Alan Dershowitz said this: “the real villains in this tale of mass murder and massive corruption are the ‘good’ people who knowingly facilitated the bad brothers [Whitey and Billy Bulger] – the Dukakises, Whites, McCormacks, Cardinal Laws, O’Sullivans, Welds, Moakleys, and Silbers. Also guilty were the cowards who appointed Billy Bulger president of UMass instead of indicting him for extortion and taking bribes. . . . “
Alan is pretty good at dishing it out don’t you think. He had little trouble tearing into the reputation of others. Alan lost no sleep suggesting Billy Bulger engaged in extortion or took bribes. No authorities ever suggested that. This is the world in which Alan Dershowitz thrived making accusations against others.
Billy Bulger became involved in a matter when an allegation was made in court pleadings in defense of a suit brought by his former law partner that the partner engaged in extortion. The allegation was made by associates of Dershowitz to bring about a settlement of the case. It was never proven although reading the Boston media you’d believe otherwise. It was eventually disregarded when the lawyers got the settlement they wanted.
In fact, Bulger like Dershowitz was not part of the suit. He was dragged into it by Dershowitz’s friends and the media. It was strange that the filings by Dershowitz’s friends in court always seemed to end up in the media as proven facts.
When I read Dershowitz wondering in the article in the Wall Street Journal: “How did the accusation get from a court filing in an obscure courthouse in Florida to the first page of many newspapers and the first item on many television broadcasts? Obviously, it was leaked; who is going to be checking court filings the day before New Year’s Eve? But the mere leak of a publicly filed court document cannot lead to a legal claim, your lawyer tells you” I could not suppress a laugh. No lawyer had to tell a man with his knowledge that leaking things to the media as what happened in Bulger’s situation could not result in a legal claim.
One thing Professor Dershowitz should know is what goes around comes around. Sometimes it takes a long time for things to catch up with you. But in this world you usually will reap what you sow.
When Billy Bulger was dragged into the suit the media raised a ruckus based upon court pleadings demanding he be investigated by the federal and state authorities. They quickly complied. Federal investigations and state investigations cleared Billy of any involvement in the claims against his former law partner. By the way when Jeremiah O’Sullivan who was the acting Boston U.S. Attorney reported that there was no criminal involvement by Billy Bulger as you can see in the first paragraph his name was added to those who Dershowitz calls the real villains.
You see how it is with Dershowitz. If you go about doing the job the way it should be done but it doesn’t come out to Dershowitz’s liking then he’ll trash your reputation. O’Sullivan who has been routinely reviled in the Boston media was not the one who concluded Billy had done nothing wrong. It was two of his assistants of unblemished reputations, one of whom now happens to be the Chief Justice of Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
In the present accusations pending against Dershowitz I’ve looked high and low to see if any of the media is demanding a criminal investigation of him. The accusations which he labeled as a “heinous crime” of which rape of a 16-year-old girl by an old man in his 60s of which Dershowitz stands accused is certainly among the worst of crimes. It should shout out that state and federal authorities get involved. The media is silent in this regard as if somehow it has been muzzled.
Dershowitz to his credit has said that he will waive any claims of statute of limitations to any charges brought so there is no reason for criminal investigations not to take place. Grand juries could be impaneled to look into the matter. The FBI should be called in because there may be federal matters involved in transporting minor across state lines for the purpose of prostitution.
Billy Bulger though cleared of any crimes had his reputation shredded by the media and Dershowitz. I suggest Dershowitz deserves to be investigated by the criminal authorities and if innocent like Billy Bulger cleared. Dershowitz need not fear that his reputation will be shredded if he is cleared. I assume he won’t be attacking those who cleared him. Nor from the present timidity in the media do I expect it will attack him as it did Billy Bulger.
Dershowitz wants a chance to clear his name and the criminal authorities should provide him with that opportunity.
Nice to read that Whitey is still up to various con games. The psych got removed from the prison.
+++++++++++++++++
“Whitey Bulger’s ‘improper’ relationship with female prison psychologist who he gave autographed mugshots in exchange for favors investigated.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2946232/Whitey-Bulger-improper-relationship-female-prison-psychologist-gave-autographed-mugshots-exchange-favors.html
Henry:
That was one of the lead stories in the Boston Globe. The newspaper paid $250 on Ebay to buy a picture autographed by him. I don’t know what people expected of him if they thought he would go off quietly into the night. One good thing that happened to him is he can write to Catherine Greig his girl. That has to get all those who want to continue to punish him a little upset.
A few years ago a lawyer told me he had just finished a trial in Federal Court. He represented one of three pimps in front of Judge Gertner. They were offered six years on a plea. The defendants turned it down claiming that the Feds would never get the underage girls from the Carolinas to appear. They did appear and the pimps were convicted. The sentence was 27 years. That is the kind of exposure Epstein faced if they kept the case in Federal Court. But the fix was put in and he gets one year in State custody. Maybe a grand jury should be chosen to see what Clinton, Torture, the Prince and Epstein were up to. Florida doesn’t apply the Statue of Limitations anyway. See the Connolly matter. The only way to clear Torture’s good name is a Grand Jury. Would FBI agent MacFarland be available to conduct the interviews? He knows how to get to the bottom of things.2. Is press silence surprising? Where were the calls for a criminal investigation of the Clinton pardons or Bernie Fine?
NC:
1. They must not have been Mafia defendants or friends of Dershowitz. If had been any of them Gertner would have found the six year agreement excessive and put them on house arrest. Epstein faced life in prison if convicted on all the charges which could have been brought against him as alleged.
By the way the case was kept in federal court. It was the U.S. Attorney who made the deal. The FBI had the goods on Epstein but the array of legal talent he hired was able to scare the U.S. attorney into the great deal (it was said he was pressured from Washington DC by his superiors). The federals let him serve him time in the jail and otherwise gave the house away. You are right that the whole thing smells of total corruption and numerous pay-offs. Right now Virginia Roberts is trying to get some of the items the FBI seized to prove her case but she is getting the run around. The feds are still protecting Epstein.
2. No the silence of the press is not surprising. It has its favorites and then there are the POOFs. Obviously it has no problem with professors who are friends of pedophiles as long as they don’t wear a Roman collar.
It’s ironic that these two longtime antagonists should have so much in common.
Bob:
I think they have little in common.
Nothing on Dershowitz directly, but I’d like to see if there are any comments on this item from another Law professor.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2015/02/mass_incarceration_a_provocative_new_theory_for_why_so_many_americans_are.html
Henry:
That’s an interesting article and thanks for forwarding it. However, I don’t think John Pfaff, the professor at Fordham Law School, has the right answer. To suggest the DAs are responsible for the increased prison population makes no sense. My guess as to why it happened is we have more crimes with minimum mandatory sentences. The reason it isn’t the DAs is the judges have the final say if it is not a minimum mandatory so unless they have all become hardened no matter what the DA recommends the judge could still put the guy on the street. With the enormous amounts of crimes being minimum mandatory then the judge has no say in the process; the DA in that sense has the decision whether to indict for the minimum mandatory but without the legislature making the punishment for the crime such they’d be more discretion in the courts. The answer then is the huge increase not only in crimes but in those with required sentences.