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Topic: The Prosecutor, the Feds, the Mob and Aladdin Casino
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

I remember entering the Shorthorn one evening and watching a very drunk Judge Baker trying to put his key into the door lock of his car. He was so drunk, there was no way I would offer to help. Contemplating what to do, i was amazed when he reared back and rushed the door lock. He finally got the car open. Another shock as he drove perfectly straight although he couldn't walk without stumbling.

Several judges and many businessmen frequented this bar.
Post Fri Nov 04, 2016 11:27 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

After Alco Construction requested a One Man Grand jury to investigate The City denial of their request to build a senior housing project on land that was formerly Flint Park Amusement land. At that time the legislative body was called Commissioners and not Council members. The probe was to focus on Commissioner Fred Tucker (5th Ward) and Mayor Donald Cronin (7th Ward). The Commissioners selected their Mayor, mostly ceremonial, for a two year term. A City Manager ran the day-to-day operations.

On August 6,1969, the six judges of the 7th Circuit Court agreed to impanel the one-man Grand Jury. The State Court Administrator had the responsibility for the selection of an outside Grand Juror and on September 9,1969, Judge William R Peterson of Cadillac members.was selected to serve in that capacity. He was charged with investigating the allegations of corruption among city and council
Post Thu Nov 10, 2016 6:45 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

John W. Berry Jr. was named as Peterson's special Prosecutor. Investigators were selected including William Kontyko of the Flint Police Department. Judge James Mies of Livonia presided over the Flint District Court to initiate the proceedings.

The Grand Jury was to operate for six months with a possible six month extension. If the Grand Jury uncovered evidence of crimes outside the scope of the original purpose of the Grand Jury, a request had o be made o the Circuit Court to expand the scope of the investigation.

By early November the Circuit Court judges granted Peterson's request to expnd the Grand Jury probe. The rationale was "there is probable cause to believe that such crimes denominated in the original order may have been committed in connetion with other projects."
Post Thu Nov 10, 2016 7:00 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

By January of 1970, the stories came out that Jacob M. Waldo had falsely used the names of Mayor Donald Cronin and Fred Tucker for "soliciting money from an ice ream vendor, Jerry Fine.The Flint Journal reported on January 20th that Waldo was hit with 5 counts of perjury for lying to the Grand Jury and that more warrants for arrests were forthcoming.

Stories of Jake Waldo's activities have been around for years. However these stories revolved around his manipulations of his alleged "political connections". I was told he accepted money on certain city resolutions and proposals and promised passage of the proposed action. If the proposal passed, he was golden. If the proposal failed,he claimed he tried and returned the money. The story tellers claim he never actually bribed any of the officials whose names he used.

(Actually I thought of Waldo when Eric Mays lobbying contracts were revealed)
Post Thu Nov 10, 2016 7:29 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

In the January 20, 1970 story on Waldo, Journal reporter Lawrence Gustin called Waldo a "Mr Big" in the 1950's and continued to have influence in the City, county and state levels. Gustin cited a 1957 conviction for waldo of Conspiracy to Bribe Police and Obstruction of justice.

It wasn't until April 8, 1970 that Journal reporter Joseph Wagar detailed the entire Waldo-Fine incident. Jery Fie was the owner of Frozen Ice Cream Confections on 351 E. Pasadena and was the co-owner of Kopland Please delete me! on 238 W. Pierson. He had recently been appointed to a position on the Flint Civil Service Commission by the Flint City Commissioners.

In mid-April of 1969, Waldo allegedly threatened Fine with competition from Detroit unless hepaid Waldo $5,000. Waldo claimed the money was for then Mayor cronin who was cooperating with Commissioner Tucker. Waldo further claimed he was sent by Cronin and if payment wasn't made, Cronin would contact a Detroit ice cream company and flood Flint with ice cream vending machines from the Detroit company.


Last edited by untanglingwebs on Thu Nov 10, 2016 2:26 pm; edited 1 time in total
Post Thu Nov 10, 2016 7:45 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Fine testified that he first refused and later offered to write a check so as to have a record of the transaction. Waldo demanded csh, but Fine insisted he ran his business on a detailed financial basis.

When Waldo returned on May 10, 1969, Fine withdrew $5,000 from the bank and told Waldo he had his accountant "flag" the account. Waldo returned the money which went back to the bank.

On May 15th, Waldo returned and Fine again withdrew $5,000 from the bank. The alleged conversion unraveled when Fine was contacted by Grand jury investigators regarding the transaction. When Waldo was told by Fine about the investigation, Waldo created a story that the money was a loan and produced a back dated note stating the $5,000 was a loan. Waldo told Fine to stick to the story and use the note as evidence and Fine did.
Post Thu Nov 10, 2016 8:03 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

BY December 4, the investigators went to the Kopland Drug Store and asked Fine to help rcord calls and other conversations between Fine and Waldo. The tapes of these conversations were played in court.

Fine told Waldo that Cronin and others were "shooting their mouth off about the money"
Waldo replied to Fine that he was to stick to the story and not to worry about Tucker. Waldo and Tucker were said to be close friends as Waldo had planned Tucker's campaign for election.

Fine told Waldo he was afraid Cronin and Tucker might be granted immunity. Waldo then reassured Fine and said Tucker had already been to the Grand Jury. Waldo went on to say that Cronin got his money from Tucker and not Waldo.

Fine admitted to the Grand jury that he had originally lied and that he wanted to tell the truth. Waldo testified he borrowed the $5,000 and used the money to pay taxes and pay off aprevious loan. He denied ever asking for "pay off"
Post Thu Nov 10, 2016 8:14 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Waldo was not involved in the Flint Park senior housing proposal. By January 29, 1970, Flint Journal reporter Lawrence Gustin reported a grand jury indictment ame down on a Flint attorney Harry S. Sherwin.

The allegations in the warrant read that "on or about October 14, 1969 Sherwin did corruptly offer a Flint City Commissioner with something of value... free attorney services with the intent of influencing his judgement and vote on a zoning matter" which could have come before the Flint City Commission.

Gustin reported how Sherwin allegedly committed perjury when he gave false answers to the Grand Juror. Sherwin denied any knowledge of anyone who approached a City Commissioner for the purpose of giving them money or anything of value for the purpose of influencing their vote.

Sherwin went on to say he was only aware of hearsay and rumors that an unknown piece of land would have a zoning vote coming up for a change from residential to commercial. He also said that he "understood that 4 commissioners theoretically were promised money if they voted yes for the zoning change. He then said he didn't understand the basis for the rumor, didn't know where the money was coming fromor which commissioners were involved.
Post Thu Nov 10, 2016 11:51 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

According to the warrant, Sherwin had offered to legally represent 9th Ward City Commissioner Robert J. karbowski at a grand Jury appearance in return for a favorable vote and influence "on a zoning change for land on the Southwest corner of Detroit (now M.L. King) and pierson Road.

The Flint Planning office had not received any requests to rezone that piece of land in question. The land was recorded as belonging to attorneys Robert White, Charles White and Flushing District Judge Harry P. Newblatt. Newblatt denied ever speaking to Sherwin regarding the property and denied ever hiring Sherwin in connection to any property.

It was said that Karbowski cooperated fully with the Grand Jury. Sherwin was represented by Sherwin in a lawsuit in which Karbowski sued to keep the City Commission from loaning money to the bus system. Judge Elza Papp dismissed the case in December and questioned if a Commissioner could be both a plaintiff and a defendant in a case.


Last edited by untanglingwebs on Thu Nov 10, 2016 2:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
Post Thu Nov 10, 2016 12:05 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Sherwin also reportedly represented four individuals who sought to present a plan to the City for urban renewal in Oak Park. These individuals alleged that specific legal requirements for urban renewal had not been met.The case was dismissed after a change in state law eliminated the key element of the lawsuit.

These changes were unrelated to either the Flint park proposal or Waldo's case.

A Journal story by Gary Taylor on Jan 30,1970 told how Judge Basil Baker ordered the Flint Park public housing proposal could begin construction. Judge Baker indicated Alco could present a Writ of Mandamus to proceed with the project and he would sign it. "He ruled that the City Commission does not have the right to reject projects recommended by the Flint Housing Commission."

In his article Taylor detailed how Judge Baker explained that the Housing Commission was an independent agency created by State Statute and the City Commission could only act in a ministerial capacity and therefore their approval was not discretionary. It follows, said Baker,that Housing Commission decisions should be approved when they fall within the authority given to them by the statute.


Last edited by untanglingwebs on Thu Nov 10, 2016 2:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
Post Thu Nov 10, 2016 12:27 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

The report by Taylor also revealed the role of Prosecutor Robert Leonard had requested the City Commission to not act on Flint Park because his office was reviewing certain land transactions involving public housing.

The City Attorney at that time was Robert E. Weiss, who indicated he would study the proposal prior to a decision on whether to approve.

Others indicted by Grand Juror Peterson in a separate 1968 case were Board of County Superintendents William P. Polk (D-Flint) and T. Ray Johnson (D-Flint). They were charged with Conspiracy to bribe a public official.
Post Thu Nov 10, 2016 12:49 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

The subject of the murder of Fred Tucker and his wife and the discovery of their bodes in a Toledo landfill came up again this week. There have been many versions thrown around but the crime has never been settled.

I remember walking into the CPSA Courier in the 90's only to find the 3 board members acting erratic. The cause of their distress was an alleged statement by Reverend Pointer that "the only place he wanted to see Dr. Aldridge was in the trunk of a car." I immediately thought of Fred Tucker and the rumors that revolved around the Greater Flint OIC. There had been federal allegations that the agency had misused federal funds. A bevy of names swirled around the agency lke Pointer, Etherly, Stanley, Fernandes and more. Someone recently addressed these allegations in an M-Live post.

I was told that Tucker had agreed to testify against the agency leaders and that was the reason they believed he was killed.

I once asked Rev. Dr Aldridge why there was a schism in the Black religious community. He referred to the OIC scandal and would only state that the Black Baptists had refused to intercede because they did not condone corruption. Beyond that he would not say any more.
Post Wed Aug 16, 2017 10:50 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

My research on Tucker starts around page 4 or 5in this thread. I detail the possible mafia links of the use of the landfill where the bodies were found.

The newest version brought up several days ago was that there was a car accident and the bodes were in the trunk of the one of the cars. The only way this could have been covered up would have been with the help of the Toledo Police. Toledo was said to be happy to give the investigation over to Flint because Toledo was experiencing many murders at that time.

But there was alleged mob presence in Flint as well. I had former Flint employees tell me they worked on a project involving the Tocco family from Detroit. It was said to be a road project involving Detroit (ML King now) Street. But they were unable to provide me with the documents.

Also Council was dealing with Soave, City Management, and allegations of corruption in trash and compost collection and disposal. FBI documents of the Joe Wilson investigation discussed bid manipulating.

Is it a far stretch to place Pastors and politicians involved with mobsters? I welcome all comments.
Post Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:09 am 
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