CRAIG GLAZER REVEALS EVEN MORE BEHIND THE SCENES DETAILS OF HIS ADVENTURES WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT!!!

TKC NOTE: On this snowed in night, our friend Craig Glazer reveals even more details regarding his adventures with/involving law enforcement. The many fans of his book "King Of Sting" will appreciate the new spin and perspective on provocative stories. Check it:

SNITCH

‘Well, you say that I'm an outlaw,

You say that I'm a thief…’ The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd, Woody Guthrie

I think you can count on one hand how many people in America who have been through a Federal criminal trial, a State criminal trial and has also been a high-ranking law enforcement officer. Confusing? You bet! Clearly, the man I’m talking about is me.

In the mid 70’s as the nation’s youngest special agent, not yet 21, I was employed as a law enforcement officer for the Kansas Attorney General. Let me make this clear, I was one of six officers that worked directly for the AG to enforce all state laws, not just drug laws. Working beside us was the KBI. The big difference is we were the street field agents all carrying our own badges and weapons, while the KBI was not then allowed to carry weapons in the field and did most of the post-investigation work. I was hired by then AG Verne Miller because of my background as a ‘sting artist’ taking down drug dealers posing as a cop in the south-west. At that time, I had never been convicted of any crime.

Hiring me was unorthodox and probably had never been done at that level. Verne had my dossier from the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the FBI. It was impressive, but way wrong on my part and maybe theirs for offering me the position. It was clearly a big move by the Attorney General for press, but it all backfired when my confidential informant was involved in supplying the dealers I arrested later with a large drug shipment. Today that’s okay with Federal and State agencies but at that time it had not been done. I was the central figure in a major indictment in the end I was the only one that was convicted of a crime. I was convicted by a jury and placed on probation.

Years later, on a national case, I set up a sting against Columbian drug dealers on a money laundering case. I was no longer an agent, but a film executive and I had no legal right to do what I did. Clearly it was for revenge and financial gain. After, again, standing trial in Federal Court, I was convicted and sentenced to seven years in Federal Prison.

Here’s the point. I often hear the word ‘snitch’ or ‘informant’ thrown at people, fairly or not. If you are arrested by our government, State or Federal, for any felony, they do their level best to make a deal. They don’t want to spend the time or money for a public trial, they can be costly. Furthermore, the government makes it clear to the defendant and his or her attorney that if you proceed to trial and lose, you will be punished for more severely. Any person that proceeds to trial by jury is someone who did not cooperate and did not give up any information, hence, the need for a trial.

The government, today, has few rules they have to follow to get a conviction. They have wide lattitude especially in drug cases. In today’s law enforcement they really don’t need any drugs, they don’t even need a wire-tap. All they really need is informants and/or witnesses to say you did whatever it is they are accusing you of. Juries tend to believe the government and their witnesses. Understand this, a jury pool of sixty are picked by the government because they have usually, especially in Federal cases, been jurors before that have convicted in the past. The government likes to use older jurors. Jurors can even be former government employees. Also understand that it’s government employees who the jury is around every moment. The governement employees bring them their food, take them to the hotel if they are sequestered, talk with them, joke with them and in a sense become palsy-walsy with them. Understand Federal indictments wind up in convictions over ninety percent of the time. Few cases go for trial. This means anyone who pleads guilty to a charge has to cooperate with the government to a certain extent.

Cooperation in your guilty plea means that you must acknowledge that your co-defendents are guilty and that you, yourself, are also guilty. You basically have to bend over. Maybe now you can see why even ‘tough guys’ like Sammy ‘the Bull’ cooperate and ‘snitch’ or inform. They are facing huge sentences, twenty years to life or more is often what is in front of them. Today there is no parole board and you will do eighty-fiver percent of your sentence less halfway house time.

Most people in prison pled guilty, even in the tougher higher level prisons. That means they cooperated with the government in some fashion. Most ‘ratfinders’ turn out to be ‘rats’ themselves out of guilt or fear to be found out.

Let me leave you with this: Do not cross Federal law enforcement or our government. They are nearly unbeatable. Time and money are on their side, not yours. Don’t believe me? Ask OJ Simpson. He beat the murder rap…but did he? He is now serving a lengthy sentence in a Nevada prison. He will be old and grey when he gets out. That’s known as the long arm of the law. He’s really there for the murder cases in California.

Part II coming later.

‘…Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.’
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