("Quid coniuratio est?")
[CN -- The following does not necessarily reflect the views of Conspiracy Nation. It merely reports what was said elsewhere.]
SHERMAN SKOLNICK INTERVIEW -- THE JOLIET CONNECTION
Sherman Skolnick was interviewed on Radio Free America (Shortwave, 5.065 MHz, mon-fri, 9 pm cst) on October 20, 1994. Mr. Skolnick is a veteran investigative reporter from Chicago and founder of the "Citizens' Committee to Clean Up the Courts" in that city. Following is my transcription of that interview. Host/Interviewer is Tom Valentine.
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TOM VALENTINE:
O.K. That sounds a lot like that BCCI fire that we talked about
once before.
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Yes, that's right. That's about the size of it.
Now as to what was involved here: very substantial citizens from areas south of Chicago contacted the topmost officials of the DEA, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and complained about the strange goings-on past Moose Island. And what they got... And they complained to Anton R. Valukis himself! And what they got in return, instead of any remedy, were serious threats of bodily harm against themselves and their family. These are not dopers or ex-convicts that were complaining, these were fine, upstanding citizens. And they got no remedy. In fact they got threats.
Now we have been, ourselves, investigating the situation for four years. And when we became aware that the Treasury [Department] unit, who were bitter and disgruntled at being, uh, attempts to stop them...
By the way, the head of the "task force" that we confronted on March... On October 6, '94, previously was a White House aide in the Bush administration and a close crony of George Herbert Walker Bush.
Law enforcement people, and others, that are aware of what's involved here, believe that Bush himself is involved. As to who we directly know is involved, it's the former Governor here, Jim Thompson (he was the Governor of Illinois for 14 years), two of his cronies who were the chief federal prosecutors -- Dan K. Webb, from '81 to '85; and from '86 to '90 was Anton R. Valukis. Also, Fred Foreman(sp?), who was the chief federal prosecutor in this district, covered it up. And, as I said, at the meeting October 6th was the secretary to the current chief federal prosecutor, who is Jim Burns(sp?). I mean, we met in this office in the federal building here, and as I said -- after 35 minutes, the chief of the "task force", Mark Prosperi, got up [and] told me he's not interested. I summarized all that I've just summarized for your listeners. I offered witnesses and documentation. He said he's not interested, and in so many words, went out the door telling me I should mind my own business! Well I head up, for more than 30 years, a public interest citizens group. And we have exposed a great deal of corruption -- not from a political standpoint; that is, not to favor one political party over the other, but in the public interest. And we do it on our cable show, and we've done it on your show in the past, as you know, Tom.
I challenge the DEA, or the ATF (that supposedly investigated the burning down of the building), or the U.S. attorney, or the Justice Department, to finally, once and for all, do something.
I'm Tom Valentine. This is Radio Free America.
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All right, we are back live on Radio Free America. We're chatting with Sherman Skolnick. He's uncovered an investigation, a long-term investigation, that's been going on up in [the] Chicago area, near Joliet.
And as you've been hearing, we've got John in Syracuse, New York. You're on with Sherman. Come ahead, John.
But I had a question for your guest that, on all of the stuff that's gone on in this investigation, how has it been that these agencies aren't talking to each other in this investigation?
Bentsen himself was involved in the CIA and the S&L scandal, according to Pete Brewton's book, The Mafia, the CIA, and George Bush.
But the point here is that the Treasury [Department], at least the unit -- tried. And they've gone to substantial risk, to allow their office to be cleaned out; put onto a truck all their notebooks and performance files and delivered into the hands of private citizens that are making this public. I mean...
Sarah McLendon(sp?) the other day, Tom, in a news conference, asked Bill Clinton when Mena, Arkansas went down and there was drugs bein' smuggled in there, why didn't the state of Arkansas, when he was a Governor, hold an investigation of what was goin' on there. He blew it off, he blew off the question, and said to her, back to her, "Oh, the federal boys were in here doin' all this. And I didn't get involved. All I did was some background checks." And he left it at that. But he said that he knew that there was something going on at the Mena airport. You know, Mr. Skolnick, some of this ties together. And I think some of this stuff has to be tied in, before we can ever press forward on it.
Now the question is, is it the Clinton White House and the Clinton Justice Department ordering various people to look the other way now that the dope transit point has been switched from the Mena, Arkansas area and is just south of Chicago, in Joliet? I mean, there's a vast cover-up in the works! And as I said, very substantial citizens have complained to the DEA and the Justice Department. And instead of any remedy, they got threats of death and so on!
So there's a vast cover-up in the works. And one of those that was involved in the overall thing was this John E. Gearham.
[...to be continued...]
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