("Quid coniuratio est?")
I spoke by phone with Jimmy Rothstein, long-time detective (now retired) with the NYPD Vice Squad.
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[...continued...]
CONSPIRACY NATION:
All right, but then this affidavit by that secretary shows that
he's [i.e., Peter Viedenieks] lying about that.
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Right.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Okay. And goin' back to Riconosciuto, you say you went to Chicago
and talked with him. And this would've been while he was in the
federal jail there, waiting to testify. And at that time, I know
that Sherman Skolnick was also...
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Yep.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
...doin' a lot of work with Riconosciuto.
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
I was with Sherman at the time. That was Sherman, myself, Jimmy
Vaselos, [Joseph] Andreuccetti, and Mark Sato.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
I would be interested in any evaluation you have of Skolnick, how
he seems to you.
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Well, I spent a lot of time with him. And I know that, in my own
presence, while I was there, some things that we happened [to]
ran into and people we interviewed and stuff, Sherman has a lot
of good information. But being -- I don't know if you know that
he's a paraplegic?
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Yeah, sure. I know.
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Well a lot of these things Sherman can't physically go out and
verify. So he's very susceptible to somebody giving him
disinformation. But Sherman does have a lot of contacts. And
most of his information is accurate to the point of what he gets.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
I would say the same thing: that he seems to make up for his
handicap by being very well-read and a lot of things. So he has
ways of checking things out.
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
While I was there, there came a point where he wanted to meet
with the head of the Federal Reserve there. And he called the guy
up, and there was no doubt he was gonna meet with him because
Sherman said, "I'll be there in an hour," and he went there and
the guy was waiting for him! This is the type of clout that he
does have.
We also know, while I was in Chicago, there came a point in time when "Chuckie" Peters -- you know, the FBI guy?
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Sure. He's the guy that has been, supposedly, murdering
witnesses?
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Yeah. "Chuckie" Peters took Michael Riconosciuto out of the MCI
[Metropolitan Correctional Building] and took him to court
himself and told him, "Here's the sunshine. If you want it, all
you've gotta do is go against..." And Riconosciuto wouldn't do
it. This was verified that he was taken out by the FBI, from the
MCI, by one of the detectives that worked for the federal bureau
of prisons there -- whatever they call that -- at the FBI in
Chicago. I spoke to the guy and he verified that this had in fact
happened.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
You also were in contact with Mark Sato.
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Yeah.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Any impression of him?
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
There's been sort of a falling out between... And I told
Skolnick, Vaselos, and Sato that what they were gonna do was
throw sh** in among the three of 'em to split 'em up. And that's
just what they did. You know, different things were said, and
then you didn't trust each other anymore. So I don't know if Sato
and Skolnick are still on the outs or not. But I know Vaselos and
them are.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
So because they had some arguments between 'em...
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Well see, somebody would feed 'em information against the other
guy, and they began doubting each other. This is a common
practice I've seen through the years. And I told 'em it was gonna
happen! But, you know, sometimes people don't listen. I've been
doin' this sh** since 1968.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Okay. And I also was able to interview Joseph Andreuccetti. Are
you familiar with his case at all?
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Oh yeah. Very much so.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
What is your impression of that?
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Oh sure. Everything I've seen is factual. Because I tell you
what: when I was there, I sat down with John Turullo(sp?), a
notorious gold broker. You know, he brokers gold that's not on
the normal gold market.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Yeah, I've heard of him.
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
I have independent verification of a lot of these things. In my
conversations with him, certain things we talked about, only a
person who's involved would know it. It had to do with the
connections he had in New York. And we have verified through Joe
Rino(?) and some of these other guys on Long Island. I actually
have documents where they were involved in moving some of this
gold.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Goin' to Vince Foster's death: personally, I've got no doubt that
there's suspicious circumstances surrounding the death and there
is some kind of cover-up going on. But I'm not certain -- rock-
solid certain -- that it was murder. A lot of people are sayin',
"Oh yeah. It was murder." But I don't think there's really hard
evidence at this point. There's a lot of testimony from people.
There's hard evidence that there is a cover-up.
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
I think there was a cover-up. Even if it was a suicide, there's a
cover-up.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Do you think it was a suicide or a murder?
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Well really, based on the information I have (you know that I've
never physically been there to check it out), I would say that,
either way -- if it's a suicide or a murder -- in all the ways,
no matter how you turn it, it was a murder. They could have
gotten him to commit suicide by, you could almost call it
extortion. Because I have personally investigated some other
suicides or deaths that were staged.
Almost similar circumstances to this is the Luchenbach(sp?) shipping magnate death back in the '70s.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
And so you've investigated a lot of these different suicides.
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Yeah. There was another one in Washington, too, like that, where
this guy went on a veranda overlooking the Potomac and blew his
brains out: shot himself in the head, twice, with a .45! (You
know how hard that is to do.)
And you know, the guy who made the arrest on the Watergate break- in (I can't think of his name right now.) That's another one similar to that.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
He supposedly committed suicide?
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Yeah. Yeah. Which is bullsh**. What had happened there was, we
were closing in on him for being involved with... [phone
connection lost]
[resumes] ...that investigated that case, I just remembered: the name is Carl Fochler(?). He's also the guy that made the arrest on the Watergate break-in.
But that lays the background for the Vincent Foster thing. Even if it's suicide, he could have been forced into it.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Sherman Skolnick has suggested that, too. That they may have
"done an Erwin Rommel on him"; they may have just given him the
gun and said, "Here. Go do the 'right' thing."
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Yeah. Did you see that thing I faxed to Kevin last night that
(the information I got), that a van came up behind him and took
him into the park and killed him?
CONSPIRACY NATION:
I haven't seen that one yet.
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
I don't know. I got it from Hamburg, Germany. And I don't know
who sent it.
And I get a lot of information that way, where people just send me stuff. And a lot of times it's pretty accurate.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
You've seen a lot of suicides. And usually a gunshot wound to the
head, there should be blood all over.
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Oh yeah. You see, that's why I don't believe all of what they've
said. Again, if the guys could have actually talked to the cops
that were there first, you would know.
Just like I say in the Luchenbach thing: there was another perfect one. That was put down as a death. And I got an anonymous phone call and we, in fact, found out it was murder! And we were able to determine it was murder.
Again, that was covered up because of "national security", because the guy was a spy for Naval Intelligence. And a couple of years later, I met [someone] at a trial in Norfolk, Virginia... And he verified that this, what had happened. So he knew about it was a murder.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Sarah McClendon, who is a long-time Washington reporter...
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Yeah I know Sarah very well.
CONSPIRACY NATION:
She says that this whole mess with Foster... The way she puts it
is, "To study Foster's death is to learn federal secrets." Which
indicates to me that Foster's death is just the tip of the
iceberg.
JIMMY ROTHSTEIN:
Definitely. Very definitely.
Just like the indictment of Earl Brian. It's almost a miracle. And you know what [else] is a miracle? None of the major press is zeroing in on it. That's usually the first sign that there's a major, major cover-up and that they're gettin' close to the -- How would you say it? -- close to the heart of the thing.
[...to be continued...]
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