OFF THE WIRE
agingrebel.com
The Hells Angels racketeering case in South Carolina titled U.S. v.
Bifield et al. continues to grind the defendants like glaciers grind
rocks.
The indictment was returned May 17. A 97 page superseding indictment was
filed September 19. Two weeks after that the federal prosecutors riding this big
ice cube, their names are Julius N. Richardson and James H. May, told the judge,
a lovely lady named Cameron McGowan Currie, that they intend to enter evidence
from a sealed and previously secret indictment in North Carolina. That
indictment, the defacto third indictment in the case, is Case 3:12-mj-186 WDNC.
When you look it up on the Public Access to Court Electronic Records database,
PACER tells you there is no such case and charges you a dime anyway.
Evidence Dump
In one of the most sophistical and spurious court documents ever written, the
comedy team of Richardson and May inform Judge Currie that the secret
accusations involve 20 defendants collectively charged with racketeering,
racketeering conspiracy, narcotics conspiracy, attempted robbery, money
laundering and firearms violations. “The United States respectfully submits that
the above-described documents should be made available to defense counsel in
order to prepare for trial pursuant to Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Criminal
Procedure,” the federal comedians then write.
It is what is usually called an “evidence dump.” The general idea is to
corrupt the process of fair and equal justice by overwhelming defense attorneys
with more information than they can comprehend in a limited period of time. Most
of this material will never be used against the defendants but all of it might
be. Some of it might be fatal to the defendants. And, the best place to hide a
leaf is in a forest.
Geld The Press
A sentence later Richardson and May claim that, “If the documents are made
available to the press and general public, the defendant’s rights to a fair
trial, as well as rights of persons not in the Indictment, may well be affected.
It is therefore requested that this Honorable Court enter a protective
disclosure order that the above described documents be made available to the
attorneys for the defendants, and they be instructed not to release information
herein. It is furthermore requested that the materials released pursuant to this
protective disclosure order be governed under the restrictions set forth in the
Standing Discovery Order issued in Criminal Number 3:12-0430.”
In other, simpler words, don’t let the press let the citizens know. Another
federal judge, David O. Carter of the Central District of California, was
pithier when he remarked, “If I was the taxpayers, I’d tear down the courthouse.
Thirty percent of these things have nothing to do with justice.”
Judge Currie is more innocent than Carter. On October 1 she gave Richardson
and May the secrecy they hold so dear.
Of course, a vigorous and free press – the unofficial institution whose job
in a democracy is to watch the cops, prosecutors and judges – is professionally
obliged to at least protest this Stalinist approach to justice.
So Let’s Name That CI
The government must resort to blatantly unfair tactics like evidence dumps
and press blackouts in this case because the entire matter quivers and twists
like the last golden leaf of November. Much of the evidence against the
defendants, including lead defendant Diamond Dan Bifield, was gathered by a
confidential informant named Joe Dillulio (Photo above.)
Dillulio was the right tool to use on a high priority target like Bifield.
Bifield, as his nickname suggests, has a fondness for jewelry. Guess what
Dillulio does? Bifield is a native New Yorker. Dillulio used to own a jewelry
store in the Bronx. After running a restaurant called Mama Mia’s in Fort Mill,
South Carolina Dillulio opened a jewelry store in Rock Hill where Bifield,
coincidently, started a charter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.
Dillulio lied to investigators, transposed names and dates and invented
crimes so Richardson and May (“Thank you very much! Thank you very much! Take my
case. Please!”) would probably prefer not to subject Dillulio to cross
examination.
For Dillulio it was all about getting paid. “…don’t blow this and this will
be a short investigation,” the informer says during the hundreds of hours of
garbled audio surveillance on which Richardson’s and May’s sacred careers may
rest. “I don’t care about the testifying part. I’m more concerned about making
money until I die. Okay? That’s what I’m after. I’m taking these guys out to
prove…so my kids don’t have to deal with nothing, okay?”
A short time later the grandiose Dillulio instructs his federal handlers, “…I
don’t want to show up as an informant, okay? This is a contract with a lawyer I
got. I was a criminal justice major in college. I was going to be a lawyer,
okay. But, I’m like a jailhouse lawyer. I read all them freaking books to see
about my sentencing and everything. I went to the Columbia law thing,
researching in the library, trying to get off the hook from you guys. Okay?”
There are many hours of that.
There will be discovery hearings in the case on November 5 and status
hearings November 9. Dillulio’s name probably won’t come up because, you know,
real law is secret.
“Thank you! You’ve been a wonderful audience! You’re too much! We’ll be
performing in Columbia for at least the next six months!”
VIDEO`S
http://youtu.be/0hxi-z3ZZBI
http://youtu.be/EqPrcwZLECM
