POLICE FOUNDATION MOURNS TERRORIST VICTIMS IN ORLANDO AND PARIS
Editorial by J. R. de Szigethy
The National Police Defense Foundation is mourning the victims of the terrorist attacks that left 49 people dead, most of them young people in their 20s, on June 12 in Orlando, and the two Police officials murdered outside Paris on June 13. The murders in France took place at the home of Police Officer Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and his companion Jessica Schneider,who also worked for the local Police Department. Larossi Abballa, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, ambushed Officer Salvaing outside his home, repeatedly stabbing him with a knife. Abballa was hooked up with a camera that uploaded his assault live onto his Facebook page. Abballa then entered the home where he stabbed Ms. Schneider to death in front of the couple’s 3-year-old son.
During the standoff with police while he held the child hostage, Abballa claimed that he was following the instructions of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to “kill Infidels, at home, with their families.” Eventually, the police stormed the house and killed Abballa. The child was physically unharmed, but has now lost both of his parents. Abballa was found in the possession of a “Kill List” with information on police officers, journalists, and VIPS. It is not yet clear if this information was from the revised ISIS Kill List that was posted on the Internet in April and revealed by the American website Vocativ on June 8.
Orlando shooter Omar Mateen also accessed his Facebook page during the standoff with police after his initial shooting assault during which he held as hostages those still alive who were trapped inside the nightclub called Pulse. Mateen wrote on his Facebook page: “I pledge my alliance to Abu bakr al-Baghdadi..may Allah accept me!”
The remarkable similarities between the terrorist attack in Orlando and France one day apart suggests both killers may have been in communication with others and thus neither were “lone wolf” assassins as originally suspected by some members of law enforcement. An analysis by the authorities of the computers of both killers can determine if each terrorist acted alone and independently of each other or if they were acting in concert with one or more others. However, statements by Mateen in which he voiced approval of competing factions within the world of Islamic terrorism suggests that Mateen was not an important “player” in this underground movement.
Born in Iraq in 1971, al-Baghdadi appointed himself the head of what is now known as ISIS upon the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May, 2011. Three days after bin Laden’s death, al-Baghdadi claimed responsibility for a terrorist assault that killed 24 Iraqi police officers. Numerous reports this week claiming al-Baghdadi was killed by an airstrike, on June 10 or June 12, have not been corroborated by the White House. In the past few years, reports of al-Baghdadi’s death have turned out to not be true.
The story posted by Vocativ on June 8 revealed that computer hackers who support ISIS had posted on the Internet personal and sensitive information on over 8,000 Americans in the hopes that terrorists, whether they were acting in concert with others or “lone wolf” types, would commit acts of violence against them.
The National Police Defense Foundation was involved in exposing the first known case of a “Kill List” in 2004. That list contained sensitive information about police officers, including the address of their homes, where they went jogging, and even the names of some of their children. The list was compiled by an American citizen named Alan Munn. As a young man in 1971, Munn attempted suicide by placing a gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger. The failed attempt left Munn disfigured and blind in one eye. Munn later became a lawyer, but was Dis-Barred in 1990 after being convicted of embezzling clients in the State of California.
In 1992 Munn moved to Queens, New York, and began compiling personal information on members of the NYPD. Munn was convicted in 1999 of Aggravated Harassment for threats he communicated via the Internet against an NYPD Officer. Munn stated in one of his posts: “Please kill (the Officer), all other NYPD Cops and all of their adult relatives and friends.”
The NYPD was able to get Munn’s websites shut down, but in 2002, Munn moved to Germany and once again began publishing on the Internet personal information about police officers, government officials, and Federal Agents. At that point, some targeted members of law enforcement brought the matter to the attention of Police Foundation Executive Director Joe Occhipinti. The Police Foundation was able to get the New York Post and New York Daily News to run stories regarding this growing menace of cybercrime. The Police Foundation also worked with diplomats in the German Consulate in New York City and eventually the government of Germany was able to take down Munn’s website.
As is the case whenever there is a mass shooting incident in the United States, the perceived causes for such violence become part of the public debate. Despite the manner in which the entertainment industry in Hollywood has portrayed Italian-Americans, the vast majority of the members of this community are not involved with the American Mafia. By the same token, the vast majority of those who practice Islam in America are not involved in criminal behavior. Some public figures would have you believe otherwise. That being said, when “political correctness” prevents law enforcement from pursuing legitimate targets for investigation, the public safety is endangered.
One example is to be found in the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. One result of the Soviet Union’s ultimately failed invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was a dramatic increase in the immigration to the United States of men and women from Islamic countries, notably Afghanistan, but also Egypt, Somalia, Yemen, and Palestine. Many of these immigrants, including the parents of Orlando mass murderer Omar Mateen, first arrived in New York City. It was at a Mosque in Brooklyn, and another in New Jersey, and at related Travel Agencies and Bodegas that a small number of immigrants from Islamic countries plotted to bomb the World Trade Center.
The 1990 murder by Islamic terrorists in Manhattan of the Rabbi Meir Kahane, Founder of the Jewish Defense League, provided law enforcement an opportunity to apprehend those who would later bomb the World Trade Center. In 1991, these same terrorists murdered on Coney Island in Brooklyn Egyptian immigrant Mustafa Shalabi, killed on the orders of the blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who had previously ordered the murder of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981, in retaliation for Sadat’s peace treaty with the State of Israel.
Through a combination of corruption, incompetence, and “political correctness,” the Mosques, Bodegas, and Travel Agencies common to these terrorists were not aggressively targeted by the various law enforcement organizations, allowing the perpetrators of the first bombing at the World Trade Center to proceed. The terrorist’s plan was that the bomb-van driven into the Trade Center’s underground parking lot would cause the North Tower to collapse onto the South Tower. The terrorist’s bomb wasn’t quite powerful enough to bring about their desired results. 8 years later, Islamic terrorists would succeed.
After the destruction of the World Trade Center, Drug Enforcement Administration head Asa Hutchinson testified before a Senate Committee in March, 2002, as to the link between the Taliban in Afghanistan, the opium drug trade there, and Osama bin Laden. The term for this is “narco-terrorism.” In recent years, medical doctors and psychiatrists nationwide have explored the role prescription drugs have played in many of the cases of mass shootings in America. James Holmes, who murdered 12 people inside a Colorado movie theater in 2012, is one example. Holmes was taking a prescription anti-depressant and an anti-anxiety drug, both of which have known side-effects regarding mental health. Eric Harris, who along with his classmate Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School in 1999, was taking an anti-depressant; Klebold’s medical records remain sealed.
Omar Mateen is now known to have used anabolic steroids which have dangerous side effects, notably violent and bizarre behavior popularly termed as “roid rage.” Former Police Officer Justin Volpe is believed by many, including this reporter, a friend of Volpe’s father, to have been under the influence of steroids when in 1997 he nearly killed the handcuffed prisoner Abner Louima by sodomizing him with a broken-off mop handle.
Another common side-effect of steroids is a dramatic increase in the libido of the abuser. Interviews with those who knew Mateen best, including his ex-wife, portray a young man who had a strong sexual attraction towards other men. By taking steroids, Mateen was bulking up his body, enhancing his muscular build and masculine appearance and identity, while at the same time experiencing the increased desire to engage in sexual activity that his version of Islam considers worthy of the death penalty. Mateen’s drug abuse was a recipe for disaster, for himself and the 49 innocent men and women he would murder.
The national debate over this latest shooting also focuses on gun ownership and whether assault rifles should be banned. As in the case of religion and ethnicity, the vast majority of those who own guns do not commit crimes with them.
Law enforcement has also been the subject of debate regarding the Orlando shooting. The FBI has come under criticism for twice investigating Mateen and closing the case on him. Also troubling to some is the fact that Mateen has worked since 2007 for a company that is a Contractor with the Federal Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE. Simply stated, the U. S. taxpayers funded the Islamic terrorist who committed the deadliest mass shooting in U. S. history.
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J. R. de Szigethy is a New York City based crime reporter who can be reached at the following email address: writer10065@nyc.rr.com
Source material for this report:
“French Police Couple Killed in IS-Inspired Stabbing,” by AFP. 14 June, 2016.
Breitbart.com.
“Orlando Terrorist’s Chilling Facebook Posts from Inside Club Revealed,” by Malia Zimmerman. FoxNews.com, June 15, 2016.
“Terrorist Designation of Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri,” Press release.
United States Department of State,” October 4, 2011.
New ISIS ‘Kill’ List Claims to Target Thousands of Americans,” by Gilad
Shiloach. Vocativ.com, June 8, 2016.
“NYPD to Sue Operator of Website Containing Officer Information,” by Murray
Weiss and Al Guart. The New York Post, March 12, 2004.
“Web Worm Posts Cop Secrets,” by Celeste Katz and Michele McPhee. The New York
Daily News, March 10, 2004.
“International Drug Trafficking and Terrorism: Testimony Before the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information.” March 13, 2002.
“Another Mass Shooting, Another Psychiatric Drug? Federal Investigation Long
Overdue,” by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International, 2016.
“Gun-mad, Desperate to Befriend cops, Creepy to Women and he Openly Abused a Gay
Man – Gym Co-Worker Tells of ‘Odd’ Omar Mateen,” by Louise Boyle and Laura
Collins. The DailyMail.com. June 15, 2016.
“Has ISIS Infiltrated Homeland Security? Orlando Terrorist Worked for Major DHS
Contractor,” by Paul Sperry. CounterJihad.com, June 13, 2016.