A Courtroom Massacre

by Mark Porto

  She says, “Johnny, I’ve got good news, I managed to secure a settlement with the auto parts company who maligned you. I persuaded to give you a $1,000,000.” A glow appears on his face thinking there was a lot to be said for gathering information.

  Johnny paused for a moment, “Sure, it’s just as well, because I want to leave this dump of a town. I have had more than my share of grief.”

  Ms. Valentine nods, “I don’t doubt it; do you remember when I told you about my brother?” Johnny says he did. “Well, I felt that way about Black Meadows, I don’t have any regrets about leaving either.”

  Johnny asks her when she wanted him to come down and sign the agreement.

  “I’ll tell you, what, I’ve got to visit my mother, I’ll come to your house, it’s the least I can do.” Johnny thanks her.

  Attorney General Jacobson had been in his office listening to old tunes over the radio, his coat jacket is draped over the chair. He leans forward eat his lunch.

  His secretary quickly rushes in to tell him there were several large envelopes for him.

  He quickly jumps from his chair, signs for the order with the part of the sandwich in his other hand. He rips open one of the packages to read Johnny’s letter. Upon putting down the food, a look of joy was present on his face, some feeling he hadn’t felt in a long while. He exclaims, “Do you know what this means?” She shakes her head, “I’ll finally nail these people, once and for all!” He takes the large envelopes into his office as he and his staff begins reading the documentation.

  It takes two days and nights for the state’s top prosecutor with his staff to real all the information, “It’s a shame we can’t get in contact with Mr. Bellow, even if it’s just to thank him.” Jacobson sits down with his sleeves rolled up. A staff member asks why he couldn’t get in contact with him. Jacobson holds up a large envelope. “He didn’t give a return address, that’s not a problem. I just want to see if these documents are authentic.”

  After recalling the grand jury, they examined the documents, recall the suspects and summon others. While none of the suspects talked, despite the threat of contempt and imprisonment, several emerged. Stella Montcalm, now an attorney in private practice, testifies she had represented Mr. Grant; a businessman in Black Meadows was targeted by Jess Jasper, because he knew Jasper was funding an account to which would enable Cecil Padgett, who once worked for the Croydon and Lipshutz law firm, to finance a lawsuit against Johnny Bellow.

  The assistant attorney general asks her how this was established; Ms. Montcalm was apprised of it while working as an attorney for the bank for a couple of years. She saw Jasper talking to the investigator’s cousin, Blaine Young. It turned out he used the money he embezzled from St. Andrew’s church to establish the account. “He wasn’t the only person, he met. Jasper met with Senator Croydon along with several associates in his law firm as well as Odell Muir, Judges Hartnett and Lexington.” When asked how much money exchanged hands. Ms. Montcalm said the account, at one point, had as much as five million dollars.

  The prosecutor asks about Doreen Norman, “Do you know why she was killed?” Stella Montcalm states her, while getting depositions for witnesses to the shootout that killed Cain Lipshutz and his gang, stumbled upon the account and reported it to former employer, Fredrick Menden and her new employer, Georgia Valentine. It was discovered she knew about account by a friend of Fred Menden, “It was Thomas Talbot, who was clerking for the Croydon law firm. He reported to Croydon. Talbot got together with Bart Grayson and Gilroy Parker, a newly appointed member of the parole board and that’s way the idea of getting rid of her was hatched.”

  The prosecutor thanks Ms. Montcalm for her testimony.

  Bart Grayson is walking out of the senator’s office in the hall of the Capitol building when a state trooper approaches to hand him a summons for a deposition at the attorney general’s office nearby.

  When he arrived with his lawyer; the deputy attorney general questions him about the evidence tampering; he, at first, tells him he didn’t know anything about it. However, when the prosecutor shows him evidence of his fingerprints that were on vital information that was needed to prosecute and imprison Tommy Richards, when he was arrested in Knickerbocker, and then the prosecutor shows him, the black covering that was left when the evidence was taken. “One thing I want to know, Mr. Grayson, why did you do it?”

  Bart looks at his attorney, who motions him to answer the question and he tells him about Tommy Richards as well as the other hoodlums. “He admits they were hired by Senator Croydon to kill Doreen Norman, because she, during the course of taking depositions, stumbled on information about a secret account designed to hurt her fiancé, Johnny Bellow. Menden tells her to leave the information with him, he, in turn is told he won’t get his license back unless he reveals the information, he refuses and they revoke his license.” He explains further when Doreen Norman went to work for Georgia Valentine, a currier was sent by the office to get the information, he, however, was attacked by a friend of Menden’s. When asked for a name, Bart said it was Thomas Talbot, “He was the office snitch, where he got his law degree boggles my mind to this day, he current practice law, but was recommended to the district attorney’s office where he routinely prosecuted petty theft cases.”

  When the prosecutor asked who hired Clem Linton, Grayson said it was Chief Lester, he explains Linton wanted to be cop, but fails numerous exams. Chief Lester got his a job as a security guard at a local nuclear plant. When they wanted to kill Ms. Norman, Linton and my other cousin, Billy were hired to lure her.” Grayson was asked what happened to Linton, “That’s simple, he was killed in a mysterious automobile accident weeks after leaving the hospital when he was shot by Mr. Bellow.” The prosecutor asked if he thought it was a homicide or accident, Bart’s lawyer advised him to decline an answer. Then, he asked about the bank robbery. Grayson comments, “That was a ruse in order to kidnap her.” Grayson was asked further about the account by inquiring as to how the Dennison family managed to afford a lengthy lawsuit against Mr. Bellow. Bart looks up with a poker face. “The senator ordered me to use a portion of the funds from his recent campaign to give them money for an attorney and living expenses.” He paused trying to maintain composure, “Looking back, I wish I resigned that day, but knowing the senator, would’ve gotten some sycophant to do it, I guess.”

  The prosecutor talks with Bart’s attorney telling him afterward if Bart agrees to testify at any criminal proceedings, he will be given immunity. After talking with his attorney, Bart agreed to the conditions.

  Banker Jess Jasper was arrested for money laundering and bribery solicitation, he hires a top notch criminal lawyer to represent him. Since the district attorney was under indictment, a deputy attorney general told him he knew of a lot of his business dealings and if he testifies he’d, depending on the evidence would get a much lesser sentence. Jasper started talking about Gilroy Parker and he needed money for a few of the criminals being let out on parole. “I never heard of such a thing. I initially refused to give him any money, but he threatened to go to Senator Croydon and have my bank charter removed if I didn’t cooperate. I figured I couldn’t let over twenty employees including myself out of work, because of him, so I told him I would have to give it to him in a form of a low interest loan, so the authorities wouldn’t construe it as a bribe.”

  The prosecutor asked if the money was used as to hire these men to kill Doreen Norman and Johnny Bellow. Jasper says, “I didn’t know until I had time to figure it out, but yes, these men were paid about $9,000 a piece to do the job, if they were successful, which unfortunately they were in the Norman case, they would get a ‘bonus’ of $1,900 a piece, which they did.” Jasper was asked how much money was doled out. “$79,600, just for those jobs,” The Deputy AG wondered how much money it took to fund the Dennison lawsuit against Mr. Bellow. “Oh, my, a lot, but to be specific, Mr. Padgett wanted to be paid, $100 an hour and he claimed to have worked 200 hours, but I know it was only abo
ut fifty, but didn’t argue, then there were witness like Mrs. Alvin in the criminal trial and Mrs. Dennison in the civil trial as well as her son, my records say it cost about $100,000.”

  The prosecutor inquired into his dealings with the Rev. Natwick and Father Bryan over a plan to build a nursing home and hospital supposedly with state funds that were used to embezzle and launder through the bank. “This is where the mother lode of the money in that account originated.” The priest and the minister were in collaboration with the senator in the building of this hospital and nursing home to meet the needs of a growing elderly and sickly population. “They had to have a bank to store the money, so they come to me; I establish the account where the state funds are deposited. Unbeknownst to me, the state funds they were talking were from Croydon’s campaign fund. Unfortunately, when I got wind of it, I was threatened if I didn’t go along with it.” The Deputy AG asks about foreclosing on Mr. Grant and Mr. Bellow’s father’s business and home. “That was done to keep them away from discovering the account.”

  The prosecutor asked him about how the priest and the minister got involved. Jasper explains when the cousin for the district attorney’s investigator, Blaine Young stole $100,000 from the St. Andrew’s parish; he needed a place to put temporarily, so I was told to store it in the account. “When the Bishop found out, he told Father Bryan either to replace the money or he would have to resign. Father Bryan managed to maneuver it so the investigator would look the other way to give him a job as a youth and counseling director, when he retired.”

  “Was the money ever returned?”

  “Yes, but not monetarily, Father told Rev. Natwick, who is my pastor about it and the senator arranged for the money to be returned from state funds. The Bishop was livid, because Father refused to press charges.” When the prosecutor asked why, “Courtney’s cousin claims he had documents showing Father Bryan had deposited the entire weekly parish offerings and commingled them in his personal account.” When asked if it was true, Jasper said it wasn’t. “I would’ve known, because the account was in my bank.”

  A preliminary hearing was held to determine what crimes Senator Croydon, his law partner and brother-in-law, Jerry Lipshutz and Dr. Kimball had allegedly committed for the past several years.

  The courtroom was filled with press, lawyers and spectators. Criminal defense attorney, Conan Lamont represented the trio while Thomas Llewellyn represented the attorney general’s office.

  Llewellyn contends they were guilty of first and second-degree conspiracy, collusion, racketeering, bribery, perjury, suborning perjury, witness tampering, obstructing justice, judicial tampering and conspiracy with intent to commit multiple murders through solicitation and tax evasion.

  Lamont argues these august people are being subjected to court proceedings, because of a young man who broke the law and a prosecutor who wants to be governor.

  Llewellyn calls Dr. Allison Benjamin to the stand, he asks her about the psychological evaluations of prisoners. She states many of them, particularly at Sheffield are subjected to beatings, physical intimidation, false evaluations and solitary confinement. “Please, doctor, could you clarify what you mean by false evaluations?”

  “Yes, sir,” She continues, “If an inmate was being victimized by his fellow inmates and fights back, we, as psychiatrists would examine them. There were many occasions when the evaluations called for therapy, but always overridden by Dr. Kimball, he would always insist on institutionalizing the inmate.”

  “Was there any recourse against your superior’s actions?” Dr. Benjamin says she filed a complaint to no avail.

  When it is Lamont turn, he takes the floor to cross-examine her, asking, “Isn’t it true your disagreement stems from the fact Dr. Kimball wouldn’t allow you to work in administration and relegated you to interviewing perspective patients limiting therapy?” She admitted it was part of the reason. “What are you talking about?”

  Allison mentions when Dr. Kimball was supposed to appoint her to an assistant administrator position in the Mental Health facility, but it didn’t come to fruition. “It doesn’t matter, because when I examined Johnny Bellow, I felt the best course of action was to administer therapy, Dr. Kimball disagreed ordering his institutionalization and I know why.”

  Lamont was curious as Allison tells him it cost about $25,000 a year to incarcerate someone in New York. “But, it cost $35,000 a year to institutionalize an inmate. There was a $10,000 a year discrepancy, but it was recorded on state records that this particular inmate was incarcerated, not institutionalized.” When asked for proof, she took out several pieces of paper from her silk jacket handing them over to the bailiff, who hands the information to the judge; he then puts on his square shaped glasses while leaning back in his recliner. He reads the documentation and gives it to the two attorneys as she was allowed to resume her testimony.

  Lamont asks her how many prisoners are institutionalized every year, she said, to the best of her knowledge during her tenure, it was about 150 with a total of 1,000 altogether. “How much money was collected and where was it stored?”

  Allison says the difference was invested in an account acquiring 3% interest a year. “As the years rolled by, the amount of money accumulated as did the interest, with the amount of prisoners going into institutionalization on the rise; it meant a lot more money.”

  Lamont asks who benefited from the account; she remarked it was Senator Croydon. He, then asked for what purpose would the senator have for maintaining such an account.

  “Three years ago, the senator was eyeing the GOP nomination for governor, however, party leaders felt he needed more time in the senate. At the time, they chose a lesser known candidate, this despite the fact the senator had over a million dollars in his campaign war chest. I got the information according to the quarterly election filings.” Before Lamont could ask another question, she added, “He pocketed what he didn’t spend to the tune of five million dollars, which was never reported on either his state or federal income taxes.” When Lamont how she knew, she remarks, “Jerry Lipshutz was the treasurer of the campaign, the information I gave the court were from his own records.”

  Lamont tries to conceal his anxiety by placing both his hands on the podium looking at her uttering a sigh. “Dr. Benjamin, why have you come forward and how did you get all this information?” She says she came forward, because it wasn’t a way to run a government. As for how she received the documents, it was from an unknown source, presenting the manila envelope without a return address. “Defense rests.”

  The court, then heard from Chief Lester, who said whenever Cain Lipshutz was in trouble, one of his father’s law partners would come to the station and intimidate the officers with legalese and the state senator’s influence. When he was asked about Mrs. Alvin; Lester’s response was, “I knew her testimony was flawed and ordinarily wouldn’t have given it any consideration. However, word came down from the district attorney’s office that we were to take her to my wife’s beauty shop to fix her up for free. When we questioned their motivations, the district attorney came down to my office and threatened to have me along with a few other officers fired if we didn’t go along. Mrs. Alvin was rewarded for her efforts with a year’s supply of booze who managed to drink it in two months.”

  When asked if the senator ever intervened, Lester remarks he never met him. “What about the senator’s brother, Tom, the warden currently running for sheriff?”

  “He was a good cop until the incident.” Lester remarks as the prosecutor’s arms fold, asking for elaboration, while pacing, but maintaining eye contact with the police chief. Lester continues on, “During the 1960’s, we arrested a number of war protestors, it wasn’t any big deal other than disorderly conduct charges, most of the time. There was one young man who always wrote numerous letters in the paper(s) against the Vietnam War. Tom served in World War Two, as far as he was concerned, they were all a bunch of draft dodgers.” He asks for a glass of water, before resuming his testimony.
“This young man was walking down a street in a not so good neighborhood when he was accosted by a group of hooligans, he gave them the money, but they assault him; one tried to stab him, but this man pulled out a gun and shot the men. When we learned he didn’t have a gun license, Tom wanted to make it look like he stole the gun using it in another unsolved crime. I tried to talk him out of it, but he was hell bent on framing him, fortunately, for the young man, he knew his rights and Tom was indicted for evidence tampering. To make a long story short, Tom wasn’t prosecuted, because he agreed to resign, but he needed a job, so when his brother was elected to the state senate, he got a job as the warden for Sheffield State Prison.”

  While these trials were going on, Ms. Valentine arrives at Johnny’s house about the civil trial, when she couldn’t find him; she approached his mother, Anita. At that moment, Johnny welcomes her, “Ah, Ms. Valentine, I’ve been waiting to talk to you.”

  She stands straight with her arms erect walking with a scowl and rage in her voice, while her right hand was cupped under her chin, “I never thought I’d say this, but you took the law into your own hands!”

  Johnny shoots back, “Oh, really, for your information, madam, I’ve exhausted every avenue in trying to get justice.” He wheels closer to her. “I was wondering, did you get that civil suit cleared up or am I going to still have to pay that obnoxious judgment!”

  A normal color returns to Georgia’s face, “No, they’ve dropped the suit against you, do you want to know why?”

  Johnny says it was because their special account at the bank was closed by the state attorney general’s office. “The only reason why they got that information is I managed to aid our attorney general himself with the necessary evidence to get the indictments and convictions.”

  Georgia’s mouth flew open, “You mean to tell me that was you, where did you get the evidence?” Johnny explains he got from Elmer, some was obtained from my private investigator and there was a man in solitary, who came by one day giving me some information along with information I picked up here and there. “That doesn’t explain why Doreen was killed.”