting occurred as mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and six co-defendants were being tried in a racketeering case in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. A shooting during a mob trial is also considered bad underworld form.

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

http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/06/a-jurors-view-of-nicodemo-trial.html

International Paratroopers Land In Normandy France On The 70th Anniversary Of D-Day

 

In the above Defense Department released photo a U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft drops U.S. and international paratroopers to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France on June 8, 2014. More than 700 paratroopers from the United States, France, Germany, England and the Netherlands re-enacted the historic airdrop over the town of Chef-du-Pont, France.
 

 

In the above Defense Department released photo thousands of people photograph U.S. and international paratroopers as they land in the Normandy region of France on June 8, 2014.

Note: Since June 6th, the 70th anniversary of D-Day, I've been watching Band of Brothers on HBO On Demand. I saw the series when it originally aired in 2001 and I'm enjoying watching it again.

Note: You can click on the above photos to enlarge.

"Busted" Is A Philadelphia Classic

Joel Mathis at phillymag.com offers his take on Busted, the true crime book written by two Philadelphia Daily News reporters about their Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper series on police corruption.

Over the weekend, I finally got around to reading Busted: A Tale of Corruption and Betrayal in the City of Brotherly Love, the March book by the Daily News Pulitzer-winning team of Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker. What a great book.

It’s an easy, breezy read — Philly Mag’s review called it a “captivating story” — but that’s not to say it’s insubstantial. Indeed, the narrative of how the two reported their “Tainted Justice” series of articles on police corruption for the paper deserves to take its place among the great works that have come to define Philadelphia in the popular mind — everything from Rocky to A Prayer for the City.

Three reasons you should read this book if you love Philadelphia:
 

• It’s gritty: In pursuit of their story, Laker and Ruderman chat up pimps, stroll brazenly into drug houses, and basically make themselves at home in some of the hardest-hit, dirtiest parts of the city, spending time among criminals, immigrants and the rest of the city’s dispossessed in order to get at the truth of a rogue drug unit. It’s a great example of the hard work and rewards that can go into shoe-leather journalism during an era in which many reporters can be hard-pressed to do much more than make a phone call from their desks. (Or home office.)     

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

http://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/06/09/busted-ruderman-laker-philadelphia-classic/?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EDIT:%20News&utm_content=Midday+News+6%2F9%2F14

Note: I reviewed Busted for the Washington Times and I interviewed Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker. You can read my review and the interview via the below links:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/05/my-washington-times-review-of-busted.html

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/05/my-crime-beat-column-my-q-with-wendy.html

Dick Couch, Author and Former U.S. Navy SEAL And CIA Officer, Offers New Web Site

 

Dick Couch, the author of nonfiction books and novels, is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and CIA officer, is now offering a new web site at http://dickcouch.com

A 1967 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Dick Couch served as a Surface Warfare Officer and a Special Warfare Officer. While a platoon leader with SEAL Team One in 1970, he led one of the only successful POW rescue operations of the Vietnam War. On release from active duty in 1972, he entered the Central Intelligence Agency, where he served as a Maritime Operations Case Officer. Dick retired from the Naval Reserve in 1997 with the rank of captain and currently serves as an advisor on military and tactical ethics for the component commands of the US Special Operations Command.

Dick Couch began his writing career in 1990 and has authored nine novels and nine works of nonfiction that focus on Military Special Operations, Special Operations Training, and Tactical Ethics.

I interviewed Dick Couch about his nonfiction book The Sheriff of Ramadi for Counterterrorism magazine. You can read the interview via the below links:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/DickCouchInterview1.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/DickCouchInterview2.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/DickCouchInterview3.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/DickCouchInterview4.jpg

I also interviewed Dick Couch for a piece I wrote on the selling of the Navy SEALs for  Counterterrorism magazine. You can read the piece via the below link:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/SellingOfTheNavySEALS.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/SellingOfTheNavySEALs2.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/SellingOfTheNavySEALs3.jpg

Mafia Smoke, No Fire in Fraud Case, Pelullo's Lawyer Says

Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia is covering the Pelullo and Scarfo federal fraud case for Bigtrial.net.

He wasn't a gangster. He was a turnaround expert.

And if the government had just left him alone, Salvatore Pelullo would have turned FirstPlus Financial, a struggling Texas mortgage company, into a profitable business enterprise.

Do the math!

That was the message, accompanied by nearly 100 slides and a heavy mixture of passion and sarcasm, that Pelullo's lawyer, Michael Farrell delivered to a federal jury today in a highly charged summation that offered a decidedly different view of the testimony and evidence from the one presented by the prosecution during the five-month trial.
You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/06/mafia-smoke-no-fire-in-fraud-case.html#more

CIA Veteran: Defectors Like Snowden "Tend To Be Lazy"

Belinda Luscombe at Time.com speaks to former CIA officer Jack Devine, author of Good Hunting, about his view of NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

Jack Devine, who served for 32 years in the CIA, much of it undercover, did some of his training with Aldrich Ames, whom the CIA considers one of the worst traitors in its history. He was also Ames’ boss. One of Devine’s jobs was to find people in hostile foreign nations who would betray their country for money, which he details in his new book Good Hunting, a spirited defense of the work ( and funding) of the CIA. So the dude has some experience with defectors.

Devine says that turncoat agents always have some story, but when it comes don to it, they’re basically dissatisfied with the level they have reached in the CIA. “They’re usually well-read, and they think they’re smarter than everyone else, and they’re just not,” he says. He feels the same is true of Snowden. “I don’t think he was an agent of the Russians,” he notes. “But I would say today that you don’t stay in Russia for free.”     

You can watch the video via the below link:

http://time.com/2823581/cia-veteran-defectors-like-snowden-tend-to-be-lazy/

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Pays Tribute to Sacrifices Made at D-Day

U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall at the American Forces Press Service offers the below piece:

CARENTAN, France, June 5, 2014 - The sacrifice made by World War II veterans is reflected in the legacy of freedom they left following their success in the "greatest endeavor ever undertaken in the name of liberty," NATO'S Supreme Allied Commander Europe said.

Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, also commander of U.S. European Command, traveled here to participate in a series of French-hosted commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II. Breedlove saluted the veterans for their courage in liberating Europe.

"The French said 'thank you' today as they gave [veterans] the [French] Legion of Honor," Breedlove told American Forces Network yesterday. "Well, you just can't buy this," he said, referring to French gratitude for what the allies did by liberating France and Europe as part of the 70th anniversary of D-Day. "You can't put it in a bottle. To see the nations -- all of them -- represented around this town, this country, this host nation, coming out like this in the hundreds and thousands to thank our soldiers and thank our veterans -- it's amazing. It's a great feeling."

Breedlove added, "You don't know what it's like until you watch these little kids and their parents, and their grandparents waving American flags, waving French flags, waving [British] flags, all the nations represented." The French citizens' emotions illustrate "what it means to these people [regarding] the sacrifices that our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines made for this country," he added.

Breedlove reflected on the hard choices Army Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower -- the D-Day invasion commander -- had to make in order to carry out the operation. "Can you imagine what he was thinking as he sent so many of our nation's sons ashore knowing what was waiting for them?"

Eisenhower knew what was going to be required to achieve success, Breedlove said, and he knew the sacrifice that would have to be made. "It's probably the most incredible decision of our military," the general said. "And he stood up to it and sent these forces ashore, and they accomplished their mission."

Breedlove said he learned, from talking to veterans, that none of them made the decision to fight based on what was in front of them. "They made decisions about standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their fellow soldiers, sailors and airmen. "Shoulder-to-shoulder with those who cared. And their mission was to get the job done and take care of each other."

It was the cohesion, camaraderie and esprit de corps, Breedlove said, that got them through some pretty tough times. "They all gave so much. But what we owe all veterans is our freedom." Speaking about freedom as the legacy of those who fought in World War II, Breedlove referred to a speech from a young French woman during an earlier ceremony where veterans received the French Legion of Honor.

"She wrote about that freedom that was purchased by the bravery and the sacrifice of our soldiers," he said. "So all we can do is just say, 'We thank you and we're lucky that you were there to stand for us.'"

Walking down Carentan's streets, the general also lauded veterans serving in today's formations, and the families who support them. "I say thank you to the families," Breedlove said, "and to those veterans who are marching right in front of them who also served in multiple wars and multiple places around the world.

"We have lots of veterans that we owe dearly," he continued. "Thank you to all of them."

Note: In the above U.S. Army photo by Sgt. A.M. LaVey, 73rd Brigade Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division, along with allied troops from multiple countries, participate in a parade through the streets of Carentan, France, June 4, 2014. The Town is hosting several events commemorating the 70th anniversary of D-Day operations conducted during World War II. Public Affairs.