Mr. Simpson loved holding court with reporters, regaling them with war stories and presenting himself as a journalistic wise man. At a conference of investigative journalists in 2016, he said he and Mr. Fritsch had started Fusion to continue their work as reporters who righted wrongs.
xe2x80x9cI like to call it journalism for rent,xe2x80x9d he said.
Fusion GPS, like its competitors, belonged to a wider web of enablers xe2x80x94 lawyers, public relations executives and xe2x80x9ccrisis managementxe2x80x9d consultants xe2x80x94 who serve the wealthy, the powerful and the controversial. For their part, private intelligence firms take on jobs that others donxe2x80x99t know how to do or donxe2x80x99t want to get caught doing.
Information gathered by private investigators is often laundered through public relations firms, which then shop the material to journalists. Jules Kroll, who created the modern-day private intelligence industry in the 1970s, broke that mold by leaking information directly to reporters. Mr. Simpson took it a step further. He sold Fusion GPS to clients by emphasizing his connections at major media outlets and assured journalists that he was really still one of them.
xe2x80x9cPeople who have never been a reporter donxe2x80x99t understand the challenges of printing what you know, right, because you canxe2x80x99t just say what you know xe2x80x94 you have to say how you know, and you have to prove it,xe2x80x9d Mr. Simpson remarked at the 2016 conference. xe2x80x9cWhen youxe2x80x99re a spy, you really donxe2x80x99t have to get into a lot of that stuff.xe2x80x9d
Fusion GPS also mined a field that other private intelligence firms avoided xe2x80x94 political opposition research. And when Mr. Trump emerged in 2016 as the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, lawyers for Hillary Clintonxe2x80x99s campaign hired Fusion to dig into ties between Mr. Trump and Russia.
In the fall of 2016, Fusion GPS invited selected reporters from The Times, The New Yorker and other news organizations to meet Mr. Steele in Washington and receive briefings on what he had uncovered about the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. As is often the case in the world of private intelligence, the meetings came with a catch: If news organizations wrote about the dossier, they had to agree not to disclose that Fusion GPS and the former British agent were the sources of the material.
Mr. Steele was described to journalists as having played a pivotal role in breaking huge cases, including the 2006 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, a former K.G.B. agent, and the F.B.I.xe2x80x99s investigation into bribery at FIFA, soccerxe2x80x99s governing body. And when speaking about Mr. Trump and Russia, he came across as calm, understated and confident, according to reporters who attended the meetings.
CLAREMNT CALIFORNIA – The Claremont Police Department received a 911 call from a homeowner near Alamosa Dr and Padua Ave advising them of a bear in the front yard of their house. Once officers arrived on scene they located a young bear that climbed up a tree and was just hanging out. Claremont officers advised the homeowners to stay inside the house…
Sanctus Augustinus dicebat: Timeo Iesum transeuntem et me eum non percipere. Vigilandum est, cum vitae sit error aberrare per multa et non percipere Deum.
OTD Aug 28, 1963 Martin Luther King delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Two African-American spies, Ralph Bunche and Josephine Baker, were guests of honor.
The Capitol Police officer who killed Ashli Babbitt on January 6 speaks publicly for first time: “I know that day I saved countless lives” https://cnn.it/38osehD
Saint Augustine said: “I fear that Jesus will pass by me unnoticed”. It is important to remain watchful, because one great mistake in life is to get absorbed in a thousand things and not to notice God.
#TNT#News#Abuse 1:30 AM 8/28/2021 #FBI Agent tasked with investigating sex crimes against children is charged with sex crimes against children The FBI News Review
David Mordukhaev shimmied down a rope from his fifth-floor cell at the Vernon C. Bain Correction Center.David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
A ragtag crew of Eastern European criminals in Brooklyn recently managed to do something they haven’t in years — grab the spotlight from more “sophisticated” gangs, thanks to a daring jail break from Rikers Island, law-enforcement experts say.
The “minor-leaguers,” known as the “KavKaz Nation,” have wreaked havoc in the criminal underworld in southern Brooklyn for nearly a decade by stealing from drug dealers, staging home-invasion robberies and working as cocaine and marijuana traffickers, authorities say.
But the hoods — who consider their turf to be Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach — typically fail to rise to the highest level of ex-Soviet organized crime, whose top leaders are referred to as “Thieves-in-Law,” according to a former Brooklyn federal prosecutor specializing in Eastern European rackets.
“KavKaz Nation gangsters are absolutely violent and dangerous. But most of them are minor-leaguers compared to the more sophisticated Eastern European organized criminals linked to Thieves-in-Law,” said Matt Jacobs, a former assistant US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Roman Nikoghosyan planned to sneak Rikers escapee David Mordukhaev to California.KMace
Yet KavKaz crew members recently made headlines over a bold jail escape from the city’s floating lockup at Rikers Island, officials say.
Brooklyn federal prosecutors allege that a top-ranking KavKaz member, Roman Nikoghosyan, provided help to a cohort after the escapee shimmied down a rope from his fifth-floor cell at the jail barge, known as the Vernon C. Bain Correction Center, on July 10.
Nikoghosyan had planned to sneak Rikers escapee David Mordukhaev to California, but the cross-country escape plan was eventually foiled, in part because the FBI had wiretapped Nikoghosyan’s phone, authorities say.
David Mordukhaev pleaded guilty last week to a violation of federal supervised release.NYPD
Both suspects were arrested by the feds soon after they were caught allegedly plotting how Mordukhaev could steal away to the Golden State.
But even the escape was a stunning coup for the crew, which draws its members from the Eastern European enclave in southern Brooklyn.
KavKaz gangsters have been known to associate with members of the Bloods, the notorious street gang with a strong set in nearby Coney island, federal prosecutors allege.
The crew’s name is derived from the Caucasus region of Eurasia, which includes countries such as Armenia, Uzbekistan, Russia, and Azerbaijan. Some members ink tattoos of the Caucasus Mountains on their bodies to show allegiance to the crew.
As they pulled off robberies and other capers in the past decade, KavKaz gangsters have landed on the radar of the true illicit Eastern European shot-callers in Brooklyn — but often for the wrong reasons.
In 2012, Russian mobster Leonid Gershman — a ruthless Sheepshead Bay gangster serving 16 years in federal prison — suspected KavKaz members of robbing one of his Ocean Avenue marijuana stash houses.
A Hi-Point 995 rifle was found under the bed in the locked room rented by Roman Nikoghosyan.KMace
After the robbery, Gershman and two of his cohorts lured KavKaz crew member Misha Azaryev, who they suspected of the break-in, to Ocean Parkway near Avenue Y, federal prosecutors charged.
While it was still light outside on the residential stretch of the thoroughfare, the gangsters confronted Azaryev about the robbery — and one of them pulled a pistol. Azaryev ran off, but was tripped up by the gangsters and viciously beaten.
One of the hoods smashed Azaryev’s face in with the butt of his pistol, sending his teeth flying in the air — all while terrified onlookers ate their dinner on a nearby front lawn, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
Misha Azaryev’s face was smashed in with the butt of a pistol.Jacobs, Matthew (USANYE) 2
In the end, Gershman’s crew let KavKaz members keep the cash they had swiped in the stash house robbery. There had been a mix-up.
“We later found out that Misha [Azaryev] wasn’t the person that did it. They just used his car. He just got beat up basically for nothing,” one of Gershman’s cohorts later testified.
At least one KavKaz leader has been an exception to the notion that the crew is less than sophisticated, rising to a high level in the organized-crime world of southern Brooklyn, Jacobs said.
Russian mobster Leonid Gershman suspected KavKaz members of robbing one of his marijuana stash houses in 2012.
Natik Nisimov, a KavKaz boss who owned a barbershop on Ditmas Avenue in Kensington, commanded enough respect among Eastern European gangsters that he could influence decisions by someone like Gershman, authorities say.
In 2013, a low-level cocaine courier for Gershman, who was of the same ethnic background as KavKaz crew members, told his boss he had been robbed of his product and cash while making deals, according to prosecutors.
Gershman suspected a set-up and met with the courier, Rufat Zarbailov, in the underground parking garage of his Ocean Parkway building. There, the gangster held a box cutter to Zarbailov’s face and threatened to give him a “150,” or a cut from mouth to ear that would require 150 stitches to close.
Natik Nisimov commanded enough respect among Eastern European gangsters.Jacobs, Matthew (USANYE) 2
After the threat, Zarbailov ran to Nisimov, the KavKaz leader, who was able to convene a sit-down with Gershman to squash the beef. In the end, Gershman agreed not to maim Zarbailov or to extort money from him, but pair also agreed the low-level courier would be “out of the game.”
Despite his rising stature in the underworld, Nisimov met his end because of a seemingly non-consequential beef with another tough in southern Brooklyn.
In 2015, Nisimov was gunned down in the morning hours of March 24 on Ocean Parkway near Quentin Road in Midwood, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
Misha Azaryev ran off when confronted about the robbery.Jacobs, Matthew (USANYE) 2
The gunman, a Brighton Beach resident named Jeffrey McCrae, suspected Nisimov had passed a knife to an attacker who stabbed one of his friends earlier that morning, according to prosecutors.
Evidence later cleared Nisimov of any involvement in the stabbing, authorities said. McCrae convicted of the killing in 2018 and sentenced to 19 years in prison.
In terms of last month’s jailbreak, Mordukhaev pleaded guilty last week to a violation of federal supervised release over it and was slapped with a nearly two-year sentence in Brooklyn federal court, a rep for the US Attorney’s Office said
Roman Nikoghosyan plans to plead not guilty.U.S. Attorney’s Office
Nikoghosyan has not been charged in the escape. But he was charged in a five-count indictment last week for allegedly extorting a marijuana dealer who worked for him and for attempting to move luxury cars he fraudulently obtained from California to New York.
The feds also charged him with being a felon in possession of a weapon after they found a Hi-point 995 rifle at a Brooklyn stash house he allegedly controlled.
Nikoghosyan’s lawyer, Don Savatta, said he plans to plead not guilty to the indictment.
“We expect that the evidence as it unfolds will be different from the allegations being made now,” he said.
Hi! We’re abc7NY, also known as Channel 7 on TV, home to Eyewitness News, New York’s Number 1 news. We hope you love us on YouTube as much as you do on television!
A family is in mourning after a mother of four was shot and killed outside a barbershop in Crown Heights on Thursday night.
“My mom was a courageous woman, resilient, loved her kids, she would do anything for us,” said Janse Joseph, the victim’s son. “It’s sad she didn’t know how much I loved her.”
Hi! We’re abc7NY, also known as Channel 7 on TV, home to Eyewitness News, New York’s Number 1 news. We hope you love us on YouTube as much as you do on television!
A pair of runaway dogs in Connecticut ran right into trouble when one of them got stuck in a swamp – but fortunately the other pup managed to find help.
A very good boy named Moose was caught in a very bad spot: stuck in a swamp about a mile away from home.
Moose and his brother had run off into the woods and it was Bubba who ran up to two strangers to let them know there was trouble.
Hi! We’re abc7NY, also known as Channel 7 on TV, home to Eyewitness News, New York’s Number 1 news. We hope you love us on YouTube as much as you do on television!
posted on Aug 20 2021 22:15:04 UTC by PIX11 NewsviaPIX11 News
The new rules seek to make sure licenses to sell cannabis products are fairly distributed to communities previously negatively impacted by marijuana laws.
posted on Aug 20 2021 22:15:04 UTC by PIX11 NewsviaPIX11 News
With students heading back to classrooms this fall after more than a year of remote learning, they’re swapping out sweatpants for the latest styles. Jimmy Carter, vice president of marketing for Lucky Brand, showed the PIX11 Morning News some of the latest fashion trends and back-to-school looks that students and teens can shop for.
posted on Aug 20 2021 22:02:17 UTC by CBS New YorkviaCBS New York
Melanoma is one of the most aggressive types of cancer and quickly spreads throughout the body unless it’s caught early. CBS2’s Dr. Max Gomez tells us of a new treatment that uses the patient’s own immune system to fight their cancer.
Hyper-local politics matter and Schneps Media is putting their foot to the pedal with a series of debates in every city council district as well as for each borough president, the Manhattan District Attorney, and the mayor’s and comptroller’s race.
The debates, which start May 3 and run throughout the month, will be hosted as Zoom webinars by Schneps Media’s daily amNY Metro and the largest group of hyper-local news outlets covering every neighborhood in the city.
“These debates, among other things, will focus on each candidates’ vision for the recovery of the city on both the citywide and local neighborhood level,” said Schneps Media CEO Joshua Schneps. “As the largest media company serving the local New York City Metropolitan area, it is our mission to inform residents of the platform and views of candidates seeking to become our public servants.”
Participating candidates in the debates will weigh in on the most issues currently before the city. This will include the role of the police and public safety, education, small business development, senior issues, a tourism plan that will bring visitors to both main attractions and local commercial strips, and the need to bring in both big and small development in growth sectors such as technology.
Schneps Media Political Editor-in-Chief Stephen Witt noted the importance that voters pay attention to their local city council elections as well as the citywide election for mayor and comptroller.
“City council members serve as direct links for voters to city hall. It is the go-to office whether you want a pothole or sidewalk in front of your house fixed, or are seeking access to small business loans through government money allocated for the COVID recovery,” said Witt.
The debates come with a full-court press to educate and engage voters, who are being asked for the first time to rank their choices for the political offices at hand.
Under ranked-Choice voting (RCV) the city requires voters to rank their top five candidates in order of preference on their ballots instead of picking just one. If no candidate takes more than 50 percent of the first choice ballot picks, the count goes on. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and the voters second choice is distributed.
This process goes on until one candidate obtains 50 percent of the vote and is declared the winner.
So throw some popcorn in the microwave and turn on your favorite smart device to help inform you on choosing who will best represent your interests in city hall.
To view the full lineup and schedule of debates as well as register for one or all at no cost visit www.PoliticsNY.com/Debates.
A stationary front will remain draped just to the north of the city Thursday, keeping unsettled weather over much of the region. We can expect mostly cloudy skies Thursday afternoon with scattered showers and thunderstorms possible. Some of these storms may be strong to severe especially west of the city. The high temperature will be 77 in the city, mid 70s in the suburbs. The normal high temperature in Central Park for today is 66 degrees.
Days after attending the Academy Awards, buzzing actress Zaria spoke with PIX11’s Ojinika Obiekwe about attending the big show and her short film “Two Distant Strangers” winning an Oscar. She also told us all about her look from Hollywood’d biggest night.
The Food and Drug Administration promised Thursday to issue new rules within a year that would ban menthol in cigarettes and small cigars — a longtime goal of civil rights and anti-tobacco groups, who say aggressive marketing of the products has disproportionately harmed Black communities.
image/jpeg 
