#Ferguson town leadership was running a multi million dollar racketeering & extortion scheme

[sheshe2]

Where are the arrest warrants for those involved in the shake down of poor black people in #Ferguson Missouri? In a city with a population of 21,000 people, 16,000 have outstanding warrants. Nearly everyone was criminalize. The police and courts made it a crime to exist in black skin. We live in a country where a state government is running a multi million dollar racketeering & extortion scheme targeting black people & no one is arrested. Kwame M. Kilpatrick was convicted of racketeering, fraud and extortion but Ferguson town leaders got severance pay. It’s disgraceful when those in power see a crime and squeeze their eyes shut because the racketeer & extortionist have white skin. But when you’re white, it’s alriiiight.

All of the bogus arrest records should be thrown out. The Ferguson leadership ran a straight GANGSTA racket. They use police to target poor blacks, arrested them and then the courts shook them down for money, gave then criminal records which was sure to keep them from voting and they’d stay in power…until Darren Wilson murdered Michael Brown and the corruption was exposed.

Huffington Post: To give some context as to how truly extreme this is, a comparison may be useful. In 2014, the Boston Municipal Court System, for a city of 645,000 people, issued about 2,300 criminal warrants. The Ferguson Municipal Court issued 9,000, for a population 1/30th the size of Boston’s.

Ferguson and the Modern Debtor’s Prison

Debtor’s prisons are supposed to be illegal in the United States but today poor people who fail to pay even small criminal justice fees are routinely being imprisoned. The problem has gotten worse recently because strapped states have dramatically increased the number of criminal justice fees….Failure to pay criminal justice fees can result in revocation of an individual’s drivers license, arrest and imprisonment. Individuals with revoked licenses who drive (say to work to earn money to pay their fees) and are apprehended can be further fined and imprisoned. Unpaid criminal justice debt also results in damaged credit reports and reduced housing and employment prospects. Furthermore, failure to pay fees can mean a violation of probation and parole terms which makes an individual ineligible for Federal programs such as food stamps, Temporary Assistance to Needy Family funds and Social Security Income for the elderly and disabled.





Read More: http://3chicspolitico.com/2015/03/16/ferguson-town-leadership-was-running-a-multi-million-dollar-racketeering-extortion-scheme/

[marym625]

1. K&R!

[HereSince1628]

2. The entire city gov't must be suspended as soon as DOJ

can arrange it with MO state authorities. I've seen awful things in the 7 decades my life spans and this is without a doubt in the top 5 inexcusable awful things.

I've never been a supporter of marshall law, but it's looking like federal intervention is essential.

[erronis]

7. I guess you don't know about the history of MO

Like most states between the North and the South, MO is one of the most racist and violent. There are pockets of nice people (KCMO, perhaps some suburbs of SL) but the heritage and pride is invested in being WHITE (for the whites). I lived in KS (Quantrill Raiders), northern KY, and northern VA, and I can attest to the virulence that the old spawn of the confederacy maintain long after their grandpappies went to ground.

Not sure the state of MO would voluntarily acquiesce to federal intervention.

Personally, I think it's time for state's rights to get way to the back of the bus. Perhaps just a footnote in history.

[HereSince1628]

10. I live in WI, what might be the most secretly racist state in the north

I say, give MO a chance. If they fail, then push them out of the way.

Equal protection is a Federal protection it must be enforced. If it's resisted by the state government, conditions of rebellion are in place. The choice is MO's, the easy way or the hard way.

[Farmbrook]

49. I say do not give MO a chance

Nobody gave the blacks in Ferguson a chance. Nobody gave Kwame Kilpatrick a chance. Book them all and send them to jail like the poor black they burdened.

[Enthusiast]

50. +1

[Madmiddle]

65. Like the chance they gave people of Ferguson.

Time to close them down and start over...

[tridim]

42. Yep, central Missouri is rotten to the core.

Ever heard of Lone Jack, MO?

[gordianot]

45. Or the notorious speed trap Bourbon MO was shut down.

When they shot and killed an unarmed white local then found out the money was pocketed. No need to worry about racism this is hard core Klan Country. Roman Catholic objections to the Klan the large number in Central MO have their own version.

[billhicks76]

34. This Is How Revolutions Start

[justalovebug]

3. That number has to be way off

What about the elderly population , children and young teens that are included in that 21,000




"In a city with a population of 21,000 people, 16,000 have outstanding warrants."

[CatWoman]

4. what about them?

[sheshe2]

5. Here...

This post was co-authored by Oren Nimni, a civil rights attorney in Boston and member of the National Lawyers Guild's executive board.

In the city of Ferguson, nearly everyone is a wanted criminal.

That may seem like hyperbole, but it is a literal fact. In Ferguson -- a city with a population of 21,000 -- 16,000 people have outstanding arrest warrants, meaning that they are currently actively wanted by the police. In other words, if you were to take four people at random, the Ferguson police would consider three of them fugitives.

That statistic should be truly shocking. Yet in the wake of the Department of Justice's withering report on the city's policing practices, it has gone almost entirely unmentioned. News reports and analysis have focused on the racism discovered in departmental emails, and the gangsterish financial "shakedown" methods deployed against African Americans. In doing so, they have missed the full picture of Ferguson's operation, which reveals a totalizing police regime beyond any of Kafka's ghastliest nightmares.

The Department of Justice's 102-page report is a rich source of damning facts about the Ferguson criminal justice system. But tucked halfway in and passed over quickly is a truly revelatory set of figures: the arrest warrant data for the Ferguson Municipal Court.

It turns out that nearly everyone in the city is wanted for something. Even internal police department communications found the number of arrest warrants to be "staggering". By December of 2014, "over 16,000 people had outstanding arrest warrants that had been issued by the court." The report makes clear that this refers to individual people, rather than cases (i.e. people with many cases are not being counted multiple times). However, if we do look at the number of cases, the portrait is even starker. In 2013, 32,975 offenses had associated warrants, so that there were 1.5 offenses for every city resident.

More http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-robinson/the-shocking-finding-from-the-doj-ferguson_b_6858388.html

[justalovebug]

17. wow it's hard to wrap your mind around this

I don't know what the legal remedy for this is but the DOJ
should take over all law enforcement in that town.

I'm not saying charge the cops but a few weeks off with pay and a evaluation
done on each and every police officers record , then go from there.

Same goes for any judge or any DA

[Enthusiast]

51. That statistic is truly shocking.

How does John Roberts square this with his Voting Right Act ruling?

[mopinko]

6. what makes you think they are not included?

little bitty kids, maybe, but teens? top targets. old people? easy pickins.

[etherealtruth]

14. It is entirely possible to have more than one warrant issued for one's arrest

I would encourage you to read/ listen too some of the stories .... NPR (I know, I know) did a really good job highlighting how the municipal government ruined people's lives with arrests, fines that escalated ...

[sheshe2]

20. I'll check it out,

Thanks etherealtruth.

[etherealtruth]

23. I came away feeling sick to my stomach :-(

[hopemountain]

35. yes - it is hard to not feel the oppression

or sense there is NO FREEDOM for the people and families in ferguson.

[Enthusiast]

52. That's the beauty of NPR as a propaganda mechanism.

They give you just enough genuine journalism to suck you in.

[47of74]

8. Time to dissolve the government of Furgeson

With assistance from Federalized National Guard units if needed.

[brer cat]

9. Stunning and dismaying.

The primarily black citizens of Ferguson have been treated like crap simply because the city COULD. I think the records of most should be wiped clean. Then go through the police department and city leadership with a broom and sweep the existing people out the door.

Thanks for posting, sheshe. We need to keep the spotlight on Ferguson until major changes can be made.

[sheshe2]

22. Yes it is stunning and dismaying, brer cat.

Yes, a focus on Ferguson, yet this does not end here. I read that an investigation of the PD in Cleveland opened a year before Tamir Rice's shooting. Others are being investigated as well. The deadly use of force, the racism and the use of POC as a source of revenue must stop.

[LuckyLib]

11. This is one small town in America. The tip of the iceberg. How many others

operate with the same MO? Funding their municipality on the backs of poor and disenfranchised folks. Other rocks will be lifted up around the country and we'll see the same thing.

[grasswire]

60. exactly.

We should assume that many communities have this kind of cash cow in place.

[msanthrope]

12. Luzerne County. nt

[sheshe2]

25. I know. nt

[etherealtruth]

13. The interviews with the citizens are heart wrenching ...

those sick effs truly ruined people's lives

[Comrade Grumpy]

15. That town needs to get slapped with a RICO suit. Holder, where are you?

[Dont call me Shirley]

16. Could RICO law be used?

This is what happens when the rich don't pay their debt to society.

[Moostache]

56. This is exactly what the rich WANT.

The people of nearby communities in St. Louis, especially LaDue - the St. Louis equivalent of Beverly Hills in some aspects - want "the blacks" segregated and controlled by aggressive and racist policing. The makes the blue bloods feel "safe". It's also why many of them did not bat an eyelash when the FPD rolled out the tanks, body armor and sniper rifles during the initial protests last August. These people are disgusting to the core and they honestly do not see anything wrong with it. As far as they're concerned, Ferguson, Jennings, Hazelwood, Normandy and many more are simply outdoor prisons to keep the blacks in poverty and well away from sight. If they need to be "put down", then so be it...

St. Louis is a region that is stewing in racial animosity.

The black population is segregated from the white and there are parts of the region that are 95+% homogeneous for each race. The real crime is in those black neighborhoods that are under white governments and policing and are used as de facto prison labor and cash flow to the local governments. This is a situation that has been going on since the 1960's and is still roiling. I get the feeling that the "plan" to keep this from exploding is to allow little ventings like Ferguson every so often without ever really changing anything but the bare minimum. Its like trying to keep a boiling pot from going over onto the stove by adjusting the burner instead of removing the pot from the heat.

Eventually, that pot is going to boil over and the mess in the aftermath is ALWAYS worse than if you just take the pot off the heat instead...

[Dont call me Shirley]

64. I never liked the aura of St Louis, now I know why. Thanks for the very pertinent info.

[KT2000]

18. How can the people obtain justice?

Would a class action lawsuit be appropriate to conduct an investigation into everyone of the cases and set them right?
Would the DOJ be able to call for such an examination without a lawsuit?
This cannot stand. Lives have been ruined and they need to be set right.

[tblue37]

19. KnR. nt

[blkmusclmachine]

21. Savvy!

[eppur_se_muova]

24. I'm sure they're not alone.

Poke around AL, TX, WV long enough and you'll find little towns where traffic tickets (and cash seizures) are the principal source of revenue.

[Tarheel_Dem]

26. This is the sickest, most vile thing I've heard in awhile, and trust me, I've heard some sick crap.

I wish that every crooked a**hole involved in this racket is prosecuted, and gets a cell of his own.

[riversedge]

27. I do think records should be cleaned so folks can get jobs and live

their lives as humans (except those who have violence against them-credible).

[TeeYiYi]

28. Big, FAT K+R.....

Ferguson is so depressingly racist and corrupt! Those poor people. If I lived closer to Missouri, I would be out in the streets protesting with them.

I wonder if there's any chance of making change through upcoming elections... I would like to believe so but probably not.

Someone needs to throw a match on that town, burn it to the ground and start over from scratch. They should fire every government official from the mayor on down, including (and especially) the police and maybe even the fire department.
DOJ shined a light. Now they need to clean house.

Black.Lives.Matter.

TYY

[Fumesucker]

29. There lots of Fergusons around the country, thousands of them

By no means is Ferguson unique in targeting poor people to extract money out of them with the criminal justice system.

[questionseverything]

30. it seems to be the entire point of

the justice system nowadays


10 million stupid laws for we the little people to obey but the 1% are too big to jail/fail

[Enthusiast]

53. +1

[sheshe2]

33. Everything you said is true.

Sadly Ferguson is no where near unique.

Truth, Fumesucker!

[NJCher]

46. research paper project

I suspect it is going on in NJ, based on what I've seen.

I suggested this topic to a research paper student, and she is checking into it. One figure that might be useful is to simply do a comparison of ticket income in a city vs. other forms of income. In Ferguson, it's 20% of the budget from tickets.

So the question is: percentage of ticket income for the city's budget. I would love to find a list like that for the State of NJ's municipalities, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist. Yet.



Cher

[Old and In the Way]

31. Time to remove Organized Crime controlling justice here.

Arrest them all.

[Comrade Grumpy]

32. Gives a whole new meaning to "criminal justice."

[hopemountain]

36. absolutely outrageous

this must be made right and just. beginning, now. damn the f'ckers. no wonder why the mayor won't resign and wears spiffy dandy suits during interviews.

[JDPriestly]

37. Horrors!

[Enthusiast]

54. This type of injustice is the real enemy the nation should be at war with.

[JDPriestly]

55. It's unbelievable.

[Hekate]

38. 99th Rec

[stonecutter357]

39. K&R!

[eridani]

40. Total fines are actually not that much

Seattle has a population of 640,500, similar to Boston (about 30 times the size). The city collected 59 million in fines (only 23 times what Ferguson collected.

http://www.king5.com/story/news/2015/02/20/seattle-parking-fees-fines-budget-revenue/23711745/

Street parking in Seattle is shrinking, and in the city's busiest and fastest-growing neighborhoods what remains comes at premium prices. Paid street parking can cost as much as $4 per hour, generating annual revenues of $37 million for the City of Seattle.

In 2014, those fines added up to $21.8 million -- 46 percent more than parking fines brought in a decade ago, according to data provided to KING 5 by the Seattle Municipal Court.

I'm thinking that the actual problem is that Ferguson's total comes from a much larger number of warrants for smaller amounts (can't find statistical data on arrest warrants). That is nickel and diming harassment.

[BumRushDaShow]

41. K&R

I am hoping that a result of this, that maybe some towns will change their practices. I know a lot won't. But some may and that will benefit those residents.

[heaven05]

43. the truth about Ferguson

is the example of a larger, larger american problem. Racial hate based on ones color of skin. 200 years and counting and it's still a depressing fact....racism is as american as apple pie.

[blackspade]

44. Disgusting what people will do to make a buck.

I highly doubt that Furguson is an isolated case.

[Plucketeer]

47. Legal Leeches! nt

[aggiesal]

48. College team logo (Intramural)

[geek tragedy]

57. there should be RICO prosecutions nt

[napkinz]

58. this is not an isolated case ...

Imagine how many Fergusons we would find if the DOJ investigated every police department in every town and city in this country.

[salin]

62. sort of a toxic mix.... mix lingering jim crow with "no new taxes"

(use fines and fees instead!) add some malignant supremacy, have most govt employees (police, courts, etc.) live outside of the city limits.

These conditions are not unique to Ferguson. I doubt the results are unique other.

[brooklynite]

59. I may have found a solution to their financial problem...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026376593

[rhett o rick]

61. And yet the DoJ couldn't do a thing. nm

[msanthrope]

66. What are you talking about? You do realize the DOJ forced a judge, the clerk of the court, and

a city manager out.....and that's just for starters. The federal case moves on.....monitoring won't be over for years.

[randome]

63. Wipe the slate clean. Start over. Have St. Louis City run the police department.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.[/center][/font][hr]

[napkinz]

67. kick!

nt