Thomas Walker/law firm photo

The slow process of lining up new U.S. Attorneys continued Monday with the nomination of four new names.

The website Main Justice reported that President Obama nominated: Christopher A. Crofts (Wyoming): James L. Santelle (Eastern District of Wisconsin): Thomas G. Walker (Eastern District of North Carolina): Barbara L. McQuade (Eastern District of Michigan).

The website said a total of 34 U.S. Attorney have been nominated thus far, and 24 of those have been confirmed so far.

To read more click here.

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• Agencies Reporting to White House on Ft. Hood Expected to Cite Info Sharing Limitations (Washington Post)
• Couple Asked Defense Aide for Invite to White House (NY Times)

Frank Sinatra

New York mobster Gregory DePalma, whose friends included celebrities Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Willie Mays, and who was embarrassed when he suggested an undercover Cuban-born FBI agent become a made man in the Gambino crime family, has died in prison at age 77, Gangland News reported.

DePalma became a “made man” under the late Paul Castellano regime, Gangland reported.

Gangland reported that DePalma predicted at his sentencing in 2006 that he wouldn’t survive his 12 year sentence. He died from a myriad of ailments last week at the federal prison hospital North Carolina.

He was embarrassed when it came out that he tried to get Cuban-born undercover FBI agent Joaquin Garcia into the Gambino crime family as a made man.

“The world is a better place without Greg,” Garcia told Gangland. “I hope Greg made his peace with God before he died, but if he didn’t, God better watch his wallet.”

See Video on Undercover FBI Agent Joaquin Garcia Who  Helped Put DePalma Away

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBxsJwLyL10

The Salahis With Donny Osmond in LA/facebook photo

The Secret Service, which has come under a tremendous amount of heat after a couple sneaked into the White House gala, has interviewed the couple, the New York Times reported.

The paper reported that the Secret Service interviewed Michaele and Tareq Salahi Friday and Saturday.

The interviews come as the Secret Service reviews the lapse in security to determine what can be done to avoid another incident in the future. Authorities have been looking into the possibility of charging the couple.

Ed Rollins, a Republican political operative, said Sunday that the Salahis should be prosecuted.

”They basically trespassed,” Rollins said on ”State of the Union” on CNN. ”They had no right to be there. The Secret Service has a tough-enough task without having people dress up and pretend they’re important.”

For Full Story

The Supreme Court could throw some high profile cases into a tizzy including the one involving ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The court is scheduled to hear arguments in December on the validity of the “honest-services fraud” law which is frequently used in public corruption cases that involve public officials taking money or gifts or jobs for family members in instances where bribery is too tough to prove, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Opponents of the law say it is far too vague and Congress should go back and correct the flaws.

“In Chicago, this was our go-to statute. Every major public corruption case in the last 10 years relied heavily on an honest-services charge,” Patrick Collins, formerly a top anti-corruption prosecutor for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago told the Tribune.

Collins told the Trib that the Blagojevich set for June could be derailed “if the court were to gut the statute, the prosecution would have to think long and hard about how to restructure the case. (Honest-services fraud) is the core operating theory of the case.”

To read more click here.

Ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee

The FBI joined the hunt for a “person of interest” in the slaying of four police officers in Parkland, Wash., at a coffee shop Sunday morning, according to media reports.

Authorities identified the person of interest as Maurice Clemmons, 37, of Tacoma, Wash.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Times reported that ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee had commuted Clemmons’ sentence nine years ago despite protests from prosecutors.

The Times reported that Clemmons  had a lengthy criminal history that  included at least five felony convictions in Arkansas and at least eight felony charges in Washington.

The Seattle paper said  Huckabee issued a statement Sunday night calling the slayings  “a horrible and tragic event” and that if Clemmons is in fact responsible  “it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State.”

For Full Story

Read Seattle Times Account of Shooting

Suspect Told Parole Board He Had Changed (Seattle Times)

UPDATE: Monday 8:45 a.m.  Shooting Suspect Wounded and May be Dead (Seattle Times)

UPDATE: Monday 11:55 a.m. — Suspect Not in House Police Surrounded Over Night (Seattle Times)

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• Philly Cops Hunts for Suspect Who Raped Blind Woman (AP)
• Portland Public Defender Found Slain (AP)
• Text A Tip Programs Help Police (AP)
• Can South Carolina Prosecute the Governor? (Wall Street Journal)

By Allan Lengel

The publicity hungry couple that crashed the White House dinner, is now trying to cash in on their stunt, the New York Times reports.

The New York Times reports that aspiring reality-TV stars themselves began trying to sell their story for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The paper reported that Michaele and Tareq Salahi have dahsed plans for now to appear Monday CNN’s ”Larry King Live”. Instead, they want someone to pay big bucks for the interview.

America. Ain’t it grand.

For Full Story

.

By Allan Lengel

A cyber-security expert who has worked with such agencies as the FBI and Scotland Yard is warning that hackers and cyber criminals are targeting social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, the The Observer in London reports.

“It’s happening all over the world,” said the expert Mikko Hypponen, who refuses to use Facebook, the Observer reported.

“These guys steal an individual’s profile, then email everyone in their contacts with a link and a subject heading like ‘check this out’. You trust the email because it’s from your friend,” Hypponen told the Observer.

“So you click on the link and before you know it all your security information has been stolen. I don’t use Facebook because I know who’s watching and I don’t want these guys looking at pictures of me and my family. People think no one phishing will be able to make money from Facebook, but cyber-criminals can. This is only the beginning. You will see this happening more and more.”

To Read More