Excerpts

Breaking Bonnie Out continued…

Her third husband continued to stalk her.

One night in 1986 Foreshaw stopped for a drink at the Jamaican Progressive League in Hartford. A man named Hector Freeman offered her a drink. She declined. Freeman pursued Foreshaw, would not leave her alone, followed her to her car. Freeman asked why Foreshaw thought she was “too good for a drink” with him. Freeman said again and again he was going to [f–] her up. Freeman came toward her, he reached into his pocket. Foreshaw feared Freeman was going to pull a knife or a gun. Instead, Freeman pulled a pregnant woman in front of him.  Buy more COOL JUSTICE here…

Woody Allen’s slippery tap dance continued…

This latest revelation shows the lengths to which Allen went in the midst of his custody battle 20 years ago with former partner Mia Farrow of Bridgewater.
These PIs did not come cheap. Some of them – former FBI and DEA agents, state troopers and municipal cops – charge more per hour than the top tiers of Connecticut lawyers. When your net worth has been estimated at upwards of $65 million, you can hire the best. You can reach out to all kinds of people.

The case has been resurrected with Maureen Orth’s blockbuster opus in the November edition of Vanity Fair. Orth elicited the first public statements by Dylan Farrow, now 27, regarding allegations that Allen violated her in 1992.

Allen has vehemently and repeatedly denied the charges. Buy more COOL JUSTICE here…

Who killed Gabe Caporino continued…

The world of missing persons is like another dimension.

I’ve made just a couple forays into this world. It’s a world of forced enlightenment for the families of victims. For me – in semi-retirement after a career writing and teaching – the journey has crystallized impressions of how police work or don’t work to solve crimes.

As a young reporter, I learned quickly how some cops, prosecutors and judges will do virtually anything to stop crimes from being solved.

In New London, Connecticut, I covered a case in which cops destroyed evidence and a judge tipped off a politically-connected suspect in a hit-and-run. During a stint in Washington, D.C., I learned how payoff systems are institutionalized by slicker and smarter operatives of all political stripes. More recently, in a missing person case in Waterbury, Connecticut, I uncovered a scheme in which police suppressed records showing they refused to follow up compelling leads in the strangulation and burial of a local man.

In all these cases, the search for public records and intense investigative reporting exposed law enforcement and political corruption that delayed or kept crimes from being solved. Even in this morass, I was privileged to meet many good cops, prosecutors – and yes, even a couple good judges – who would love to do their jobs without corrupt influence.

My initial experience with a missing person case opened the door to an overwhelming barrage of horrendous tales. I can barely take one at a time.

Yet, here I am in New Orleans, walking where Gabe Caporino walked. Buy more COOL JUSTICE here…

Freedom of Information is our right continued…

…that the people do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them; that the people in delegating authority do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for them to know . . .”

We, the people, do not yield sovereignty to the agencies that supposedly serve us. We do not give public servants the right to decide what is good for us to know. How often do you think this principle of self government is violated on a daily basis when citizens request a viewing or copies of the public records they rightfully own?

It depends on factors including what municipal or state office you enter, the demeanor of the public servants and the leadership. Some people actually believe in public service. They tend to be hospitable, even pleasant and helpful. Others act as if you have three heads or are a scout for Martians who are about to vaporize the building. They are backed up by lawyers well-practiced in the delay, deny, delay game.

“Who are you?”

“Why do you want those records?

“Why are you investigating that?”

These words were uttered to my colleague Jack Coraggio of the Litchfield County Times and me during a recent visit to Danbury City Hall in Connecticut. Buy more COOL JUSTICE here…