l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 参议院民主党领袖、极左的Harry Reid，现在是最富有的参议员之一，住在首府华盛顿
的超豪华的Ritz公寓中。他的财富从哪里来？
http://www.dirtymoneyharry.com/reidmoney.html
Where Reid's Money Came From
By Daxton Brown
d*********[email protected]
In the Sharron Angle vs Reid debate on October 14th, Angle asked Senator
Reid how he was able to accumulate so much wealth on a politicians salary.
One would suppose that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a fairly
important person and many in the media would already have answers to this
question. However, other than his self-serving autobiography, the only
biography of Reid is the one I have written, titled HARRY, Money Mob &
Influence In Harry Reid’s Nevada. The absence of reporting on Reid’s
background is the usual slurry of bias, laziness and incompetence that we
have come to expect from our press, so I became his reluctant biographer to
fill the void.
Doing a book report on myself, either I have fabricated a salacious expose
from whole-cloth and Harry Reid is an absolute Saint, or he is among the
most corrupt whorehouse politicians the U.S. has ever faced (and I use
whorehouse literally, not figuratively) taking money from every mark he
could find. Everything I have researched about Harry Mason Reid points to
such massive corruption that if only a small percentage of what I and others
have unearthed is true, Senator Reid makes Charlie Rangel look like a
choirboy.
The money shot is that in the early 90s I had worked with a gentleman named
Don Williams, a well known and respected (sometimes feared) Democratic
political consultant in Nevada who had run Harry Reid’s early campaigns
from 1965 (Hospital board) through 1968 (State Assembly), 1970 (Lieutenant
Governor) and finally a defeat in 1974 for Senate against Senator Paul
Laxalt. When I started to write my book on Reid in the middle of 2009, I of
course immediately called Don and asked if he had any stories about Reid.
Don had a haymaker:
I was in Reno during the (1970) Lt Governor’s race and Harry called and
said to go down to the River House (casino), and see Joe Conforte. I was
interested in Conforte, because at that time he was bringing in San
Francisco pollsters during the elections. He hired polling outfits, which
was pretty unusual considering he was a well known pimp. We were able to get
one big poll. I had run races where pollsters made lots money off us, but
Conforte’s polls were better. Conforte looks like a Damon Runyon pimp. We
hit it off pretty well. George Knapp (Channel 8 Reporter) did a report on
him recently down in Brazil, Conforte doesn’t look like he’s aged at all.
Well Conforte says to me, “I want you give this to Harry Reid.” And he
hands me a big fat envelope. One time Conforte took me to this double-wide
trailer. It was pretty opulent and attached by a secret door to the Mustang
Ranch Conforte had a whole wall of huge paper shopping bags with money
sitting there and had me help count it out. Conforte also took me out to his
car one time and showed me a whole trunk full of absentee ballots filled
out for Harry. He actually offered me the opportunity to open the ballots to
check them if I wanted, but I didn’t want my fingerprints on there. So,
you could say Harry Reid’s campaign was partially oiled by the sweat of
Mustang Ranch whores. Interview, Don Williams, 10-27-2009
Don Williams has since been polygraphed on his statements and I no longer
consider them in dispute. The excruciating problem is that if Reid was
taking money from pimp Conforte (who it is well documented bribed a flotilla
of Nevada politicians over decades), it means Reid’s entire career was
compromised, especially starting with Reid’s tenure as Chairman of the
Nevada Gaming Commission starting in 1977. In the popular media culture,
that would imply that in the movie Casino, Deniro/Ace/Lefty Rosenthal really
did give money and perhaps more to Dickey Smothers/Harry Reid. It would
also imply that in real life at the Tropicana casino skim, Joe Agosto, the
bagman for the Civella crime family, really did have a “Cleanface in his
pocket”.
Taking unreported money from pimps is explosive enough, but perhaps just old
news from 35 years ago. Except as I continued to research I found a thread
of examples of bribery that extend to the present and also include influence
by denizens of the “Adult” Entertainment Industry, as well as vestiges of
the mob right out of the movie Casino. Strikingly similar to Conforte’s
well documented penchant for bribing politicians in the 70s and 80s is the G
-Sting scandal of 2003, where two Reid protégés (County Commissioners Erin
Kenny, and Dario Herrera) took bribes from topless bar owners. G-Sting
gives us an end cap to forty years of influence peddling, however, there are
thirty chapters of events in my book detailing crony land deals, sleazy
associations and intimidation which link back all the way to the pimp
Conforte days. My research, and that of another author finishing eleven
years of his own research on a book on Conforte, are still going strong and
are headed towards a further dirtying of the Reid record.
The Conforte accusations would be old events if Harry Reid hadn’t based
much of his federal elective career on having been the guy who faced down
the mob during his appointed stint as Chairman of the Nevada Gaming
Commission from 1977 to 1981. Could Conforte and his mob associates have had
a hold on Reid during the 80s too? First be aware that pimp Joe Conforte
had spent a great deal of money and effort bribing everyone under the sun to
get prostitution legalized in Nevada in 1971. The number of bribed
politicians is substantial, and admitted both by Conforte in a 2008
Interview with I-Team reporter George Knapp in Brazil, as well as being
documented by numerous indictments and news stories beyond this articles’
scope. Conforte also claimed in a 1983 DOJ testimony to have bribed popular
governor Mike O’Callaghan:
In the early 1970's, Gino Del Carlo was a County Commissioner in Storey
County, Nevada. In or around 1972, Del Carlo died. Since the Governor of the
state had the authority to fill the term of a County Commissioner, [
Conforte] wanted to be sure the Governor appointed a person who would be in
favor of prostitution. [Conforte] asked Claiborne to contact Governor Mike O
'Callaghan and request that O'Callaghan appoint Laura Del Carlo, wife of
Gino Del Carlo, as the interim replacement.
[Conforte] was confident that O'Callaghan would make the appointment of
Laura Del Carlo for him. [Conforte] explained that in 1970, he had "donated"
to O'Callaghan's race in the primary. He had donated $5,000 initially, and
in September, 1970, gave another $1,000 to O'Callaghan's wife to pay some
miscellaneous bills. Towards the end of the year, he donated another $7,000
to $8,000 for O'Callaghan's campaign.
[Conforte] advised [blank] was a witness to the payments made to O'Callaghan
's campaign. [Conforte] explained that the first $5,000 was paid to O'
Callaghan at [blank]. He believe the future payments were given to O'
Callaghan's campaign manager.
O'Callaghan did, in fact, appoint [Laura Del Carlo] to the County Commission
. Department of Justice Interview With Joe Conforte, 1983 from internal Memo
, as supplied by correspondence with Oscar Dey Williams, author of the book
Conforte due for release in 2011.
Federal Judge Harry Claiborne, mentioned above and also a friend of Harry
Reid, was impeached for taking money and prostitutes as bribes from Conforte
. Governor O’Callaghan was Reid’s mentor, first as high school teacher and
boxing coach to eventually appointing Reid to the Gaming Commission in 1977
after Reid’s failed Senate race against Paul Laxalt. Moreover, the late
Pete Echeverria, who chaired the Nevada Gaming Commission before Reid, was
also a former lawyer to Joe Conforte during a catch-all tax evasion trial in
1963 (really pandering and intimidation). Plus we have Don Williams
polygraphed statement that he picked up money from Conforte for Reid on two
campaigns. In short, we aren’t arguing whether my history of Reid
corruption is plausible, only whether it is 100% accurate and despite all
the evidence Reid somehow miraculously remained a Saint amongst the corrupt.
My conjecture is that Reid was juiced into the Gaming Commission
Chairmanship by Joe Conforte. What is little understood is that Joe Conforte
, along with a mob associate named John Simone and possibly Jimmy “the
Weasel” Fratianno, had delusions that they could get licensed as casino
operators as late as 1976. Simone and Conforte had met in 1974 at the Canyon
Country Club Hotel in Palm Springs to discuss building a casino, and
Conforte had followed through by buying 300 some odd acres near Sparks
Nevada (which also devolved into a Commissioner being bribed, a common theme
). According to an article by Mike Oliva in the March 21st, 1976 Nevada
State Journal:
Conforte also denied knowing any of the figures with whom police say he met
in Palm Springs.
"Hey, I don't have anything to do with these Mafias," the brothel operator
said . "Everybody always wants to say I'm with the Mafias I'm not a Mafia".
However, Conforte did say he'd like to see his hillside property across from
the golf course site turn into a casino center.
"There's nothing I'd like better than to see five hotels the size of the MGM
Grand on that hillside," he said. "There'd be nothing better for the
community, ''
Despite the protestations of innocence from a multiply convicted pimp, one
can hypothesize that Harry Reid was juiced into the appointive Chairmanship
of the Nevada Gaming Commission in 1977 specifically so he could help get
Joe Conforte and others a casino license. Some might call that a slander,
but if Don Williams’ polygraphed statement is correct about picking up
money from Conforte for Reid, then the entire Harry Reid mythic story
collapses in doubt. Certainly, Reid overlooked other dubious gaming
application during his Commission tenure, notably at the Aladdin with
entertainer Wayne Newton and also when the hundreds of pages of FBI files on
the mob connections of Frank Sinatra were ignored when Sinatra came before
the gaming commission.
Also potentially significant is that Reid’s long time good friend, Lawyer
Jay Brown, was helping represent mob crooks Joe Agosto and Deil Gustafson at
the Tropicana skim in the late 70s and 80s while best friend Reid was on
the Commission. Reid claims his friendship with Brown was never abused and
he was never influenced, though that isn’t what notorious Lefty Rosenthal
thought when he commented on his view of Brown’s defense capabilities.
One lesson, if I need a friend I'll buy a dog! As for Jay Brown, he never
returned my calls and continues to practice his style of bullshit. If I
sound bitter, I apologize, I’m really not. Time heals most wounds. Feature
Story: State Gamers Petition Supreme Court (Desert Rats 3) Posted by Frank
Rosenthal on January 22, 1999
Lefty’s disappointment in Jay Brown was most likely because Brown and
partner mob lawyer Oscar Goodman had implied their friendship with Harry
Reid would save the day. While Lefty did end up in the Black Book, it is
never clear what motivated the mob at that point in time because Jimmy “the
Weasel” Fratianno was squealing, Frank “the Bomp” Bompensiero had been
executed for being a rat, and Tony “the Ant” Spilotro was under FBI
pressure. So we just don’t know whether Reid was on the take while his best
friend was representing mobsters, or whether there is a tooth fairy.
However, a critical casino owner from that period tells me “everyone knew
Reid was on the take”.
Reid has often claimed through the years that he has not abused Lawyer to
Lawyer firewalls, especially the one he has with friend Jay Brown. For
example, in 2009 supposedly Reid never contacted lawyer/nude bar owner
Dominic Gentile when State Attorney General Catherine Cortes Mastos was
contemplating offering Gentile $425,000 to prosecute Lt. Governor Brian
Krolicki on later dismissed and unfounded embezzlement charges (“
coincidentally” Krolicky was then the presumptive opponent for Reid’s
Senate seat). Then there are the land deals. In 2002 there were the reports
of the suspicious Patrick Lane deal in partnership with ubiquitous friend
Jay Brown where $750,00 was hidden in a game of ownership musical chairs.
Then there is the 250 acres of Reid’s Searchlight land (55 acres co-owned
with Jay Brown) that was being jockeyed into position to be a potentially $
50 million development with shady builder Jim Rhodes (the four lane improved
highway to Searchlight goes right by Reid’s land). Then there are the
shenanigans involving the Coyote Springs development of lawyer/friend Harvey
Whittemore where Reid moved mountains to obtain transmission line and
desert tortoise rights – now defunct the land is being repositioned for
largess from a solar plant operator. Currently there is the Anderson Dairy
scandal where dairyman (with real cows) and Republican member of the State
Assembly Ed Goedart was forced to ship milk to California, then ship
California milk back to Nevada while Reid supporter Andersen Dairy is given
a waiver.
Then there is Reid’s saving jobs at the City Center megaresort complex.
Reid strong-armed money from banks to finish the project, supposedly to save
jobs. In reality, Reid succeeded in bailing out long time friend and top
contributor Kirk Kerkorian and the MGM as well as partner Dubai World and
notorious Pansy Ho. Reid could have saved multiple other projects in the
Vegas Valley, but chose his friends.
In a September 15th townhall meeting in the Summerlin community in Las Vegas
, there was a surrogate debate between Sig Rogich (who now heads Republicans
for Reid and stood in for Reid) and Richard Ziser (who ran against Reid in
2004 and stood in for Sharron Angle). I asked Mr. Rogich directly if he
thought Don Williams was a liar about Reid’s connections to Conforte.
Rogich replied that he had called Williams recently and that they simply had
different recollections of events and these were in any case old events.
Most telling, Mr. Rogich refused to commit Senator Reid to taking a
polygraph to clear his name. Of course Rogich wasn’t there at the Conforte
payoffs, so couldn’t know their validity. Clearly, once on the corruption
rollercoaster a politician can’t really get off, so lobbyist Rogich’s
contention that this was something from the distant past is strictly wishful
spin.
Sadly, Rogich himself is part of a quid pro quo with Reid regarding
something called the DesertXpress high-speed rail where Rogich stands to
reap huge rewards during the building of a high speed rail from Las Vegas to
Los Angeles. Immediately after Reid endorsed the DesertXpress over the
rival Maglev technology, Rogich started the Republicans for Reid PAC.
Laughably, the DesertXpress technology is so inferior that it would dead-end
in Victorville unable to overcome the grade at the Cajon Pass to Los
Angeles.
I could go on and on, and indeed I have in a book which continues to grow (
it is published through Amazon.com with just-in-time printing technology, so
I can update the edition regularly). But here is the truly disturbing part,
as an author I have at least ten story lines that I can’t even go into
because they take the form of Reid getting a kickback from X, but the source
is afraid to talk publicly. Is it fair as an author to drop hints that a
subject (even a politician) is even dirtier than you can say, and then not
divulge sources on record? It certainly is not fair, but neither is the way
Harry Reid conducts his intimidation campaigns in Nevada. These aren’t nice
people, they are thug leftovers from the movie Casino.
People can judge for themselves, read my book and then see if Harry Reid is
willing to take a polygraph that he never took money from Joe Conforte.
Either Harry Reid is oblivious to fifty years of corruption, or he is part
of all of it. Either scenario should give Nevada voters and American’s in
general the absolute Halloween willies. |
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