News Story
NSA Leader: Government Surveillance Helped Prevent More than 50 Terrorist Attacks
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Top security officials said Tuesday they disrupted more than 50 terrorist plots using government surveillance, The New York Times reports. Trying to fend off fierce criticism about the recent disclosure of government surveillance, national security officers told the House Intelligence Committee that investigators used the private information to prevent terrorist attacks. One…
‘Whitey’ Bulger Accomplice And Hit Man Describes Murders in Alarming Detail at Trial
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com John Martorano, a star witness in the prosecutor’s murder and racketeering case against mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger, described chilling details of killing people, sometimes the wrong ones, The Boston Globe reports. Martorano, a friend-turned-foe of Bulger’s, implicated the mob boss in six slayings in the 1970s on Wednesday and is…
As FBI Digs For Hoffa, Ex-Mobster Zerilli Tries To Sell Autographed Photos
Update: Tuesday, 4 p.m. — Mike Martindale and Candice Williams of the Detroit News report that investigators are shifting focus of the search on a different spot on the site in Oakland Township at Adams and Buell roads after a cadaver dog hit on the location. The News reports the spot isn’t part of a concrete slab…
Ross Parker: The Collision Between Drugs and Environmental Forces in Central America
Ross Parker was chief of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit for 8 years and worked as an AUSA for 28 in that office. By Ross Paker ticklethewire.com Two months ago this column discussed the effect that America’s insatiable appetite for drugs was having on two contrasting Central American nations—violent…
Report: At least 27 Accused Terrorists Prosecuted Under Secret Surveillance Law
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com At least 27 accused terrorists were prosecuted since 2007 using evidence obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Reuters reports. The FISA cases vary from murder to an 18-year-old American trying to join an al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria. As early as today, the U.S. government plans to disclose how many terrorist attacks…
FBI Adds Accused Child Rapist, Murderer to ‘Ten Most Wanted’ list
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A child rapist and an alleged killer are the most recent additions to the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list, NBC News reports. They are the 499th and 500th fugitives to be added to a list that has included Osama bin Laden, Ted Bundy, Whitey Bulger and James Early Ray. “These individuals…
Star Government Witness Describes Murders He Says He Committed for ‘Whitey’ Bulger
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com An aging mobster and star government witness testified Tuesday that his heart was broken after learning that mob boss and friend James “Whitey” Bulger was an FBI informant, CNN reports. “It broke my heart. It broke all loyalties,” said John Martorano, an alleged hit man who described the people he said…
Ranking Senator Questions Quickness of Confirming New ATF Head B. Todd Jones Gets
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Ranking Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said “very troubling allegations” have surfaced that suggest B. Todd Jones, who is President Obama’s choice to head the ATF, retaliated against a whistleblower, The Washington Times reports. The Iowa senator questioned why the confirmation hearings last week weren’t delayed while an investigation of Jones continues. When…