FORMER NOPD CHIEF: NEW DETAILS SURFACE

The Dead Pelican ^ | December 03, 2005 | Chad E. Rogers

[DurtySanches]

I am sending an email to each and every one of them, Thanks.

[Libloather]

Former police superintendent Eddie Compass, right, congratulates Warren J. Riley after his swearing in as the new Superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department during a ceremony in New Orleans, La., Monday Nov. 28, 2005. Compass resigned Sept. 27, 2005 four weeks after Hurricane Katrina.(AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

[Alia]

Compass' abrupt resignation from NOPD was, according to sources, brought about by a number of factors that were rapidly approaching critical mass. In other words, the situation had reached a level at which things can no longer be concealed, hushed up or downplayed without calling in too many favors or costing too much money

No Way! lol!

[jeffers]

I agree and here's another oddity for you.

Why was Ray Nagin holed up at the Hyatt Hotel for 24 hours after Katrina passed without a phone line? Why was he there another 24 to 48 hours with only one phone line after they rigged up a switch they cobbed at Office Depot?

He claimed his Emergency Operations Center was underwater, making the Hyatt a better choice, but with no phones, and no e-mail, he was essentially out of play for the critical 72 hours after the storm.

He claimed he was trapped there by rising waters, but he was able to give interview after interview to the national media, so it wasn't comms issues that kept him there. He could have called for a boat or chopper, which I know that both the city and state had available, over public television if necessary, and gotten to a place he could have exercised some leadership and made things happen.

He had to know all this, so staying at the Hyatt was by choice.

Why?

There were cops at the Hyatt, tenth floor, holed up with looted generators and beer, the Hyatt guests snagged 13 buses that had been scheduled to pick up at one of the shelters or overpasses, and now Compass works security for a hotel collective.

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three time is enemy action, but here we see a nexus of four independent lines of occurrence all connecting at hotels, specifically the Hyatt.

End of the world hurricane party stretching out three days?

Wife out of town, time to play?

Bad eggs that run the city from the shadows also holed up at the Hyatt, pulling Nagin's strings?

Allowing him to feel comfortable in the presence of his "bosses"?

There's a whole section of the puzzle we aren't seeing here, and I have a feeling that pulling on even one thread will unravel it all, since the edges are visible in so many different places.

I'd like a New Orleans insider, say someone at the Dead Pelican, to get their hands on a Hyatt guest register for that period, and I'd also like to know who all was on those 13 buses. Wait,,,I thought of this just as I was about to hit send. Nagin wanted to allow the larger hotels gambling licenses after the storm. That's six lines of convergence.

If we assume that Nagin could somehow have personally profited from hotel gambling, i terms of cold cash or political favors, it narrows the range of possibilities in how this all ties together.

[Hank Rearden]

Now, how many billions of our dollars, exactly, did Bush just willy-nilly give to these clowns, again?

[Miss Marple]

He has "given" them the money required by law for the reconstruction of infrastructure. It already is under oversight of the feds, which is causing a lot of whining in Louisiana.

There also is an ongoing investigation about the levees, etc.

I realize this is a pointless request, but it would be nice if for once you could bash someone other than the President.

[Smokin' Joe]

I guess what I want to know, is did any cops show up in Vegas? Hotel records?

Or was this a ploy to 'thin' the ranks by removing the 'ghost' cops from the city (so the absence of the nonexistent police was less noticeable) and take one last run at the treasury in paychecks and advances?

[TheSarce]

New Orleans phantom cops ping.

[LA Woman3]

FEDS ASKING TOUGH QUESTIONS OF NOPD: INDICTMENTS PREDICTED XXXX DECEMBER 03, 2005 5:27 PM **EXCLUSIVE! MUST CREDIT THE DEAD PELICAN!**

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Feds are asking a number of very specific questions of the NOPD, sources tell The Dead Pelican. Among the questions that the Feds are asking, one stands out: "Where are all these officers that we were paying you for?"

As reported earlier, it is widely known that NOPD's real troop strength has never been more than approximately 1000 commissioned officers but the "official" number (that is, the number given out by the Superintendent's office) has always been 1500 to 1700.

But The Dead Pelican has learned that the actual numbers are quite different.

The Dead Pelican has learned that the NOPD has been taking Federal money supposedly earmarked for hiring and training officers, and using it for things like overtime for "connected" officers, rather than hiring new officers.

And, of course, there is the "phantom officer" situation, that is, "officers" who drew and cashed paychecks but cannot be found to exist.

So now there is a lingering question: where did the money go? "Something this widespread and blatant can't go on without the Superintendent's knowledge and implied consent," said a source.

Insiders say that indictments are inevitable...

Developing...
---------------------- by Chad E. Rogers
DECEMBER 03, 2005
(c)THE DEAD PELICAN
http://www.thedeadpelican.com for updates