Posted on 06/14/2005 11:58:17 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A local religious leader was convicted Tuesday of using political connections to obtain illegal loans, donations and municipal contracts - the latest in a string of victories for prosecutors who have attacked the so-called "pay to play" culture of Philadelphia's city government.
Shamsud-din Ali, 67, the leader of a Philadelphia mosque, was accused of leading a criminal enterprise that generated tens of thousands of dollars through extortion, bribery and political connections.
Authorities said his victims included the city, a community college, a bank, a car dealership and two waste-hauling companies that were seeking city contracts.
After six days of deliberations, jurors convicted him on 22 counts, including a racketeering charge that carried a maximum 10-year prison sentence. They acquitted him of four counts and could not reach a verdict on eight other counts.
Ali will likely face at least four to five years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 19, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Labor.
A co-defendant, businessman John Johnson, was convicted Tuesday of charges he extorted waste-hauling companies seeking city business. But former mayoral aide John Christmas was acquitted of charges he aided in the property-tax collection scheme and lied to a grand jury about his role.
The corruption investigation became public in fall 2003 when police discovered an FBI bug in the office of Mayor John F. Street, who has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged.
More than a dozen people have been convicted or pleaded guilty, including a former city treasurer, two bank executives and several business owners seeking city contracts.
The government suggested that the city gave Ali a "money for nothing" commission for his political support of Street, calling it a "loss to the city ... $60,000 thrown out the window, given to a man who didn't do the work."
Ali's lawyer, James Binns, argued that the city never spelled out the minimum work requirements for the mayoral friend and fundraiser who, Binns said, received the commission for working on a delinquent property tax case.
According to prosecutors, Ali and his wife, Faridah, used the Muslim school they ran as a private piggy bank, soliciting donations and public education funds for adult education classes that were never held. The Alis had at least five family members on the payroll, including two adult children who lived out of state.
Faridah Ali was convicted and sentenced to a year of house arrest on related charges.
Ali, formerly known as Clarence Fowler, served six years in prison for killing a minister during a robbery, but the conviction was overturned in 1976.
As his racketeering trial got under way, he pleaded guilty to four counts of income tax evasion for not filing returns from 1998 to 2001.
Send him to Gitmo...
Fyi..
I'm tellin' ya...before we're done with this issue, we're going to have to remove ALL these camel jockeys from the premises...every last swingin' dick...bag and baggage...
Nah, this is more an issue of a corrupt DEMOCRATIC city administration and its cronies than some muslim plot.
Now, if you wanna deport John "The brothers and sisters are running the city" Street and all his corrupt friends, then I'm all for that :)
By the way, how smart is it to act against one mosque thereby giving all of the other mosques a never to be missed opportunity to burrow even deeper and further mask their activities.
Pathetic...
Sounds like Memphis Tennessee politics.
right again, Czar!
Ali's lawyer, James Binns, argued that the city never spelled out the minimum work requirements for the mayoral friend and fundraiser
AH-HA!!! They tricked him! Just another case of the man tyin' to keep a brother down. So what if he took money for adult education classes that never occurred? If you want the classes to actually take place, I think it's incumbent on the city to make that clear!
No where'm I gonna attend my Friday Prayers?
Owl_Eagle(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
Ali, formerly known as Clarence Fowler, served six years in prison for killing a minister during a robbery, but the conviction was overturned in 1976.
Since he's not an arab, I'm guessing he's a prison convert and perhaps a follower of Farrakhan.
(Is that profiling?)
I want to know when they will go after the real crook ... Mayor John Street
You're correct. He was formerly known as Captain Clarence Fowler, member of the Fruit of Islam, which was a paramilitary group in the Nation of Islam.
Since he's not an arab, I'm guessing he's a prison convert and perhaps a follower of Farrakhan.You're correct. He was formerly known as Captain Clarence Fowler, member of the Fruit of Islam, which was a paramilitary group in the Nation of Islam.
Well, well...thanks for confirming my guess. Why am I not surprised?
islam...allah's mob.
well put , and ya gave me a chuckle even though "ita'int funny" , but TROP trop [/srcsm]
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