Posted on 11/04/2015 6:44:26 AM PST by Elderberry
According to a usually informed source, both CNN and The Associated Press are in possession of previously unreleased evidence related to the Twin Peaks Massacre last May.
The evidence has been presented to a grand jury currently convened in McLennan County and includes materials that have not yet been discovered to defense attorneys in the case. The evidence includes an affidavit by a Waco police detective who testified that a Texas Department of Public Safety âcovert cameraâ recorded a member of the Cossacks Motorcycle Club âexecutingâ a member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.
At a bond reduction hearing on June 5, Assistant District Attorney Michael Jarrett referred to the covert camera video and said it showed âBandidos executing Cossacks and Cossacks executing Bandidos, some at point-blank range.â Jarrett described the video in detail at that hearing. He said it showed Cossacks arriving and occupying the patio of the Twin Peaks then âspreading out across the patio in sentry positions.â Jarrett is leading the grand jury that will decide which of 177 defendants will be indicted for murder, criminal conspiracy and other charges. The covert camera video has not yet been released to defense attorneys in the case.
The usually informed source did not speculate who leaked the evidence but volunteered that although the major news sources have âall of this evidence, they are not reporting anything positive for the Bandidos.â FBI
Ann OâNeill, Ed Lavandera and Jason Morris of CNN have reported that âFBI agents in San Antonio and El Paso picked up intelligence that the Bandidos were planning to go to war with the Cossacks.â
The three CNN reporters also allege that âThe Bandidos made a crucial decision on March 27 of this year, moving the regular meeting of the Confederation of Clubs and Independents from Austin to the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco,â and that âWaco police feared, with good cause as it turned out, that the May 17 meeting would trigger violence.â
Coverage of the incident has been so largely dominated by police and Cossack accounts that it is impossible not to suspect an interconnection.
The day after the deadly confrontation, a Cossack named Scott âScootâ Keon told the Palestine, Texas City Council that his club was law-abiding and the Bandidos were not. âOn our side, we are not a gang,â Keon said. âWe are an organization that is Texas-wide. None of us are one-percenters.â
Keon blamed the Bandidos for the massacre. âThere are things that they (the Bandidos) are involved in that we have no interest in,â he said. âWe are businessmen, family men, and veterans and are in no way affiliated with them. We wonât be pressured into paying them dues, and thatâs where their anger is coming from. Just because other clubs have given in, doesnât mean we are going to.â Published Accounts
All published first hand accounts of the massacre in which nine men died and 18 more were hospitalized have relied on statements made by Cossacks.
On May 23, The Washington Post ran a lurid account of the confrontation titled ââRichie died, then Diesel, then Dogâ: An eyewitness to the Waco biker brawl.â The eyewitness was a Cossack who was âpresident of a North Texas chapter of the motorcycle gang.â According to the well known Washington daily, the single source for the story âasked not to be identified because he is now in hiding and said he fears for his life. He is a rare eye-witness speaking publicly about the Waco massacre.â
On June 20, the Houston Chronicle ran an even more lurid first hand account titled âLife and death in Waco: A bikerâs story.â That feature described the Bandido âexecutionâ of Cossack Danny âDieselâ Boyett. The principal source for that story was Boyettâs son Cody Ledbetter. The account describes an unprovoked attack by Bandidos on Cossacks who had come to the Twin Peaks that day to talk peace. The story, by Dane Schiller, states, âA law enforcement officer familiar with the clash at Twin Peaks and well-versed in motorcycle gangs said Ledbetter seems to be telling the truth.â
The recent CNN coverage of the incident has relied on statements made by John Wilson, who is described as âpresident of the Waco-area chapter of the Cossacks.â
Wilson, not surprisingly, describes the Cossacks as victims of the Bandidos. According to CNN, âmany Cossacks and their supporters said they were invited to the meeting and told it had been called to broker peace. Now theyâre wondering if they were set up.â
Wilson has described the confrontation on camera, in detail for the cable network that describes itself as âthe most trusted name in news.â
âI couldnât even see who threw the punch. But I saw our guyâs head go back, and it looked like he was getting ready to punch back whoever did it and a shot went off.â Wilson told CNN there were âa couple more shots, some scuffling around and then, almost instantly, gunfire just erupted from all around the perimeter.â
âI promptly got down on that sidewalk trying to avoid being hit myself. At that time it was pretty horrific, there were guys getting hit, falling, and I realized that I needed to get away from where I was. I looked to the guy to my left, a good friend of mine, and said, âWe need to get off the sidewalk or we are going to die here.ââ
None of these dramatic accounts has been viewed skeptically. CNN has not questioned who fired the shots that âerupted from all around the perimeter.â The Police
During a bond hearing, Wilsonâs attorney Mike White told Judge Ralph Strother that Waco police âactually advised him to begin a dialogue to try to lower the tension that had been preceding this event (the May 17 Confederation of Clubs and Independents meeting) for numerous weeksâ¦They suggested that he either go to this meeting or start some dialogue or start having sit-downs with opposing motorcycle clubs.â
The police âsuggestionâ came at least weeks after the Confederation of Clubs and Independents decided to move its meeting from the Twin Peaks in Austin to the Twin Peaks in Waco. Representatives of the Confederation have said the meeting was moved to make it easier for members from the Dallas area to attend. The only basis for the theory that the meeting was moved to Waco to send some sort of message to the Cossacks is police conjecture. If it was meant to be a show of force by the Bandidos it is likely that the Bandidos would have made the Waco event a mandatory run. The whole argument that the Bandidos instigated the confrontation only sounds reasonable to people who know nothing about the very punctilious world of motorcycle clubs..
Most Cossacks, and most members of Cossacks friendly clubs like the Scimitars and Bogatyrs learned about the Twin Peaks run long after police learned that the Confederation would be meeting in Waco. About March 27
What happened, exactly if not in totality, according to legally obtained police reports, was that the Texas Department of Public Safety learned that the COC&I was coming to Waco on March 27. They learned this from a Lorena, Texas Police Officer named Shawn Board who got his information from confidential sources of information. âOfficer Board explained that the COC is run by the Bandido OMG. Officer Board further explained that the COC is where other motorcycle clubs are required to join and pay dues to the Bandido OMG to be able to operate in Texas. Officer Board felt like the change of the meeting location was purposely done to show support for the Bandido OMG in the Waco area to the Cossacks MC.â
How officer Board learned this remains an official secret.
Waco police and DPS agents then made contact with John Wilson on April 16, a month before the Twin Peaks Massacre, and told him that he was in danger. Letâs Have Brunch
Then, purely by coincidence, 30 â 40 Cossacks as well some number of Scimitars and Bogatyrs arrived at the Twin Peaks well before the scheduled start of the COC&I meeting and stole all the seats and most of the parking spaces. As about a dozen Bandidos and scores of Bandidos supporters rode into the Twin Peaks parking lot, a Cossacks prospect named Clifford Pearce told the pack to find somewhere else to park. Local police were well aware the pack was coming. At 10:30 that morning, Texas DPS agents observed the pack assembling at the Flying J Truck Stop in Waco. Local and state police had assembled a large and heavily armed force, including a Bearcat armored vehicle, to âgather intelligenceâ at the meeting.
Seconds after Pearce told the Bandidos to park somewhere else he was reinforced by additional Cossacks.
There are conflicting accounts of what happened next. One that hasnât been reported before describes a man in a yellow full face helmet firing a stainless steel or chrome revolver. The man has never been identified although CNN does possess a photo of a yellow full face helmet sitting in the grass.
The same grand jury that a source identifies as the source of the leaked evidence has also subpoenaed virtually ever imaginable record that might be in the possession of the COC&I including: âAll individual members names, club affiliations and any other persons claiming independent status with the COC&I, home addresses, billing, shipping, email and IP addresses, home and alternate telephone numbers for each member and club; a copy of the original applications filed by each past and current member;â âany and all documents relating to the organizational structure of the Texas COC&I and its relation to all other state COC&Iâs and/or its relations to a national COC&I organization or US Defenders.â Cocktail
From up close all of this looks like a witch hunt. But from a longer view much of this, including the recent CNN reports, looks like a smoke screen. Waco and McLennan County have been frantically searching for somebody to blame for the Twin Peaks Massacre since about an hour after it happened.
Officials have blamed this putrid cocktail of death, personal tragedy, cop speak and Bonfire of the Vanities quality journalism on a cabal of âfive motorcycle gangs,â who âdidnât come to Waco to eat barbecue;â on the owners of the Twin Peaks Waco franchise; on the dead; on the Confederation of Clubs; on the witnesses; and on the Bandidos.
The stakes are high. There is considerable evidence that local, state and federal law enforcement officials knew of a conflict between the Cossacks and the Bandidos; decided that the Waco Twin Peaks was where that conflict might escalate into something RICO worthy and interesting; encouraged Cossacks to confront Bandidos at the Twin Peaks; surrounded the Twin Peaks with militarized police; set up their cameras; then watched, as in CNNâs memorable phrase, a âparking lot was turned into a raging war zone;â and have been pounding their chests ever since.
The city of Waco, McLennan County, the state of Texas and, possibly, the Department of Justice face potential liabilities of billions of dollars. The Twin Peaks Massacre has not faded from public consciousness with the passing of a few dozen news cycles. This is a big story and it is not going away. Whoever leaked all that evidence to CNN should have known that. November is a sweeps month. The most trusted name in news knows that. And CNN has obviously made the editorial decision to play its leaked documents and videos as sensationally as possible.
Whoever leaked the documents knew how CNN would play this story. Seen in the context of a brisk November day the leak looks like a masterful spinning of the facts. Seen in the context of all that has happened since last May, the leak looks more like an act of desperation.
Good book.
who challenge the voracity
Dang hungry FReepers.
JR in his wisdom apparently did not listen did he?
God I hate wannabe teachers pets and tattletale
Never have I been so happy on Internet life than when the harpies left this forum
Good riddance and may they stay gone
Newbies if you need a forum history lesson just ask Professor Daddy
I know an ex-state trooper who just patched into a MC.
No criminal record, ever.
Perhaps he recently signed up just to opine on this topic.
Stay on Trump topics and we don’t have to become enemies.
People who manufacture and sell me the have the right to remain silent, after being fed their own poison. They are after all mass murderers.
Unreal! What a cry baby. I was right about not leaving him alone with a heifer. No telling what his twisted and demented mind would do to the poor thing.
Just a technicality, and even that can go either way, but I think the five who were arrested then unarrested were unarrested because they were members of a Veterans Bike Club.
Are you an attorney? I ask because several (including one I can name - Clinton Broden) have asserted that there are more grounds for action against Waco than that one you cited.
Go pound sand, fascist.
I rather not be chums with you, no offense.
No, I am not talking about the poseurs. I think you are equating middle aged men who ride bikes on the weekend and try to look "bad" with the real outlaw - as in bikers who make a living by doing illegal activities types.
That is pretty much what these turf battles are all about - controlling areas where only an exclusive biker gang - emphasis gang and not club - controls territory so they can make money.
Maybe like Saddam Hussien they pretend to be bad guys to get a rep but turns out they have no WMD, etc.
I wonder if you will feel that way when someone decides that Jews are all evil and need to be exterminated without due process. This is about the rule of law. Thankfully you don’t get to decide who dies.
That's kind of their job, no?
Don’t mind him Laz. He’s very new.
The difference between a jew and a drug dealer might influence my decisions. Meth is poisonous, skin color is not. Last I heard, reading a Bible dies not kill your neighbor, but tends to bless him.
Is it skin color, or their faith that you equate with murder?
THEN DIE.
IS HE A GOD?
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