Thursday, August 14, 2008
The Advocate
Richard Blassberg
FBI And Justice Department
Must Act Now
Recently the Westchester Community has become painfully aware of the fact that all is not right in their District Attorney’s Office. The relationship between District Attorney Janet DiFiore and certain police departments, particularly the Harrison and Yonkers Police Departments, has led to numerous serious miscarriages of justice, and the further abuse of innocent civilian victims of police brutality and harassment, at the hands of DA DiFiore and her staff.
Until last week what appeared to be the ultimate case of prosecutorial misconduct in the handling of a victim of police brutality in Westchester was Irma Marquez, body-slammed, and nearly killed by Yonkers Police Officer Wayne Simoes; then maliciously and mindlessly
prosecuted on trumped-up, totally false, charges by DiFiore and Company.
Unbeknownst to Simoes, and several of-ficers present at the Marquez incident, the entire event was recorded by a concealed video camera, and the tape obtained by her attorneys. Incredibly, that tape was shown to Janet DiFiore, but she proceeded with the bogus prosecution
nevertheless.
DiFiore’s actions have been totally indefensible, not only in the Marquez case, but also in numerous other similar cases as well. And, until last Monday, Marquez represented, perhaps, the most appalling example of justice gone haywire, and criminal, in its application by Westchester’s District Attorney to the criminal acts of violent police officers.
Not surprisingly, Ms. Marquez was acquitted of all charges against her in May, in State Court following a jury trial, and is now suing for $11.3 million in United States District Court, represented by Attorney Gary Certain of New York City. Last Monday, however, Attorney
Jonathan Lovett of White Plains filed a lawsuit in that same Court on behalf of Rui Florim, a 26-year-old Yonkers resident, against several Yonkers police officers, Police Commissioner Hartnett, and the City of Yonkers, seeking $20 million for an unprovoked, ethnically-motivated, violation of his Constitutional rights when he was forcibly abducted in the Town of Greenburgh and repeatedly beaten
into unconsciousness by six Yonkers police officers in plain clothes, using two unmarked Yonkers police cars; a pre-planned, calculated conspiracy and criminal act.
Florim, who was dragged from a car in which he was riding home from work as a passenger in the Village of Hartsdale, was so severely injured that he required 70 stitches and staples to close the wounds to his face and head, spending five days in the intensive care unit of
St. Joseph’s Hospital, Yonkers; barred the entire time by Yonkers Police from being seen by his lawyer or by his family.
Following the filing last Monday morning, August 4, Attorney Lovett and Mr. Florim held a press conference attended by major broadcast and print media. Lovett, responding to a question about his client’s long-term injuries, told reporters, “He continues to suffer from
migraine headaches, episodes of fear and sweat, post-traumatic after-effects, and scars. But, DA DiFiore couldn’t care less.” Florim added, “There is no justice. I’ve been going through this for two and a half years, and I want to get on with my life.”
Lovett then said, “They called him a ‘spic’, apparently believing he was Latino. There was a racial angle.” He went on, “My client was
denied his right to counsel, and was a victim of a conspiracy to violate his civil rights.” Lovett declared, “The DA is affirmatively encouraging
police brutality.”
Jonathan Lovett summarized, saying, “This case is worse than the Marquez case, in a different way. This case was premeditated and calculated. First, Mr. Florim was assaulted by a goon squad that went hunting for him; and then an assault by the district attorney. She wants
to prosecute a man for being beaten.”
As in the Marquez case, and scores of instances of Yonkers police brutality, DA Janet DiFiore, and her top-level assistant, James McCarty, who is prosecuting the Florim case, are very well aware of the fact that Mr. Florim is completely innocent of the bogus charges that have
been brought against him; and that those in need of prosecution are the six Yonkers police officers who nearly killed him. Yet, DiFiore and her Office continue to move forward in co-conspiracy with the dirty cops under a criminally motivated commissioner, Edmund Hartnett, caught up in an incestuously driven relationship.
The Justice Department, and the FBI, must now take a good long look, not only at the actions of DA DiFiore, and her Office, with respect to the crimes perpetrated against Irma Marquez, but also against Rui Florim, and numerous other innocent civilian victims. DiFiore’s deliberate prosecutorial misconduct, in covering up the actionable state and federal crimes by Yonkers Police, are no mere oversights or misjudgments. They are the calculated acts of a totally misguided prosecutor obligated and indebted for “installation” into her position.
What more serious betrayal can any prosecutor work against innocent citizens than wrongfully prosecuting them to cover up criminal acts of violence performed against them by those sworn to protect them? How many more Bureau Chiefs and Assistant DAs under her command, will Janet DiFiore be permitted to sacrifice and jettison for having carried out her orders before federal authorities finally place the responsibility, and the blame, squarely on her shoulders where it most certainly belongs?
How many more innocent men, women and children must suffer under this sick, unjust, scheme before DA Di-Fiore is apprehended and removed? The time for action is now.
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