FBI Issues Report On Shooting Death Of Ibragim Todashev

IMG_2954On Wednesday,  May 22, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. FBI SAC Charles Bright from the Orlando FBI office made the following statement:

“We regret to announce the death of Ibragim Todashev who died earlier today as a result of being shot three times by FBI Special Agent Rick O’Shea.  The circumstances of this unfortunate incident are as follows.

Since the identification of the Tsarnaev brothers as the terrorists in the Marathon Terrorist Attack the FBI has been questioning people associated with Tamerlan Tsarnaev. One of these persons was Ibragim Todashev who was known to be an associate of Tamerlan and lived with him in Boston.  Since April 19, 2013,  he has been questioned by the FBI seven times concerning his involvement in that attack. There has been no evidence connecting him with the attack.

On Tuesday, May 21, 2013, two Massachusetts State Troopers, John Lucky and Paul Strong, arrived in Orlando along with FBI Special Agent Rick O’Shea. They were interested in interviewing him about the homicides of three men killed in Waltham Massachusetts, in 2011. They, by prearrangement with Mr. Todashev, met with him at his apartment in the Orlando housing complex where Mr. Todashev lived with his girlfriend, Anna Muschkovick. Accompanying those men were two FBI agents from the Orlando office, Nemo Puitovic and Barley Straight as well as two detectives from the Orlando police department, Gray Reddinton and Gary Tiami.  

They arrived at the location of Mr. Todashev at 10:00 p.m.  The men and Mr. Todashev engaged in a conversation concerning his whereabouts when he was in Boston at the time of the Waltham homicides along with other questions about his relationship with Tamerlan Tsarnaev. During that discussion Mr. Todashev excused himself to go to the bathroom.  Agent O’Shea followed him there and the other law enforcement officials remained in the living room.

The bathroom was accessed through the main bedroom. Agent O’Shea said as soon as Mr. Todashev reached the bathroom, he turned around and attacked Agent O’Shea.  Agent O’Shea was aware of Mr. Todashev’s background in martial arts and the attack was powerful and unexpected knocking Agent O’Shea onto the bed. There Agent O’Shea felt Mr. Todashev reaching for his FBI issued weapon and struggle occurred over its control. During that time, Agent O’Shea managed to keep control of the weapon and fired six shots into Mr. Todashev.  

The commotion caused by this struggle caused the other law enforcement officers to respond but the incident had ended by that time.  This incident occurred at approximately 11:45 p.m. an hour and 45 minutes after the interview with Mr. Todashev began.”

SAC Bright then answered the questions from the news media that had gathered there.

Of course the above is fiction. That is what should have happened. How Mr. Todashev met his untimely demise has to be a relatively straight forward event. Instead of the above we have a team of FBI experts descending on Orlando from DC. Everyone accepts this a natural. Everything has to be washed and scrubbed before the people are allowed to know anything about it. The soldiers have to be lined up in a row.

What will happen next is we will then get the statement from the FBI which will be to this effect:

“Ibragim Todashev was shot some time in the evening of Tuesday May 21, 2013, by an FBI Agent from Boston who was interviewing him along with two Massachusetts state police officers and other law enforcement officials. During that interview Ibragim Todashev attacked the FBI agent putting his life in jeopardy and acting in self-defense Todashev was killed. The investigation to date shows that the FBI agent acted properly and in accordance with all the rules of the FBI governing self-defense. This matter is under investigation and there will be no further information until the investigation is completed. But let us assure you the FBI acted in a proper and responsible manner at all times.” 

Then, of course, we’ll hear from unnamed officials with inside information other things that relate to the incident. There will be a knife in some stories, in others it will be a club, and in others a lamp. We’ll be told about a confession to murders and perhaps some suggestion he was involved in the Marathon Terrorist Attack.

I hope I’m wrong but I expect the last thing we’ll hear is what really happened because if we were going to know that it would have already come out.  It’s a simple situation with a half-dozen law enforcement witnesses. Why the delay? Why the silence?

 

37 Comments

  1. It seems far more likely the Waltham murders involved these Armenian-American drug ring guys:

    http://www.epress.am/en/2011/05/25/armenian-americans-arrested-in-major-drug-bust.html

    http://www.justice.gov/usao/ma/news/2011/May/MadaratiSafwan.html

    The case also involved some dirty members of the Watertown PD:

    “A federal indictment alleges that Safwan “Sammy” Madarati “used his personal connections with members of the Watertown Police Department,” including Velasquez-Johnson, “to obtain information about law enforcement activity in order to impede and obstruct investigations into his drug-trafficking activities in Watertown.”(http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/05/25/18_people_charged_in_drug_operation/)

    I hate to sound paranoid, but is there a chance investigators went on overdrive to pin this on Todashev in order to cover their own tails? Would an investigation into the more likely suspects (people associated with the drug ring above) turn up other law enforcement officials with dirty hands? And that Sunday evening may have been chosen simply because the killers knew the targets would be home watching the NYJets/Dallas football game at the time–nothing to do with symbolism of Sept 11, in other words.

  2. Matt,

    Thanks for answering my questions. I guess part of my confusion with law enforcement “giving passes for crimes” is the Whitey Bulger saga. I read he’s an informant and then they say he’s not …..yet he got away with so many alleged crimes for years.

    However, if the only evidence they have on him is the Martorano crew ratting on him then it would explain a lot of it.

    • Question:

      Whether Whitey considered himself an informant or not is really immaterial. The FBI considered that he was one and protected him. He got away with his crimes because the FBI does not investigate its informants and protects them from being investigated by other law enforcement agencies by tipping them off. It’s not a crime if they do it because no matter what the FBI agents do they for their job except in the case of Connolly nothing has really ever been deemed to be a crime.

      The FBI had plenty of reasons to go after Whitey beyond the Martorano and friends information that came out later. It’s just they really did not want to do this because he was one of their guys. You take care of the home team.

  3. Great site. I’m wondering if the Todashev shooting is the latest result of an investigation that has gone off the rails due to attempts to manufacture evidence early on.

    Here’s what I mean: Chinese carjack victim’s statement said Tamerlan stated he’d bombed the marathon and shot an MIT cop, which sounded fishily like an embellishment strongly encouraged by whoever took his statement. In the meantime, it becomes less clear that the Tsarnaev’s shot the MIT cop:

    http://www.boston.com/yourcampus/news/mit/2013/04/mit_asks_potential_witnesses_to_aid_in_the_investigation_into_sean_colliers_death.html

    If it turns out the Tsarnaevs didn’t shoot the cop, the supposed admission of guilt in the carjack victim’s statement is worthless.

    Then the investigators tried the “note in the boat”, which sounds like a desperate attempt to boost evidence, making me wonder if they’re having trouble putting together a strong enough case. Most suspicious is, how would younger brother have been sure older brother was indeed dead at that time, as implied in the note.

    So then they figure if they implicate Tsarnaevs in the Waltham murder, that will strengthen their case (interesting how the deaths are put at Sept 12, 2011 in all articles prior to the marathon bombing, but it becomes Sept 11 once Tsarnaevs are suspected):

    http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?n=brendan-halley-mess&pid=153659823#fbLoggedOut

    They try their best to get Todashev to confess that he and Tamerlan killed Mess and friends, hounding him till he snaps, they shoot, and they have as close to a confession they were ever going to get from him. Maybe they just keep shooting themselves in the foot even worse with each attempt to puff up the case.

    • Jamie:
      Thanks for writing and the complement.
      I hadn’t considered that the Tsarnaev’s did not murder the M.I.T. cop; I thought that was pretty clear that they did. I didn’t find anything particularly suspicious about the statement that Tamerlan made to the car jack victim since that would be part of his idea how to terrorize the victim. As for the Cambridge police and M.I.T. still looking for witnesses that is part of good police work. They have a murder case on their hands and even though they have Tamerlan making somewhat of a confession to it that may be a little weak when it comes to the brother, Jokah. I’m not sure that they will ever bring Jokah to trial but they may want to build a good case against him. He may have confessed to doing the murder but again the confession was done without giving him his rights so that may be tossed out.
      You say if Tsarnaevs didn’t commit the murder the confession to the highjack victim would be worthless. I’m convinced they did it but assuming they didn’t it would be worthless in one sense because the true murderer would escape punishment but it still would have value in convicting Tsarnaev even if he didn’t do it. There are instances, perhaps more than I like to think, where people who didn’t commit the crimes charged have been incarcerated because of wrongful confessions.
      I suppose if the younger brother saw his brother gunned down (do we know how many bullets were in his body?) and then jumped in the SUV to get away and ran over his brother, he would have reason to believe his brother was dead.
      Good point on the date of death. And thanks for putting in references to the things you were talking about. September 11, 2011 was a Sunday; obviously Monday would be the 12th. The idea that Brendan Mess, Raphael Teken, and Erik Weissman were murdered on 9/11/2011 which is the 10th anniversary of 9/11/01 plays the symbolic role in the Tamerlan case in that Tamerlan had become radicalized and as part of that he decided to memorialize the 9/11 attacks by murdering his close friend and two others. That seems to tie him. I appreciate that because it gave me a good idea for a post.

  4. Matt,

    I guess the FBI has a “Shooting Response Unit” and an “Incident Review Group” which consists of 13 FBI Agents – all of whom will get to the bottom of the shooting. (FBI investigates FBI)

    It looks like others are asking the same questions you are and rightfully so, but I fear this may incite many other Chechens to strike back at the US. We have enough terrorists to worry about and I feel this incident may help recruit others. Hopefully not.

    The below is from Russia Today.

    http://rt.com/usa/todashev-death-fbi-circumstances-769/


    Many questions with no answers, yet

    Early on Wednesday morning, officials at the FBI headquarters in Washington dispatched a shooting-response unit to Florida to help investigators determine what had occurred.

    The following day, scores of FBI employees could be seen coming and going from the condo where Todashev was killed.

    In addition to the FBI’s review team, a separate Shooting Incident Review Group committee will analyze the incident. The independent committee, which includes up to 13 members of the FBI, will evaluate whether use of force was justified. No new information will likely surface until those investigations are concluded.

    But apart from the use of deadly force, several other questions have been raised regarding the death of Todashev.

    If Todashev had a history of violence, was being interviewed in connection with a recent terrorist event, and was believed to have played a role in a related triple homicide, why was he being interviewed in his home at midnight and not at a law enforcement facility?

    How did a knife or other unidentified object come into his possession during the course of the several hour interview?

    If law enforcers are unwilling to state emphatically that the object in question was even a knife, was lethal force necessary to subdue him while vastly outnumbered by several agents?

    FBI personnel walk through the complex surrounding the apartment, where Ibragim Todashev, 27, was shot and killed by FBI, in Orlando, Florida, May 22, 2013. (Reuters / Phelan Ebenehack)

    Todashev had yet to be charged with a crime and had every right to refuse being questioned without having a lawyer present. From all accounts, he had been willing to cooperate with the FBI on multiple occasions. He also chose not to return home to Chechnya although he had already purchased tickets and no warrant had been issued for his arrest. If he felt cornered or pressured into making a confession, why would he attack half a dozen law enforcers rather than ask for a lawyer?

    And last but not least – was the final interrogation videotaped?

    “We know very little about what happened because the only source of information is the FBI and presumably it’s not in their self-interest to reveal too much information [since] there’s now an investigation into his death because this could possibly be a case of excessive force in violation of his constitutional rights,” Sahar Aziz argues.

    Whatever happened that night, Taramov recalled an ominous conversation he had with Todashev just hours before his death.

    “We had a feeling, worst case scenario something like that was going to happen…He felt inside he was going to get shot,” Taramov said.

    “I told him, ‘everything is going to be fine, don’t worry about it.’ He said, ‘I have a really bad feeling.'”

    • Question:

      Thanks for the reference to that article. It does raise some of the questions I have asked. But it even misses the most basic one, why is all this being done when at least a half dozen officers were present during an interview with the man who was killed. The article notes: Early on Wednesday morning, officials at the FBI headquarter in Washington dispatched a shooting-response unit to Florida to help investigators determine what had occurred. What’s all that about in this simple matter. You note the article continues: “The following day, scores of FBI employees could be seen coming and going from the condo where Todashev was killed.+ This is a simple matter of what happened. It should have been rapped up in a couple of hours; it didn’t need scores of FBI agents. Finally the article says: “In addition to the FBI’s review team, a separate Shooting Incident Review Group committee will analyze the incident. The independent committee, which includes up to 13 members of the FBI, will evaluate whether use of force was justified. No new information will likely surface until those investigations are concluded.”

      This is all nonsense. We don’t care if the FBI thinks the killing was justified, we’d just like to know what it says happened. It’s tragic that the American press and public puts up with this.

  5. One other thing about the Todashev shooting. Apparently, he was shot in the head. Law enforcement is trained to shoot at center mass, in the chest, not in the head, and it would be pretty rare to accurately shoot someone in the head when they are charging you with a blade, knife, pipe, kitchen sink, what have they. Of course, the “shot in the head” report is more of the same unnamed, second-hand reporting at this point.

    My sense was that Whitey still called some shots in Boston even after 1995. Mexican Mafia in California controls much of the very large Mexican Mafia from inside prison.

    • Mark:

      I’ve not heard he was shot in the head. If so, that makes on sense other than the FBI agent was playing Russian Roulette with him to the enjoyment of all the others who were there. The whole episode makes no sense but we have to wait until the ducks are lined up before we hear anything official, that’s if we ever do.

  6. Please excuse my misspelling of “scene” as “seen” above. I’m still drinking my coffee and trying to wake up, plus I blame it on Mass’ ITA elementary English education. 😛

  7. Actually, Leone probably figured Coakley will never leave office, so he grabbed a lucrative slot at Nixon, Peabody. But I still think Leone did a less than thorough job with the Waltham triple murder, and I would very much like to know why that was, because had that case been solved the Boston Bombing never happens.

    And now Marian Ryan is everywhere claiming that her office has done a very thorough job. She wasn’t even DA at the time. Like you said, all conclusions, no facts or details. Did the Middlesex DA, WPD, Mass State Police and FBI-Boston thoroughly investigate Tamerlan’s involvement with and relation to the victims back in 2011 or did they not? How do you not get a list of all of Brendan’s friends and relations and run them through the system? Had anyone performed that basic detective work back in 2011, the Boston Bombing never happens. Simple as that.

    • Mark:
      I believe Leone is a good guy. I can’t comment on the triple murder investigation since I know nothing about it. If it was screwed up I’d put most of the responsibility on the state police who are charged with doing the investigation and less on the DA’s office. I’m unfamiliar with Marian Ryan but she’s been with the office a long time so I wouldn’t dismiss her knowledge. I wasn’t happy with her statement about working with the FBI though. I’m not as sure as you are that Tamerlan was involved in the 2011 murder; I’d have to see more.

      • Yes, the Waltham case was apparently kicked up to the State Police from the local WPD, but it was odd that Leone was the spokesman at the time and seemed to be fully directing and managing the case. Most all of the investigation updates and reports back in 2011 were from Leone.

  8. And that report that Miller said that FBI went there after midnight is wrong. If you watch the video clip of Miller, you can see that Miller is not saying that FBI went there AFTER midnight, but that Todashev was killed after midnight. Miller starts of saying that “some time after midnight, FBI agents, who had been at the Windover apartments…”, meaning that Todashev was shot sometime after midnight, but then Miller backfills his report for context. Miller is clearly not saying that FBI arrived after midnight.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57585638/boston-bombing-suspects-friend-ibragim-todashev-killed-in-fbi-shootout/

    My question is whether of not the Chechen mob could operate in Boston without Whitey’s knowledge and blessing. My guess is that they could not.

    • Mark:
      I’ll have to watch the video. I went by the report on it. Whitey hasn’t been around Boston since 1995; before then the Chechen mob did not exist as far as I know. Whitey controlled South Boston and some other bookies, he did not control the Russian OC scene so I’d suggest that also applies to the Chechens if they existed at that time.

  9. I’m not talking about connecting dead people to the Waltham murders, I’m talking about connecting Tamerlan in 2011 when he was alive. Tamerlan was best friends with Brendan Mess and all Brendan’s friends knew that and Brendan’s girlfriend identified Tamerlan as a frequent visitor to the apartment, some believing that he lived there because he was there so often. She calls him “Tam”, because she knows him so well. But Tamerlan did not show up at Brendan’s wake or attend his memorial. DNA and phone records now also tie Tamerlan to the scene at the time of the murders. Other of Brendan’s friends claim that Tamerlan was the last to be scene with Brendan alive. FBI is definitely notified of a triple murder in Boston with large amounts of drugs and cash left at the scene and occurring on 9/11/11. FBI-Boston had just “investigated” Tamerlan a few months before, but that name didn’t ring a bell? They definitely should have run Tsarnaev’s name through there Guardian database system, but they should have recognized that name off the top of their heads.

    But something else was happening in 2011. Can you remember what that was? Whitey’s capture. Whitey is fierce, but Whitey’s operations pale in comparison to the Chechen mafia, which operates from Chechnya to Moscow, from Kabul to Dagestan, from Nigeria to Dulles, Boston to Florida and New York to LA and is tied to U.S. goals in southern Russia and Central Asia. This is a lot bigger than some punks in Boston.

    You need to look into the Brendan Mess triple homicide. Tamerlan definitely did it, and the FBI most likely knew it in 2011. And that has always been the biggest problem for the FBI. How to hide the fact that they knew very well about Tamerlan, Russia had warned them, the Saudis had warned them. Tamerlan had a 2009 arrest for domestic violence which alone would’ve been enough to extend or escalate the FBI’s Prelim Investigation way past 3 months. Did the FBI never interview the victim of that domestic violence? She says now that Tamerlan was radical and hated America. She would’ve said it then, because Tamerlan had just dumped her for his new wife/girl, 2-timinng them actually. She would’ve flipped on Tamerlan with ease.

    But the triple-homicide was the biggest loose end, and it needed to be tied up, fast.

    Why do you think Gerry Leone left office early, when he could’ve run for AG, as most DAs from Middlesex have done and won?

    Why do you think the FBI went down to Florida and whacked Todashev.

    The “8PMish” was my addition. I heard 7:30 too, but I wasn’t certain it was precisely at 7:30pm. My guess is that they went there at night because they knew that fireworks are fired every night right next door at Universal Studios amusement park at about 9pm. A couple of neighbors even stated that they thought the gunshots were fireworks. The altercation with Todashev on May 4th with 2 males was also dubious. FBI was following Todashev everywhere by May 4th. FBI was there. My guess is that the 2 guys there were FBI assets, undercover informants or undercover agents who picked a fight with Todashev. The police report of the incident is incomplete, missing a supplement, and the 2 guys were hispanic and unable to read and write English so one of the Orange County Sheriffs ‘kindly’ translated for him. Sure.

    You really need to take a close look at the Brendan Mess murders, if you want to see FBI at its worst.

    And what do you know about Uncle Ruslan? Besides that he want to Duke Law, where I worked as an undergrad.

    • Mark:
      You are a wealth of information on this matter involving Brendan Mess. I am going on the little that I have picked up. I’m always suspicious of going back to try to connect a person who has died with a crime. You have provided information which you suggest links Tamerlan to the triple murder. You first posit he was Mess’s best friend and was at his place all the time yet did not show up for his wake and funeral. That is as consistent with innocence as guilt. Some people are so affected by a friend’s death they want nothing to do with the ceremonies. Some people who murder people attend the funeral and wake in deep mourning and act as if it is the worst thing that ever happened. (Ask the Davis family how Flemmi acted after he murdered their sister/daughter.)
      The DNA of Tamerlan being connected with the murder site at the time of the murder is too vague for me to comment on. I don’t really have any idea what you are talking about Where was the DNA from? You’d expect some traces of Tamerlan to be there is he was there all the time.
      As for friends of Mess, one said he was expecting to do a major marijuana deal with some new people about the time of the murder. How does Tamerlan fit into that business?
      FBI is not notified of triple murders. They are state deals. The only murder in my time the FBI stuck its nose into was the Salvi murders at the abortion clinic and it used a civil rights vehicle to try to come in. As you know we kept it out. Drugs usually go to the DEA. Dollars to donuts the FBI had nothing to do with that investigation.
      Let’s look at dates: 9/11/2011 Mess and two others murdered; early 2011 (date unknown) Russia tips off US about Tsarnaev, FBI sent report back to Russia by June; I’m not sure the FBI even knew that Tsarnaev had any connection to the triple homicide. June 22, 2011 Whitey is captured. I don’t see how one affects another.
      I’m sure there is a Chechyn Mafia and I’d guess the CIA has Chechyn connections. I’m not sure Tsarnaev or Todashev is connected with it. I see no reason why the FBI would want to protect Tsarnaev from a murder charge unless he had become one of its informants. Unfortunately that is something we will never know.
      The FBI’s investigatin of Tamerlan Tsarnaev was obviously inept but we have no idea what was done because the FBI hasn’t told us. The idea of a 3 month limit on investigations may or may not be part of the FBI rules but that means nothing since their rules mean nothing. I suggest the FBI blew it especially since it won’t tell us what happened.
      Leone leaving the Middlesex DA’s office had nothing to do with any of this. He got tired of working in the public sector and wanted to make more money as a private attorney. He’s strictly on the level and I think he is a good guy.
      I don’t think the FBI went down to whack Todashev although I can’t come up with a good reason for them all flooding into his apartment. I don’t attribute much to Todashev’s fight over a parking space. The FBI was following him at the time and I can’t figure out why it was doing that other than as a harassment tool. I admit I do lack much knowledge of the Mess murder and less about Uncle Ruslan; although when watching him he did seem like a hoodlum. I have no idea how he got into Duke Law. He must have some powerful connections.

    • I agree with Marks opinion below and that’s the first thing I thought of after reading Todashev “got in a fight”.

      “The altercation with Todashev on May 4th with 2 males was also dubious. FBI was following Todashev everywhere by May 4th. FBI was there. My guess is that the 2 guys there were FBI assets, undercover informants or undercover agents who picked a fight with Todashev. The police report of the incident is incomplete, missing a supplement, and the 2 guys were hispanic and unable to read and write English so one of the Orange County Sheriffs ‘kindly’ translated for him. Sure.”

      Maybe they needed him out of the picture for one reason or another? They started a fight to make Todashev seem like the aggressor and they shoot him 3 weeks later due to his “aggressive nature” toward them.

      None of what transpired makes sense, but it seems as though they needed to get rid of him before he went home to his country? I agree it was a staged fight.

      • Question:

        I don’t think the fight has much to do with anything that happened although Mark is right that the FBI was trailing him at the time. I’m leaning more and more toward the idea that they were using guns to scare Todashev into confessing something or other. They had to be trying to intimidate the hell out of him and now the FBI is in full cover-up mode. Pretty sad.

        • Here’s a recent article about the FBI giving Ven Der Sloot $25,000 cash which he used to jet off to Peru and kill another woman. Wouldn’t the FBI normally arrest him as soon as he accepted the money?

          http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/06/fbi_gave_confessed_killed_van.html?ft=1&f=103943429

          • Disregard my comment above. I read the Van Der Sloot article again and noticed the article said the FBI was “waiting for more evidence on the murder before arresting him”. I guess now they have two murders and their $25,000 dollar gift is partly responsible for the second one.

            • Question:
              You were not wrong when you first asserted the FBI contributed to the murder of Stephany Flores. Here the situation: Joran van der Sloot, the suspect in the Natalee Holloway murder on Aruba, was looking to get some cash to go to a poker tournament. To get it he told Holloway’s family he could give the information on the murder of Natalee in exchange for $25,000 or some other figure.
              This was treated by the FBI as an extortion.As soon as the money was paid the case was made. I don’t understand what the FBI means when it suggests they were trying “to build an extortion case.” They had it. As soon as he received the money, he should have been arrested. They would eventually indict him for this in Alabama which shows the case was made.
              http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/fbi_cash_funded_Tl93VwoKTnWzMPmKeAwrfL#ixzz0qNq2RKPP
              The article you noted said something different. It says the FBI was trying to get evidence that would lead to a murder charge. How does that make sense? They start off to get evidence of extortion, give the guy $25,000, they have the evidence, the case is complete, but they they decide not to do anything with it.
              I guess they were planning to pull a Todashev where they rush to where Joran was living in the middle of the night with a dozen agents with guns drawn and stay there badgering him until he confessed to the murder which he may not have done. They were going to use the extortion as a way to extort this confession. They then found out he was planning to leave the island and they did nothing about it.
              This has all the feelings of the ATF’s “Fast and Furious” program more appropriately named “Guns for Gangsters.” They gave him the money to get off the island and to go play around in another land. It sounds like the typical pure incompetence we’ve come to expect from our “Silent Service.”

          • We know Van Der Sloot wasn’t any kind of informant so my question kind of applies to his case although he was indicted later.

            If law enforcement witness crimes taking place and do nothing about them how come they are never charged as being accomplices or accessories to these crimes?

            I believe if law enforcement knows about child abuse/neglect they are required by law to report it and many do not if they are friendly with the abuser.

            I’ve also seen this happen in other cases where they do not arrest the person (a non informant) committing the crimes . Wouldn’t that make them an accomplice to these crimes?

            • Question:

              A witness to a crime has no legal obligation to do anything. To be an accomplice or accessory you have to have entered into some type of agreement with or given assistance to the person who committed the crime. If a cop witnesses a crime she should do her best to stop it, but if she doesn’t that does not make her part of the criminal act. Cops are like everyone else; as Shylock said they bleed like the rest of us. Some do favors for people by not charging them. In a pure world that would not happen but this isn’t a pure world and I’d not like to live in a place where a cop didn’t give a guy or gal a break if she could for most of the minor stuff as long as no money or other consideration passed hands. Remember I think up to 80% of the crimes should not be on the books as crimes but rather as civil cases. However, if a cop knew about child abuse, that is one area where I’d hope she arrested the culprit.

              Cops have a tough job; they have to make judgment calls; and sometimes they give someone a pass for whatever reason. As long as its not a quid pro quo I have not trouble with it. Cops will often help out friends if they can, that’s all right with me as long as it is minor stuff. But even if you want to prohibit all of that, it would still not make the cop part of the crime. All you could say is she didn’t do the job she should have done.

              The FBI in the Van Der Sloot had just given the guy $25,000 which he extorted from the mother of the kid who was killed in Aruba. They did not commit a crime by not arresting him when he took the money even though they had a completed crime and could have arrested him. When and whether to arrest a person is a judgement call. But in the Van Der Sloot case their failure to arrest him when the crime was completed suggested to me that those involved in that matter exercised poor judgment that led to another woman’s murder.

  10. You had me going with that fictional FBI report.
    It has been reported that FBI arrived to begin interview at 8PMish.
    But there are many conflicting reports about time of gunshots. Just so much that doesn’t make sense.

    And, yes, FBI-Boston certainly could’ve extended their Prelim Investigation of Tamerlan a lot longer than 3 months on little more than a signature from Boston SAC or ASAC. It truly is outrageous.

    And the Waltham murders? How did WPD, Mass Staties, Gerry Leone and FBI not connect Tamerlan back in 2011? Sounds unlikely to me. This is really gross incompetence, or something worse that I’d rather not believe is possible.

    I like your site/blog and your book looks very interesting. I’ll be back, watching heavyweight MMA right now…go figure.

    • Mark:

      Thanks for writing and welcome aboard. There have been lots of things reported but they’re all coming out like test balloons through friendly media repeaters (my new name for reporters) to see what the public buys. I’ve heard 7:30 and after midnight; now you add “8 pm ish” as if the FBI agents don’t have any smart phones or watches to tell them the time. The problem the Feds have is hitting a guys house with a large force and being there until the early morning hours sound more like one of those Abu Grhaib interrogations. I wonder how many FBI dogs were there. We simply don’t know basic things because the FBI covers them up and when, if they ever do, come out with a story it will be a fiction that has been sanded down and massaged so that it casts the FBI in the best possible light even though a guy is dead in a room full of law enforcement people.
      As to the Waltham murders it is always easy to connect a dead guy; just say he did it. You don’t have to indict him so you just say it. I’ll bet there is no connection between Tamerlan or Todashev to those murders. One of the dead guys friends said they were big drug dealers and it was probably a drug hit. Lots of money was left in the apartment. Knowing the little I do about those Chechens, that’s not something they would do. Read the article referred to by Jeff who commented right before you. That guys a much better writer than I am but he points out the same things I’ve been trying to get across using the little stage provided by Whitey.

  11. Matt: One thing I know: those MMA guys with any type of weapon in hand can be extremely dangerous, life-threatening. So, let’s hold our judgements and keep our powder dry. I’d hate like hell for some trigger happy FEDS, Troopers or COPS to be on the loose: But I doubt that’s the case, although one cop wounded in the Boston Terrorist Attack was wounded by friendly fire. I hope the FEDS/TROOPERS/COPS aren’t panicking. STay cool, serious, focused and deliberate in investigating the murders and attempted murders of hundreds of innocent children and women in Boston.
    2. Janet Napolitano and anyone else who is lying to us or hitting us with spin/propaganda or withholding vital/timely information from us should be summarily fired. Spare no rod in sweeping clean our rotting federal offices and decayed branches.
    3. We’re told 50,000 or 500,000 people who entered this country recently are on a WATCH LIST.” Imagine the FEDERAL/STate resources needed to keep track of them. Is this some FEDS’ idea OF how to PERMANENTLY bloat his salary, position and HIS bureaucracy? Why won’t Congress stop this madness? If you’re on a Watch LIst, either (1) you can’t come here period or (2) if you are here get the hell out of this country.
    4. Don’t the FEDS/Congress understand we’re letting in people who want to kill our American children.
    5. Revoke the passport of anyone who’s ever been on a watch list; pass a new law, and say, “anyone who’s ever been on a watch list, who gets so much as a traffic ticket, must vacate immediately.”
    6. Reveal the names of all on the Watch List. Non citizens ON THE watCH LIST should be deported today. Citizens on the watch list should be notified they’re being watched and why. Many I bet are veterans with clean records who are as pure red, white and blue as the flag! Delete them from the list and focus on those jihadists who think they’ve got a right to kill American children. Get them out of here. Give them an option: To Hell (the sword) or to the hinterland, to parts unknown, preferably Constantinople-Eastward. Remember what the BRITS unjustly did to the Irish: Oliver Cromwell’s edict “To Hell or Connaught.” Well we Americans should justifiably and mercifully evict everyone who causes the slightest concern anywhere: Evacuate the jihadists (known and suspected) from Boston!!! Allow immigrants who we don’t have to “watch” to continue to come here, but only after a thorough vetting. Be just, merciful and thorough. Our children’s lives are at stake!

    • Bill:
      1. Don’t blame the victim. There were at least four cops with weapons who invaded the guys place after midnight for a chat. Does that make sense to you? The dead guy had been interviewed many times by them whenever they asked him to come in and here they are in the middle of the morning with a full force going into his apartment. How long do you hold your judgment on that?

      2. Maybe Napolitano is right and there is no one other than the Tsarnaevs.

      3. The Watch list is nonsense – no one could possibly be watching that many people. It is just a part of the permanent new police state, something Obama said he was trying to prevent but it may be too late. The Republicans will call him weak and want to give law enforcement more power (even the limited government Republicans).

      4. Two pebbles of sand don’t make a beach.

      5. Your society of guilt and deportation by suspicion is anathema to America.

      6. I hope in #5 where you say anyone who gets a traffic ticket who is on the watch list doesn’t apply to those veterans.

  12. Matt, you’re right.

    From WCVB..

    “Three law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Todashev had lunged at the FBI agent with a knife. However, two of those officials said later in the day it was no longer clear what had happened. The third official had not received any new information.”

    Read more: http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/metro/chechen-shot-by-fbi-had-spoken-with-bombing-suspect/-/11971628/20267816/-/fg6p9i/-/index.html#ixzz2U8Hcb0NV

    Yesterday I read the below on another site

    “Officials are now unclear who shot Todashev”..

    We’ll never know! LOL

    • Question:

      The news is already dying off the papers. The Orlando Sentinel reported: “An FBI review team from Washington, D.C., was in Orlando on Thursday investigating the death of Ibragim Todashev, the Central Florida man who was shot by an agent while being questioned about a triple murder in Massachusetts and his connection to the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.
      The review team will question witnesses who were at the Orlando condo when the shooting occurred early Wednesday morning, including two Massachusetts State Police troopers and other law-enforcement officials. The FBI agent who fired the lethal shot, who has not been publicly identified, is from the agency’s Boston division.”

      The only people involved are cops. Why do we need a review team to come to Florida. We don’t even know the basic things like who was in the room, what time of night did this occur, and what was being investigated. We’re told he confessed to the Waltham murders and his wife according to the Globe said they weren’t living in Waltham at the time. Also, neither she nor any of his friends had any idea he was being questioned about them.

  13. Unrelated directly, however, Edward MacKenzie (Bulger cohort) is reportedly being held without bail on a variety of charges here in MA. How do we know for sure that MacKenzie hasn’t actually been squirreled away somewhere like Santa Monica or perhaps putting MacKenzie in jail without bail is the Feds equivalent of the witness protection program in these convoluted circumstances. Mr. Connolly, can you get on his visitors list, I’ll visit with you, have to see this with my own two eyes. Lol

    • Jan:
      What court is holding him? What are the charges. Of course the FBI can put him in some vacation spot and probably will because he was an informant. MacKenzie could be playing a game of poker right now with Flemmi using the money the governmen’st given to them instead of chips. I noticed on the list of witnesses the government intends to use McKenzie is not there. So if he’s on his own then the feds may have washed their hands of him. I know he wasn’t one of your favorite people so you should be happy to hear he is where he belongs. If I find out more I’ll let you know.

  14. Were the State cops at the Todashev apartment the same ones that investigated the Amy Bishop case or were they the ones that investigated Cahill and the Probation Officers? Will the State cops produce the same fake results as was done before? Why didn’t Todashev have a lawyer? Wouldn’t it be harder to kill him at the grand jury than in his home? 2. Will President Obama proclaim that the FBI in Orlando performed their duty? Did Flemmi give those cops a throw away gun? 3. What is the appropriate penalty for J. Tsarnaev, Major Nidal and those two butchers who murdered the British soldier? Anything short of a quick death sentence would seem unjust. Jesus said ” live by the sword die by the sword” Could on substitute meat clever for sword? Maybe Prince Charles could do the job. 4.Don’t hold your breath awaiting an FBI explanation of it’s conduct. The Florida AG could unravel what happened but likely won’t. Look how corrupt the Florida Courts are. Connolly is sentenced on a count where the Statute of Limitations has expired and no one disturbs it. There is more Justice in Hell than Fla.

    • N:
      1. Good questions. See if you can handle this one: What will the FBI say about the number of cops in the room with Todashev when he acted up: (a) not known at this time; (b) three or more; (c) can’t answer since the matter is under investigation., (d) all of the above. To answer your question which you needn’t have asked, the FBI will bring everyone in line so the state cops will do what it tells them to do.
      As far as Todashev not having a lawyer, he surely was a suspect and with all the cops in his room he was in custody and he should have been given a lawyer but since the FBI was involved and they don’t have to follow the law he didn’t get one.
      2. The answer is yes Obama will assure us everything was done correctly. Flemmi is too involved managing his Beacon Street condos to be getting throw away guns.
      3. Joker Tsarnaev should have been treated like a terrorist and sent to Guantanamo and confined there until the war ended; however since the Obama-gang was calling the shots he is in federal court. He should be charged with the death penalty and the case should be prosecuted with getting him sentenced to death. However, with Ortiz there I’d guess they’ll let Joker plead for life in prison. I have no confidence in her.
      4. I’m not holding my breath but I think the FBI would want to start opening up a little. As far as Florida, or for that matter any other state, they take their orders from the FBI.