It’s SHOT SHOW Time In Las Vegas!

There is no question that this even is the largest show of firearms, hunting and outdoor fun in the world. February 2-5 at the Las Vegas Convention center will host manufacturers from nearly every corner of the globe.

The dollar has taken a severe beating abroad which will make it easier for foreign dealers to buy lots of goods made by our American workers.

I plan to show some highlights from this event right here at crimefile News.
More information on the SHOT SHOW can be found here.

Britney Spears Is A Lot Closer To Marilyn Monroe this Morning

This morning Britney Spears will wake in Westwood’s UCLA Medical Center only a short walk from the legendary Marilyn Monroe’s crypt at the Westwood Memorial Park.

Spears was removed from her home and hospitalized under a 72 hour hold arranged by her own psychiatrist. The scene was and is beyond chaotic as nearly 100 people comprised of cops, firemen, paparazzi photographers escorted her to the hospital.

I won’t speculate on a diagnosis of Spears’ medical condition but her life is far from normal as Spears has been subject to constant privacy invasion and surveillance by the sleaziest tabloid operations. You can properly argue that Spears is a co-conspirator to the exposure of every intimate detail of her life. it’s now time for the tabloid vultures circling over Spears to take the high road and end their coverage of this troubled young woman at least and until she can heal.

With Spears’ enormous financial holdings her helpers, family and friends seem to be motivated by greed rather than any desire to help Spears.

Sadly, the Britney Spears death watch well is underway. I don’t think this woman can ever last longer that the 36 years Marilyn Monroe graced this earth. Spears will be strangled to death by her fans, the morbidly curious, government bureaucrats, opportunists looking to loot her estate and the managers of our sleazy media organizations.

Wesley Snipes Criminal Tax Evasion Trial Nears Its End

Wesley Snipes’ future is now in the hands of a federal court jury over a gaggle of felony tax fraud and evasion charges. Snipes is facing as much as 16 years in prison if convicted. The IRS wants him convicted as an example to anyone who’s unhappy with tax system circus.

Crooked Politicians and their contractors have bled Americans for far too long. Our founding fathers are rolling over in their graves because confiscatory taxation is exactly why we revolted against England. We are plundered far more today by our own government than King George ever dreamed possible.

We have a tax code that even the experts can’t understand and ordinary folks are expected to simply shut up and send money off to be squandered at every level of government. There has to be a better, simpler and more equitable to handle taxes. We must find way to kill or at least slow down the greedy tax monster.

We taxed ourselves to death and at the same time we’ve allowed illegal aliens to bankrupt our schools, destroy our health care, insurance systems and overload our courts and prisons beyond the breaking point.

At the beginning of the American experiment our founding fathers allowed only land owners or taxpayers the right to vote. We’ve given every freeloader and deadbeat the right to vote and now they make up the majority as they demand the Nanny system of government.

I hope to see Wesley Snipes and his co-defendants win this round with the government. Perhaps government can be forced into a simplified total redesign of the tax system. We can count on the bottom feeding politicians, contractors, and CPA’s to fight hard to keep things just the way they are as they take even more from us.

The truth is that the most common tax dissenter’s legal arguments against the IRS are far easier to understand and accept than our tax code.

Meeting New Law Enforcement Friends In L.A.

Today I made some new friends that came in from the Philippines in order to attend a seminar on Internet cybercrime hosted by the FBI. These fine officers are on the cutting edge of the fight against worldwide Internet scams and child sexual exploitation.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the policewomen wearing uniform skirts instead of patrolman pants. Oh, to return to the days when men were men and women were women.

These fine officers are enjoying quite an adventure during their visit. I think Crimefile News has gained some new readers!

Dreaming About Gloria Loring…

Long ago when I was a young cop the astonishingly beautiful Gloria Loring was cast as Liz Chandler on Days of Our Lives.  Cops work nights and sometimes become hooked on soaps. I got hooked on Gloria! She is what fantasies are made of.

I regret I still never met Gloria or got to make a complete fool out of myself trying to date her. I would have stuttered like Porky Pig if I ever got to look into her gorgeous eyes.

I have a dear contemporary actress friend living in Sherman Oaks whose known Gloria for many years. I hope that I may yet get the opportunity to impress this babe/actress/songbird with my unintentional Porky Pig impersonation.

Yes, she's currently married to Rene Lagler and her son Robin Thicke is a huge star now.

I must confess to borrowing Gloria's picture from her website. You can visit Gloria's site, see many more pictures and buy her great music at the Official Gloria Loring Site.

Sit back and watch Gloria sing her hit, Friends and Lovers.

Is Richard M. Daley Ed Burke’s Puppet?

It’s Alderman Ed Burke the Finance Committee Chairman that doles out millions of taxpayer cash like water to campaign contributors like Jenner & Block to do the work of Chicago’s Corporation Counsel’s lawyers. This is done with little or no oversight.

Alderman Burke that is perhaps the only Alderman in America with a 1$ million dollar a year police bodyguard detail over a long forgotten decades old threat. Is Daley asleep at the wheel or just too afraid of Alderman Burke to end this kind unnecessary waste? What about the 49 other Aldermen and women?

How does Alderman Burke get to keep a $9 million dollar donated campaign war chest when he’s not been opposed in any election in memory? Generous contributor’s with lots of clout and huge wasteful city contracts paid Burke well for throwing tax money away.

The Shackman Decree may have ended patronage appointments but Burke and Daley have been able to outsource enough work. Work like that of the Hired Truck scandal to maintain any power lost because of Shackman.

Why do Chicago’s taxpayers have to pay millions of dollars to lawyers to protect Edward Burke whenever he’s been the target of federal investigations?

This Burke story is one that will keep on giving. Club Fed is waiting for their new residents.

You Know Your Country is In Deep Trouble When…

Every non-taxpaying, deadbeat in America gets $300.00 free money in the form of a “tax rebate” even if they never paid a dime in taxes.

Making America’s hard working taxpayers pay for this outrage in beyond insane. This is nothing more than a very tired Marxist idea to redistribute wealth.

We don’t need a tax rebate. What we need is a leaner and more efficient government with fewer bureaucrats putting their greedy hands in our pants.

The freeloaders who are given $300.00 of their fellow American’s money will simply use it for illegal drugs, liquor or bail bonds.

Chicago May Be ready for Reform

A new investigation is expected to be launched into the criminal activities of Chicago Alderman Edward M. Burke and his wife, Illinois Supreme Court Justice, Anne M. Burke. The Burkes are accused of fixing murder cases and at least one high profile child molestation case.

There are some serious issues involving statutes of limitations that won’t affect State Bar and judicial conduct matters. There are plenty of matters recent enough to bring indictments.

Payoffs in the form of contracts awarded for Chicago’s legal work, Chicago Mob ties, new ghost pay-rolling allegations, along with fixing a court appeal to help the Emerald Gambling Casino regain their revoked license will all be under a new government microscope.

Alderman Burke was the son of a politically appointed Sheriff’s Deputy who rose through political ranks. Burke became a Chicago cop in 1965 and worked his way through DePaul Law School. When Burke’s father died in 1968 the younger Burke took a leave of absence from the police department to succeed his father’s position in the 14th Ward. Allegedly Ed Burke aligned himself with the Chicago Mob, got his inexperienced lawyer wife appointed to the Illinois Appellate Court and later the Supreme Court.

Many of these allegations are not new and were profiled in Robert Cooley’s book, WHEN CORRUPTION WAS KING that’s now being developed in Hollywood as a feature film.

Alderman Burke has a limousine, drivers and a large contingent of Chicago police bodyguards at his disposal because of an alleged threat made decades ago. I’ve been told taxpayers fund this at 1$ million a year. Along with his bodyguards Burke is also allowed by law to carry guns. No wonder Chicago is the land of constant tax increases.

If Chicago has a King and Queen they are the Burkes. They have the real power over the city’s government, at least for now. I’m told their lives are about to change.

Stay tuned! I expect to get some documents that are part of the investigation and will publish them here.

Hollywood Stars, Drug Addictions and Behavior Issues

It’s very difficult to find success as an actor in Hollywood. First you have to be able to perform before cameras and audiences without looking like a deer caught in the headlights of a speeding car. As far as acting skills go I will point you to two multi-millionaire stars, Steven Segal and William Shatner.

The reality is that the Hollywood gate keepers are the established agents. Agents can make nearly any homeless man or woman an instant millionaire if they simply are able stand still and talk. Usually its relatives, bed-mates or close friends of Hollywood powerbrokers that are made into stars. Of course there are those very talented exceptions that can do things like sing, dance or act better than anyone who make it on their own merits.

If an agent drops an actor and he’s not picked up by another he will be waiting tables as soon as the money he or she already earned runs out. An agent-less actor is an unemployed actor. Producers and their casting directors rarely audition unrepresented actors.

When actors misbehave, use drugs or otherwise become dysfunctional they are a huge risk and liability to film investors. Too many young actors give way to non-therapeutic drugs and every other kind of stupidity as they bite the hands that feed them.

The Hollywood mentality of tolerance has gone way too far as bad behavior seems to be considered more for its free publicity. When actors undergo rehabilitation they return as heroes when they are nothing more than addicted souls waiting for their next relapse.

There are legions of great actors that never grab headlines other than for making box office hits like Jodi Foster, Hillary Swank and Clint Eastwood. The miscreant thespians need to be given the bums rush out the door and other actors deserve their chance at the good life.

I’ll weep more for the actor who came to Hollywood, never found and agent or a chance to live their dream than the likes of River Phoenix, Brad Renfro or Heath Ledger.

Beauty Queen, Actress and Senn High School Alumni dead at 78.

Los Angeles--Lois Nettleton was a terrific actress who was believable in any role she ever played. She was captivating in early and memorable episodes of the Twilight Zone and hundreds of significant roles on stage, screen and television. In Recent years Nettleton had a recurring role in Crossing Jordan. Today she’s been reported to have died of Lung Cancer.

Nettleton was born In the Chicago Suburb of Oak Park, IL. She competed in beauty contests becoming both Miss Chicago and a runner-up in the Miss America Contest. Along the way she attended and graduated from my own Alma Mater, Senn High School on Chicago’s North Side. Nettleton gained her acting chops at the prestigious Goodman Theater of Chicago’s Art Institute.

I’ll never forget Nettleton's role opposite Maximilian Schell in that great film, Man In The Glass Booth in 1975. She played Miriam “Mimi” Rosen, an Israeli prosecutor on a mission to hang a wealthy Jewish-German-American immigrant who orchestrated the theft of the identity and impersonation of a Nazi War Criminal.

A long list of Nettleton's credits can be found here.

America’s Criminal Justice System Is Not So Wonderful

You’ve heard it said over and over that we have the very best criminal justice system in the world. Best perhaps but far from perfect as we keep changing the rules to make convictions easier for prosecutors to win.

Take young Alton Logan. Did I say young? Today Logan is 54 years-old,and languishing in an Illinois prison cell for more than half of his life. Logan was young when he arrived on that prison bus, but that was 26 years ago. Logan became a convicted murderer, doing life for killing a security guard at a McDonald’s restaurant on Chicago’s South Side.

During the January 11, 1982, robbery at the McDonald's at 11421 S. Halsted St., security guard Lloyd Wycliffe was killed by a shotgun blast and another security guard, Alvin Thompson, were wounded. The gunmen got no money, but stole the guards' handguns.

Just one month later, another man Edgar Hope, Killed one Chicago cop and wounded another aboard a CTA bus Hope used a McDonald’s guard’s stolen handgun to do the deed. Soon Hope was arrested charged with the cop’s murder. Alton Logan was arrested and charged along with Hope for the McDonald’s crime based on an eye-witness’ identification of the two suspects for killing the security guard.

Days later on February 9th two more Chicago cops, William Fahey and Richard O’Brien were murdered. The officer’s service revolvers also stolen by the killers during the crime. Police identified Andrew and Jackie Wilson as the cop’s killers and launched one of the largest manhunts in department history.

On Feb. 13, officers raided a South Side beauty parlor where they learned Andrew Wilson had been hiding. Cops were unable find Wilson, but they did find the revolvers belonging to Fahey and O'Brien, as well as a shotgun. Ballistics tests matched the shotgun to a shotgun shell found at the McDonald's restaurant according to a crime lab report.

Chicago Police Commander, Jon Burge and some of his detectives caught up with the Wilson brothers and interrogated them. Trials were held and the Wilson brothers along with Edgar Hope went to death Row for their crimes and all later had their death sentences commuted by Illinois Governor George Ryan who is doing time of his own in a federal prison cell.

The Wilson brothers and several others involved in despicable murder cases accused Commander Burge and his men of torturing them in order to gain confessions. Burge was fired, sued and is still under investigation decades later because of the allegations.

Andrew Wilson died of natural causes while in prison but one of his best kept secrets did not die with him.

Justice Derailed

Attorney Marc Miller was defending Hope who told him that Alton Logan was not involved with the McDonald’s crime and that Andrew Wilson was. Miller approached The two public defenders assigned to the Wilson brothers, Dale Coventry and Jamie Kunz telling them of Hope’s assertions.

Soon Coventry confronted Andrew Wilson with Hope’s revelations. Wilson laughed about someone else getting the blame and confessed that he not Logan did the McDonald’s stick-up and murder. The lawyers for the Wilson brothers knew that Alton Logan was an innocent man as prosecutors unsuccessfully sought to put him to death.

Rather than interfere with Logan’s worst nightmare Coventry and Kunz prepared a sworn affidavit in March of 1982, saying the following: "I have obtained information through privileged sources that a man named Alton Logan who was charged with the fatal shooting of Lloyd Wickliffe at on or about 11 Jan. 82 is in fact not responsible for that shooting that in fact another person was responsible." Coventry and Kunz signed it, as did a witness and a notary public. Then they sealed it in a metal box where it’s been until Cook County Circuit Court Judge James Schreier ruled that since Andrew Wilson died they could reveal Andrew Wilson’s statements to the lawyers.

This should be a no-brainer quickly setting Alton Logan who has maintained his innocence for nearly three decades free. Not so fast! That affidavit, now brittle and yellowed from being locked in that box all those years and the sworn testimony of the two public defenders is hearsay evidence and may never be admissible in court.

Since the secret affidavit has seen the light of day, Logan’s current lawyer Harold Wilson has filed motions with the court for DNA testing of evidentiary items to uncover the truth. So far the Illinois Attorney’s office has stonewalled that request.

The Illinois Attorney General has the ball in her court and can control everything. I believe we will see a big fight over the not so new but well concealed evidence. Will they do the right thing? Stay tuned!

APRIL 18, 2008 UPDATE!
Judge ordered a new trial for Logan and set bail.

Alton Logan's family say they took up a collection in the lobby of the Cook County Criminal Courthouse on Friday and quickly came up with the $1,000 needed for his release.

A tearful Logan says he feels great leaving the courthouse surrounded by friends and family.

Harvey Levin Please Have A Little Mercy

Imaging being cast in movies as the cool and suave spy, 007. Then you meet really sexy girl and you marry her.

Later, after having children and the yummiest food in your refrigerator your wife begins to change. That’s bad enough but TMZ roving photographers will share your wife’s new figure with the world. Stop with those whale jokes already! Harvey, you’re a son of a bitch!