mardi 15 janvier 2013

Slabbed and leaks

Slabbed publisher Doug Handshoe has informed the world: "I can confirm the Department of Justice is crawling every square inch of Slabbed looking for evidence of grand jury leaks with particular emphasis on my composite source, the Legendary Wino of Lafayette Square." What would the DOJ be looking at?


On July 2, 2012, 1st Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Jan Maselli Mann wrote to federal judge Head responding to the judge's request for an investigation of leaks, including Grand Jury leaks, related to the Broussard/Wilkinson prosecutions. One of the alleged “leaks” was of the existence of target letters drafted by the New Orleans U.S. Attorney's Office on February 14, 2011. 
 
In that letter AUSA Maselli Mann wrote that target letters for Broussard, Wilkinson, and Broussard's ex-wife Parker(-Broussard) were drafted on February 14, 2011, and that the letters were leaked by news media including nola.com on February 16, 2011. Mann indicated no publication about the target letters prior to February 16, 2011, and insisted that the targets' own attorneys had leaked this information at that time. She unequivocally denied the possibility that the leak came from the Grand Jury or the USAO. 

First, Maselli Mann's purported timeline is patently untrue. Main stream news media had the story starting at around 9:30 pm on February 14, including Fox 8 News and WWL Television. 
 
The New Orleans U.S. Attorney's Office in New Orleans is located at 650 Poydras Street, facing Lafayette Square. Jan Mann was in charge of the Office on February 14, 2011, as U.S. Attorney Jim Letten was at home recovering from heart surgery.
The Slabbed blog published on the evening of February 14, 2011:

BREAKING: We have a Slabb-o-gram from the Lafayette Square Wino!!!!!!!

Target letters are out. And the Wino reports the winners are: (Drumroll please)
  • Aaron Broussard
  • Tim Whitmer
  • Tom Wilkinson
  • Karen Parker (Broussard)
  • Tim Coulon
And if he didn’t get one today it will arrive shortly.
  • Lawrence Chehardy
Plus the Wino indicated there were “a number of others”.
We’ll have more on this as we get it.
sop

Earlier, on February 9, 2011—5 days before the target letters were drafted--Handshoe had published:

I just had the most amazing conversation with the Lafayette Square Wino….

I’m coughing like I have TB but when the Wino calls I gotta take it. “You’re doing a better job since I busted your chops on Meffert’s plea deal”, he said, “but is something you need to know….”
And talk we did but there is one problem, beyond being able to disclose that we received a great deal of additional color on Lawrence Chehardy’s untimely departure from the office of the Jefferson Parish Tax Assessor there isn’t much I can publish at this time. (I know that sucks)
I will say this, I’ve again had a knowledgable observer explain how the DoJ is the fly in the ointment when it comes to some of these very obvious cases of public corruption down here. Holding case files until the statute of limitation expires is one way this is done. An understaffed US Attorney’s office is another way the public is cheated of justice as it is when valuable resources are wasted on political prosecutions like the one involving our own Ashton O’Dwyer.
Like with the crime cameras and Sean Alfortish, civil litigation could well force Mr Letten’s hand in some of these other matters.
I know the answer but the Wino made certain I asked the Slabbed Nation this question:  If the Kelvin Landfill (JPL) closes as part of a deal with River Birch, where will Team River Birch get the land to expand their landfill down the line?  (Hint. Industrial zoned land sports the highest valuations.)
As early as December 10, 2010, Handshoe was publishing on Slabbed posts such as:

We have new subpoenas out in the Federal Grand Jury Investigation

with 21 comments
Not seen the actual paper but my source is serendiptiously well placed. It involves real estate transactions involving Team Heebe/River Birch and a major local media personality.  Due to the sensitive nature of the actual subpoena and the fact the info went to the grand jury this morning that is all I have to say about that for now.
I could be wrong but I think all hell is fixing to break loose with this federal corruption investigation involving Jefferson parish politicos.
sop

On September 5, 2011, Handshoe published a post:

Ok people here is the lowdown on the Robinette Grand Jury subpoena

Hopefully this information will advance the quest for the truth in the Garland Robinette portion of the widening scandal in Jefferson Parish.  I remembered it wasn’t just Robinette and Heebe but included other names that should be very familiar to Slabbed lifers like Dominick Fazzio. So without further adieu.
The grand jury subpoena listed Jim Ward, Nancy Rhett, Fred Heebe, Jennifer Sneed, Dominick Fazzio and Garland Robinette. The properties are 7 Riverdale4 Honeysuckle and 22 Catalpa in Covington and 6017 Patton in New Orleans are/were owned by Robinette/Rhett. 5423 Camp in New Orleans was also listed.
I am digging for another tip in my email folders on this and will update in comments.
sop
On November 3, 2010, Handshoe published:
I hate to admit it folks but I had the Meffert plea in my inbox early Sunday [October 31, 2010] afternoon and took a pass since such tips are generally unreliable. When the news on the Greg Meffert guilty plea subsequently broke on Monday I immediately hopped in the car and headed for NOLA and my source, who reportedly hangs out around Lafayette Square with the Wino (when the Wino isn’t hanging out at Yenni).  So I park and start walking, first down St Charles past the LeDale Hotel and then back to the Park.  I then found a local watering hole and went in and there he was.
You shudda listened to that tip I gave you about Meffert buddy. My sources are impeccable.”  My attempt to explain that such tips have been unreliable for us in the past was interrupted with a “you shudda asked!” and he then told me who he overheard while lying in the gutter.   So to make amends I bought the guy Colt 45 and made my way back to my vehicle wondering what to do with the info I had.
And I kept pondering until earlier this evening, when I saw this Frank Donze story which highlighted Ray Ray the Chocolate Guy’s take on Meffert’s plea.  I had to laugh because Mr Meffert is telling all and then some according to skid row bum.  Meffert is really fond of his wifey and is endeavoring to save her skin by spilling his guts.  The boogie man is coming for you Ray Ray.

On November 1, 2010, Greg Meffert plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bribery and one count of filing a false income tax return. He had previously reached a deal with the USAO.

On December 2, 2011, Broussard, Parker, and Wilkinson were indicted. On December 12, 2011, Broussard filed a pro se motion in judge Head's court seeking an investigation of leaks. The same day, Handshoe published:
So without further adieu lets check in with the T-P’s Rich Rainey as AB is upset that news of his indictment leaked out and he is demanding an investigation.
Since Slabbed is media if I may be so bold I’ll disclose that I too heard about the indictments in advance, from another member of the media in fact. That said I also knew Briussard’s driver had visited the federal grand jury and a good idea of what the feds were after with their then new late summer subpoenas at Yenni.  I got neither of those tidbits from Team Letten. And for those that wonder about my Youtube embeds a few days before AB was indicted I posted a very unique missive for Slabbed, a post with no name that featured Big Ben striking 12. The only thing I didn’t know then was the exact day it was coming down.
On May 31, 2012, Handshoe published a post entitled: “Breaking: I have received a Slabb O’Gram from the Wino!!!!!” He published: 
 
 sources familiar with the ongoing investigation have indicated to Slabbed there are several bit players to the saga we know on Slabbed as the Jefferson Parish Political Corruption Scandal that may well get Jim Brown’d via 18 U.S.C. § 1001 for fibbing to Federal Agents.  This would be a damn shame IMHO because it is always the small potatoes that end up burnt the worst when the carnage is finally tallied thus the homespun wisdom we see in the local rumor mill of people like Fred Heebe skating, while others that did his bidding get hit with sentences that run into the decades (see Mark St Pierre covering for Ray Ray the Chocolate Guy).

On July 6, 2012: Handshoe published: “Folks Slabbed loves to get its information from low places and indeed I count among my best sources the infamous gutter wino of Lafayette Square.”

On November 30, 2012, Handshoe published:
Well folks, being in Team Unwashed Masses has its benefits as Jan Mann and Sal Perricone evidently preferred Legitimate Media™ types for their leaking, not that there is anything wrong with that as rumors are swirling and the Wino, in a drunken stupor mentioned “the chilling effectsKurt Engelhardt’s order is having on the discussion, even in the depths of the gutters at Lafayette Square

On December 10, 2012, Handshoe published a series of Twitter posts:


@erster @Editilla And indeed it has turned into a nasty fight. The better question is who would be in a position to know and tell me.
@erster @Editilla Everyone is trying to figure out how I knew about the Garlandfill subpoena. Rumors are swirling gentlemen. #chillingeffect
We have new subpoenas out in the Federal Grand Jury Investigation: http://www.slabbed.org/2010/12/10/we-have-new-subpoenas-out-in-the-federal-grand-jury-investigation/ …

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