Exactly. And we are still in the character assassination mode.
My novel is about the next stage. 
Posted on 10/02/2003 1:21:45 AM PDT by kattracks
Talk-radio titan Rush Limbaugh is being investigated for allegedly buying thousands of addictive painkillers from a black-market drug ring.The moralizing motormouth was turned in by his former housekeeper - who says she was Limbaugh's pill supplier for four years.
Wilma Cline, 42, says Limbaugh was hooked on the potent prescription drugs OxyContin, Lorcet and hydrocodone - and went through detox twice.
"There were times when I worried," Cline told the National Enquirer, which broke the story in an edition being published today. "All these pills are enough to kill an elephant - never mind a man."
Cline could not be reached for further comment yesterday, but her lawyer, Ed Shohat of Miami, said his client "stands behind the story."
The Daily News independently confirmed that Limbaugh is under investigation.
His lawyers, Jerry Fox and Dan Zachary, refused to comment on the accusations and said any "medical information" about him was private and not newsworthy.
They said Limbaugh - who has a top-rated syndicated radio show but resigned early today from a weekly ESPN football segment amid criticism of racial comments about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb - was traveling and had no comment.
The Palm Beach County state attorney's office, which is running the probe, said it could not confirm or deny the allegations.
Scoring in parking lot
Cline told the Enquirer she went to prosecutors with information about Limbaugh and others after four years of drug deals that included clandestine handoffs in a Denny's parking lot.
She said she wore a wire during her last two deliveries to the conservative commentator and gave the tapes to authorities.
She also gave the Enquirer a ledger documenting how many pills she claimed to have bought for him - 4,350 in one 47-day period - and E-mails she claimed Limbaugh sent her.
In one missive, Limbaugh pushed Cline to get more "little blues" - code for OxyContin, the powerful narcotic nicknamed hillbilly heroin, she said.
"You know how this stuff works ... the more you get used to, the more it takes," the May 2002 E-mail reads. "But I will try and cut down to help out."
The account Cline gave the Enquirer is that she became Limbaugh's drug connection in 1998, nine months after taking a housekeeping job at his Palm Beach mansion.
It started after her husband, David, hurt himself in a fall, and Limbaugh asked how he was.
"He asked me casually, 'Is he getting any pain medication?' I said, 'Yes - he's had surgery, and the doctor gave him hydro-codone 750,'" Cline said. "To my astonishment, he said, 'Can you spare a couple of them?'"
Husband's pills
Cline said she gave Limbaugh 10 pills the next day and agreed to give him 30 of her husband's pills each month. When the doctor stopped renewing the prescription in early 1999, Limbaugh allegedly went ballistic.
"His tone was nasty and bullying. He said, 'I don't care how or what you do, but you'd better - better! - get me some more,'" Cline said.
The housekeeper said she found a new supplier and arranged to hide Limbaugh's stashes under his mattress so his wife, Marta, wouldn't find them.
After several months, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for detox and didn't need any more pills, Cline said.
But a month later, he said his left ear was hurting and asked her for hydrocodone, followed by an order for OxyContin.
Limbaugh, 52, suffered from autoimmune ear disease, a condition that left him deaf and had to be corrected with cochlear implant surgery two years ago.
Cline said she continued to make deliveries to Limbaugh even after she quit as his housekeeper in July 2001 - but he became increasingly paranoid, even patting her down for recording devices, she said.
In June 2002, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for detox a second time.
After he returned, "I went to talk to him, and he cried a little bit," she said. "He told me that if it ever got out, he would be ruined."
She claimed that a lawyer for Limbaugh gave her a payoff - $80,000 he owed her, plus another $120,000 - and asked her to destroy the computer that contained the E-mail records.
Soon after, Cline and her husband retained Shohat and contacted prosecutors.
Feeling no pain
The drugs Rush Limbaugh is accused of abusing are legal only with a doctor's prescription. All are habit-forming.
- Hydrocodone
Anti-cough agent and painkiller similar to morphine. Side effects include anxiety, poor mental performance, emotional dependence, drowsiness, mood changes, difficulty breathing and itchiness.
- Lorcet
Brand name for the combination of Tylenol and hydrocodone, prescribed for moderate to severe pain. Side effects include dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, decreased appetite, dizziness, tiredness, muscle twitches, sweating and itching.
- OxyContin
Potent time-release medication for relief of moderate to severe pain, known as hillbilly heroin because of black-market popularity in some rural areas. Side effects include drowsiness, dizziness, sweating, muscle twitches and decreased sex drive. A large dose can be fatal.
Originally published on October 2, 2003
Someone asked about getting painkillers for ear pain. I am the ear infection queen. I seem to get them every 12-24 months, usually in both ears at the same time. Anyway, I had a very bad pair of ear infections around Christmas of last year that kept me out of work for about 2 weeks. The dr.'s prescribed me Vicoden for the pain. There is no way I would have been able to sleep otherwise. I had to take 2 to go to sleep initially, then when they wore off I woke up (because of the pain) and took one more. During the day I would just take motrin. That's just with ear infections, I can't imagine how ear surgery would feel.
They made me sort of paranoid when I was feeling better. One night out of habit I took two, but really could have just used one. I couldn't sleep for the longest time, because I was convinced that people were trying to break into our house.
I agree to some extent in that I just don't give a rats behind when I read or hear about another entertainer with a drug problem. Their life, their choice. Deal with it. However, assuming the reports are true -- and that is nothing but an assumption at this point -- Rush has been quite vocal over the years about Bill and Roger Clinton and their nose problem. If the reports are true, then this is just another example of intellectual dishonesty.
Not true my friend. The tolerence for this particular drug (and its close relative, Vicodin), builds fast, and as it does, the high diminishes. The physical addiction, remains, however, and if you fail to feed that addiction, the withdrawl can be quite uncomfortable. The perfect example is methadone, which keeps withdrawl in check without the opiate high, and as a result, many methadone users are able to live relatively normal lives as long as they get their daily fixes.
I beleive the story about Monica's blue dress with Bill's deposit splashed across the front was first reported in the Enquirer.
And your name is Tripp...
You know nothing about the way this drug is abused. Please read my post No. 81. And let me add this, as the tolerance for the drug builds, an addict needs more and more, not necessarily just to get high, but to ward off the severe discomfort caused by withdrawl. In other words, a person could be doing a lot of this stuff -- without appearing stoned or spaced out -- just to prevent the withdrawl symptoms, which would probably be more obvious than the effects of taking the drug.
Exactly. And we are still in the character assassination mode.
My novel is about the next stage.
I've only heard his rantings for a year - and on the occasions I have, I have felt like I needed some of his painkillers. He always sounds like the kind of nutter you wouldn't want to sit next to you on a bus. The pills can't help him much.
Any bets that this woman was put up by the DEMONCRATS to find a job with Rush????
- Hydrocodone
Anti-cough agent and painkiller similar to morphine. Side effects include anxiety, poor mental performance, emotional dependence, drowsiness, mood changes, difficulty breathing and itchiness.
- Lorcet
Brand name for the combination of Tylenol and hydrocodone, prescribed for moderate to severe pain. Side effects include dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, decreased appetite, dizziness, tiredness, muscle twitches, sweating and itching.
- OxyContin
Potent time-release medication for relief of moderate to severe pain, known as hillbilly heroin because of black-market popularity in some rural areas. Side effects include drowsiness, dizziness, sweating, muscle twitches and decreased sex drive. A large dose can be fatal.
He always looks okay on the dittocam to me.
As far as the decreased sex drive --- I have no clue 'bout that...nor do I wanna know..... ;-)
The Miami Herald September 10, 2000
Accused drug lords Willie Falcon and Sal Magluta used more than $25 million in drug profits to pay fees to a dream team of defense lawyers - some of whom accepted cash stuffed in envelopes or checks from phantom benefactors with offshore accounts, according to evidence introduced at a federal conspiracy trial in Miami.
The team of 39 lawyers included such well-known names as Roy Black, Albert Krieger, Ed Shohat and Frank Rubino - considered among the sharpest minds in the national defense bar……
….* Shohat, who once represented Colombian cartel leader Carlos Lehder and prominent local officials such as former Miami city manager Cesar Odio and former Miami-Dade County Commissioner James Burke, testified that he stood dumbfounded in his office one day when an unidentified man dropped a briefcase stuffed with $150,000 cash on the floor and ran out the door.
"I tried to follow him, get him to come back, but I didn't succeed," Shohat said, adding that his client - another Falcon/Magluta codefendant named Victor Alvarez - "assured me after several discussions that the source of the funds was a loan to him from people unrelated to Sal Magluta and Willie Falcon."
Shohat said his client explained that the source of the money wished to remain anonymous so as not to get caught up in the case.
"So you don't know who paid your fees?" Sullivan asked.
"I have no idea," Shohat said. "Oh, I do have an idea. Victor Alvarez paid my fees, but with loan money."
The Associated Press . June 2, 2000, Friday
Bailey: Stock ownership wasn't questioned until value tripled By VICKIE CHACHERE, Associated Press Writer
Federal prosecutors showed no interest in stock F. Lee Bailey took from an international drug trafficker he was representing until the securities surged and Bailey received an enormous payment, the attorney said Friday.
Bailey stood to make about $18 million on the stock in a Canadian medical research company that international drug trafficker Claude Duboc turned over 21 months earlier when the stock was worth about $6 million.
Testifying in his own defense, Bailey said federal prosecutors showed no interest in the stock and gave it to him, only later to change their minds when the stock became so valuable.
"I trusted them, a fact for which I am terribly sorry today," Bailey said.
Bailey is trying to save his license to practice law in Florida. The Florida Bar has filed misconduct and misappropriation charges alleging he used the stock for himself when he was not free to do so.
The government contends the stock was forfeitable assets that shouldn't have gone to Bailey. He argues that he was given the stock as payment for his services to both Duboc and federal prosecutors who needed Bailey's expertise to get at Duboc's vast riches.
The hearing before Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Ellis is scheduled to conclude Monday. Ellis will issue a ruling in the case, but the Florida Supreme Court will have the final say on whether or Bailey should be disciplined.
The allegations against Bailey were brought by former colleague Ed Shohat, who became Bailey's rival for Duboc's business.
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) January 9, 1999
QUINON ADMITS HERNANDEZ AFFAIR; LAWYER'S LIAISON WITH CLIENT'S WIFE COULD LEAD TO DISBARMENT JAY WEAVER; Miami Bureau
For the first time, lawyer Jose Quinon on Friday publicly confessed he had an affair with the wife of his client, ex-City Commissioner Humberto Hernandez, during his vote-fraud trial.
"There was a relationship," said attorney Jay Hogan, representing Quinon at a court hearing. "It lasted from the night of jury selection until the trial was over."
Citing the sex scandal between Monica Lewinsky and President Clinton, Hogan said: "I don't want an Esther-gate." He was referring to Esther Hernandez, 34, the wife of the convicted ex-Little Havana politician.
Humberto Hernandez, 36, is pressing to overturn his misdemeanor vote-fraud conviction in August, arguing that his wife's liaison with his attorney constituted a conflict of interest.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Roberto Pineiro set a Jan. 28 hearing to consider Hernandez's request for a new trial on charges he helped cover up tainted absentee ballots in the 1997 Miami election.
Esther Hernandez, a school teacher and mother of their two children, could not be reached for comment. But she told a reporter for The Miami Herald that she had an affair with her husband's prominent attorney during his high-profile trial.
Humberto Hernandez cited the newspaper article as justification for a new trial. But Assistant State Attorney Joe Centorino wants Pineiro to consider possible sworn statements from Esther Hernandez and Quinon before deciding on a new trial.
"We would be foolish to stipulate to something that would be in The Miami Herald," Centorino said.
Quinon's relationship with Esther Hernandez -- they were seen kissing during a Friday night happy hour at Senor Frog's in September, a few weeks after Hernandez was convicted on vote-fraud charges -- provoked the Miami branch of the state Bar to launch an ethics inquiry that might lead to his disbarment.
In October, a federal judge ordered Quinon, 48, to avoid all contact with Humberto Hernandez and to turn over all of his fees earned from representing him in his state vote-fraud trial and in his federal mortgage-fraud defense.
Quinon, who lives with his wife, Louise, and their three children in Coconut Grove, deposited about $ 235,000 in legal fees with the court.
That money is to be used by Hernandez's new attorney, Milton Hirsch, as he presses for a second trial. At the first trial, Pineiro sentenced Hernandez to one year in jail.
Today, Humberto Hernandez remains at the Federal Detention Center in Miami. And Quinon's once-brilliant career, built after 23 years of defending drug kingpins and crooked politicians, is in jeopardy.
Quinon has remained silent since his relationship with Esther Hernandez became public in October. But those who know him say they are baffled by a misstep that seems so out of character for the meticulous workaholic.
"I remain flabbergasted at the conduct, which has been admitted in court by another respected lawyer, Jay Hogan," said Ben Kuehne, president of the Miami-Dade County Bar Association. "It's troubling, because Jose has always been a tremendous lawyer and a fine model for the best of the law profession. This is professionally a stumble."
Born in Cuba, Quinon moved with his family to the United States in the summer of 1962. The family was processed through the Freedom Tower in Miami, and soon after moved to Paterson, N.J. Quinon earned his bachelor's degree at Seton Hall University in South Orange and his law degree from Rutgers University at Newark in 1975.
He immediately headed south to Miami, where he landed a job as a prosecutor in the major crimes division of the State Attorney's Office headed by Janet Reno. After four years there, he broke out on his own in 1983 -- the beginning of a criminal defense career that would eventually make him one of the most sought after lawyers in Miami.
In 1987, Quinon's tough, tactical skills in the courtoom won him a lucrative client -- Colombian drug lord Carlos Lehder. But he and fellow attorney Ed Shohat ended up losing what turned out to be a hopeless case.
Quinon was also one of the defense attorneys in the notorious Miami River cops-cocaine trafficking case during the late 1980s.
At the time, Quinon told a newspaper reporter that the appeal of defending drug dealers was "vicariously living lives that you only see in movies." His personal life, he said, was "so boring that it even bores me to talk about it."
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