One Nation Under BLACKMAIL: Vol.1 The sordid union between Intelligence & Organized Crime that gave rise to Jeffrey Epstein pt 1

Acknowledgements:

Introduction

1) The Underworld

2) Booze and Blackmail

3) Organized Crime and the State of Israel

4) Roy Cohn's "Favor Bank"- The City's Preeminent Manipulator. Roy Cohn, publicly called 'boy wonder' and quietly 'sleazy mob lawyer' over the course of his lifetime, was one of the most influential political operators in the country for the better part of three decades. He not only served as Joe McCarthy's right hand man, at the height of the Red Scare, but also helped secure electoral for prominent New York politicians, as well as US presidents. And years after his death, his protege', Donald Trump, would serve as the 45th president of the U.S.

Despite his popularity and his influence, both his admirers and detractors failed to know him too well, particularly the unsavory parts. Cohn often displayed contradictory behavior, as he was an anti-communist crusader that collaborated closely with the FBI, as a confidant, business associate and legal counsel to some of the biggest names in organized crime. This may be the reason for Cohn's story being central to detailing the rise of the networks that are the focus of this book.

He was known as New York City's 'prominent manipulator' largely because he was a 'one man network of contacts that have reached into City Hall, the mob, the press, the Archdiocese, the disco-jet set, the courts and the backrooms of the Bronx and Brooklyn where judges are made and political contributions are arranged" Cohn was also able to manipulate the press, politics and much more, may have been partially due to his ability to wield blackmail in a way similar to that practiced by his very close associate and friend J.Edgar Hoover.

This friendship may be why post his demise in 1986, much of of the FBI file on Cohn, over 4,000 pages, has still not been made public, despite the biographers and others over the years. His background and earlier parts of his career serve as a 'window' into how the world of 'above-board' and 'legitimate' business and politics has inter-mingled along with the criminal underworld throughout the decades and how blackmail was critical to Cohn's ability to successfully navigate those murky waters, between legal and illegal.

Al Cohn and the New York Machine - Ray Cohn was the son of limited financially immigrant parents from Poland. He had to skip high school but worked his way through schools graduating in 1903 from a university. He graduated from law school in 1908 and in 1910 became involved in the Democratic Party clubhouses in New York's Bronx, where he eventually appointed to assistant district attorney for the Bronx in 1917. He dreamed of a judgeship but wasn't wealthy enough to put down the collateral (fundraising), so continued on with the state attorney's office, becoming the chief district attorney in 1923. He met Dora Marcus a daughter of a wealthy banking firm, where he entered into a contract marriage, in return for the funding for the judgeship. Within one year, he was appointed the Bronx County judge by New York governor Al Smith.

Al wanted to continue to live in the Bronx securing his ties with those he'd lobbied over the years, as well as continue on with his grooming from Ed Flynn, the Bronx party-boss for the Democratic party. By 1921, Cohn had created the Pontiac Democratic club hoping to weaken his rival Patrick Kane. Cohn's parents would often host dinners in honor of Flynn forming a strong bond with the party and their son, a judge; Al was loyal to the party and when they'd want a ruling, he'd oblige.

His loyalty was rewarded when Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Cohn to the Bronx Supreme Court in 1929; eight years later he was appointed to the State Supreme Court's Appellate Division. Similar to this network and others discussed in this book, was inter-laid with the underground criminal world, dating back to the early 1920's with Luciano.

During the Democratic 1932 National Convention, Al Smith warned the Luciano, Lansky, and Costello that Roosevelt would betray them when promising to no inquiries into their business affairs. Smith's warning, which the crime bosses had ignored, turned out to be true, as Roosevelt allowed the inquirey, let by Judge Seabury, to advance, and soon it was exposed extensive criminal activity being conducted by many leading top officials leading to their resignation. Post the `1932 convention, Luciano stated it was commonly known at the time that his criminal enterprise controlled most of New York City's delegates to the convention, which speaks to their influence over the party's dealings in the city.

The elder Cohn remained deeply involved in the Democratic political apparatus, however an argument was made that Flynn merely kept his district and his own reputation free from public association with corruption. Less than one year later, James Moran, a right hand man, was convicted on 23 counts of extortion for his role in corruption; if Flynn was indeed a Bronx political boss who was free of scandal and corruption as some historians claim, it's hard to justify why he would intervene so dramatically - involving the White House directly. There is also the fact that young Roy Cohn had been considerably involved with and worked in election campaigns.

Uncle Bernie's Bank - It is undeniable that Ray Cohn was raised in privilege and influence however, much of his success is due to marrying into the Marcus family. His mother-in-law was hailed from an elite family in New York's Jewish community, unfortunately, with mired ties during the Great Depression of the 30's. Dora Marcus, was the daughter of the man who'd created the Bank of the United States; she was of Russian-Jewish descent, whose father began his career in the garment industry. Her father and Saul Singer created the bank that was in direct conflict/competition with the bank he did business with ordinarily.

Unfortunately, by December 1930 the bank was closed despite attempts to work with Wall Street's leading bankers; the governor at the time, Franklin Roosevelt order the Bank of the U.S. closed, and an investigation was launched with quickly provided proof of fraud. It had become apparent that Bernard Marcus and Saul Singer, the bank's vice-president, had engaged in illegal activity which included purchasing the bank's stock with depositor funds in order to drive up the stock price. They also loaned out over $37M under suspicious circumstances, $10M of it was used for unsecured loans to bank directors and their companies. Public hearings revealed that Marcus and Singer had burned a truckload of documents, more than a thousand bundles of papers and bank records. Both Marcus and Singer were found guilty and sentenced to three years in maximum security.

Dora Marcus said that other bankers could have come to their aide but she felt they didn't because of antisemitism - the Anglo-Saxon dominated and German-Jewish bankers (J.P. Morgan, Kuhn,s Loebs, & Lehmens) let the Russian Jewish bankers fail. The charges against them were based on the targeting of the Jewish immigrant community, through fraud and deception.

The trail and imprisonment of Bernard Marcus was difficult on Roy, as this was his favorite uncle, and he felt Bernie had been used as a scapegoat. On Roy's maternal side, both his grandfather and uncle were influential in New York, as well. His family owned the Lionel Corporation, producer of model trains. Lionel's influence grew and peaked in the early 1950's, when it became the largest toy manufacturer. Cowen and his son stepped away from the business after selling the company to Roy, but it wasn't long before the company was linked to criminal behavior and scandal.

Friends allege they were asked by Roy to buy Lionel stock, including Congressman Neil Gallagher, while he privately shorted the firm, resulting in the stockholders taking a financial beating, while Roy became rich. Cohn sidestepped federal regulations in the 1950's by borrowing large sums from US and foreign sources to buy Lionel stock. At the time, Cohn had enmeshed in business interests tied to mob figures.

As a child, he'd often play his parents against each other, in attempt to get his way, of which he always did. Roy played by his own set of rules. Whatever he wanted at any given moment was the right thing.

Roy Rising - Roy had been known as the deal maker, always swapping, maneuver, and manipulating; at the age of twelve, he was using his father's political connections to secure men jobs at the post office, collecting a finders fee. He seemed to be more at home with powerful businessmen and New York political power brokers than with children his own age. He did however, gain close friendships, which would impact his career in the future, such as friends of the Conde Nest publication empire (Vanity Fair, Vogue, GQ, the New Yorker); the assistant attorney general under President Lyndon Johnson. Two friends his age, Gene Pope Jr and Eddie Weisel Jr., continued to have close ties with Roy, throughout the years. Gene had an insatiable interest in politics and more importantly the power in politics. His father had been an immigrant who came with nothing and rose to the top of New York's and later, the nation's concrete industry. Pope Sr. held fascist beliefs, having ties with Mussolini as well as the Pope and U.S. politicians such as Democratic presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman. He became one of the wealthiest, 'legitimate' businessman with intimate organized ties.

Gene, after a brief stint working in psychological operations for the CIA, got a loan to construct his own media empire around the National Enquirer. As Gene once declared, he operated through an elaborate system of quid pro quo that was later adopted by Roy Cohn, who called his own version of the system his 'favor bank'. Pope Sr. certainly aided Cohn's rise in the world of lawfare having pulled strings to secure the appointment of Irving Saypol as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where Cohn subsequently served as assistant attorney. This led to Cohn's infamous role in the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and thereafter the McCarthy hearings.

Roy's cozy relationship with Hoover gained him the appointment as Joe McCarthy's chief counsel during those controversial anti-Communist hearings. But his downfall came when he tried to blackmail the Army in return for preferential treatment for committee consultant and his rumored lover, David Shine. Roy also likely used blackmail obtained by other means, given that he had already become involved with the Rosenstiel-linked sexual-blackmail operation during this period.

Cohn Under Fire - After McCarthyism, Roy returned to New York and joined a law firm, whose lead partner had been friends with his father and closely associate with Thomas Dewey. One lawyer who worked along with Roy at this firm, accused him of being the driving force behind the deterioration of its reputation, which declined rapidly in the 1960's. Despite the decline in professional reputation Roy was making quite a bit of money during the same period. But all this gain was marred by the ongoing feud with Robert F. Kennedy - Roy would say "when Bobby Kennedy was lurking nearby, nothing good could happen to me". He feared the idea of his mortal enemy becoming president of the US. And once Robert Kennedy became attorney general, the feud escalated. The same year of JFK's election, Cohn had begun engaging in illegal financial schemes involving the Lionel company.

Roy was very set back at the fact Bobby was now attorney general, knowing he'd be a target, and in fact there were teams assigned known as the Get-Roy-Cohn and Get-Jimmy-Hoffa. Over the next few year, Roy was charged and appeared in court three times; he managed to avoid being found guilty in all three cases. The Unite Dye case - where he was charged with intimidating witnesses to lie under oath; though he had the formidable media empires of the Newhouse family and the Hearst Corporation at his back; but a single juror holding out for conviction kept the case at bay, that is until the juror's father was killed in an auto accident. The judge ruled for a mistrial. The second trial the Coach Lines case, saw him charged with bribery, conspiracy, extortion and blackmail. The third trial was also related to the Fifth Ave. Coach Lines case as Cohn was accused of bribery, conspiracy and filing false reports to the Securities and Exchange commission.

One of the motivating factors behind Kennedy's efforts to get Cohn was he was a crooked lawyer with organized crime ties who felt himself to be above the law.

Vendetta Begets Vendetta - Hunting Kennedy demanded some ingenuity, for the target was clean on money, far cleaner on sex than his brother, in short not an easy one to bring down. Once approach might be to embarrass him with his liberal constituency, to depict him as a ruthless Attorney General indifferent to the Bill of Rights and individual liberty. To put the plan into effect, Roy was needed as a membrane of protection for the Director; others were needed, including Congressman Gallagher who was making a reputation for himself in the House as a civil libertarian, a legislator committed to preventing the government from turning itself, by aid of computers, lie detectors and advanced electronics, into a free-world version of Big Brother.

Cohn called upons Neil Gallagher to form a basis for a series of Congressional hearings on Bobby Kennedy, brought by the Teamsters Union, Jimmy Hoffa. A meeting was set up where a contact brought forward documents linking Bobby's misuse of the IRS to go after the mob bosses. But Gallagher failed to look at the documents; the following day Roy called and asked why he'd not taken them and proceeded with the hearings; Gallagher said he didn't know how the documents had been acquired, and wouldn't move forward. Roy, threatened him, if you're not with 'them' the FBI, as they had given over the documents, then you're against them. Three times Roy asked Gallagher to become involved, and each time Gallagher refused, and upon his reelection, a story was leaked that he had ties with the mafia. The story never went into any depth and quite frankly was very poorly written and never substantiated.

After the article posted in Life, Gallagher claimed he was again threatened by Hoover, with Roy Cohn again serving as the conduit. Gallagher was threatened, if he didn't resign, he'd find a dead man in his bed, after fornicating with his wife, and asking the mafia for help to dispose of the body. Gallagher didn't fold, instead he went to the floor of the House and accused Cohn, the FBI and Hoover of making threats and the plot to destroy him through the Life magazine article. He won his re-election but was later indicted in 1972 for perjury and tax evasion.

Cohn and Corbally - Cohn and Hoover understood the power of blackmail quite intimately, with both allegedly having been blackmailed themselves. Not only is there evidence of Cohn and Hoover particpating in sexual-blackmail rackets alongside Lewis Rosenstiel and Sherman Kaminsky, but there is also evidence of Cohn and Hoover having ties to another sexual-blackmail scandal of the late 1960's. The key link between Hoover, Cohn, and the Proumo affair is a man named Thomas Corbally, who used Cohn as a conduit to pass inside information on the scandal to Hoover's FBI, as it was unfolding. Corbally had come from a family of private investigators, and his family's agency had close ties to organized crime. During the 1950's Corbally was known for throwing wild sex parties for the elite, where he befriended Cohn, the two remained close with Cohn becoming Corbally's lawyer. Corbally was not only plugged into the more powerful crime networks in the UK but he was also a member of the Clermont Club, an elite group of gamblers in 1960's London.

In addition, Roy Cohn was a longtime close personal friend of Richard Berlin, the top manager of the Hearst newspaper conglomerate, which owned the Journal-American. He was notorious for placing stories in the Hearst papers for the benefit of his clients and his network.

The United Dye Web -

Ultimately, this series of serpentine financial connections reveals a dense web linking several organized crime figures, their intermediaries, organized crime -linked businessmen, and intelligence agencies. Some key figures in this network, as mentioned in previous chapters, engaged in various forms of blackmail and power plays to ensure the continued growth of both their legal and illegal financial interests.

5) Shades of Gray

6) A Private CIA

7) A Killer Enterprise

8) Clinton Contra

9) High Tech Treason

10) Government by Blackmail: The Dark Secrets of the Reagan Era