COINTELPRO GIP - BLACK HATE

After 44 years, Marshall "Eddie" Conway, now 67, has been released from prison* under the Unger ruling. Conway was on "Democracy Now" this morning (at the 10-minute mark). The Baltimore branch of the Black Panther Party was apparently actually founded by officers in the Baltimore Police Department at the order of the NSA/FBI as part of a counterintelligence program called the COINTELPRO Ghetto Informant Program (GIP) operation BLACK HATE, which sought to "neutralize" local political activists after the Baltimore Riots. GIP employed about 7,000 agents between 1968 and July 1973. Conway claims an unknown member of the BPD framed him for officer Donald Sager's murder and for wounding another officer; prosecutors claim that the detail of a stolen watch tied Conway to the case. In 2001 the Baltimore City Council passed a resolution urging then-gov Glendening to pardon Conway,* a notion police and prosecutors fought vigorously.

Monday night in Overlea a two-year-old in a van was struck by shrapnel after someone shot at the van.

City officer Alec Taylor was arrested on animal cruelty charges in MoCo after beating a 7-month-old puppy to death.

The man who died of a heart attack after an altercation with MTA officers was identified as Antonio Moreno, 67.*

Short-fingered vulgarian Sam Zell of Tribune Company fame is is #8 on Salon's list of the 1%'s most stunning narcissists for his money quote "The 1 percent work harder, the 1 percent are much bigger factors in all forms of our society."

County police are ISO alleged Towson Target robber Razino Brooks.

217

Fenton reports 2012 ended with 217 murders,* Fenton Tweets that a 24-year-old victim shot on Sunday on Bryant Ave died at 11:46 yesterday night.

Adorbz: after officiating the crabtown countdown, SRB made haste to the courthouse to perform the state's first same-sex wedding, that of a couple of sexagenarian dudes, followed by five more weddings (some quinquagenarian lesbians, some cute guys in pink shirts who, reported some station, drove up from South Carolina). Mazel tov!

A man named Sir Keith English Queen Jones was shot to death in Glen Burnie, and his killer is still on the loose.

It's all over but the kvetching for the Hal Katz insurance agency.

Woefully mismanaged Baltimore Behavioral Health has filed for bankruptcy.*

Whawhawha? Short-fingered vulgarian Sam Zell = out of the news biz and the Tribune Co.= out of bankruptcy! Luke and the Justins have now become the chattel of a passel of hedge fund managers, the most prominent of which is Oaktree Capital Management (here's their CEO's apt. at 740 Park... one of his secondary residences). Rumor has it the bankers are more about focusing on the TV business and intend to sell of the Tribune's assets, bit by bit. The Sun is also dropping the AP's stories in favor of Reuters', so no more Ben Nuckols, except via the WaPo I guess. Bew! 

'In Defense of Flogging'

Forty years for Terrence Kelley, who tried to kill his babymom's new man

A man, 28, was shot to death yesterday in the 600 block of Belnord Ave after an argument with two men in a grey station wagon with tinted windows

A decade after the D.C. sniper shootings, Lee Boyd Malvo gave a contrite interview to the WaPo.

Nana Mensah

The 19-year-old murder victim was identified as Nana Mensah of Randallstown (left, from FB), she graduated from Randallstown high last year and worked at Shoe City.

Some Fenton Tweets, blogged for posterity:

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Court records show police made arrest in the killing of woman last wk in Cherry Hill, yet police tell me they dont have victim's name. Sigh. ...Volunteers cleaning Leakin Park find decomposing body; identity, cause of death pending autopsy http://bsun.md/QGe1zi ... Murder last night in McElderry Park, 600 N Belnord. No details yet.@SafeStreetsBalt ... Fort Avenue McDonald's employees forced into walk-in freezer during armed robbery Ssaturday http://bsun.md/QGcbOW ...

There was a shooting Friday night at Security Square Mall, a teenager, Rickey Freeman, age 17, was arrested and charged as an adult

Oh fer the love of taxpayer dollars: the Sun's Scott Calvert asked the BPD for the agenda and minutes of CitiStat meetings, and was basically told by the city's lawyers to take a long pee up a short rope (see right) then go file a lawsuit. This is why big corporate newspapers are good: they can sue agencies that need some suin'. Though now we're doubly screwed b/c the Sun's short-fingered vulgarian overlord is too broke/gives not enough craps to spend money on such things, and it shows: city agencies seem to be getting more shamelessly opaque by the minute (see BDC's closed-door "public" meetings, the City Center project, Rico J. Singeton's vanishing emails...).

Some good news from Slummy Slumwatch: a new law goes into effect today that lets neighborhood/community associations sue owners of derelict properties.

Bwah! Christopher Perry, age 50, was convicted of Social Security and Medicare fraud for receiving disability benefits ...  while he was employed by the Social Security Administration. Zing!

In Owings Mills, a (human) burglar pooped on the porch. (“Feces on the front porch?” said Lt. Stephen Doarnberger, assistant commander of the Baltimore County Police’s Franklin Precinct. “That’s new.”)

The Harford Dagger's crime blotter is just adorable ("A caller from the 2900 block of Nova Scotia Road reported nine cows in the caller’s front lawn Thursday.")

Glad to see former Baltimore officer and author of Cop in the Hood author Peter Moskos has a new book out (yes, it came out last year, but just noticed) the title = "In Defense of Flogging"

Yech, the vote suppression people have set to work here in MD, claiming a whole bunch of registered voters are actually dead people. You may recall similar efforts in NC, Wisconsin, Ohio, etc. where a fake-nonprofit (linked to "True the Vote," sponsored by the Koch Bros) claimed 27,500 people should have been dropped from the rolls. After taking up many, many hours of the state election board's time, not a single case of voting fraud was uncovered (NC had exactly one case of voter impersonation in the past 12 years).

'I don’t think there’s anything about whichI will ever be more grateful'

Have you seen these two, wanted for attempted armed robbery on the Light Rail? (Left, via WBAL)

Robberies galore in the southeast and coats for the homeless stolen in the southern, reports the Baltimore Guide

Last week's four murders recapped in the Ink. Says O'Malley of the drop in the murder toll this year, "I don’t think there’s anything about which I will ever be more grateful in public service."

The WaPo follows up on the case following the killing of U of MD student Justin DeSha-Overcash

Police backtrack on the whole "prosecutors are stalling and hindering our cases" thing

Two "doctors" (can you call them doctors if they lost their licenses to practice?) are facing murder charges under Maryland's "viable fetus" law after two botched abortions. The women lived.

Nathan A. Chapman Jr., once a prominent man about town, is now a man about a halfway house*

Hellz yes, tax giveaways need more scrutiny

The FBI says gun sales are up

The Tribune Co. bankruptcy case will lurch on until at least this summer with hearings not starting until May. In better news, the judge has reversed himself, deciding that Zell won't be in line for a bankruptcy payout after all.

Give 'Em Hell Zell!

Some fabulous media news-- the Tribune Co., (owners of the Sun) is going to be sold for real this time and will go private (as it should have been all along). So long, Chandlers... don't let the door hit you where the Good Lord split you!

The new owner, Sam Zell, is "bullish" on the news business and developing the Internet side of the Tribune's holdings, his soon-to-be papers report. He's baldish, gnomish, sent his brother-in-law to jail, and is fond of ducks, motorcycles, salty language and contemporary art. What's not to like? (Though the title "vulture investor" is a bit unsettling. And all that debt.)

More coverage: NYT