Monday, August 8, 2005

Drug War Victim Anthony Andrew Diotaiuto More tragedy. I'm going to have to update my Drug War Victims page with several new additions. Here's the most recent: Link SUNRISE · A poster outside Anthony Diotaiuto's home Saturday summed up his friends' anger over his death: "Did you find what you were looking for?" The message was addressed to the Sunrise Police Department, whose SWAT team raided Diotaiuto's house in Sunrise Golf Village early Friday morning searching for drugs. There, they shot the 23-year-old dead. Police thought there was drug activity at the house and that there could be violence because Diotaiuto had a valid concealed weapons permit. Because he had a valid concealed weapons permit, the police felt it necessary to use a SWAT bust-down-the-door-and-scare-him-to-death approach, knowing that he was likely to be carrying a gun. How does that make sense? He worked two jobs a day. Couldn't they have stopped him on his way to work? Link SUNRISE · The SWAT team assembled outside Anthony Diotaiuto's home in Sunrise Golf Village early Friday morning, expecting to find drugs and guns, authorities said. Inside, Diotaiuto had been home for only a few hours after his night shift at one of the two jobs he kept to help pay for the home where he lived with his mother. He had a valid concealed weapons permit and kept a shotgun and a handgun for safety, friends said. It was about 6:15 when the SWAT team smashed in Diotaiuto's door and shot him dead. Officers were right to expect him to be armed, said Lt. Robert Voss, spokesman for the Sunrise Police Department. "He had a gun and pointed it at our officers," Voss said Friday morning. "Our SWAT team fired." Later Friday afternoon, he didn't sound as certain about whether Diotaiuto, 23, aimed his weapon. "In all likelihood, that's what happened," Voss said. "I know there was a weapon found next to the body." He also said he did not know if detectives found any drugs or whether Diotaiuto fired any shots. Of course there was a weapon found by the body. They knew he had a concealed weapons permit. But now they're not sure he actually pointed it. And by that afternoon he didn't know if they "found any drugs or whether Diatoaiuto fired any shots." What kind of crap is that? Are they completely incompetent or lying? What were they looking for? The family wants to know. Link According to the search warrant, the police were looking for money, bookkeeping records, firearms and other evidence that Diotaiuto was a drug dealer. The warrant was provided to the newspaper by Diotaiuto's family. Cannabis and drug paraphernalia, along with firearms and a BB gun, were listed as items seized, but the warrant did not specify the amount of drugs or what type of paraphernalia was confiscated. Sunrise Detective Michael Calise signed the search warrant, the newspaper reported. Phone calls to the Sunrise police department were not returned on Sunday. BB gun? Oh, come on. They seized a BB gun? And the other guns were most likely the legal guns that Diotaiuto had. So what did they kill him for? An unspecified amount of cannabis and drug paraphernalia. For all we know that's a couple of grams of pot and some rolling papers. I have a feeling we won't be getting much more in the way of answers from the Sunrise Police Department until the inevitable lawsuit (the family has hired a lawyer). But Diotaiuto's mother is trying to think positively. Link Marlene Diotaiuto hopes to keep her son's memory alive through a scholarship for children of single mothers. "She is the unofficial mother to dozens of kids," said Pamela Larson, who lived next door to the Diotaiutos for nearly eight years when they lived in Davie and remains close friends with Marlene Diotaiuto. "She has mentored so many teens turning into adults. Children are completely her life. She knows what it's like to be a hard-working single mom trying to put their kid through college." [...] The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. David Catholic Church, 3900 S. University Drive, Davie. Instead of flowers, the family suggested donations in Anthony Diotaiuto's memory to Marlene's Angels scholarship fund, 2801 SW 87th Ave., Number 1003, Davie, Florida 33328. Note: Watch the news video coverage here. 8:17:17 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Peter Jennings, R.I.P. Peter Jennings learned a lot about the drug war during his tenure with ABC and began to question many aspects of the war. He ended up hosting an outstanding expose of the government's lies regarding MDMA. He discussed it with the press... "Government is best when government is most honest, especially for the younger generation, which is more susceptible to trying drugs," Jennings remarked to the Palm Beach Post. "If they can't rely on the government for good and honest information, then government has lost something enormously valuable, which is people's belief in the government's credibility." "This was an opportunity for us to look at whether or not the government isn't its own worst enemy in trying to control illegal drugs," Jennings says. Thanks, Peter. 11:20:32 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Venezuela kicks out DEA Link CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration of using its agents for espionage, and said Venezuela was suspending cooperation with the U.S. agency." Oops. 9:45:46 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Karen Tandy must go Of course, Karen Tandy should never have been confirmed as head of the DEA in the first place (see my post Can Congress Get a Clue (Karen Tandy and the DEA)). At the time, she was unqualified, uninformed, and, previously as a prosecutor, probably guilty of criminal misuse of prosecutorial powers. During her tenure as head of the DEA, she has overseen a DEA that has gained notoriety for harrassing doctors and patients. Now, not only has she gone after a foreign citizen (Marc Emery) for marijuana charges, she has bragged that part of the reason was to stifle political dissent. Today's arrest of Mark (sic) Scott Emery, publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine and the founder of a marijuana legalization group, is a significant blow not only to the marijuana trafficking trade in the U.S. and Canada, but also to the marijuana legalization movement. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of Emery's illicit profits are known to have been channeled to marijuana legalization groups active in the United States and Canada. Drug legalization lobbyists now have one less pot of money to rely on. [Link] Yes, that's right. The head of the DEA came out and said that the importance of the bust is not the marijuana that was grown from Emery's seeds, but rather the stifling of political speech. The US Marijuana Party has called for Tandy's resignation. I intend to write to Senator Dick Durbin (the only Senator to question Tandy's confirmation) and ask him to investigate. You should do the same. [Thanks to Loretta Nall and Radley Balko] 9:29:51 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

We need justice, not John Roberts I've held off saying too much about the Supreme Court nominee, waiting for more information. Unfortunately, he doesn't have that much of a judicial record, so he's a bit of a stealth candidate, but based on this post by TalkLeft, I feel confident in saying that John Roberts is not who we want on the Supreme Court. We already have a court that has too often sided with the government over the individual, eroding our rights as free citizens -- particularly 4th Amendment rights. All the government has to do is say "drug war" and the Supremes roll over and say, "Well, in that case, certainly you should take away more constitutional rights," regardless of whether the policy even works. It appears from his record that John Roberts will actually be eager to join in this shredding of the Bill of Rights, and may even become a leader in this effort. He should not be confirmed. 9:02:31 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []