💾 Archived View for gemini.spam.works › mirrors › textfiles › conspiracy › CN › cn07-26.txt captured on 2022-06-12 at 06:54:01.
⬅️ Previous capture (2020-10-31)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 7 Num. 26
======================================
("Quid coniuratio est?")
-----------------------------------------------------------------
OPERATION SILVER SHOVEL
=======================
This story has been big in the Chicago area. However for those
not local to Chicago, you may not have heard of it. Because CN
goes out to an international audience, it was agreed between Mr.
Sherman Skolnick and myself that some background on "Silver
Shovel" ought to be given before offering further details (next
issue).
An article in the Chicago Tribune apparently dated January 15,
1996, tells the gist of it. John Christopher was an FBI "mole":
he was used by the FBI to infiltrate certain political and
business relationships. Christopher and others "took advantage of
a legal loophole and exploited the economics of the late 1980s
and early 1990s to make millions in profits by piling up
mountains of construction debris on vacant lots in poor
residential or industrial neighborhoods."
Fees for dumping waste in licensed landfills are much higher than
for dumping in illegal landfills. So, contractors would want to
save money by dumping in the unlicensed landfills. The consequent
increased business brought in a lot of money to operators of the
illegal, unlicensed dumps. What is more, it is *feared*
(according to the Jan. 15 Tribune article) that toxic chemicals
will turn up at these sites.
"For neighborhoods such as the one around the dump at Roosevelt
Road and Kostner Avenue [Chicago's west side; a poor, African-
American neighborhood], the damage has been done. The ugly,
jagged mound of concrete, dirt and other garbage rises above the
struggling community."
The article goes on to note that the illegal dumps tend to be
located in "lower-income black and Latino communities."
The Operation Silver Shovel investigation "centered on city
contracts for hauling construction debris," says the Jan. 7, 1996
Chicago Tribune. The FBI mole, John Christopher, "a waste hauler
with a criminal past and reputed ties to organized crime," wore a
hidden microphone which allowed the feds to secretly tape his
conversations. Christopher agreed to do this, according to the
Washington Post ("Probe Unearths Another Load Of Graft at Chicago
City Hall," Jan. 12, 1996) "after he became the target of a fraud
investigation in connection with the collapse of a local bank."
Because Christopher had developed political associations as he
sought city contracts, he was a "ready-made mole" for
investigators looking into ongoing corruption in Cook County.
(Chicago is in Cook County, Illinois.)
Another Tribune article, dated January 10, 1996, also mentions
"Operation Greylord", often mentioned by Mr. Skolnick:
In the 1980s, the federal Operation Greylord investigation of
the Cook County courts unearthed scores of sleazy lawyers and
judges who were sent to jail, disbarred or suspended for
their misdeeds. The scope of corruption was incredible.
Yet even more remarkable than that, right when the scoundrels
were heading off to jail and everyone knew that the feds were
crawling all over the courts, some lawyers and judges kept
fixing cases. That produced Operation Gambat, which sent more
crooks off to jail.
Operation Silver Shovel, the latest sting operation to focus
on Chicago politicians, looks like a big haul.
The central accusation is particularly galling: that
politicians took bribes to allow the illegal dumping of
industrial waste in their own neighborhoods.
The one positive element is that the leaders of the city's
Department of Environment apparently have made an honest,
dogged and successful legal effort to stop John Christopher,
the FBI mole who operated five dump sites in the city.
The city officials who fought Christopher question whether
the FBI's embrace of their nemesis in any way hampered their
efforts. The question deserves an answer, and the feds ought
to provide it. ["Caught With a Silver Shovel in Hand," Chicago
Tribune, Jan. 10, 1996. *Excerpts only*]
So in other words, Christopher was in the illegal dumping
business, he knew "all the right people", and the FBI used him to
trap others -- especially bribe-taking politicians -- in return
for going easy on him in regard to the previously mentioned bank
collapse and other unsavory associations.
The story is summarized in the abovementioned Washington Post
article. Writing in the Post, Edward Walsh reports that
"investigators had uncovered evidence of more than $150,000 in
bribes and other payoffs involving public officials, other bribes
involving labor union activities, cocaine purchases and money
laundering of more than $2.2 million..."
Says U.S. Attorney James B. Burns, quoted by Walsh in his Post
article, "Unfortunately, [the investigation] demonstrates that
Chicago's time-honored tradition of political corruption,
including payoffs and extortion, has not vanished despite
previous successful undercover corruption probes."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like "Conspiracy Nation" sent to your e-mail
address, send a message in the form "subscribe cn-l My Name" to
listproc@cornell.edu (Note: that is "CN-L" *not* "CN-1")
-----------------------------------------------------------------
For information on how to receive the new Conspiracy Nation
Newsletter, send an e-mail message to bigred@shout.net
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Want to know more about Whitewater, Oklahoma City bombing, etc?
(1) telnet prairienet.org (2) logon as "visitor" (3) go citcom
-----------------------------------------------------------------
See also: http://www.europa.com/~johnlf/cn.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------
See also: ftp.shout.net pub/users/bigred
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9