Posted on 08/26/2006 9:33:29 PM PDT by Ken H
Tony Soprano Channeling Sam Spade
I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble. If I did, would you find me in those dark hours, eyeing some broad at Blinco's, about to find myself in the middle of the biggest story to hit town in years?
I'm Tony Soprano of the Court TV discussion board fame. No, not the guy on that TV show. I just took his moniker cause it gave me cover like a cheap toupee when a fella's follicles are few. I'm not afraid of cops like Gottlieb. I was there the night the caper with the fry cook went down.
Did I see it? No.
Gottlieb and I rub each other the wrong way, like a cheap wool suit you've had one year too long. Things were tense that night, my friends. I shot off my mouth a few times.
As Gottlieb passed my barstool, he leaned in close. I could see the oily sweat on his shiny bald head. "Keep riding on me and they're gonna be picking iron out of your liver." He straightened up and, with his posse following him, sauntered out the door into the alley. What happened next, well, that's the most baffling mystery story in years.
A friend of mine, a newsie, was in Blinco's a few nights later. "Tony, Have the barkeep pour me some of that booze you're drinking, and I'll tell you a story you might want to hear." "Good booze makes any tale you're going to tell one I want to hear." I motioned for him to pull out the barstool beside me. We waited till the dame serving us gave me a wink and sauntered back to the bar.
"Did you see Gottlieb's picture on the front page of the local rag. Did you read the piece saying his boss Nifong should be worried he's going down for the Blinco's gig?'
"Yeah, me and half the town saw that. What's your beef? Gottlieb's days as a Big Shot Bully are as numbered as a Currier and Ives calendar. The cook ratted him out, said the "Bald guy" was the instigator. Of the coppers here that night, Gottlieb fit that description like a Hong Kong suit you had made to order. He's as finished as a Dame from an East Coast Boarding school. He's going down.
The newsie smiled, took another sip of his drink. "Not so fast, Tony, Gottlieb may have hired a lawyer, but he ain't gonna take the fall. Our big story tomorrow is two young cops will take the rap for him. No way bossman Nifong will let his boy Gottlieb go down till the Dukies are duked out." I took a drag on my cigarette and watched the smoke curl across the table. The newsie leaned in and pushed copy of the morning's paper my way.
Our eyes met again as I glanced at the photos of the two cops charged."
But they have hair! Their heads look like lucky sheep who ran from a careless shearer. No way they fit the Cook's description. And Gottlieb lawyered up faster than a railroad car on an icy stretch of track!"
"Exactly. Nifong's the boss. He ain't gonna let no stinking fry cook ruin the best campaign strategy since Washington rowed across a frosty river in Delaware. Gottlieb's the chief investigator. Three months later, he turned in ...pages of notes. His recollection of events added details to Nifong's case like a New York seamstress adds sequins to a songbird's gown. Gottlieb's in solid with the boss."
I sat in stunned silence, not even a come hither look from the comely barmaid could stop my thoughts. The newsie took another sip of the bourbon I bought him.
"It ain't the first time either. One morning. around 6AM, Gottlieb ran a red light and rammed his car into another guy's ride right here in Raleigh. When the smoke cleared, Mr.Nobody's car had $7000 worth of damage. Our man Gottlieb didn't even get a ticket. Tony, if that was you or me, think the Raleigh cops would let it slide like a fried egg on a greasy stove?"
I leaned back. The newsie smiled a knowing smile. "Ain't gonna happen, Tony. Watch and see. The guy with the smashed car, the poor fry cook here that got knocked around? They are NOBODYS, Tony. And NOBODY cares." My beat can be ugly, my friends. The night can be cold. But this story chilled me like a eager bridegroom's champagne waiting to be uncorked. But it's not over yet. Tony Soprano doesn't go down easy.
******Footnote: Unlike some OTHER fiction writers LieStoppers feels the need to distinguish fiction from fact. Should the NYT wish to carry this story, LieStoppers will insist they disclose the difference. Tony Soprano was NOT in Blinco's the night of the Fry Cook beating, but we link to the basic facts of the story that ARE true.
[Links are at Liestoppers, and will be listed in posts to follow]
Come on guys, don't you remember Kim said she didn't even know how to get tips.
So they initially thought the attackers were named Adam, Matt, and Bret. That's why they showed Crystal pictures of players with those names. When she couldn't recognize anyone, they came up with the brilliant story that the players had used fake names.
I have been wondering how the fake names garbage got started. Now I see. Desperation when Crystal couldn't ID anyone at all.
A poster on another site named ERNO brought this up -
He said notice how Himan notes describe the three suspects as Adam, Matt, & Bret
Gottlieb uses 1, 2, & 3 - with no names anywhere.
BECAUSE when Gottlieb wrote his notes - the names had already proved to be of no use to the DPD!
When Gottlieb wrote up his stuff he was already in the habit of disregarding those names and had probably been trying to steer others away (in the DA's office and DPD) from working theories involving the names or doing research based on those names - because he had already gone down that road and it proved fruitless.
_
If Crystal actually maintained a fairly consistent 3 attacker story after her initial statements, why does she pick 4 attackers on 4/4?
Surely she can at least count?
When the Gottlieb ignores her first hit - maybe she thinks she needs to pick 3 more. He wasn't interested in her first pick - as you know.
Right, and Collin had to be one of her picks.
It's called "plausible deniability"...
He allowed protesters and potbangers on the lawn of his students. He did nothing to prevent the satellite trucks from disrupting the campus during the academic year, thus disrupting the entire student body. He issued a lukewarm response to outrageous claims by 88 faculty members who basically indicted their own students. He fired an admired and respected coach without any evidence or investigation. He protected the free speech of the NBPP and suspended a Duke student for alluding to a literary work being studied on the Duke campus. For all of Brodhead's intellectual prowess he failed at the simplest of his jobs: Protecting the safety and well being of the Duke students. So much for the liberal thinking University. The University basically denied the students the most basic of rights-Innocent until proven guilty.
Not a snowball's chance in hell I'd send my kid to Duke while that man is in charge. The sad part is I'm not sure which Universities are any better. Thanks for letting me rant!
Yeah, I have said this over and over. Nifong thinks the govenor appointed him god. The DA was god in Nifong's world. From where Nifong spent his entire career it appeared the DA could do anything that he wanted.
He is learning a long overdue lesson. I do agree that any past serious case Nifong handled as an ADA should be examined very very carefully.
p.s. Bob Steel is Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
Thanks for the link
and they didn't stop the pictures, either...
Imagine how this story might have gone if Ms. Kim had ever told the truth? From her first lie about finding Crystal on the road to her spinning it for financial advantage, to it's a crock to it might have happened.
I would love to have seen the police search Kim's car. We might have found clues to where these two were between 12:53 and 1:22. What kind of substances Crystal was abusing. The missing shoe. The stolen money. Cell phones. Who knows ? I have believed from the beginning that Ms. Kim holds all the answers. Ya think that's why she hasn't been forced to pay restitution?..just maybe?
"Arico said the DNA suspect kits that the Duke players provided under court order collect the same samples -- blood, oral swabs, hair and pubic hair."
Arico is wrong. Only photographs and cheek swabbings were taken. That is all that is on the order.
I e-mailed Dan Way, the writer of the article where nurse Arico mentions blunt force trauma.
He confirmed that Arico was not speaking about Crystal, but in general about SANE exams.
That's what I thought...
Another good source for the LAX case. Worth bookmarking.
http://p206.ezboard.com/fhackedbannedandlockeddownfrm22.showMessage?topicID=2.topic
Nifty case calendar
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