A Prosecutor Gets Personal (Fitzgerald Fights Publication Of Book Criticizing Him)

[BlueJessamine]

Source: Newsweek

Patrick Fitzgerald may be the most feared prosecutor in the country, but even as he's racked up headlines for big-name convictions (Scooter Libby) and indictments (Rod Blagojevich), the hard-charging U.S. attorney from Chicago has been waging a private crusade: trying to kill a book he believes maligns his reputation. In the past year and a half, Fitzgerald has written four letters to HarperCollins—owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.—demanding it "cease publication" and "withdraw" copies of Triple Cross, a 2006 book by ex–TV newsman Peter Lance that criticizes Fitzgerald's handling of terror cases in New York in the 1990s. Fitzgerald raised the temperature even more last week, aiming to halt a paperback version. "To put it plain and simple," he wrote in a June 2 letter obtained by NEWSWEEK, "if in fact you publish the book this month and it defames me or casts me in a false light, HarperCollins will be sued."

Media experts say Fitzgerald's letters, written on personal stationary and totaling 30 pages, are unusual for a top lawman. "We certainly find it highly offensive that a federal prosecutor would do something like this," says Gregg Leslie of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. But Fitzgerald makes no apologies. The book's claims, he wrote in an e?mail, are "outrageously dishonest." He says that Lance "alleged that I deliberately misled courts and the public" in ways that led to the 9/11 attacks. A time stamp on one of the letters shows it was sent via fax from the U.S. Attorney's Office, though Fitzgerald said he was "not aware" it would be visible, and Justice permits "incidental use of fax machines" for "personal business."

Triple Cross is a mildly conspiratorial reconstruction of terror investigations from the pre-9/11 era, and it accuses Fitzgerald of botching the handling of a key FBI informant who doubled as a Qaeda spy. It also suggests he filed a false affidavit discrediting intel from a jailhouse snitch—possibly to cover up ties between an FBI agent and the snitch's father, a top mob figure. David Kelley, a former colleague of Fitzgerald's, said the allegations are "utter fiction." The book's claims have gotten little traction. "If never did anything, this book would have faded into obscurity," said Lance. HarperCollins has made some changes but plans to proceed. "We believe the book fairly raises issues of public concern," a spokesman said.



Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/id/200885

[annabanana]

1. Rupert Mucdoch & his loony tune rich friends must be worried

that he has more work on his plate now.

[rosesaylavee]

2. HarperCollins' reputation takes another slide ...

[benld74]

3. From what was written on Fitz, of how he prepares for his cases,,

I believe he is more than correct in what he accuses the book of saying. The man knows his stuff.

[John Q. Citizen]

8. Why did he wait to threaten action until the paper back version was planned?

This book was first published 3 years ago.

http://www.amazon.com/Triple-Cross-Penetrated-FBI-Fitzgerald/dp/0060886889

The auther is a 5 time award winning investigative reporter, Peter Lance.

Here's his piece on the huffington post about how the National Geographic channel got it wrong
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-lance/triple-cross-nat-geo-chan_b_28270.html

What we have here is a US prosecutor attempting to stop The paperback publication of a book that's already been out in hardback and selling for about 20-25 bucks a copy.

If it's all lies and liable, why wait so long to attack?

[ArbustoBuster]

24. Your question is BS on the face of it, and this is proven by the quote given by the OP.

The article states that Fitzgerald has been writing these letters for the last year and a half. The quotation given by the original poster contains this statement. So now we must ask whether you have reading comprehension problems or you have a beef with Fitzgerald and want to spread fear and doubt about him using bullshit questions.

Asking the same BS question several times in the same thread won't get you the answer you want if the question is answered in the article and the question is shown to be BS in the article.

[John Q. Citizen]

27. The books been available for 3 years. And Fitz is still writing letters? Ooohh. Sounds heavy.

Fitz shoulkd sue if he has a case, or he should stfu!

[L. Coyote]

4. And I thought this would be about letting Bush & Cheny off the hook in the Plame case!

So, sue me, Fitz! Let's get that issue out there too.

[KeepItReal]

5. Roger that.

You know, the book about how Bush & Co. threw sand in the eyes of Justice, and Justice gave up because it was too hard.

[Mind_your_head]

6. Are the "charges" /claims legitimate or just time/energy wasting distraction? eom

[John Q. Citizen]

7. This book was already publiched. The author is a five time emmy award winning reporter.

I have read part of the book on line. it was first published back in 2003 or 2004.

This is a case of a federal prosecutor trying to suppress a book on himself, specifically the paper back version.

Before we take sides, I would suggest reading the book first.

Unless we want to be seen as knee jerk reactionaries who attack books we haven't yet read.

[BlueJessamine]

12. I have read Triple Cross:

: How bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI and Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him (Regan Books).

Mr. Lance follwed a trail of facts that revealed suppression of evidence and mistakes by Patrick Fitzgerald and others.

snip:
http://www.internetwritingjournal.com/dec06/lance5.htm

"the most stunning revelation yet -- that al Qaeda had a top-notch operative named Ali Mohamed who infiltrated U.S. intelligence agencies, and instead of disclosing this information to the public the U.S. government chose to intentionally bury it in a major cover up. The book also contains a fascinating, illustrated timeline about Ali Mohamed and his relation to the events leading up to 9/11."

In this exclusive new interview, Peter talks about Ali Mohamed, the damage he caused to U.S. interests, why the FBI failed to catch him and whether or not the information he has uncovered will trigger a new investigation into the events leading up to 9/11.

This is the third book in your nonfiction series about the events leading up to 9/11 and the massive intelligence failures during that time period. What led you to focus on Ali Mohamed? How did you discover that he was the crux of the plot?

As you know I first began examining the two bin Laden "offices of origin," the FBI's New York office (NYO) and the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) in researching my first book in the trilogy 1000 Years for Revenge. At that point I documented gross negligence in the years leading up to 9/11. By the time Cover Up was published a year later in September of 2004, I had documented an affirmative suppression of evidence. But I still didn't have all the answers as to how the best and brightest in the FBI's "bin Laden squad" (I-49) in the NYO could have made so many mistakes.

snip:

Why would America's most elite law enforcement and investigative agencies suppress such critical intel? Their motive could be traced to a most surprising quarter: organized crime. As a phone book-sized file of documentary evidence from prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York reveals FBI investigators and federal prosecutors were desperate to avoid a scandal over an alleged corrupt relationship between R. Lindley DeVecchio, a senior supervisory special agent in the Bureau's New York Office, (NYO) and a notorious hit man named Gregory Scarpa Sr., whose two-year war of succession in the Colombo crime family had left twelve people dead, including two innocent bystanders.

Through a bizarre turn of events, the Yousef evidence came from the killer's son, Greg Scarpa Jr., a junior wiseguy who happened to inhabit a jail cell adjacent to Yousef's at the MCC. But rather than risk losing a series of sixty Mafia cases in the Eastern District built on tainted evidence from Scarpa Sr., the Feds decided to bury the intel.

One of the lead prosecutors who disconnected those dots, I learned, was Patrick Fitzgerald, then the head of Organized Crime and Terrorism in New York's Southern District. Considered the Justice Department's leading authority on bin Laden, Fitzgerald would go on to become U.S. Attorney in Chicago, and special prosecutor in he ongoing investigation of media leaks regarding former CIA operative Valerie Plame, which ultimately cleared White House aide Karl Rove, while indicting Lewis "Scooter" Libby, top aide to Vice President Cheney.

[John Q. Citizen]

19. Yes; But of course you didn't make unfounded suppositions on whether Fitz raising a belated

heavy handed stink was prima facia evidence that the publisher (and by implication the author) were some how suspect.

I appreciated your OP because I read the terror time line a while back and I was interested in this new twist.

Have you read Daniel Hopsicker's book "Welcome to Terrorland; Mohamed Atta & the 9-11 Cover-up in Florida" ?


It's a completely different yet none the less very well researched piece of investigative journalism on the hijackers in Florida prior to 9/11.

Both works might be called "Oops Theory," yet they are entirely different. And neither necessarily contradicts the other.


While Hopsickers book is (IMHO)is not quite as well written in terms of style, the story is just as compelling and just as important.

I read it free at the on-line library here: http://www.american-buddha.com/911.welcometoterrorlandhopsicker.htm

You have to register and promise not to reproduce or distribute any content, but they have a wealth of all kinds of reading and cinema materials. From Mark Twain to well, just about any one. Check them out!

[BlueJessamine]

20. No, I haven't read Hopsicker's book yet...

Thankyou so much for the link.:hug:

I seldom buy books anymore. I'm a patron of the public library.

[John Q. Citizen]

21. Then this is the site for you!

It's run by a woman who's partner won one of the first law cyber cases dealing with copyright and on line access to materials.

I don't always agree with her editorial content (but often do) but i like there spirit and I like their site. It's groundbreaking in many ways.

[John Q. Citizen]

9. Here's the link to the center section of the book Fitz is trying to keep from paperback readers

http://www.peterlance.com/TRIPLE%20CROSS%20Timeline.pdf

Peter Lance is a 5 time Emmy award winning reporter.

If Fitz has a problem why is he waiting until now to complain? The Book has been in publication (hardback) for years.

[Robb]

10. Maybe if you say it a FOURTH time in the same thread

...someone might respond to you? I dunno, give it a shot. :shrug:

[John Q. Citizen]

15. Actually, I wanted to let people know who had posted hours earlier. I thought

that information would be better than supposition.

Sorry if it negatively impacted your reading experience.

[JI7]

11. hmmmm, i wonder also, i'm not a fan of Fitz myself

[BlueJessamine]

13. Thanks for the link!

"If Fitz has a problem why is he waiting until now to complain?"

That's a question only Fitzgerald can answer. :shrug:

[John Q. Citizen]

16. Thanks for the OP. Lance points out on his web site how strange it is that Fitz is

doing this now.

Lance points out he published this info on Fitz a few years back and that it wasn't getting any traction from any where.

but with Fitz now belatedly raising a fuss, it's about the best PR Lance could get for his paperback edition.

[Missy Vixen]

23. For a "five time Emmy award reporter",

Lance was so sloppy with his sourcing that National Geographic Channel carved up the TV special made out of "Triple Cross" rather than show non-sourced material.

Perhaps Fitzgerald was a bit busy when the book initially came out. He was absorbed in cleaning up the mess in Chicago. When he wasn't doing that, he was busy getting the first member of the White House executive staff convicted in 150+ years.

[John Q. Citizen]

26. I think Lance is correct. Fitz needs to sue since the book is already published, unless he's

full of shit and just trying to intimidate his way out of this.

Can't he afford a lawyer? I mean if he's too busy?

[Missy Vixen]

28. Lance doesn't want to open this can of worms

Harper Collins is amazingly foolish, IMHO.

[BlueJessamine]

14. Fitzgerald began writing letters a year and a half ago to HarperCollins

via Lynn Sweet:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/06/us_attorney_patrick_fitzgerald.html

" U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is trying to kill a book "he believes maligns his reputation. In the past year and a half, Fitzgerald has written four letters to HarperCollins--owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.--demanding it "cease publication" and "withdraw" copies of Triple Cross, a 2006 book by ex-TV newsman Peter Lance that criticizes Fitzgerald's handling of terror cases in New York in the 1990s."

..."To put it plain and simple," he wrote in a June 2 letter obtained by NEWSWEEK, "if in fact you publish the book this month and it defames me or casts me in a false light, HarperCollins will be sued."

The Chicago-based Fitzgerald e-mailed Isikoff: "The book's claims....are "outrageously dishonest."

And this: "A time stamp on one of the letters shows it was sent via fax from the U.S. Attorney's Office, though Fitzgerald said he was "not aware" it would be visible, and Justice permits "incidental use of fax machines" for "personal business."

[sendero]

17. "Casts me in a false light"...

.... well if that were illegal then 90% of the print and television media would be guilty.

Slander and defamation have precise legal definitions and I doubt very much if this book will qualify.

Another "hero" bites the dust.

[Algorem]

18. sounds like that peter lance is inflicting pain and suffering

[camera obscura]

22. FITZ DID 9/11!!!11!1

If nothing else, this should clear up the idea that the neocons secretly loved Fitzgerald. Look where this book is coming from. It's a hit piece.

[sendero]

25. Hit piece or not...

... if it is true, it is true.

I lost my taste for Fitz when he failed to do jack shit when he had the chance.

[BlueJessamine]

29. Newsmax:Metcalf:" Book Chronicles U.S. Attorney's Abuse of Power "

http://www.newsmax.com/metcalf/attorney_power/2009/06/10/223761.html

“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.” -- Edmund Burke


Golden Boy U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is having a hissy fit over a book, "Triple Cross: How bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI — and Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him," written in 2006 by Peter Lance.


Lance had the temerity (and documentation) to question the fiction of Fitzie’s infallibility. Fitzgerald calls the book a "deliberate lie masquerading as truth."


Bullfeathers!


Fitzgerald’s efforts to kill the publication of the paperback version of "Triple Cross" crescendoed when he most recently wrote to publisher HarperCollins, “ . . . if in fact you publish the book this month and it defames me or casts me in a false light, HarperCollins will be sued.”


Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for Illinois’s Northern District, is a prosecutorial stud:



"People" magazine listed him as one of their “sexiest men alive” in 2005 in the company of Sean Connery, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and John Kennedy



He took down a couple of governors, including Rod Blagojevich



He had New York Times’ reporter Judith Miller imprisoned during an investigation



He scored a conviction of Scooter Libby (and flipped off Dick Cheney in the process)


Now he’s threatening Lance with defamation — and libel charges. However, he supposedly is fighting as a private citizen defending his public reputation . . . wink-wink/nudge-nudge.


“What Patrick Fitzgerald tried to do,” says Lance, “is virtually unprecedented. Understand that this is arguably the most powerful federal prosecutor in America combing through the book and writing 32 pages of threat letters, none of which make a viable claim for defamation. "Triple Cross" has become Patrick Fitzgerald’s obsession.”


I have read all of Lance’s 9/11 work (www.peterlance.com) and find it detailed, compelling and serious journalism. Lance is an adherent of the Metcalf axiom “It is not a question of who is right or wrong but what is right or wrong that counts.”


Fitzgerald apparently disagrees and accuses Lance of being “outrageously dishonest.” Although the threatening letters have been sent from a U.S. attorney (and at least one faxed and time stamped from the U.S. attorney’s office), the feud has taken on a school yard echo: “Did not! Did to! Oh yeah! In your face! Neener-neener.”


HarperCollins has polished/tweaked the paperback version and added a new introduction that is mostly about the U.S. attorney’s efforts to kill the book (and will probably get more attention than “How bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI — and Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him" — which is the too-long subtitle of "Triple Cross").


Notwithstanding the ire and angst of Fitzgerald to "Triple Cross": that Fitzgerald mucked up handling a key FBI informant who doubled as an al-Qaida spy; a bogus sworn affirmation dissing Intel from an inmate snitch; and an alleged cover-up involving an FBI agent and a mobbed-up player, there are two key overlooked elements to this soap opera. They are the abuse of power and the unintended consequences.


Abuse of power under the color of authority is a big deal and Fitzgerald’s over-the-top efforts to kibosh an investigative book about 9/11 is open to such a charge.


Lord Chesterfield once observed, “An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.” The perceived insults in "Triple Cross" probably would have faded away into the shadows of conspiracy folklore without the itching and moaning and gnashing of teeth exhibited by the star U.S. attorney.

snip

Lance says, “Patrick Fitzgerald accuses me of making charges in the book that I never made. At the same time, he continually fails to respond to the substantive allegations documented in 604 pages, 1,425 end notes, and 32 pages of documentary appendices.”

[Missy Vixen]

30. Oh, and we all know that NewsMax is a solid-gold source of accurate information

:sarcasm:

[BlueJessamine]

31. Reviews:

A couple of reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/Triple-Cross-Penetrated-FBI-Fitzgerald/product-reviews/B00164GE0O/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Richard Cappetto:

With out a Doubt the best single book on Terrorism in print. triple Cross by Peter Lance out paces the 9-11 commission report, the Looming Tower, and the Cell by a long shot (those sources all have value, But Lance shows us what they left out). Lance does an excellent investigated job hear (the book is well source and documented), of explaining the raise of OBL, and AlQuada, he shows us what the FBI knew and didn't know, what The Clinton Administration knew did not know and the Bush Administration as well. lance shows us the mistakes and outright incompetence in our government (especially the FBI). Lance names names and holds nothing back. The book is worth ten times the price for the 23 page timeline on terrorism alone. This is a must read for anyone wanted to know the whole story of 9-11 and beyond.

M. Kasper:

While I was deciding how I should start a review of Peter Lance's new book - I remembered a quote from Monica Gabrielle, one of the 9/11 widows, in a documentary about 9/11: "The one thing that I personally was hoping for was another Woodward and Bernstein with regard to 9/11. Someone, anyone that was willing to put their teeth into this."

Well, we have found that person, and his name is Peter Lance. In his third book on the origins of the 9/11 plot and the failures of the FBI and others to stop the attack, Lance focuses on Ali Mohamed - yet another figure relegated to footnotes in the "9/11 Report" who Lance shows played a central role in Al Qaeda's plan of attack. Not only did he help create the "Brooklyn Cell" which supported the 9/11 hijackers, but he wrote the training manual for Al Qaeda and created training camps for hijackers, all while the FBI thought he was on their side as an informant!

The best part of Triple Cross is the way Lance weaves together the different strands of the 9/11 story and enhances them with his own original reporting on each. For example, the book quotes from numerous interviews Lance conducted with Tony Shaffer, Curt Weldon, and other members of the Able Danger team. While not a full history of Able Danger, it has by far the most complete version in any book published to date.

Some have expressed frustration at the delays in publication, but I can attest to the fact that Lance needed the extra time in order to include all of the latest details from the interviews National Geographic conducted for their documentary based on his book, and the latest developments in the Able Danger and Greg Scarpa Jr. scandals. It is a great read, and uncovers a lot of new information about the 9/11 plot.

William A. Heimiller:

Lance simply checks out everyone's stories, interviews all the players from all over the world, connects the dots, and leaves nothing to heresay. Five years of investigation by Lance, who seems to be the master of investigative journalism. Lance meticulously collected about 150 volumes of records. Lance's facts(which you can see summarized in his website's timeline) are considerately buffered with valuable context(therefore the 600 pages!).

It sickens me to understand one self-financed journalist could do so much while the FBI did so little. Although Lance asserts there is no Oliver Stone parrallel government type conspiracy and chalks up all the FBI fiascos as incompetence and covering up their embarrassment; one has to question whether the possibility of a real conspiracy should be left open, considering the enormous breadth of the incompetence...and considering that rank-and-file FBI hollered so loudly while their superiors quieted them. Lance of course also connects the dots. I originally was turned onto his book after seeing his two hour jaw dropping talk on CSPAN. This guy deserves a special medal higher than the Medal of Freedom for his service to Truth and people everywhere. I'd like to see Mel Gibson or some other independent produce this into a movie.

Rory OConnor OpEdNews

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Patrick-Fitzgerald-s-Priva-by-Rory-OConnor-090611-979.html

The book most notably accuses Fitzgerald of botching the handling of a key FBI informant who doubled as a Qaeda spy, and also suggests the prosecutor filed a false affidavit, perhaps to cover up the relationship between an FBI agent and a leading mob figure.

Lance responds by asserting that Fitzgerald is trying to “kill” his book with “baseless” allegations. “Patrick Fitzgerald accuses me of making charges in the book that I never made,” he says. “At the same time, he continually fails to respond to the substantive allegations documented in 604 pages, 1,425 end notes and 32 pages of documentary appendices.”

The new edition of Triple Cross will appear June 16 — complete with a new introduction that’s describes Fitzgerald’s attempts at censorship. In the meantime, Lance is on the offensive, alerting fellow journalists, giving interviews, and readying a press conference at the National Press Club on his pub date for a full blown discussion of the Fitzgerald/censorship issue.

Peter Lance’s website: www.peterlance.com