John Ambrose/wls-tv chicago

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
A federal judge in Chicago on Tuesday slapped a deputy U.S. Marshal with a four-year prison sentence for telling the Chicago mob that a fellow mobster in the Witness Protection program was cooperating with the feds.

Prosecutors had claimed the leak was the first of its kind in the Witness Protection program.

U.S. District Judge John Grady said he imposed the tough sentence on John T. Ambrose, 42, to send a message about the importance of protecting information about people in the program, according to WLS-TV in Chicago. His lawyer vowed to appeal the conviction and sentence.

Ambrose  once headed the Marshal’s Midwest fugitive squad. In April, he was convicted of leaking confidential government information about Nicholas Calabrese,  a made man in the mob,  who was in the federal Witness Protection program and was slated to testify for the government in a big mob prosecution.

Ambrose sometimes guarded Calabrese in the Witness Protection Program. He is scheduled to report to prison in January, WLS reported.

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON — President Obama is getting some plus points  for going out of his way to congratulate FBI agents in New York and Denver involved in the latest terrorism case linked to suspect Najibullah Zazi.

Early last week, he visted the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in N.Y. to congratulate them on their work.  Two days later, he called the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Denver to do the same.

ABC’s Jake Tapper and Clayton Sandell report that Obama spoke by phone to Jim Davis, special agent in charge of the Denver FBI and about 30 of his agents on the terrorism task force.

Davis, according to ABC News, said the call from the President was a huge morale boost for agents.

“I’ve been doing this for 25 years and I’m not aware of any time the president has ever called the special agent in charge of a field office to communicate his thanks for an investigative effort,” Davis told ABC.

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
The first thought some people had was that Jeffry Picower, the Florida man accused of making more than $7 billion from Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, had committed suicide on Sunday at his palatial oceanside home.

Not so, says the the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner Michael Bell who ruled that Picower, 67, suffered a heart attack in his pool and drowned, according to the Associated Press.

His wife Barabara found him in the pool, and according to the Associated Press, called 911 and said:

“He’s at the bottom of the pool. It’s too deep. I can’t get him out. He must have collapsed … I can’t get him out … I don’t know how long he’s been there.”

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• Detroit Reports a Drop in Homicides (Detroit News)
• Teen Pleads Not Guilty to Trying to Blow Up Dallas Skyscraper (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)
• Second Chicago Man Tied to Terror Plot (Chicago Tribune)
• Probe of Homeland Security Privacy Office Sought (Washington Post)
• Ala. Judge Cleared of Sex Abuse in Spanking of Inmate (AP)
• Church of Scientology Convicted of Fraud in France (AP)
• Questions Raised About Colo. U.S. Atty. Nominee (Denver Post)

Atty. Gen. Eric Holder/doj photo

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON — Atty. General Eric Holder has appointed nine new U.S. Attorneys to serve two-year terms on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys.

The committee, created in 1973, will report to Holder through the deputy Attorney General. The panel speaks on behalf of the U.S. Attorneys and provides input on policy and operational issues that impact U.S. Attorneys around the country, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

The new attorneys, according to a press release issued Monday include: U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara; U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Dennis Burke; U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington Jenny Durkan; U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Paul J. Fishman; U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick J. Fitzgerald; U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride; U.S. Attorney for the District of Rhode Island Peter F. Neronha; U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Joyce White Vance; and Acting U.S. Attorney, ex officio, for the District of Columbia Channing D. Phillips.

Michael E. Weston/dea photo

Chad L. Michael/dea photo

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON — A DEA internal memo has identified the names of three agents who were killed in Afghanistan Monday in a helicopter crash that also claimed the lives of seven U.S. Service members.

The helicopter had just taken off from a drug raid and battle with the Taliban. But there was no sign of an enemy attack in that incident or another crash that day involving two helicopters that crashed and claimed the lives of four U.S. troops, according to media reports. The cause of the crashes are under investigation.

Forest N. Leamon/dea photo

The names and bios of the three dead agents are as follows, according to the a Drug Enforcement Administration memo:

“Special Agent Forrest N. Leamon. SA Leamon became a Special Agent in 2002. He served at the Washington Field Division and in the El Paso Field Division until 2007, when he joined the FAST team (Foreign-deployed Advisory and Support Teams) in Afghanistan. He lived in Woodbridge, Va and was 37 years old. He is survived by his wife and their unborn child.”

“Special Agent Chad L. Michael. SA Michael graduated from basic training in March 2004. He began his career with DEA in the Miami Field Division, and left there to join the FAST team in Afghanistan in August of this year. He lived in Quantico, Va. and was 30 years old.”

“Special Agent Michael E. Weston. SA Weston has been a Special Agent with DEA since 2003. He was assigned to the Richmond, Virginia District Office until joining the Kabul Country Office in August of this year. He lived in Washington, D.C. and was 37 years old. He is survived by his wife.”