by Maryloo Souied
This is the latest chapter as far as my troubles with the feds. I had other troubles back in 1998-99
and in 2005 but those troubles were basically things that made me and my friends go, “hmmm.” They?re being more blatant now, since this time they?re actually identifying themselves as feds.
by Maryloo Souied
This is the latest chapter as far as my troubles with the feds. I had other troubles back in 1998-99
and in 2005 but those troubles were basically things that made me and my friends go, “hmmm.” They?re being more blatant now, since this time they?re actually identifying themselves as feds.
The ?98-?99 troubles were occurring while Sharin Chiorazzo was my roommate and we both were working with Farouk in the Palestine Aid Society and Palestine Education crew. I had trouble with my mail and my apt being entered yet no cash was stolen but stuff was opened and moved around. I can write more on that period but suffice it to say this latest chapter didn?t just happen out of a clear blue sky.
I?ve been having problems with the NYPD, New York FBI and Boston FBI. It started Oct 3rd 2006.
This woman who introduced herself as detective Sendepour or Estenpour (it was crappy reception so I couldn’t hear her that well) of the NYPD called me up from a number that came up on my cell phone as a “private” number and said she was at my house (I was not there) and she said she wanted to talk to me about “someone I know” and then she said she doesn’t want to have to come to my job and that she wants to speak to me in private and in person. So I said, this sounds like a silly joke, and I hung up on her. She had a slight accent mixed with a NY accent, one of my friends said she sounded Iranian possibly. Maybe a leftover from SAVAK days in Iran, since it is well known that the U.S. repressive forces take in secret police forces from around the world to work with them, like Shin Bet, SAVAK, El Salvadorean death squad types, etc.
She called up again and I hung up right away. Then she called AGAIN and left a message, saying the same thing she said when she first called and said it’s no big deal and she left her cell phone number.
So I went to my best friend?s place and left a message with a lawyer I know (a lawyer who had handled Farouk?s habeas petition) and called back the number the woman had left. I told her I was sorry to hang up but I thought it was a joke and that I couldn’t hear her well (my phone sucks). The woman replied that it was bad reception because she was IN my building. She told me she was a detective with the NYPD and also with the NY office of the FBI. She then said the Boston FBI had called the NY FBI office about me (by way of identifying me she tells me, “you were born in this place and you have this last name and this maiden name”), and that she wants to talk to me about “some people you?re associated with,” (now it’s plural ? first it’s “someone” I know then it’s “some people” I’m associated with) telling me AGAIN it?s no big deal. I said, ?I have nothing to say without my lawyer present.? She went right ahead and asked me about some Lebanese guy. I replied, “like I said, I have nothing to say to you.? Once again she said, “I don’t want to have to come to your job. We need to talk in person and in private.? So I said, ?I don’t want to talk to you,? and I hung up. Five minutes later she calls again. I let it go to voicemail. She left a message saying pretty much the same thing and adding that they got a complaint from the Boston FBI about me and they have to check all bases when they get complaints. I was active in radical politics in Boston from 1980-84. Some of my friends and I had some minor hairballs with the FBI, but not like this round of heat.
I called a lawyer I know (who had handled Farouk?s case) and told him what happened up to that point. He said that when they say they?re a detective with the NYPD and are also with the FBI that means they are Joint Terrorist Task Force. The lawyer said, just keep telling them you don’t want to talk to them and if they keep bugging you give them my number.
On Oct 17th, as I?m in line to go to the Lynne Stewart sentencing, the woman detective calls again. She asked me about the emergency contact person I?d put on my passport renewal application. I said, I don’t want to talk to you guys, and I kept telling her that my lawyer had said I didn’t have to speak with them. She then said she would come to my house again and go to my job to talk to me. She repeated, “we want to talk to you about your travels abroad”. I said, ?I don’t want to talk to you guys,? and I hung up.
She called right back and I didn?t answer, so she left a rude-ass and threatening message saying “You can hang up all you want but we WILL talk to you. We just want to ask you a couple of questions and you?re making a big deal out of it. You can do it the easy way or the hard way.? Then she said, “We will come to your house again, and to your job, and everyone at your job and your neighbors will know. (I’m thinking – know WHAT, you bitch?!). She then said, ?I gave you ten days as a courtesy to get an attorney, so it’s OVER. You can give me your lawyer’s number.? My friend recorded the message for me on a CD.
I gave the lawyer the two numbers I had for the detective. One of the numbers was at the police headquarters, according to the lawyer. Then on Oct 18th a male detective called me from that same headquarters. He said, “I am detective shit-for-brains (I can’t remember his name, it was some generic Anglo name) and my partner has been trying to talk to you” and I said, ?Like I told your, partner, I don’t want to talk to you guys.? Then he said, ?We want to ask you a few questions, and it?ll only take a few minutes.? I said, ?I don’t want to talk to you guys, here?s my lawyer?s number.? And then he said ?is this the number we can reach you at?? I said, ?Just call my lawyer, not me,? and I hung up. I then called the lawyer and updated him on the latest calls from the woman and her partner.
On Oct 20th, the lawyer called me and told me he?d spoken to the agents, who?d told him they wanted to talk to me about my travels abroad. I asked what trip did they want to talk to me about, and he said they wouldn?t tell him. He?d told them that I didn?t want to talk to them at all, and they?d said that if I don?t talk they will use ?other means? to deal with me. I asked what was meant by ?other means? and the lawyer essentially said it?s hard to predict their moves since they?re bullshitters and shady. He told me he?d instructed them not to call me, to call him instead, and told me if they call me again to just do as I?ve been doing ? refuse to talk to them and have them call him.
So that is where it stands now. A slice of life in the homeland under the Homeland Security ?War on Terror.?
UPDATE
In November 2006 a friend of mine got a call from the FBI and they asked him if he knows any Sunni men that have entered the U.S. in the past year. He told them he had nothing to say and hung up on them.
On Sunday January 6th, the supers of my building informed me that 2 detectives showed up with a photo of me and a file folder with a bunch of papers in it. I asked them when the detectives come by and they said early October(when they called and said they were at my house the first time they called). I was thinking to myself, ?NOW you tell me! ? I asked them why they didn’t tell me back then, why now – almost 3 months later. They just kept on repeating the fact that these detectives showed up with my photo and a file folder with papers, and how it really bugged them out. They said the detectives asked them if I have roommates, and they?d said no because at that time I didn’t have roommates. I had let some friends stay in my place while I was gone out of town for a month. They are still with me and they are apartment hunting and I?d told that to the super way before the detectives had come by.
On Jan 20th, I got a message from the landlord saying I have to pack up and leave. It could be because of having friends staying with me, or because of the feds coming by and making me look like some dangerous person to the supers, or for both reasons.
Maryloo Souied
January 2007
