Posted on 06/29/2012 12:13:43 AM PDT by raccoonradio
SALEM (MA)— Moments after learning he’ll spend the next three years in prison, Daniel Eremian unloaded on his brother-in-law, Congressman John Tierney, calling the Salem Democrat “the biggest liar in the world.”
“He knew everything that was going on,” said Eremian, 62, the former owner of Brodie’s Pub in Peabody who now lives in Boca Raton, Fla. “He sat in the boxes with bookies at Fenway Park.”
He called Tierney’s claims to the contrary “hogwash.”
Tierney, through his spokeswoman, Kathryn Prael, denied Eremian’s claims in a statement earlier tonight.
“Today, clearly bitter at having lost his case and harboring old family grudges, Daniel Eremian made bizarre, unsubstantiated and false comments,” Prael said.
“Daniel Eremian spent the last several years telling anyone who would listen, including a federal judge and jury, that he was innocent of charges the government accused him of committing,” the statement said. “Now he is claiming both to be innocent and that John Tierney should have known that he was guilty. His claims lack both credibility and logic.”
Eremian also said today that his sister, Patrice Tierney, was “forced” to enter a plea agreement with prosecutors to save her husband’s political career.
Patrice Tierney pleaded guilty in 2010 to helping her other brother, Robert Eremian, file false tax returns. She spent a month at a federal prison camp in Connecticut and is on probation. At the time, Tierney was running for re-election against Boxford Republican Bill Hudak.
“She got forced to do that for him,” said Eremian, referring to his younger sister. “She got railroaded.”
Patrice Tierney responded with a statement of her own.
“It shocks and saddens me to learn that my brother would say something so utterly false about me and my husband in a moment of desperation and anger,” she said. “My husband has been nothing but supportive of me during this time, especially during my decision-making process in the fall of 2010 when I took responsibility and paid a price for it. It is demeaning for my brother to infer that I am not intelligent enough, even with the counsel of a well-respected lawyer, to make my own decisions.”
John Tierney, 60, is now seeking his ninth term in Congress and faces a challenge by Wakefield Republican Richard Tisei, a former state senator.
Asked if he was actually accusing the congressman of being untruthful in his past statements that he did not know there was illegal activity going on, Eremian repeated his claim.
“All I want to do is say he knew,” Eremian told reporters for The Salem News and The Boston Herald outside the courtroom. “For him to throw my sister under the bus was wrong.”
“Sadly, despite John’s attempts to keep things civil on the rare family occasions when Daniel was present, they did not get along,” Prael said. “It is unfortunate that Daniel’s bitterness would rise to this level.”
Eremian said he has not been allowed to talk to his sister and hasn’t seen her since she testified against him during his trial last fall because of the conditions of her probation.
The bombshell tirade outside the seventh-floor courtroom came shortly after U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris sentenced Eremian to three years in federal prison, a sentence he’s set to start serving this morning, over the protests of his lawyer, who had hoped for a delay.
Saris sentenced Eremian’s co-defendant, Todd Lyons, 38, of Beverly, to four years in federal prison, calling him the “banker” for the Massachusetts branch of the operation.
The judge said she was troubled by the fact that both men had ample notice that what they were doing was considered illegal by federal authorities — Lyons’ home was raided twice, and he was pulled aside by state troopers.
Both men, who were convicted in December of illegal gaming, racketeering and conspiracy, will serve a year of probation following their prison terms and are already subject to forfeiture orders, $24 million for Lyons and $7.7 million for Eremian. Eremian was also ordered to forfeit property, including a helicopter.
Meanwhile, the two principal players in the Sports Off Shore operation, Robert Eremian, the congressman’s other brother-in-law, who prosecutors say is the head of the online gambling business, and Richard Sullivan, remain fugitives in Antigua.
Prosecutors Fred Wyshak and Robert Fisher suggested that Daniel Eremian had a “special role” in the operation, the only agent of the business to receive 100 percent commissions and the one who arranged to purchase aircraft for his brother but title it in his own name.
“It is Mr. Daniel Eremian who goes to Antigua to help Robert Eremian set up that business,” Wyshak said.
Wyshak said Daniel Eremian’s involvement in illegal gambling, which the prosecutor called “the family business,” dated back years, even to when he owned Brodie’s Pub, where, witnesses testified, some of the cash owed to various agents of the Eremian operation could be left in envelopes.
Daniel Eremian told the judge that the envelopes were of such little significance to him that he did not even recall them until the trial.
Prosecutors say that Lyons became involved in the business when he took over the “book” that had belonged to John Chew, Patrice Tierney’s son.
Marc Nurik, Eremian’s lawyer, also suggested that prosecutors were trying to punish his client because they can’t reach his brother.
Eremian, outside the courtroom, said he feels like both he and his sister were left holding the bag for their brother’s activities.
But Saris suggested that both Eremian and Lyons played key roles in the organization, even if they were not in a managerial capacity. The two men collected upward of $20 million from various agents around the country, said the judge and arranged for that money, minus their commissions, to go to Robert Eremian in Antigua.
“They were not runners,” Saris said. “They controlled the banks, they settled disputes, and that makes them very important people.”
Lyons wept openly as he apologized and begged the judge not to take him away from his daughter.
But Saris said many defendants have children and other loved ones who suffer the consequences when a parent is sent to jail.
Tisei, who has made the legal woes of Tierney’s in-laws a campaign issue, was quick to respond after learning of Eremian’s comments.
“It’s pretty obvious that the congressman hasn’t been honest, and anyone who has reviewed the facts of the case and history has to conclude that either John Tierney is totally blind to what’s going on around him, like Mr. Magoo, or that he turned a blind eye to what’s going on because he was financially benefiting from it over the years,” Tisei said.
“It’s tough to say that you don’t know what’s going on when you’re sitting at the gambling headquarters in Antigua watching sports games on all the TVs. Most people around the district are reasonable enough to know what’s going on.”
Howie Carr list ping. Latest bombshells involving the
Tierney Crime Family
And, Tierney’s GOP opponent is a RINO who is for the “Bathroom Bill For Transgendered Males To Be Able To Use Women’s/Girl’s Bathrooms Throughout Massachusetts”. Some choice. Massachusetts politics= :(
Howie Carr Fri column ping
He’s no ‘pockets’ protector
By Howie Carr | Friday, June 29, 2012 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
Photo by Nancy Lane
In 2010, 219 damn-fool Democrats in the U.S. House voted for the abomination known as Obamacare.
This is the story of one of them.
The solon’s name is John Tierney, but his constituents on the North Shore know him simply as “Pockets,” on account of his exalted ethical status. Yesterday, outside a federal courtroom in Boston, Pockets was verbally excoriated by a crook who also happens to be his brother-in-law.
This doesn’t happen very often, a racketeer putting the blast on a politician. Professional courtesy and all that.
But Daniel Eremian, age 62, is under a lot of pressure. This morning, he begins a three-year bit for racketeering, conspiracy and illegal gaming. An admitted alcoholic, he also had to forfeit $7.7 million in ill-gotten gains.
His sister, Patrice Tierney, also known as Mrs. Pockets, has already done a month in Club Fed. She handled $8 million for Dan and her other brother, Robert, who remains on the lam in a sunny place for shady people.
The very ethical Rep. Pockets has claimed he knew absolutely nothing about the $8 million flowing through his bank account. He and Patrice have a “21st century marriage,” he explained.
For two years, Dan Eremian dummied up. He wouldn’t tell you if your coat was on fire. Think omerta — silence. But yesterday, outside the courtroom, he told the Herald about his brother-in-law, the extinguished, I mean distinguished, statesman.
“Lemme tell you something about Tierney,” the raspy-voiced hood began. “He’s the biggest liar in the world. ...”
Remember, this Tierney bum was a bust-out lawyer in Salem before he got lucky in 1996. He makes about $179,000 a year, good money to be sure, but you should know that when Patrice was in the laundry business with her brothers, she bought a helicopter.
One-79 large a year is not buy-a-helicopter money, it’s rent-a-chopper money, for an afternoon. But Tierney to this day sticks to his Sgt. Schultz defense. He knows nothing. His brother-in-law begs to disagree.
“He knew everything that was going on in my family for years,” Eremian told the Herald. “He sat with bookies in Fenway Park [map].”
Oh really? Anyone we know?
In any other state in the union, this Pockets bird would already be gone. But like Granny Warren, the scandals don’t seem to matter. He has that “D” after his name.
For the record, no one from the Globe could be bothered to show up for the sentencing of Eremian. Pockets Tierney is, after all, a good Democrat. He voted for Obamacare.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1061142233
I beleive Eremian.
Classic line.
Priceless rant!
Tierney is despicable. Tisei is even worse. A trojan horse for the radical gay rights lobby inside the GOP. No surprise the leftist RINO establishment who brought us Willard is working overtime to get him elected.
Thanks raccoonradio.
I am in a yellow dog mood but there are exceptions.
All I see in this liberal fruit is an extra vote for Boehner that we won’t need.
Counterpoint anybody?
Ping to #10.
hope tisei loses.
went to teaparty event in CT FRI nite. 2 hours. our fearless leaders informed us that they are not getting involved in politics.
Believe whom you will.(and use spell check) Besides doubtlessly engaging in a potpourri of illegal activities, Eremian is also guilty of massive MA stupidity. An adult Masshole should be expected to know that in any adversarial procedure in the Commonwealth, the only way an "Eremian" is going to best a "Tierney" is if the "Eremian" is Black.
Furthermore, Tierney is the crime boss, Eremian a mere soldier. Three years is just the price for his participation in the scheme. Yo, Eremian, somebody done the crime, and you old fellow, have been selected to do the time. Now STFU and we'll get you sprung in 18 months.
Say what? So what do they do then, whittle? Or is it's a literal tea party? Do they sample a new exotic tea every month?
the ‘leaders’ are ‘philosophers’. They said they only discuss issues, don’t have a concern about anybody running for office. They say they leave that to the voters in the particular district.
“Tea Party Patriots”, CT chapter.
The speaker from Red Tail Republicans who was speaking in Cheshire CT wanted to hear nothing about the conservative candidates in Cheshire. Kept saying, I don’t live in this town so I don’t have any interest in the Cheshire races. Clown.
I would’ve voted with my feet, out the door.
we were outside on the town green near a busy intersection with traffic honking approval.
A few of us who are actually involved in politics, including a guy who has been on GOP state Central Committee for a decade .... sort of got a good chuckle out of the stooges. But they are baffling.
Are the teaparty speakers in ILL equally as buffoonish.
I agree. If I lived in the district, I’d blank that office. No way would I vote the “social moderate” Tisei. I wasn’t aware that he lived in that district. Did he rent a place or something?
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