Orlando MBI: The Long War on Adults

The War on anything adult and all publishers of ads for anything adult in the Orlando metro area started over 3 decades ago for Orlando's Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI) and continues today. The Orlando MBI's overzealous agents have left a trail of thousands of victims, many still in state and federal prisons. I was one of the lucky victims (lucky I'm not spending life in prison anyway) and Memoirs of an Accused Madam is my story.

The most vehement critic of the Orlando MBI was always the Orlando Weekly and the agency managed to silence the newspaper's investigative reporting with the October 2007 arrests of several advertising sales employees for selling ads to escorts and unlicensed massage therapists that offered more than the law allows.

Many around back in 1996 could testify to the fact that this was not a new strategy for the MBI, myself included. The War on publishers of ads for adult business began with the Yellow Pages Fiasco, discussed in Memoirs, in 1996, when Sprint Publishing was threatened with a RICO case over a refusal to remove the “escort services” category in the Central Florida yellow pages. Sprint did remove the category, stopping the presses (literally) on the 1997 directories printed and distributed by November of 1996.

Someone stated to me back in 1993-94 that Orlando was a testing ground of some sort in relation to the eradication of anything involving adult business or vice, from gambling and bingo to escort services and X-rated movies. I believe it. The MBI's War on Adults has spread throughout the US these days with the attacks on Craigslist (an MBI priority before anyone else ever touched it) and now on Backpage.

Enjoy Bingo?

The MBI would have liked to make sure that you would never enjoy bingo in Orlando; however, Philip Furtney of Ontario fought the agency from 1995, until he died in late 2007, while in-process of a civil suit against members of the MBI Governing Board to retrieve his stolen property. Furtney's brother Bruce, on behalf of the estate, carried-on with the suit and won a judgment. As far as I am aware, Furtney's estate finally collected from the State of Florida.

I would like to keep Philip Leroy Furtney's criminal and civil cases alive in our memories forever and do so with the inclusion of links to posts on this blog. Never forget what the MBI is capable of:

The Bingo Racketeering Case

The Great Bingo Fiasco

Most Bizarre Racketeering Case Ever

True Investigative Reporting of a Renegade Agency

Over the years, the Orlando Weekly and its investigative reporters were often nipping at the heels of the dogs at the MBI. Retaliation is hell and the Weekly and its employees paid dearly for placing the agency in the public eye. One day last week I did a search for MBI articles written by Weekly reporters and each link was dead. A fear of sorts gripped me at the discovery, a fear that all the solid online information concerning the vicious pursuits of the MBI was being deleted and removed. Whew! It didn't happen and a few days later the links were all working. One other thought I had was that perhaps the Weekly had commissioned a book – that would have been wonderful; it would become a bestseller overnight. (Idea for the Weekly to help make-up for lost revenue!)

To keep the information out there I have compiled a list of important Orlando Weekly stories about the MBI over the last 10 years. Whatever the Weekly did last week with the links has made it so that the articles are on a dark red background with dark blue text – if you highlight the text it is much easier to read. They are in no particular order and searching the Orlando Weekly for stories on the MBI revealed 135 results so these are my picks:

29 Embarrassing Years: An MBI timeline

The Morality Police (scroll to view 2 images, 1 of the MBI director in 1989 and the other of Hitler's SA and both concerned over morality – scary stuff)

Operation MBI Shame: A close look at how Orlando's vice cops really operate

Cops in Cocoa stamp out sin

The MBI busts heads and Rich Crotty attempts to smile (smoke shop raids)

Our little Gestapo (MBI = "Central Florida's Church Lady with a Badge") (love this story!)

Score one for the MBI (about my federal civil suit being tossed with a twist at the end)

Something's Fishy (bad behavior of agents at a strip club)

Dirty Politics (on the Video Exposé takedown)

Operation Overexposed

Breasts out

Run 'Em Out of Town

The Booby Trap

Legal Haze (smoke shop raids)

The links I have included reveal what the MBI really is, but there are many cases that even the Weekly was not aware of and many defendants that have suffered at the hands of the overzealous agents of the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation. Few appreciate this agency in Orlando – the citizens did not ask for this whacked task force to eliminate all that is adult in Orlando. I will leave it to you to figure out what monster enterprise did.

I have written about a variety of cases in Memoirs that are not in any Weekly articles. In the past couple of months I've discussed the Orlando federal conspiracy trial of the 11 defendants from Eastern Europe on this blog – this is indeed an MBI case. MBI is not a local agency. I am not clear on how the agency has changed since former Director William Lutz retired, though at the conclusion of Memoirs I did believe there had been a significant change. Well, I have changed my mind.

I consider it important to keep the information out there and perhaps if I had given away free copies of Memoirs a couple of years ago after it was published, the most recent case involving the Eastern European defendants would never have happened; maybe, just maybe, they would have passed on Orlando. If not for the arrests of the Weekly employees in late 2007, there would be many more articles of cases that are now buried by the MBI.

If you are an adult that likes to gamble, play bingo, visit smoke shops, rent X-rated movies, read X-rated books, get a massage with a happy ending, patronize strip clubs, or call escorts... well, Orlando is not the place to be. We live in a fantasy land for children here - think about it - Disney shut down Pleasure Island (the nightclub theme park) in late 2008, after 20 years, because of demands by visiting families. The MBI has not been dissolved yet, with emphasis on yet, and we can only hope that one day...

If you do not like me, realize that it is the MBI that made me the person that I am today. I like who I am, but if you don't, well, you should know that I used to be a nice, mild-mannered woman. More than a decade of continuous harassment, interference in my life, and a show trial that rivaled many in the Stalin era did it. Change can be a good thing. I learned to kick back.

Censored by PayPal

I awoke today to read the following email from PayPal:

We are hereby notifying you that, after a recent review of your account activity, it has been determined that you are in violation of PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy regarding your sales / offers of an ebook about escort services on blueprintforanescortservice.blogspot.com.

Therefore, your account has been permanently limited.

Under the Acceptable Use Policy, PayPal may not be used to send or receive payments for certain sexually oriented materials or services or for items that could be considered obscene.

It is a trick statement as all of my books are “about escort services” including Memoirs. All are also sold on my website, The Accused Madam. I only had funds from the last three sales in the account so the balance is $30 after PayPal took its fees on the three sales and adding the previous balance of $2.

The censors at PayPal must not want anything sold that isn't for children. Does Disney own PayPal or a piece of the company?

Nothing in any book I have written could possibly be considered “obscene” or “sexually oriented material”. My books are all intended for an adult audience, but if they were rated they would all be PG or at worst R. There is nothing sexual in any book I have written.

Screw the censors at PayPal.

When I login to my PayPal account I see the following notification:

Why is my account access limited?

Your account access has been limited for the following reason(s):

• Jul 10, 2011: When you signed up for your PayPal account, you agreed to our User Agreement and Acceptable Use Policy. Because some of your recent transactions violated this policy, we've had to permanently limit your account.
  
  Please remove any references to PayPal from your website.
  
  You'll be able to withdraw any money in your account 180 days after your last transaction. We'll email you when it's ready to be withdrawn.
  

My email response to aup@paypal.com:

Nothing in any book that I have written could possibly be considered "obscene" or "sexually oriented material". While the intended audience for my books is adult, if anyone were to read and rate any of my books they would each be a PG or at most an R. There is nothing sexual in any book.

What you are doing here is incorrect, but this is the US and I respect your right as a company to not do business with anyone you choose. Welcome to Amerika, the new Disney, where everything is for children and adults do not exist except in relation to children.

Screw PayPal's censorship of me and my books. So you manage to stop me from selling ebooks that are available from Google ebooks and in Amazon's US, UK, and Canada Kindle stores and as paperbacks through any bookstore. Thanks a bunch and screw you.

Vicky Gallas

Defining Freedom of Speech

Well, we are back to full moderation of comments here on this blog. This is, obviously, not the first time it has happened, but once again I am verbally attacked by some moron. It is easy to spew lies when you post anonymously, but guess what? This is my blog and I can as easily delete your ridiculous comment. Exercise your right to free speech and start your own blog.

As for my story in Memoirs being all lies – place your name on that along with a contact email and I'll publish your comment. After I publish your comment I will subpoena your information from the appropriate ISP and file a defamation lawsuit for your attempts to place me in a false light. I have said it before and I'll say it again – anything in the book stated as fact is exactly that. I sure do not see anyone coming forward to file a suit against me, and I'm sure I won't.

I never accepted the false information disseminated by agents or their informants in past and I will not be accepting it today either. I went through far too much hell in the case to tolerate such attacks. I fixed it by publishing the book and commenting under my real name anywhere that I comment. If my attacker is so ignorant that he doesn't understand why I did this, he need only contact his attorney and ask.

We have some level of freedom of speech in the US, but this does not extend to disseminating false information that places a person in a false light and ruins anything they attempt to do in life. The only absolute defense in a defamation suit is truth, and Memoirs is full of facts and truth, which is of course why no one has sued me.

The person that chose to attack me is most likely an agent from some unknown agency or an informant – the MBI agenda changed in December of 2008, when former director William Lutz retired, though they are still clearing up cases from the long Lutz era.

The person that attacked me verbally also has a right to free speech, and guess what? He can start his own blog by going HERE. He may name the blog "VickyGallasisaLiar" if he so desires. I may (and would) then subpoena his contact information and serve him in a defamation suit. I do not have to tolerate lies about my person, my family, or my former business, and I never will – just ask the agents that lost in the case or anyone else involved, including their informants.

Still trying to bury my story huh? Funny attempt anyway, but screw you "anonymous" attacker.

Third Culture Adults

I admit that I have never adjusted to life in the US, and if I had a choice I wouldn't live here. Many people consider me to be un-American, to say the least, and I have been attacked on the topic more times than I care to remember. There is nothing like being told to leave the country when you disagree with poster statements on a forum – as if I could, right? Of course it is always stated obnoxiously, but the translation in my mind has always been, "You do not think like I do and therefore you are un-American. Get out and don't let the door hit you in the arse." I actually had one poster offer to pay for my one-way flight, but of course the person didn't come through with real information. (yes, I asked).

Incidentally, those statements that I disagree with usually involve the US invasion of the Middle East and the "support our soldiers" assertion parroted by so many Americans. Their favorite take on it is always, "Even if you do not support the war, you must support our military." The hell I must. Supporting volunteer soldiers is no different than supporting the illegal occupation of the Middle East, and sorry, but I'm not going to pretend to consider this acceptable; not to sell books on Amazon and not to make anyone feel warm and fuzzy about me. Really I do not give a flying crap what anyone thinks of me – that is a fact that you could take to your fact bank.

One early morning this past week an Amazon forum poster took the time to tell me about "Third Culture" kids and adults, and this was the most helpful information that anyone has ever given me since I have been in the US. Wow! There is a coined term for what I feel, what I am, why I disagree with Americans all the time, and why I have never adjusted to life in the United States! It was a shocker for me as all along I considered that it must be me, and what a depressing thought. My contradictory thoughts of being a foreigner in a foreign land are now reconciled.

The Amazon forum poster was so kind as to furnish a link to a website on the topic and offered a book recommendation. I think the poster is female and figure that she must be another one of us third culture kids to be as knowledgeable as she is on the topic. The Third Culture Kid (TCK) website has lists with 500+ answers to:

You know you're a TCK when…

- “Where are you from?” has more than one reasonable answer.
- You go into culture shock upon returning to your “home” country.
- Your life story uses the phrase “Then we moved to…” three (or four, or five…) times.
- You know how to pack.
- You have the urge to move to a new country every couple of years.
- You wince when people mispronounce foreign words.
- You don’t know whether to write the date as day/month/year, month/day/year, or some variation thereof.
- Your minor is a foreign language you already speak.
- When asked a question in a certain language, you’ve absentmindedly respond in a different one.
- You think that high school reunions are all but impossible.
- You realize what a small world it is, after all.

I am sure that you have the idea anyway.

On that note, I am seriously sick and tired of Americans calling me un-American just because I disagree with their own indoctrinates in American society. It is an indoctrination in which I did not participate.

Image © 2007 S. Greg Panosian / © 2010 iStockphoto.com 

Dusty's Sworn Statement

Dusty handwrote this statement and had it notarized on the way to the courthouse the day that she was finally called by the State of Florida to testify. The notary was subpoenaed on the same day, and immediately after Dusty's testimony. I have transcribed it precisely as she wrote it from my own copy. It is Orange County, Florida Circuit Court Case No. 2001-CF-015492-A, as outlined in my previous post and in Memoirs.


To: Honorable Judge Anthony Johnson Jan. 12, 2003

OSWP Case# 2001-0070-CFD Vicky Lynn Gallas

From: Suzanne Irmischer Redfern

Respectfully:

Your honor I was called to testify in regards to the above case # by the State of Florida.

I met agent Brant Rose at the Grand Hyatt Hotel at Orlando International Airport two to three weeks before my arrest in March of 1996. At the time I had no idea that he was an agent or worked for the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation. It was a Full Service call. It was on a Monday between the hours of 11:00AM – 2:00PM. When I arrived I walked into the room he asked me how much. I told him $160 per hour. He then offered me $100 extra not to use protection. I was offended. After we settled our dispute either "my way or the highway" I stayed for 20 minutes and left with $160.

I then came down with a bad case of bronchitis and didn't come back to Orlando to work for two to three weeks.

My first date back to work was the night of my arrest in March of 1996. Vicky phoned me to know a man that went by the name Tim Moody from Arkansas was in town working for Martin Marietta staying at a condo off Curry Ford Road. Shortly after I arrived I was arrested by Agent Paul Winsett. SWAT unit was hiding in garage. They came in undercover with black masks. To my surprise there behind the mask was my Last date that I ran into at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. So now I knew he worked for M.B.I. but I still had no idea who he was since he had used an alias on our first meeting.

June 2000

I awoke late afternoon to find a subpoena in my door jam from an Agent Eddie Byrons [FDLE Agent Eddy Baron] to report to M.B.I. office in late June early July of 2000. I did as requested.

I was escorted to an interrogation room with Eddie Byrons [Eddy Baron]. Shortly after Agent Brant Rose entered room and formally introduced himself. I replied I know who you are. You've lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw you and he thanked me for compliment. He then questioned me about my A.T.&T. cell phone and why I had it turned off?

My answer: I was offered a better deal with Bellsouth.

Then he started asking me questions about Vicky Gallas, her business etc. – I explained that I hadn't spoken to Vicky in 2 years. (If he was monitoring my phone he would have known this). I really didn't have the answers he wanted. Then he starts asking me questions that I answered the night of my arrest. He explained that he didn't want me, he wanted Vicky and that the witness subpoena would protect me. I explained I couldn't give him information that I really didn't have because we weren't in contact.

I did phone her once after I received the witness subpoena to find out what was going on. She explained she had placed a complaint with someone at M.B.I. other than that no idea. So there I was, Brant Rose continued to ask me questions like how many times I had sex on my dates etc.--- I thought the questions were more personal than professional and I told him so.

He then started threatening me that if I didn't answer his questions that he would put me in jail. It would be 30 days before I would see a judge and if I still didn't answer they could hold me up to 90 days.

These were questions asked the night of my arrest in March 1996. It was crazy. Then it was brought up again my witness subpoena would protect me from prosecution. That's when I told Mr. Rose the snake story I heard while watching Church one Sunday. A preacher went to an Indian Reservation to try and convert the Indians to Christianity. He was conversing with the Indian Chief about traditions and how when your confirmed your considered an adult in the Christian faith. The Indian Chief explained that there tradition is to take a brave and put him into the forest from full moon to full moon and when he returned he was considered a man.

Well they took a brave and put him into the forest by a strong rushing stream. The fish were jumping, there were tall pine trees, tall mountains and on the tallest mountain there was a snow cap. The brave having time to kill decided to climb the mountain and touch the snow. When he reached the top of the mountain out crawled a snake saying Help me! Help me! to the brave. If you leave me up here I'll freeze to death and surely die. Please take me to the bottom of the mountain for I don't have legs to carry me. The brave said I will not you will bite me and fill me with your poison and I will surely die. The snake replied would I do that to such a friend that would do me the honor of saving my life? So with a lot of haggling on the snakes part the Indian picked up the snake and put him in his coat and started down the mountain. When he reached the bottom the Indian took the snake out of his jacket turned to walk away and BAMM the snake bites the Indian. The Indian then turns looks at the snake and said but you promised! And the snake replied you knew what I was when you picked me up.

Mr. Rose sat for a moment to think about what I had just said. Got angry told me he didn't want to hear any more stories and stormed out of the interrogation room. Agent Paul Winsett came in and told me my rights. I explained that I didn't have the information that Mr. Rose wanted. I hadn't spoken to Miss Gallas in almost 2 years. Then Mr. Winsett walked me out.

Then all was quiet until late August 2001. I received a phone call from Miss Gallas informing me that one of her girls was detained by Brant Rose, then he stated my name to girl named Kelly and did she know Susan Redfern and that I no longer work in Orlando because I have AIDS and did she know who I was. My answer to Vicky was I wonder who or what gave him that idea. 3 days later I received a call from a client telling me he had phoned "All Angelas," spoke to Terri Isaacs who claimed "her cop buddy told her I have AIDS." No wonder my phones stopped ringing! Well it just so happened that I had just gone to the health department for a 6 month check and the results were negative. So Vicky and I knew that Terri was in contact with Brant Rose. Vicky closed Valentines September 2001. We spoke that day she phoned to let me know. We spoke again sometime in October and then again after her arrest in November.

Sometime in the beginning of December 2001 Mr. Brant Rose came with a witness subpoena for a deposition December 20th 2001. He delivered the subpoena himself along with a Brevard County Sheriff Officer to my door. The date from Hell is also a witness in this case and asking me questions?

I contacted an attorney John Natori from Orlando, told him all the above story. He was busy on the 20th and asked to postpone the depo until after Christmas – John Craft refused! Mr. Natori referred me to James Craner who came with me to depo on Dec. 20th. I also explained all of the above story to him as well as Robert Mihalek's attorney at the time Ken Weaver.

I arrived on Dec. 20th 2001 with my attorney James Craner who was not allowed to speak or advise me. Mr. Craft stated that I would be given 30 years if I didn't answer his questions. What kind of justice is this? I'm afraid of these people that's why I brought an attorney. I have turned off all my phones and have lived in fear for the past year. I took a job where I worked 7 nights a week so no one could say I was elsewhere to discredit me as a witness for this case. I have sat outside in your hallway all week everyday – Monday – Thursday to testify.

Oh and one last thought to ponder. Tuesday afternoon Mr. Rose was sitting in hallway. I was there with my friend. I started a conversation with Mr. Rose but not pertaining to case. Towards end of conversation he mentioned that he would be over in Brevard [County] working the Boardroom case and staying at the Radisson at the Port? after this case was over? Now why would a special agent want me to know where he would be staying? I wonder?

Thank you your honor for taking the time to read my statement.


Sincerely,

Suzanne Irmischer Redfern

[Notary information]

Trial Surprise

In Memoirs of an Accused Madam: The War on Adult Business in Orlando, chapter eight (8) is entitled: "From the Defendant's Perspective: A Bizarre Trial." Towards the end of the chapter I discuss the situation that occurred when Dusty was forced by the State of Florida to testify. Prosecutors subpoenaed her and demanded that she be present in the hallway from the moment the trial began on Monday, January 6, 2003, until they finally decided to call her to the stand on Monday afternoon, January 13th. That was their mistake.


What prosecutors didn't consider is the level of anger that she had reached by the time that they called her. Well, on Sunday evening before her testimony, Dusty handwrote a lengthy letter to the judge and then followed-up by having it notarized on her way to court on Monday morning. The act of notarizing the statement transformed it into a sworn affidavit.

I had no idea what Dusty included in the letter, and as the later investigation by prosecutors revealed, played no part whatsoever in her making the statement. In the investigation that followed her testimony, Florida's Office of Statewide Prosecution even subpoenaed the notary public that had notarized this document, and then investigated every allegation in it. The results of the investigation were hidden, at least from the defense, and shortly thereafter the file disappeared in its entirety from the Orange County Clerk of Court's office. The case is Case No. 2001-CF-015492-A. My co-defendant's (Rocky and Beth) case numbers are the same except that the letters at the end are "B" and "C" respectively.

The only thing that I know concerning the end result of the investigation is that Dusty was not charged with perjury and was not approached by prosecutors or any agent of the State of Florida again in relation to my case.

The jury was immediately sent out of the courtroom – the moment that Dusty handed the envelope with the sworn affidavit to the judge as she sat on the stand. So the jury never did get to see a copy of this affidavit and my attorney, Stephen Wolverton, was not allowed to refer to it when the he cross-examined Dusty. As I stated in Memoirs, after she presented the affidavit her testimony was quickly concluded by the examining prosecutor.

Circuit Court Judge Anthony Johnson's clerk was instructed to make copies of the affidavit for the judge, the file, the defense, and the prosecutors, so this is not a secret document by any stretch of the imagination. It did disappear with the rest of the documents in the file. The file was 3 overstuffed volumes, perhaps 6-8 inches of papers in each volume. After the disappearance from the clerk's office, the recreated file contained only some documents from the prosecutor's office, and of course this sworn affidavit was among the many missing documents. Soon the recreated file disappeared also. Today there is a file consisting of 1 volume that is 1 to 1 ½ inches thick.

I do have in my possession most documents from the original file. I have several copies of the sworn affidavit submitted by Dusty. She also gave a copy to Local News 6 investigative reporter Tony Pipitone; however, the station did not use it in their documentary on the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation. When the documentary was made back in 2003, the MBI former director exerted pressure on any news outlet. Before long the show disappeared from the station's website, but of course I have a copy of the tape that was mailed to me by Tony Pipitone. A copy of the affidavit was also given to an investigative reporter with the Orlando Weekly, but the newspaper didn't use it in their 10-page story about the MBI, "The Morality Police," by William Dean Hinton. In fact, no news outlet actually listed the correct charges that I was on trial for, or included any of the really incriminating facts concerning the MBI.

I also have all court hearings and the entire trial on CDs and obviously could prove anything that I state regarding my trial and the court hearings. I so tire of being discredited – like with the 2 reviewers of my book that state it is not believable and assert that I deserved it all. The last reviewer is clearly from the law enforcement profession – perhaps actively or perhaps retired. The MBI has friends in Tennessee – they filmed shows together on Spike TV that they also sell on Amazon.

As stated in Memoirs, I stand by all that I stated – it is a non-fiction book, and I categorized it as "true crime" with subcategories of "criminals," "criminology," and "organized crime" as the agents were the criminals that operated as an organized criminal group.

I did not include a copy of this sworn affidavit in Memoirs, though I am not sure why, except perhaps for the same reasons that I gave all of the agents of the state aliases. This case is a matter of public record and any document in the files can indeed be posted herein, published in a book, or published on the internet; regardless that the guilty parties stole the file from the courthouse. I am finished being the patsy that covers their identities to protect their privacy. Not one ever had any concern for my privacy. Today almost all involved agents are retired care of Florida taxpayers.

The next posting on this blog is the infamous sworn affidavit.

Dusty was always Dusty to me, from the moment that I met her, but her real name is Suzanne Irmischer Redfern. Suzanne was a great friend and she died on March 3, 2008.


Rest in Peace Suzanne


February 1, 1958 – March 3, 2008

The Conspiracy Charge

This is written from a defendant perspective and is not a legal guide, and no, that is not a disclaimer, but I do want the reader to understand where the point of view is derived. Some statements may be in disagreement with legal viewpoints, so don't bother to quote case law as it is immaterial herein, and chances are great that I am already aware.


Though the charging of a conspiracy has earlier roots in history, the modern use began with the War on Drugs and drug conspiracy charges. It is an available statute that is frequently misused and abused by state and federal prosecutors. I know this for fact as I was charged and tried for the Florida statutes: Racketeering (RICO), F.S. 895.03(3) and Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering (RICO), F.S. 895.03 (4).

Florida Statute 895.03(3) states:

“It is unlawful for any person employed by, or associated with, any enterprise to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in such enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity or the collection of an unlawful debt.”

Florida Statute 895.03 (4) states:

“It is unlawful for any person to conspire or endeavor to violate any of the provisions of subsection (1), subsection (2), or subsection (3).”

I did rip apart the "racketeering" basis of the charge in Memoirs, but never really gutted the "conspiracy" allegations. I had 2 co-defendants – Rocky and Beth – and each pled guilty to the conspiracy charge (F.S. 895.04(4)). One part of the plea agreement that each entered into was to testify against me in court concerning our alleged conspiracy. The other parts involved helping agents and prosecutors develop other cases (setting other people up). Prosecutors never did call Rocky to testify for a variety of reasons, but while sitting in jail with "no bond" after our arrest, he made a lengthy and wild statement. The day that he made his statement, after spending almost 3 months in jail without a bond, he was given a $20K bond and released, a violation of the United States Constitution. The bond was an undocumented part of his plea deal.

At the base of Rocky's jailhouse statement was that he was my partner and we were in business together. The root of the entire case was an informant's statement (Theresa Isaacs/Ryssdal/Raines) that she knew that Rocky and I were in business together, and even a claim that Rocky had introduced her to me. So what agents and prosecutors did was have Rocky confirm the informant's statement after our arrest. Indeed it was a baseless allegation, but then informants make-up crap for prosecutors and agents every minute of every day in this country. It is how the system works.

Ironically, the truth as to where I met Theresa was far worse to me at that point in time. But guess what? When I testified in my defense, prosecutors did not ask the question. They knew better than to go there. By the time we reached trial, time limitations had set in and I couldn't possibly be included in the federal mess – it was too late to turn back that clock and have their informant (Theresa) and my co-defendant change their statements. When they directed Theresa to make the statement that she did to begin with, they had already reached the point of no return, and that was ten months before my arrest.

I actually met Theresa through a woman named Judy (Kathy in Memoirs) in Miami. The evil part of this is that agents and prosecutors were all too aware of exactly how Theresa met me, but chose to charge me as they did because it was more of a case than it would have been to try and include me in the federal mess. So Theresa lied and they all knew it. Florida's Office of Statewide Prosecution was working with feds prosecuting "the Circuit" case with its Miami roots. "The Circuit" case was a huge federal mess, and Theresa was at the center, though none of the defendants ever knew that as each pleaded guilty to one charge or another.

So there was my poor drugged co-defendant in the Orange County, Florida jail unknowingly cementing his own conspiracy conviction. Yes, he was on a lengthy list of psychotropic drugs while in the jail, prescribed by the State's psychiatrist.

We all know that they couldn't have all of that come out in a courtroom during trial, so prosecutors never called Rocky to testify. The next irony was that prosecutors claimed at his sentencing hearing that he didn't complete his plea deal by testifying against me and requested, and received, a 36 month prison sentence and 10 years of felony probation upon release. Of course they also received the fines and costs of $26K and poor Rocky still has 5 more years of felony probation and is still making his monthly payments.

When a conspiracy is charged alleging that 2 parties are in business together, any acts committed by one of the parties is attributed to the other. So what I got in the end was a bunch of idiotic escorts that worked for Rocky's business simply testifying as to how he did business, things he stated to them, and specific situations between each of the escorts and Rocky. I never knew any of them, but in a charged conspiracy this is entirely immaterial.

That is what a conspiracy charge can do for prosecutors, and in my case, the basis of the charge was false to begin with; a fact known by all agents and prosecutors.

Do you get it? Apply this concept to War on Drugs and War on Terror cases for the complete picture.

Operation Out Call (IRS)

What began as an IRS sting, Operation Out Call in the Dallas, Texas IRS office, soon evolved into Operation Plastic Empire, in Orlando, Florida, a Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI) brainstorm, which soon led to the Amnesty Program, also described in my book.

Operation Out Call was a sting the IRS dreamed-up to target escort services that accepted credit cards back in 1995. The IRS busted and then took-over Electronic Merchant Services (EMS), a company that processed credit cards for adult businesses. When it was still EMS I almost signed-up with it, with almost being the operative word. I met the EMS area representative at my office, but the paperwork required that I write-in the "type of business" and I wrote "escort service" which resulted in the rep ripping-up the contract and stating that I needed to write "tour company" or something else. I informed him that all of my business licenses, city and county, stated "escort service" so I couldn't do that. I told the guy:

"I think that's credit card factoring, or something like that, when you process credit cards by claiming to be something else. Who knows? I'm not an attorney, but what's wrong with writing the correct type of business?"

Soon he was packing his processing machine back in the box, picking-up his papers, and exiting. Quite a few people – escorts and a booker – were ticked off at me that day. We were doing little business because just about every other agency accepted credit cards.

This transpired prior to the IRS taking over EMS and signing-up escort services all over the country. I was later contacted, on several occasions, by the IRS to sign-up to accept credit cards. They had some man that sounded like a New Jersey thug calling me in an attempt to entice me, and then drilling me as to why I refused the offer. This strategy in itself gave me a clue that something was amiss. He didn't leave me alone until I told him why I'd never accept credit cards: At my agency the clients will get their privacy whether they want it or not – if I wanted the bank and the government to have client lists, I'd just fax them over a copy. The agent said that he understood my point and never called me again.

At the same time I had potential clients (really the MBI) calling me in force wanting to use credit cards, and then stating some form of "oh I understand – you are avoiding paying taxes." This continued to the point that it was absurd. Soon I was just hanging-up the phone as soon as I heard "credit card" – my ads were close to the only ads without credit card emblems. They did manage to sign-up around 15 agencies that had at least a hundred ads in area yellow pages though. I was one of very few that passed and several other agencies already accepted credit cards via other processing companies. Incidentally, EMS (and the IRS) charged 18% to process the transactions.

The MBI began working with the IRS on this operation and the agency was now privy to information concerning the credit card holder's name, address, bank etc…. For the MBI, each credit card user was now a potential state witness.

The story about IRS Operation Out Call is still available in the July 22, 1996 issue of New York Magazine that is published in Google Books. I had it embedded in the footer of this blog, but Blogger no longer allows frames, so go to the link and the story, titled "The Love Float," starts on page 30, which actually states, "The Screwball Scheme" as title: The Love Float by Daniel Green