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safetyblitz
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Posted: Sunday June 17th, 2007 22:29 |
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But before you choose sides, our mayor is not loved by all AAs here. He is not the kind that looks out after all AAs only himself and his crew. Look at him as following the path of Rob in Zim..... some Zims like him others can't stand him and that iswhere the mayor is as well....
Mayoral sex plot?
Lawyer hatched blackmail plan, waitress says
Memphis police are investigating allegations by a former topless club cocktail waitress that she was recruited as bait in a plot to blackmail Mayor Willie Herenton by luring him into a sexual rendezvous. The waitress, who has told her story to Herenton and Police Director Larry Godwin and who says she will file legal papers today, says the plot was never consummated.
Yet, Gwendolyn D. Smith has touched off an official inquiry with her account, contending that she's been paid as much as $18,000 -- money she says came from rich businessmen trying to smear Herenton, the city's first black elected mayor, to keep him from seeking a fifth term in October. "I think the city of Memphis should know what so-called powerful businessmen are doing to their leaders," Smith told The Commercial Appeal on Wednesday.
"I think it should upset not only the African-American community, but the whole city.''
Herenton confirmed that Memphis police took a tape-recorded statement from Smith after she approached him earlier this spring with her account. Herenton said he was initially suspicious but became convinced after she repeated it to Godwin and another officer.
"I'm utterly appalled, disappointed and I'm just simply shocked that individuals in this community would go to an unreasonable extent to try to embarrass me by orchestrating such a diabolical plot," Herenton said.
Smith, 29, contends the plot's mastermind was Richard Fields, a prominent Memphis attorney who represented her in a criminal forgery case and who also once served as Herenton's personal lawyer.
"I'm amazed that Richard, who was my former attorney, an individual who purported to be a friend, really just went off the deep end," Herenton said.
Reached Wednesday evening, Fields said legal ethics forbid him from commenting on Smith's contentions.
"This is totally untrue. I wish I could go further," Fields said. "If she waives the attorney-client privilege, I'll be happy to respond to all allegations. Ms. Smith has some serious problems personally as well as legally."
Smith, a cousin of one of Fields' ex-wives, said the lawyer recruited her into a plot to smear Herenton after he represented her in a criminal case in Nashville.
Smith pleaded guilty in 2004 to five felony forgery counts after she defrauded merchants with stolen American Express gift checks and counterfeit identification. Faced with a drug charge that violated her probation, Smith hired Fields in 2005 and he worked out a deal to keep her from jail by extending her probation.
Smith said she was smoking marijuana at the time, but has since amended her ways. "I've learned my lesson," she said.
Smith said Fields later learned that she had worked in 2000 as a waitress at Platinum Plus, a notorious East Memphis topless club closed by state and federal authorities in December.
She said Fields initially asked her to help in an FBI investigation but that his interests later turned to her having a secretly videotaped sexual encounter with the mayor.
"He told me to try to sleep with him and (Herenton's longtime friend and former mayoral aide) Reginald French," Smith said.
The plan, she said, was to approach Herenton at The Peabody's lobby, where he and French were known to socialize. Smith said Fields paid her $2,000 a month between January and March -- money she was told came from a prominent Memphis businessman -- and that Fields also gave her the use of an account at a boutique where she bought expensive handbags and accessories.
Smith said Fields promised her a free apartment and other perks paid for by businessmen who were behind his plans.
One offer, she said, came from car dealer Russell Gwatney, who offered to give her a new Chevy Tahoe. Smith's account caused Herenton to summon Gwatney, an old political supporter, to his City Hall office.
"I got a call from Willie Herenton wanting me to come down to his office. He said, 'Russell you're going to be named in a lawsuit,' " Gwatney told a reporter Wednesday. Gwatney said he told the mayor he knew of no plot but confirmed that Fields and Smith had come to him about two months ago inquiring about a car.
"She came in our dealership one time, and Rich Fields came in there and told me that he needed to buy a car for the girl," Gwatney said. "And he told me that people were going to pay for the car, but they wanted to me to basically front all the money on the car."
Gwatney said he refused.
He told the newspaper Fields was interested in getting Smith a small SUV and assured the car dealer he would be paid back.
"They wanted me to front the money to pay for the car so they could pay me back over time. I got real uninterested real quick.''
"I don't know who the business people were, don't even know."
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safetyblitz
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Posted: Sunday June 17th, 2007 22:32 |
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THE MAYOR SEZ....
Transcript of Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton's press conference at City Hall on Thursday afternoon: I thank all of the members of the media for your attendance for this press conference this afternoon. Obviously, I have some prepared comments, but I think on this occasion, I will speak from my heart.
First of all, I stand before you today as a victim of a politically motivated conspiracy, promulgated, or initiated, by a group of Memphis citizens, some key business leaders, and at least one high-level elected official, a select representation of the Justice Department establishment, and there may be even more. The first point I'd like to make is that Willie Herenton, mayor, is the victim, unwarranted, but the victim of a well-orchestrated conspiracy designed to embarrass me in my elected capacity as mayor of this great city. Obviously, I'm deeply disappointed that individuals in this community would stoop so low as to attempt to embarrass me by such diabolical and disgusting means, such as what Miss Gwen Smith's complaint describes.
For your information, Ms. Gwendolyn Smith's complaint, to my understanding, has been filed with the district attorney. I think also today that the members of my staff will disseminate, for the media's information, a copy of that complaint.
I will not insult you, but I would like to share with you just a few definitions.
One is a conspiracy. What is a conspiracy? This is according to Webster: Conspiracy is the act of conspiring, or plotting. Conspiracy is an agreement among conspirators. It is a group of conspirators. That's how Webster defines a conspiracy. A conspirator is a person who conspires.
I would like to share a couple more definitions with you.
A benefactor. A benefactor is one who helps, especially by giving money. A beneficiary is a person who benefits or is expected to benefit from something.
Now why am I giving you those definitions? Because those are working definitions to describe the series of events that caused us to be here today.
I call this the 2007 Political Conspiracy.
For the media, I want you to clearly describe my behavior, accurately. I'm not angry. In fact, I want you to see this smile. The reason I want you to see this smile is because the God I serve is a good God, because he revealed this conspiracy to me. He's a good God. And for some of you who know the Book, when you leave here today, I want you to read Isaiah, 54:17. It starts out with, no weapon, so to my distractors (sic), no weapon, no weapon.
To the wealthy business leaders, to those in the media, especially The Commercial Appeal, the editorial staff, your investigative reporting staff, to this high elected official that will remain nameless, others who are part of this conspiracy, whether directly or indirectly, I want you to understand, I understand the agenda. The agenda, quite frankly, is to ensure that Willie Herenton is not reelected as mayor of this great city for the fifth term. I clearly understand that.
I also understand that there are those in this community who would like to see me be removed, by any means necessary. I'm real clear on that, by any means necessary. I also understand that these self-righteous, hypocritical do-gooders that comprise some important leadership roles in this position will also resort to any means necessary. They will provide financial resources, to help to accomplish this goal, to try and embarrass me as mayor, and make the public think that I am less than desirable to continue serving this great city as mayor.
I also understand that there are individuals in this community who have decided that they want to control Memphis. They cannot control Memphis as long as Willie Herenton is the mayor because he can't be controlled. You can't get him on Tennessee Waltz, because he doesn't waltz like that. You can't give him any money because he's comfortable, he doesn't need your money. So what do you do?
A friend of mine said, 'Mayor, beef up your security, because there are some sick people in Memphis. You're not going to do anything dishonest. They may resort to what happened to Dr. King in Memphis.'
Who would have thought, who would have thought, that we'd be standing here today, and I'm reacting to a diabolical conspiracy that involves trying to induce me to perform something that's disgusting? Who would have thought of that?
And to also suggest that I as mayor have connections with the topless clubs and drug dealers and strippers and can you imagine if this plot had worked? There are many that listen to Bobby O'Jay, who would have said, he's guilty. I never would have had a day in court. This media with cameras on me would have gone wild. You would have convicted me, but the God I serve provided discernment, and Gwendolyn Smith showed up one day, showed up and presented to me a disgusting and deliberately contrived series of events and investigative schemes, like I've never seen before.
In the days to come, there will be revelations that will outline more than what you read in The Commercial Appeal this morning. Let me tell you a little bit how the conspiracy works, not only because it didn't just start the other day. They obviously wanted to embarrass me. I kept wondering because there were rumors, Jackson (Baker, Memphis Flyer reporter), that I was not going to run, and if I did run, I was going to drop out, kept trying to figure out what were y'all talking about.
Then there were two political figures who were quoted as saying, 'Herenton's not going to run. If he runs, he's going to drop out. We've got a bomb we're going to drop.' I didn't know what they were talking about, so these guys, why?
I'm in this race, I intend to run. I intend for the citizens of Memphis to decide who they want as mayor, not the wealthy business leaders, but the people. That is the way that American democracy works; the people decide who they want to represent them as elected officials, the people, not The Commercial Appeal, not Blake Fontenay, and all of those misguided editorials.
Commercial Appeal flunks its mission every day. They have the audacity to put a mission in the paper. They get an F every day, when it comes to this mayor. There is no objectivity. And I'm a big boy, I can handle that. But let it be known, Commercial Appeal, from this mayor, they get an F on their mission. They dominated the media, with negative reporting and biased polling. I never heard of such stupidity on what they call polls. They're working on the minds of the Memphis public, all of these contrived polls, showing that a large segment of this community has lost faith in this mayor.
That's ridiculous. I see these people every day. They black. They white. They young. They old. And they encourage me. They applaud what I do. They're all races.
But this media would have you to believe that support is waning for Herenton, and all of your slanted editorial policies, and I see you Marc (Perrusquia, CA reporter), I'm going to tell you, you did a fair job on that report, that you did uncovering the story.
I didn't know it was newspaper's job to recruit candidates to run for office. When did you get in the business of recruitment? You're supposed to report the news, but you're promoting candidates. Carol Chumney does not need a war chest. You all give her all the free news she needs.
I've got to go buy it. I understand that too.
And let me also say, those of you who are part of this conspiracy, and I say this with all respect to my African-American brothers and sisters, I'm not in disrespect to you. I'm one of you. I love you. I love all of mankind.
But one of the things that's been a truism about our history and our culture is that we have always been a group that could be divided. And there are certain people that understand that you can be divided and conquered.
But I want to say to this total community -- in this mayoral race 2007, divide-and-conquer tactic ain't going to work. We've struggled too hard. We've struggled too hard to get to where we are today.
White people have wealth in this community. Black people are basically economically disenfranchised. But there are some people, they not only want all the wealth, they want all of the political power. They want it all. They don't want to share any governance. They want it all.
What have I done to warrant this malicious, contrived attempt to destroy me? Nothing. Nothing. It's just that I'm a free man and independent. And somebody or some groups have decided they need somebody in here that will listen, that they can control. I understand that, that's what this conspiracy is all about.
And I also want to say that one snake, one snake, who's been crawling in the grass, finally raised his head. And that's why we're here today, but I want you to know that there's another snake that's in our midst, crawling on his belly, low in the grass, and I'm going to put him on notice, when he raises his head, when he raises his head -- you complete the rest of it.
Let me make several announcements, today, and you will have copies of it. I have filed a complaint, in Washington, D.C., with the Honorable Alberto R. Gonzales. He's the attorney general ... justice, in the nation's capital.
Those of you in the media, you have a copy of this complaint. I've never filed a complaint. I've never requested an investigation of any individual in my life, but because of this conspiracy, and a number of rumors surrounding it, and all of the parties that I'm told that's involved in this, I find it necessary to ask the United States government to conduct a full independent investigation of these allegations and complaints.
I have also written the governor of the great state of Tennessee, (Phil) Bredesen, respectfully requesting that the governor appoint a special prosecutor to also provide investigatory monitoring of these complaints as well. Letters have also been sent to both U.S. senators, and I believe Congressman (Steve) Cohen.
I wanted to take this matter to the highest levels of the Justice Department and to our Congressional representatives, because I think the citizens of Memphis, the citizens of Memphis need to know what is going on, and I most assuredly need to know what is going on in the city that I have faithfully served as mayor for the last 16 years.
I want to stop here and entertain whatever questions you may have, and I want the media to know, I hope no one will leave here today and say the mayor, it's amazing how I can, I guess, show strength, and then all of a sudden I pick up the newspaper -- I'm angry. Maybe I'm just ugly. I'm not angry. You know I can be forceful, it's amazing. I'll say well, Keith, was I angry? I'm not angry. I'm just poker-faced. I'm sincere, but I'm not angry. I don't want anybody to say that I'm angry. Momma, I'm not angry. I'm talking to my mother. My mother's praying for me. I'm not angry, Momma. I'm disappointed, but I'm not angry
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safetyblitz
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Posted: Sunday June 17th, 2007 22:36 |
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What the white dude sez who tried to set him up......
The lawyer accused by a cocktail waitress of trying to frame Mayor Willie Herenton says the mayor has it all wrong. Former topless club waitress Gwendolyn D. Smith caused a stir Wednesday when she went public with allegations that prominent Memphis attorney Richard B. Fields had tried to coax her to smear Herenton by having videotaped sex with the mayor.
Fields denied that Thursday, telling The Commercial Appeal that Smith had a far different story when he accompanied her in February to speak with the FBI. In that meeting, Smith told agents that she knew of secret gatherings involving Herenton and local strippers, Fields alleged.
"We spent two hours with the FBI. And she said first that Herenton had parties with strippers at the Madison Hotel. That Herenton had parties with strippers at his house,'' said Fields, 59.
"(She said) that the girls would come back and talk about it. And she gave us the names of some of the strippers.''
The lawyer, who has represented both Smith and Herenton in the past, said Smith was motivated then by hopes of reducing the sentence of a boyfriend in federal prison and she may be motivated now by her desperate financial situation and a longtime marijuana habit.
"I suggest Ms. Smith be tested for drugs immediately,'' he said.
Fields' comments came as the latest twist in a raucous day that saw Herenton call a news conference to talk about Smith's allegations and to say he's asking for state and federal investigations into a broad conspiracy to destroy him.
The mayor said opponents seeking to block him from winning a fifth term as mayor this fall are so desperate "they may resort to what happened to Dr. King,'' referring to the 1968 assassination in Memphis of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"I stand before you today as a victim of a politically motivated conspiracy, promulgated, or initiated, by a group of Memphis citizens, some key business leaders, and at least one high-level elected official, a select representation of the Justice Department establishment, and there may be even more,'' Herenton said in a speech broadcast live by one local TV station.
Herenton's comments were stirred by Smith, 29, who once worked as a cocktail waitress at the East Memphis strip club Platinum Plus and who more recently pleaded guilty to forgery before approaching the mayor with a fantastic story.
In a three-page letter delivered Thursday to Shelby county Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons, Smith said she is prepared to testify before a grand jury about a blackmail plot against Herenton and other "criminal conduct'' involving Fields.
"Richard Fields told me that what he and his benefactors wanted most of all was hard evidence of an embarrassing nature'' on Herenton "to blackmail him into not running for mayor,'' Smith wrote. That included attempting "to seduce the mayor and to secretly videotape the encounter,'' the letter said.
The letter names an FBI agent and two Memphis businessmen as three who were involved.
Gibbons was out of town Thursday but a spokesman said he will give a statement on the letter next week.
At Herenton's request, Memphis police have taken a tape-recorded statement from Smith, and the matter is under active investigation, said police director Larry Godwin.
Little is known of Smith, a one-time stewardess at Pinnacle Airlines who admits to struggling with marijuana and legal troubles in recent years.
In an hour-long newspaper interview Wednesday, Smith said Fields first approached her about Herenton shortly after the lawyer represented her in October 2005 in her felony forgery case in Nashville.
She alleged that Fields soon had her take him out to Platinum Plus, where she says she had worked briefly in 2000. Later, Fields began asking about Herenton, she said. Fields wanted her to check out accounts that Herenton slept with strippers, so she spent nights out in clubs trying to relocate old acquaintances, she said.
"I'd report to Richard the following morning,'' Smith said.
Fields had a different account Thursday, saying it was Smith who offered up the story about Herenton sleeping with strippers. The lawyer said he did accompany Smith one night to Platinum Plus -- the only time he's been to such a place, he said -- and it was clear she knew her way around.
"She introduced me to dancers and they said, 'Hey girl, how you been?' ''
Fields initially was reluctant to talk about Smith's allegations, expressing concern over attorney-client privilege. But he said he's received legal advice that he may make limited comments.
Fields said Smith, a cousin of one of his ex-wives, approached him for legal help on the Nashville charges and that she approached him again early this year for help on another matter.
Smith had a boyfriend in federal prison and was hoping to get him released early, Fields said. Smith reminded Fields of stories she had heard about Herenton and strippers when working at Platinum Plus and said she wanted to go to the FBI, the lawyer said.
Fields said he set up a meeting in February with two FBI agents, including Richard Reich, the agent named in Smith's letter to the district attorney.
Agents initially were interested in Smith's claims because just two months earlier they had arrested about 70 dancers and topless club employees on an array of drug tracking and prostitution charges and had closed Platinum Plus and another club controlled by kingpin Ralph Lunati.
Records show that investigation was handled by agent Reich, who filed a 31-page affidavit in federal court outlining illegal activities in the clubs.
As Smith's lawyer, Fields attended the meeting where he said she gave names of strippers -- referring to them mostly by first names like Dominique and Mercedes -- who supposedly were involved with Herenton. But she had little in way of corroboration, he said.
In her letter to Gibbons, Smith said it was around this time that Fields told her he had a "special job'' that involved setting up Herenton in return for $150,000, -- the money to come from wealthy businessmen -- and other perks, including money for tuition to attend Christian Brothers University, a new car, and a three-bedroom apartment worth $2,000 a month.
Fields denied that and Smith's allegation that Memphis, Light, Gas and Water Division board member Nick Clark was involved in an alleged plot. Fields said he and Smith did meet with FBI agents in the home of Clark, a friend, but he wasn't there. Clark confirmed that in a phone interview Thursday.
Clark said he did give money to Fields for Smith, saying he understood it was to help in an effort for her to spend time in topless clubs and discover addresses for strippers.
Smith also named prominent Memphis car dealer Russell Gwatney in her letter. Gwatney told a reporter Wednesday that Fields approached him this spring seeking to obtain a small SUV for Smith, saying the lawyer told him that unnamed individuals would pay for it.
"Russell is mistaken,'' Fields said. He said he told the car dealer that Smith was cooperating with the FBI and she needed a rental car but that the deal never got off the ground.
Fields and Smith differ sharply over just what triggered Smith to go to Herenton with her story.
Fields said Smith is in desperate financial straits and doesn't have custody of her children.
Smith said Fields ratcheted up pressure for her to come up with dirt on Herenton and then began threatening her.
Smith played taped phone conversations for the newspaper that she says she made in recent weeks. On one, Fields says at one point, "OK, it will be two grand on Tuesday. Cash money.'' At another he says, "If you've already talked to him you're making a real big mistake.''
Fields said he was trying to get money to Smith out of sympathy for her, but was concerned about her going to Herenton. He said would have warned the mayor about Smith's personal troubles and her allegations to the FBI but found out too late she had talked.
"I would have loved to have talked to him about it,'' he said.
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Posted: Sunday June 17th, 2007 22:39 |
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Opposing views of woman in whirlwind of 'conspiracy'
There are two versions of Gwendolyn D. Smith, the 29-year-old former strip club cocktail waitress who purportedly exposed a scheme to ensnare Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton in a prurient trap filled with Platinum Plus dancers. One version of Smith is contrived -- a woman whose first-glimpsed public persona was as manicured as her hair, makeup and wardrobe in recent newspaper photographs and a television interview.
The other version is humanly flawed -- a woman plagued by debts, driven by easy money, chased by financial crimes, and lured into one of the opening salvos of an already sullied mayoral race. Comparing the Smith who existed before the Memphis camera lights burned bright -- a mother of three, a college student, a flight attendant, a felon -- to the one whose photo has been splashed across the front page of this newspaper for days isn't an easy task. It's a challenge even one of Smith's closest relatives won't accept.
"I'm not ready to talk about Gwen, sir," said Readus Smith, her grandfather. "You need to talk to Carter Malone. That's the PR firm representing her."
From the beginning of what Herenton has dubbed "the 2007 Political Conspiracy," Smith's image has been crafted with the help of the politically connected Carter Malone Group, whose principal is Shelby County Commissioner Deidre Malone.
A longtime Herenton supporter, Malone last week arranged interviews with Smith and distributed a photograph of her to the news media. As Smith went public with attorney Richard Fields' alleged plot to frame Herenton, Malone worked in the background on an image suitable for cameras: a smiling, wholesome Smith with long black hair and a tan suit, a hard-up mother trying to make it, a citizen disgusted by bloody-knuckled politics in the Bluff City.
"I think the city of Memphis should know what so-called powerful businessmen are doing to their leaders," Smith told The Commercial Appeal in her first interview Wednesday.
Reached Saturday, Malone confirmed she aided Smith in coming forward to the news media but said she was not paid by Smith or Herenton.
"I know the Smith family, and they're friends," she said. "That is the relationship. I got a call from one of the relatives that Gwen was going to do this and asking me basically to help her. And that's what I did. There is no money being exchanged."
But Malone's on-camera Smith is at odds with the one portrayed in public records. Before she apparently arrived at City Hall with papers alleging the plot to unseat Herenton, Smith was a woman caught in financial straits and dodging civil subpoenas.
Her record starts five years ago with a series of petty crimes -- charges of driving on a suspended license in 2002 and 2005 and a 2003 misdemeanor charge for passing bad checks, all of which were either dismissed or dropped by prosecutors.
Those charges came after a brief stint in 2000 as a cocktail waitress at Platinum Plus, the city's largest strip club until it was shut down following a police raid in December.
Ralph Lunati, the longtime kingpin of Memphis' adult-entertainment industry, owns Platinum Plus and has pocketbook connections to Herenton's recent political career. During the last mayoral election, Lunati gave Herenton $1,000 cash and was among the sponsors of the mayor's charity boxing match against Joe Frazier.
Herenton didn't mention those financial ties when he spoke to the news media Thursday: "And to also suggest that I as mayor have connections with the topless clubs and drug dealers and strippers ... ."
For their part, representatives of Platinum Plus won't take responsibility for Smith and her allegations. "Nobody to my knowledge recalls her working there," said Dale Tuttle, a lawyer for Lunati.
Upon leaving Platinum Plus, she landed a job as a flight attendant for Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines, a regional jet service for Northwest Airlines. That's when additional criminal and financial problems surfaced.
On Jan. 12, 2002, Smith and two associates visited at least 15 stores at the Opry Mills Mall in Nashville and purchased items with 30 to 35 stolen American Express gift checks. Smith pleaded guilty to five counts of felony forgery and received a year and a half of probation.
Meanwhile, in Memphis, her financial troubles continued. After Smith abandoned an apartment she rented at 502 S. Main St., her landlord came after her for $1,796.67 in damages. Following a judgment for that amount, plus court costs, Smith successfully dodged subpoena after subpoena seeking financial information. Finally, the attorneys for the landlord went to Pinnacle Airlines to garnish wages.
Pinnacle refused. The airline had terminated Smith's employment on Jan. 18, 2005, Pinnacle told the court. Pinnacle did not return phone calls seeking comment on her employment.
More trouble eventually came from Nashville. Smith was thrown in jail after failing a drug test, a condition of her probation, at which time attorney Fields, who once was married to Smith's cousin, brokered a deal for her to be released.
Smith alleged Fields began to pay her $6,000 regularly to submit to his "unwanted sexual requests" and offered her another $150,000 if she would seduce Herenton and capture the relationship on videotape.
But when the cash ran out, Smith's loyalty changed, she told WREG-TV in an interview: "Enough was enough when Richard (Fields) was letting all of my bills get behind. He was no longer giving me my money."
She then went to Herenton. "Gwendolyn Smith showed up one day, showed up and presented to me a disgusting and deliberately contrived series of events and investigative schemes, like I've never seen before," the mayor told reporters.
Smith filed a complaint Wednesday with the Shelby County District Attorney General's Office in which she alleged Fields, real estate investor and MLGW commissioner Nick Clark, car dealer Russell Gwatney, and the FBI conspired to shame Herenton out of City Hall. Memphis police, ostensibly fearing for her safety, placed Smith in protective custody.
Two days later, there was movement in the only criminal case so far related to the alleged political conspiracy. On Friday, Memphis police delivered Smith to Nashville.
She was wanted on a warrant for violating probation.
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