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Newsbrief:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cop
Story
1/31/03
Tough competition this week,
with strong nominees from West Memphis (illegal traffic stops and thefts
of alleged drug money), but those Arkansas cops are pikers compared to
former Chicago Police Department gang specialist Joseph Miedzianowski,
who has been called "the most corrupt cop in Chicago history." Now,
that's something special for a city that has seen police torture innocent
suspects into confessing to murders they didn't commit.
Miedzianowski was sentenced
to life in prison on January 24 for, among other things, running a Miami-to-Chicago
drug ring, shaking down dealers, fixing criminal cases and hiding a wanted
murderer. He also got an additional five years to be served at the
end of his sentence for federal gun charges, meaning he will probably never
leave prison alive. During his April 2001 trial, prosecutors accused
Miedzianowski of giving gang members guns, arranging sexual trysts for
prisoners and thwarting investigations of criminals with whom he was working.
US District Judge Blanche
Manning said she issued the life sentence with "a heavy heart" and expressed
sympathy for Miedzianowski's wife, daughter, son and other family members
who were in court, some of whom periodically wiped away tears.
During sentencing, Miedzianoskwi
also played to family values, telling relatives in the courtroom, "I love
you all... You know what's up. You'll always be here in my heart,
right here."
But Miedzianowski was caught
with a drug-gang girlfriend and overheard espousing some not so family
values on audiotapes. "I tell you, if somebody fucks me over, I would
not only fuck them, I would fuck their brothers, their sisters, their aunts,
their uncles," he told one gang member in a friendly chat. "If they
had a parakeet, I'd fuck the parakeet."
According to prosecutors,
he attempted to apply those sentiments to them. He has been indicted
on charges of plotting to kill US Attorney Brian Netols while in jail awaiting
trial, in a plot that included having associates use guns and missile launchers
to spring him from the slammer.
-- END --
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Issue #274, 1/31/03
The Road to Mérida: Interviews with Participants in the "Out from the Shadows" Campaign | Road to Mérida: Dr. Silvia Inchaurraga, Argentine Harm Reductionist | Road to Mérida: Sala Errata | Ed Rosenthal Convicted, Faces 10-Year Mandatory Minimum for Oakland Medical Marijuana Grow | Bush Treatment Initiative Draws Mixed Reviews from Reformers | Into the Morass: Green Berets in Colombia as "War on Drugs" Morphs into "War on Terror" | Drug Czar Says Nevada Election Laws Don't Apply to His Politicking | Latin American Anti-Prohibition Conference, Feb. 12-15, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico | Cumbre Internacional Sobre Legalización, 15-Dec Febrero, Mérida, México | Cúpula Internacional sobre Legalização, 15-Dec de Fevereiro, Mérida, México | Newsbrief: Violence Continues as Talks Begin in Bolivia -- Coca Growers, Workers, Indians Present Demands | Newsbrief: DEA Moving to Schedule Two More Hallucinogens | Newsbrief: Utah Drugged Driving Bill on the Move | Newsbrief: Colorado Bill Equating Meth Manufacture and Child Abuse Moves Forward | Newsbrief: Asian Drug Abolition Mania Spreading -- Malaysia Calls for "Total War," Drug Free Southeast Asia by 2015 | Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cop Story | Newsbrief: Judge Kane Speaks Out Again, Lambasts Federal Drug War | DC Job Opportunity at DRCNet -- Campus Coordinator | The Reformer's Calendar
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