I found this story about how Kerik took tens of thousands in bribes from a construction company with ties to organized crime in the form of renovations to his Bronx home personally. Katherine and I have seen the same pattern in the neighborhood we moved into. Four houses were sold (three within a few months of our moving in) to people who seemed to have numerous contractors and obvious union types fixing up their places like there was no tommorow. New roofs, driveways, windows, doors, landscaping, siding, and more. It was so obvious that this was at least one form of their payoffs. Now their homes were all fixed up and with improved values. In return, all these people had to do is to blend into the community all the while they are staking us out. When we used to leave the house they would call/notify someone who would get in with copied keys (Or they were skilled locksmiths). They wonderful neighbors of ours would keep a lookout on the streets around the house while the burglar would be in the house tampering with our computers, planting listening devices, searching for cpies of songs. Only when they know they got all our evidence do you then here the "star" singing the lyrics. Then we go around searching the house looking for the evidence that is of course long gone. They are very patient. They will not do any music if they are not sure if they haven't stolen all the copies. If we later here a song and Katherine would make the mistake of saying she has a CD of it we never hear the song again and eventually the CD seems to disappear. Or if on the computer, the computer crashes.
Additionally they sit in their houses and try to hack into our computers. All devices have wireless components today. I don't care what any supposed know it all tells me that if the networking button is turned off and we are not on the internet someone can't get in. I know that computers can be hacked into if one is close enough. I also know that the software and probably hardware makers have built in ways that computers can be tapped into. There excuse is that it would be for law enforcement purposes. We try to order non wireless devices on line and of course when the package comes it is always 2 or 3 days late. And it is always tampered with so that the device is no longer wireless, it doesn't work, or it crashes. Our neighbors see to it that the mail delivery is covered to. They get it on our porch. The UPS guy is bribed to simply drop it at their house. Or someone in the Post Office is bribed to open our letters to look inside. And always with just a little tear to bend gently bend back the page so it looks like an innocent bit of damage from handling. We also had a neighbor in Florida who bribed the garbage man to leave our garbage at his house which was just down the street from our route. We witnessed it. Of course we confronted the garbage man about it and he of course simply pretended he didn't know what we were talking about.
Our crime that we deserve this is nothing more than Katherine happens to be a genius at writing music lyrics and in form and ready to be used. So many in the music industry have made so much robbing us it has become a fun sport for them. Don't think they care our lives have been ruined or my wife is legally blind. As always - it is about the money.
So when I read that this guy Kerik had tens of thousands of dollars in renovations done to his home I can only hope he goes to jail where he belongs. I wonder if the guys who bribed him will too. Probably not.
Ex-NYC Top Cop Kerik Pleads Not Guilty
Nov 9, 3:57 PM (ET)
By JIM FITZGERALD
(AP) In a file photo former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik exits Bronx supreme court,...
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www.restalex.com WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) - Bernard Kerik, a protege of Rudy Giuliani who once led the nation's largest police department, pleaded not guilty Friday to a wide-ranging indictment charging him with "selling his office" and lying to cover up the scheme.
Kerik's case could prove to be an ongoing embarrassment for Giuliani, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president.
The indictment accuses Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, of conspiring while a public official with a mob-connected construction firm to accept tens of thousands of dollars in renovations to his Bronx apartment, and then lying to cover up the scheme. It also claims he made false statements during his failed bid to head the nation's homeland security department.
"This is a battle," Kerik said, fighting through a media crush as he left court. "I'm going to fight."
(AP) In a file photo former Mayor of New York City Rudolph Giuliani and former NYC Police Chief Bernard...
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Kerik surrendered earlier Friday to the FBI in suburban White Plains, where he was fingerprinted and processed before his court appearance.
Standing before the judge, Kerik appeared calm and spoke only to say, "Not guilty, your honor," and answer a few personal questions. He was ordered to surrender his passport and any firearms, and to have no contact with potential witnesses. He was to be released on $500,000 bond, secured by his home in New Jersey.
Giuliani appointed Kerik police commissioner in 2000 and endorsed his 2004 nomination to head the Department of Homeland Security. Days after President Bush introduced Kerik as his nominee, however, Kerik announced he was withdrawing his name because of tax issues involving his former nanny.
Prosecutors had been presenting evidence to a federal grand jury for several months.
The investigation of Kerik, 52, arose from allegations that, while a city official, he accepted $165,000 in renovations to his Bronx apartment, paid for by a mob-connected construction company that sought his help in winning city contracts.
(AP) Kenneth Breen, right, attorney representing Bernard Kerik, reaches for Kerik as they get ready to...
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U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia said some of the payments detailed in the indictment took place after Kerik became police commissioner.
"During the time that Kerik secretly accepted these payments, he lobbied city officials on behalf of his benefactors - in effect selling his office in violation of his duty to the people of this city," Garcia said.
David A. Cardona, head of the criminal division of the New York FBI office, noted that the public considers "a beat cop accepting a free cup of coffee" improper.
"If a free cup of coffee is wrong, Kerik's long list of alleged crimes is repugnant," he said.
If convicted, Kerik could face up to 142 years in prison and $4.75 million in penalties.
(AP) Bernard Kerik walks towards microphones at the federal court i n White Plains, N.Y. Friday, Nov. 9,...
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Kerik pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor charge in state court, admitting that the renovations constituted an illegal gift from the construction firm. The plea spared him jail time and preserved his career as a security consultant, but his troubles resurfaced when federal authorities convened their own grand jury to investigate allegations that he failed to report as income tens of thousands of dollars in services from his friends and supporters.
Kerik's efforts in response to the Sept. 11 attacks helped burnish a career that came close to a Cabinet post.
Giuliani frequently says he made a mistake in recommending Kerik to be Homeland Security chief, but that might not be enough to avoid the political damage of a drawn-out criminal case involving his one-time protege.
During a campaign stop Thursday in Dubuque, Iowa, Giuliani was asked whether he still stood by Kerik. He sidestepped that question and said the issue had to be decided by the courts.
"A lot of public comment about it is inconsistent with its getting resolved in the right way in the courts," Giuliani said.
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Associated Press Writers Tom Hays and Pat Milton in New York City contributed to this report.
