U.S. Attorney General William Barr two weeks ago visited the New York City correctional facility where accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein supposedly committed suicide early Saturday, according to a report from a D.C.-based investigative journalist. That makes Barr, at a minimum, a person of interest in Epstein's death, writes Wayne Madsen. It also suggests the claim that Barr was "appalled" by Epstein's death is phony.
Several detention procedures were violated regarding Epstein's stay at the federal jail in Lower Manhattan, according to The New York Times (NYT).
A post at the subscription-based Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), published yesterday under the headline "Epstein-Barr:'Justice' in a quasi-dictatorship known as the United States," states:
The Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post reported on August 11, 2019, that Lewis Kasman, a one-time top accountant for Gambino family mob boss John Gotti – and who visited Gotti while he was incarcerated at the [Metropolitan Correctional Center, MCC] in 1992 – claims the MCC guards have a history of corruption. Kasman told the paper that MCC correction officers often deliver food or cellphones to wealthy inmates. Kasman dropped a major bombshell in his interview with the Post, claiming Attorney General Barr, whose father was the headmaster who helped arrange for Epstein’s first teaching job at the school in 1974, made a “hush-hush trip" to the MCC two weeks ago, about the time Epstein was found in his cell with bruises around his neck.” Kasman added, “When does that happen? The attorney general never visits jails. Something’s not right there.”
If Kasman can be believed, Barr’s visit to the MCC would make the Attorney General -- who claimed he was “appalled” over Epstein’s death and is in charge of the FBI and Department of Justice Inspector General investigations into Epstein’s death – a person of interest or even a prime suspect in Epstein’s death. There is scant reason to doubt Kasman since he has very little to gain as a former mob figure who turned state’s evidence.
Here is more from the New York Post article:
The jail where Jeffrey Epstein apparently hanged himself was a nest of corruption in the early ’90s, according to one of late mobster John Gotti Sr.’s top associates — who insists it’s still a place where almost anything can be bought if you have the bucks.
“If he killed himself someone had to have helped him,” said Lewis Kasman, a onetime close confidant of the Dapper Don who visited the godfather several times at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in 1992.
“There are cameras going 24/7 and they’re watching 24/7. Someone had to give [Epstein] the equipment to kill himself and he had to pay for it dearly,” said Kasman, who has kept abreast of conditions in the lockup.
Kasman added: “That facility for years had issues of corruption, with correction officers bringing in food or cellphones for wealthy people.”
The former Gambino bean counter noted that Gotti, who did time both in the jail’s 9 South and 10 South units, its most secure wings, still managed to get his favorite steak dinner sneaked in: “He had Peter Luger’s whenever he wanted.”
As for violations of detention procedures, The NYT reports:
Mr. Epstein was supposed to have been checked by the two guards in the protective housing unit every 30 minutes, but that procedure was not followed that night, a law-enforcement official with knowledge of his detention said.
In addition, because Mr. Epstein may have tried to commit suicide three weeks earlier, he was supposed to have had another inmate in his cell, three officials said. But the jail had recently transferred his cellmate and allowed Mr. Epstein to be housed alone, a decision that also violated the jail’s procedures, the two officials said.
What could all of this mean for the United States? For one, it suggests the White House, Justice Department, federal prisons, and federal courthouses are infested with organized crime -- which is not breaking news to us or our readers. Writes Madsen:
One of the biggest threats to Donald Trump’s presidency – his former good friend and fellow uber-wealthy sex pervert Jeffrey Epstein – died in a federal detention center in Manhattan of what was officially termed a “suicide.” Suspicious deaths of incarcerated politically-sensitive inmates are common occurrences in countries like China, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Russia, Egypt, Turkey, Israel, the Philippines, Uganda, Colombia, Guatemala, and now – the United States. These are countries where the rule of law is supplanted by the whims of government leaders eager to eliminate those who have knowledge of corruption at the highest levels of state power.
Epstein, who was arrested on July 6 at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey after returning from a trip to Paris, was being held at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Manhattan while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. Epstein had been under a suicide watch after a previous incident where he was found unconscious with bruises on his neck from what was widely reported to have been a suicide attempt. However, MCC officials reported that Epstein’s suicide watch had been vacated just prior to his alleged suicide.
There are also reports that the surveillance camera system dedicated to the MCC’s Special Housing Unit (SHU) for high-profile inmates had malfunctioned, yielding no video evidence of Epstein’s so-called “suicide.” This, of course, is very unoriginal window dressing designed to establish the false narrative that Epstein evaded all maximum security prison controls in order to take his own life. Epstein’s death came a day after thousands of documents on Epstein’s recruitment of underage female sex slaves were released pursuant to a federal judicial panel’s order.
Some knowledgeable and influential voices have made it clear they do not believe the MCC's official story. Writes Madsen:
Although the usual suspects emerged to deride any notion of a “conspiracy theory” involving Epstein’s homicide, those questioning the MCC’s official story included former federal prosecutors, Justice Department officials, correctional officers, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, bipartisan members of the U.S. Senate and House, a former New York Police and Corrections Department Commissioner, former federal prison wardens and public defenders, former MCC inmates, and Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig, who tweeted: “People close to Epstein fear he was murdered . . . as Epstein told authorities someone tried to kill him in a previous incident weeks earlier. He was described as being in good spirits in recent days.” The skepticism about Epstein’s so-called suicide is punching holes right through the official story tellers – including certain quarters at the Washington Post and New York Times -- thus reducing their “conspiracy theory” accusatory pabulum to very weak sauce.
As for security cameras and guard checks, The NYT reports:
Eric Young, president of the national council of union locals that represents guards at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, said there were cameras in hallways and common areas, but not in the cells of the unit where Mr. Epstein was being held.
“From the moment you walk onto that property, you are under camera surveillance, ” Mr. Young said, adding that there should be video evidence of when the last checks were made and of anyone who approached Mr. Epstein’s cell.
Mr. Young said overnight checks in the protective unit are typically done every 30 minutes, but sometimes the schedule varies a bit, so that inmates cannot precisely predict when guards will come by their cells.
Mr. Young would not discuss whether the two guards on duty at the time of Mr. Epstein’s death were doing regular checks on him.
Prominent figures took to Twitter to express their doubts about the official story of Epstein's death, reports Politico:
The furious reaction from mainstream public officials as well as a swelling chorus of prominent voices on social media — it wasn’t just from professional conspiracy theorists or guys at the bar — as soon as news of his death broke showed how pervasive this reaction is.
“If we were living in a paranoid fantasy universe,” New York Times columnist Paul Krugman posted on Twitter, “I would be very suspicious about the Epstein suicide, even about whether it was really suicide. And you know what? The Epstein case itself shows that we *are* kind of living in a paranoid fantasy universe.”
“A guy who had information that would have destroyed rich and powerful men’s lives ends up dead in his jail cell. How predictably….Russian,” tweeted MSNBC host Joe Scarborough.
“Something stinks to high heaven,” agreed former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) “How does someone on suicide watch hang himself with no intervention? Impossible. Unless….”
Actually, Epstein had been on suicide watch after an earlier incident on July 23, but was no longer.
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