I KNOW A GUY

I KNOW A GUY

I been silent fer too long now. I gotta tell ya ‘bout a guy I know. I’m readin’ all this stuff ‘bout how our system of justice is broke. People talkin ‘bout mandatory minimums, ‘n’ sentencin’ guidelines. Shit, I never heard of none of it till this friend of mine ran into some trouble with the law. But I can tell ya’ one thing fer sure, I heard of a rat, or a snitch, or whatever they call ‘em in the courts,---criminal informants I think is the name. This guy I know, my buddy, is in the courts system right now. The federal courts to boot. This guy never dealt any drugs. Fer as long as I knew him, he never sold drugs, and that’s been years. Like 40 years to be exact. Next thing I know, he’s tellin me ‘bout this shitpot full of trouble he’s in. So, he’s tellin’ me this story. Turns out, this guy both of us know, worked him over, got this undercover cop involved, and got him busted fer sellin’ cocaine base. That’s another way of sayin’ crack. Now, I know this ol’ boy partied a lil’ bit, like we all did, but like I said, there’s no way he was sellin’ the shit. So here’s how the story goes.
The guy who turned out bein’ the rat was a guy my buddy knew from workin’ together a while back. They also kinda kept in touch over the years, but not real good friends. Let’s call him T. This guy T, liked to eat his pain pills, ‘specially Oxys. 6 or 8-80’s a day at times. So naturally, he gets himself super hooked on these Oxy’s. To the point that there’s no way he could get enough without breakin’ the law. So that’s what he does. This idiot goes to a doctor’s office and steals some blank scripts, when the doc’s not lookin’. Then, when he leaves, he starts forgin’ these scripts for oxy’s, and signin’ the doc’s name. Then he goes around to all these pharmacies and cashes ‘em in fer pills. This scam works fer a while, but like everythin’ else stupid, it had to come to a close. It turns out, this guy, T, got hisself busted by the undercover boys, ‘cause he was a dummy. He wasn’t only a dummy, but he was a cowardly little piece a’ shit as well. That’s how they got him to flip on my buddy.
Let me start from the beginnin’. This rat, T has a cousin. Let’s call him D, for dum-ass. It seems he had a girl who he treated like shit. This was a beautiful girl, with a beautiful little girl, and this guy D was a complete idiot. As it turns out my buddy fell fer this girl, and stole her right out from under D’s big nose, and he didn’t take to kindly to that. So one night D starts smokin’ crack, and keeps smokin’ till 5 o’clock in the morning. Then he decides to climb this girl’s roof and kick in an upstairs window. He doesn’t know my buddy’s there, so he thinks he’s gonna just tear into this girl, and God knows what. Well, when he gets down the stairs and rounds the corner, there’s my buddy, and it was on. Long story short. They tumbled fer a while, the cops came, he ran, they found him, cuffed him, and took him in. There was a trial, my buddy testified against the dum-ass, and he went to county fer about a year. Now he’s pissed, and swears revenge. This part of the story will make sense in a little while.
Fast forward a few years, to about March, 2005. That’s where the shit hits the fan. T, the rat, starts callin’ my buddy again outta the blue. At first, just once or twice a week, then after a while the calls came more frequently, until like the last 3 weeks before it all went down, T called my buddy about a hundred times. These calls are documented because they’re on the cell phone bill. That doesn’t count the calls he made on the home phone. Don’t forget now, T’s up on charges for stealin’, and forgin’ these scripts. My buddy is the only one who would even take his calls, ‘cause he thinks he’s doin’ this guy a favor by givin’ him a sounding board. You know, someone to bounce things off of. Well, obviously the rat had ulterior motives. He also had the nerve to ask my buddy to help him get pain pills, because even after all the shit he’s been through, he’s still eatin’ them like they’re goin’ out of style, and buyin’ em on the streets, which the last time I checked was illegal. So, one day this guy T starts askin’ about getting’ him some crack. Just a little bit so he can smoke it up hisself. Against my buddy’s better judgement he takes T to a place where he can score some crack, and he does, and apparently he smokes it. My bud has seen him smoke a couple of times since then as well. Then comes the big hammer. T asks my bud if he can score some quantity of this shit. Which the answer was an emphatic no. Then he introduces him to this other dude, let’s call him P for piss ant. Well it seems that P is an undercover cop, workin’ fer the state boys. T convinces my buddy that this guy is a friend of his who just came into some cash because of a disability claim. OK, here’s what goes down. This rat, T says that P has this cash, and my buddy says, wait a minute-wait a minute he don’t look like he should be disabled in any way. He’s like 6’4” and 220 lbs, and in some damn good shape, what kind of disability does he have? So T tells my buddy that this guy P has a mental disability, and that’s the reason for the disability. To prove it to my buddy, these guys produce a fabricated paystub from disability showin’ a pretty healthy lump sum. Then T informs him that P had pulled a gun on his last employer, and threatened others in the past, as well as some of the employees, and the paystub was to reinforce this lie.
So now my buddy is tellin’ T that he doesn’t know how he would be able to help him out with any quantity. He tells him that he doesn’t run in those circles, and it is way out of his league, and he can’t help him. When T hears this he proceeds to say that he doesn’t know what this guy will do if my buddy can’t pull this thing off fer him. Implying that he is a lunatic, and a loose cannon, and theres no tellin’ what he’ll do. After this, he suggests to my buddy that he should call this guy that he went to High School with 30 years ago, cause he knows he deals, and should be able to get the dope. How did he know this? Who knows, but my bud keeps refusing. That’s the reason fer all these phone calls. T was workin’ my bud over to convince him that it would probly be in his best interest to figure out a way to get this thing done, 'cause of this guy P's history. The next thing you know, my buddy's in the middle of this whole mess, and he feels like he's just gonna have to do this and get it over with and get out. So he calls this friend of his, and proceeds to ask him 'bout settin' up this kind of deal. This guy T, and his so called friend, P are tryin' to buy 4 or 5 ounces of this crack. Now, about this time my buddy has talked with his school days pal, and is tryin to set this thing up, not knowin' if he's doin' it right, or what the price should be or nothin'. Before you know it things just kinda fell into place, and he ends up meetin' this cop, and the rat over in the neighboring state. Then he gets the money, and his school chum drops off a little less than 2 ounces of this dope, and he gives it to P, the undercover cop.
Now my bud thinks its over and done with, and he's out from under this lunatic, and this dope business. Not quite. The rat, T starts buggin' him again, and says that this cat wanted 4 or 5 ounces to begin with, and thats what he wants. Then he says there won't be any more bullshit after this next buy. Well, that's it, my buddy says. One more time, and then I'm out. I don't care if this guy P comes after me or not. OK the rat says. The deal goes down again. Only this time there are cops everywhere, 2 minutes after my buddy meets his high school pal. Down on the ground, throw on the cuffs, and take them away. Bing, Bang, Boom that's it.
All of a sudden, these cops are hammerin' away at my buddy. They are tellin' him to spin, and do the rat thing his self. The problem is, my man doesn't know anybody who runs that type of game. So, now he's the one behind the 8 ball, 'cause he won't flip, and rat on anybody, cause he doesn't know who that would be. I'm guessin' that this guy wouldn't do it even if he could. He's the kind of guy who fights his own battles.
Now, don't forget about this loser's cousin, who my buddy scrapped with, then ended up havin' somethin' to do with him doin' time. This guy swore vengence, and his cousin the rat was his instrument to help pull this off. The trial process is on-goin', and I'll be keepin' you posted on the progress.
Below are some facts that were put together to prove that this was a blatant case of entrapment. Please review what you see here, and post your comments. My buddy could really, really use the input. Thanks, and I hope I didn't confuse the issue too much for ya.

HERE'S THE FACTS!

***T (informant) and P (undercover) produced a check stub from social security indicating that P had been awarded disability, and to reinforce what T had already told me. When I mentioned to T that P was young, healthy, and appeared to be in excellent physical condition, he told me that the reason for P’s disability was a psychiatric matter. He told me that he had threatened the life of previous bosses, and that he thought he even pulled weapons on one previous employer. When I saw the check stub, it reinforced what he had told me. (THIS ADDRESSES THE ISSUE OF THREATS AND COERCION ON BEHALF OF THE INFORMANT—AND THE AUTHORITIES BY PROXY.)

***Keep in mind that I had testified against T’s cousin D a few years earlier, and I was instrumental in having him incarcerated. T and D had been spending every day together before and after the incident. (THIS ADDRESSES THE ISSUE OF A VENGEFUL ACT ON BEHALF OF THE INFORMANT.)

***T had called me in excess of 90 times the three weeks prior to the first incident, and continued to harass until the second incident. (THIS ADDRESSES THE ISSUE OF OVER ZEALOUS ACTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE INFORMANT—AND THE AUTHORITIES BY PROXY.)

***I have no previous convictions involving this type of activity. I was also not a target of this investigation, as stated by several of the officers present at the time of arrest.—This is also indicated by the absence of a warrant to search my residence. I was not searched by any officer at the scene, or at any point at all during the course of the day. (THIS ADDRESSES THE ISSUE OF NO PRE-DISPOSITION ON MY PART TO ENGAGE IN TRAFFICKING OF NARCOTICS.)

***I don’t think any of the correspondence between T and I were recorded when we were alone. He had made personal visits to my home. I wondered why at the time, but now it makes perfect sense. The phone was probably tapped at the time, and he didn’t want these conversations recorded.

***The day I asked for $100.00 from P, it was because T had asked me to, so that he could have the money for himself. When P walked away from the car, T walked up to my window under the pretense of talking with me, and I slipped him the money. I am sure that he did this so that he could make a pain pill purchase for himself.

KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE!!

The most perversely corrupt area of law enforcement today is the informant system. Picture this. You are a low level street dealer, or, in order to cast a wider net, we'll say that you have just been pulled over for speeding, and there was a half empty bottle of wine in the rear seat. Let's say that the penalty for this type of violation is a $5,000.00 fine, and 1 year in jail. Even though this is your first offense, those are the minimum acceptable sentences for this offense. The judge presiding over the trial does not have the discretion to deviate from the minimum sentencing guidelines, because that's the way the law was written. Now, here are your options. You go to trial, and risk a guilty verdict because, the jury agrees with the prosecutions assertions. Speeding with an open container in the vehicle. After all, you were going 70mph in a 55mph zone, and there was in fact half of a bottle of Merlot in the back seat, leftover from a dinner at mom's house a couple of day's ago. GUILTY! That's one scenario, as so vividly explained to you by the arresting officer, with a couple of his comrades on hand to reaffirm his claims. Now that you have painted a picture of yourself behind bars for the next 12 month's, while your teen age son or daughter graduates from High School, and your mother or father suffer from a life threatening ailment, and are badly in need of support from their only child. Then, hold on a minute. "I have another idea" says Officer Jones. "Would you happen to know of anyone else who has a tendency to drive a little faster than the law allows?" "Would this individual bring a bottle of wine to your house, and then agree to take the unused wine with them when they leave, at your insistence?" "If this is something that may be possible, then maybe we can work something out. As your trial draws near, and your anxiety level spikes, the DA, or the US attorney chimes in with the same offer. " What do you do? What do you do? Do you have the personal fortitude to stand and face the charges that are before you, along with the consequences? Or, do you figure that Marge, or Tony would probably go for the wine thing. After all they are friends of yours, and this is a scenario that has occurred on more than one occasion in the past. Sure, they have children too. Sure, their parents are getting up there in age. Sure, they are good friends, and they trust you, but then again, if they weren't such good friends, and they didn't trust you so much, this would never work. Screw it! Screw Tony and Marge! Better them than me, right, after all they can just turn around and do the same thing to someone else. Yes, that's it! Sorry Tony and Marge. And so the vicious cycle begins.

This very same set of circumstances is played out hundreds, probably thousands of times every day across this country. The only difference is it's not $5,000.00, it's $2.000,000.00, and it's not 1 year, it's 10 to 20, or more. I'm talking about first offense-non violent-crimes. In many, many, cases the only victim is the one who got set up. I say that because criminal informants, are exactly that. Criminals, with information, that may or may not be true. Criminals, who would do anything to save their own ass. Criminals, that lie, threaten, coerce, and abuse the system of justice in every way imaginable, in order to get a pass. The question that needs to be asked of every informant is-"Suppose there was no pass involved. Would you be pointing the finger at those who are closest to you, who you know are not pre-disposed to commit these types of acts? Or, would you provide information on those who you are certain are the perpetrators of this type of activity? People who you are afraid of. People who are capable of doing bad things to you, and yours. Or would you just keep your cowardly mouth shut altogether? Probably the latter. Either way, the number of first time offenders, who have been incarcerated for exorbitant lengths of time, for non-violent offenses, because they were underhandedly set up, is staggering, and it has got to stop. Just remember, and be very weary. These types of deals are taking place all around us, in our every day lives. Absolutely no one should have to go through what I've been going through for the past 30 months or so, on account of a supposed friend who used lies, coercion, and threats, etc. in an act of self-preservation. The old saying is reversed when it comes to this: Keep your enemies close-and your friends closer!

CRIMINAL INFORMANTS

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Criminal Informants? In most translations, a contradiction in terms. Is this individual a criminal who has information that could prove beneficial or productive by any means in our allegedly democratic society? Is this maybe someone who has valuable information on a particular criminal, group of criminals, or some form of criminal activity that could prove beneficial or productive by any means in our allegedly democratic society? Wait a moment, hold on here. I know now. This must be a law abiding citizen with no ties to criminal activity that is simply concerned with the tragic downturn that our society is taking. Or could they truly have an agenda that has the well being of everyone who may be affected by this type of activity in mind. This person must truly be concerned with the unraveling of our very moral fiber, and is doing his or her part to truly help. That has got to be it!! But hold on, what would we call that individual or a group of individuals with that end to their means? Probably a neighborhood watch, or even a vigilante if things were taken to an extreme. Whatever the case, whatever the cause, whatever the motivation, the fact of the matter is-these criminal informants, are criminals none-the-less.

So, here we go. Could it be that a criminal informant is exactly what it means. Could this literally mean that there are criminals who have been tried and convicted of criminal activity that they've either perpetrated on their own, or in cahoots with others, and they have good information to pass along about other criminals. So, am I to understand that these people have had a sudden change of heart, or have seen the so called light? What other reason could these convicted felons have to set up, or snitch on an innocent individual, or on a person with no pre-disposition to break the law in such an egregious manner. I suppose the question should be-If there was no personal gain to be had from this activity they call snitching, or ratting, or whatever, why would these criminals be doing it to begin with?

Listen to this-A man and the woman he loves get a motel room together. They have a couple children together, and have had a very loving relationship for several years. For some reason a police officer proceeded to knock on the motel door, because he said he saw the woman in a car that she did not own. I wonder how he knew that. She was from a city more than 20 miles away. No matter, this cop goes into the motel room and proceeds to look around. Whether the search was legal or not remains to be seen, that's not my point here. Anyhow this police officer finds drugs, and proceeds to arrest the gal. Her husband is not in the room at this time. The cop doesn't know if he was ever there. At any rate this gal tells the lawman that she doesn't know anything about the drugs. Long story short, in the paper today I see an article about this ordeal. As it turns out, the DA offered this woman a deal. No charges, if she would testify that she did not know the drugs were there, and that they must belong to her husband. Now this poor guy wasn't even in the room, and as far as Johnny Law knew, he hadn't been there at all.
You can bet your bottom dollar that the loving father and husband told his fair lady to let him take the hit, and if she must testify against him, then that's how its got to be. Now, of course there are clauses in the law that says a fair damsel does not have to testify against her knight, but that doesn't mean she can't do it to save herself if she so desires. In this case, I'm sure the Mister is in full agreement. Who knows how it will all turn out? A good defense attorney-heck even Joe average-should be able to tear this one up.

That being said, this is becoming more and more prevalent in the so called war on drugs. When our authorities were refering to crime control, I was unaware that what they meant was, that they would be in control of when, where, and to whom crime happens. This underhanded practice is turning families, friends, and anyone else involved, against one another, and into something that goes against everything we have ever learned of loyalty, and family, and true friendship. It is criminalizing perfectly honest and innocent, and otherwise law abiding citizens, with the use of coercion, threats, and every below the belt shot that can be applied in the interest of self promotion on the part of the authorities, and self preservation on the part of the snitches, rats, informants. Did we all forget that very early lesson that each and every one of us were taught, or had beat into us by the neighborhood bully? DON'T BE A TATTLE TALE!