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More than a quarter of all Federal dollars are spent on health
programs, with $80.1 billion in the President's 2014 Budget for the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In a time of
budget-cutting and fiscal crises, it's more important than ever to be
sure that this money is put to good use. Yet according to a 2012
Institute of Medicine report, 30% of all U.S. health spending is wasted
(see side bar on waste). This equates to roughly $750 billion in 2009
alone. Some of this can be attributed to fraud but much is simply a
result of inefficient spending.
For example, numerous OIG studies have found that Medicare and Medicaid sometimes pay significantly more than private companies do for the same medical procedure, service, or product. OIG's report on Medicare payments for laboratory tests - Comparing Lab Test Payment Rates: Medicare Could Achieve Substantial Savings - found that Medicare paid between 18 and 30 percent more than other insurers for all 20 of the lab tests included in the study. As Medicare is the largest payer of lab tests, this amounts to a significant payment discrepancy -- $910 million in 2011 alone. OIG recommends that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) seek legislation to lower their Medicare payment rates for lab tests as well as to introduce copayments and deductibles.
OIG also found several instances of payment disparities for medical supplies. The OIG report Comparison of Prices of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Pumps found that in the first half of 2007, suppliers purchased new negative pressure wound therapy pumps, used to treat severe wounds and ulcers, for an average price of $3,604. In contrast, Medicare's purchase price was $17,165 for the same pump, more than four times the average purchase price. A similar pricing disparity exists with a specific type of lower-back orthotic device. The report Medicare Supplier Acquisition Costs for L0631 Back Orthoses found that from mid-2010 to mid-2011, while suppliers spent an average of $191 for this orthotic device, Medicare paid an average of $919. This resulted in Medicare and its beneficiaries spending a total of $37 million more than suppliers paid to acquire this one type of back orthotic alone.
In both cases, OIG recommended that CMS reduce the amount it pays for this equipment. OIG also recommends including these products in the Competitive Bidding Acquisition Program, which creates competition between suppliers. CMS began implementing this program in 2007 to reduce costs to beneficiaries and improve the accuracy of Medicare payments.
The cost of diabetes testing strips (DTS) was reduced by inclusion in Medicare's competitive bidding program. Before the bidding program, CMS paid less for mail-order DTS than for non-mail order DTS, which created an incentive for providers to bill for the more expensive non-mail-order strips. The OIG report Supplier Billing for Diabetes Test Strips and Inappropriate Supplier Activities in Competitive Bidding Areas found that claims for non-mail- order DTS increased by 30 percent in 2011 while claims for mail-order DTS decreased by 71 percent. As of July 1, 2013, CMS implemented changes that eliminate this disparity.
However, pricing disparities for DTS still exist in Medicaid. State Medicaid programs reimburse providers for DTS at varying rates. Some States use competitive bidding programs or collect rebates from the test strip manufacturers as ways to dramatically lower the cost. If Ohio's Medicaid program used the same competitive bidding program as Medicare or if they adopted a rebate system similar to the one used by Indiana's Medicaid program, costs for DTS could be cut in half! More information is available in OIG reports on Indiana and Illinois DTS payment rates.
The Medicare and Medicaid programs cost a combined total of $962 billion in 2011. Continuing to identify and eliminate pricing and payment disparities could save millions - if not billions - of dollars, helping ensure that these programs can continue to provide vital services to citizens for years to come.
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Spotlight On...
Bad Bargains for Federal Health Programs
More than a quarter of all Federal dollars are spent on health
programs, with $80.1 billion in the President's 2014 Budget for the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In a time of
budget-cutting and fiscal crises, it's more important than ever to be
sure that this money is put to good use. Yet according to a 2012
Institute of Medicine report, 30% of all U.S. health spending is wasted
(see side bar on waste). This equates to roughly $750 billion in 2009
alone. Some of this can be attributed to fraud but much is simply a
result of inefficient spending. For example, numerous OIG studies have found that Medicare and Medicaid sometimes pay significantly more than private companies do for the same medical procedure, service, or product. OIG's report on Medicare payments for laboratory tests - Comparing Lab Test Payment Rates: Medicare Could Achieve Substantial Savings - found that Medicare paid between 18 and 30 percent more than other insurers for all 20 of the lab tests included in the study. As Medicare is the largest payer of lab tests, this amounts to a significant payment discrepancy -- $910 million in 2011 alone. OIG recommends that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) seek legislation to lower their Medicare payment rates for lab tests as well as to introduce copayments and deductibles.
OIG also found several instances of payment disparities for medical supplies. The OIG report Comparison of Prices of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Pumps found that in the first half of 2007, suppliers purchased new negative pressure wound therapy pumps, used to treat severe wounds and ulcers, for an average price of $3,604. In contrast, Medicare's purchase price was $17,165 for the same pump, more than four times the average purchase price. A similar pricing disparity exists with a specific type of lower-back orthotic device. The report Medicare Supplier Acquisition Costs for L0631 Back Orthoses found that from mid-2010 to mid-2011, while suppliers spent an average of $191 for this orthotic device, Medicare paid an average of $919. This resulted in Medicare and its beneficiaries spending a total of $37 million more than suppliers paid to acquire this one type of back orthotic alone.
In both cases, OIG recommended that CMS reduce the amount it pays for this equipment. OIG also recommends including these products in the Competitive Bidding Acquisition Program, which creates competition between suppliers. CMS began implementing this program in 2007 to reduce costs to beneficiaries and improve the accuracy of Medicare payments.
The cost of diabetes testing strips (DTS) was reduced by inclusion in Medicare's competitive bidding program. Before the bidding program, CMS paid less for mail-order DTS than for non-mail order DTS, which created an incentive for providers to bill for the more expensive non-mail-order strips. The OIG report Supplier Billing for Diabetes Test Strips and Inappropriate Supplier Activities in Competitive Bidding Areas found that claims for non-mail- order DTS increased by 30 percent in 2011 while claims for mail-order DTS decreased by 71 percent. As of July 1, 2013, CMS implemented changes that eliminate this disparity.
However, pricing disparities for DTS still exist in Medicaid. State Medicaid programs reimburse providers for DTS at varying rates. Some States use competitive bidding programs or collect rebates from the test strip manufacturers as ways to dramatically lower the cost. If Ohio's Medicaid program used the same competitive bidding program as Medicare or if they adopted a rebate system similar to the one used by Indiana's Medicaid program, costs for DTS could be cut in half! More information is available in OIG reports on Indiana and Illinois DTS payment rates.
The Medicare and Medicaid programs cost a combined total of $962 billion in 2011. Continuing to identify and eliminate pricing and payment disparities could save millions - if not billions - of dollars, helping ensure that these programs can continue to provide vital services to citizens for years to come.
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Sunday, September 22, 2013
Wild West
64°
- Related Links:
- LinkWhat do you think of Modesto's gang problems? Tell us on Facebook.
- Related Stories:
- As Modesto gangs spill more blood, answers get more elusive
- Most parts of Modesto feel some effects of criminal activity
- Other Related Content:
- File: Gang Divisions
- File: Gang Crimes by the Numbers
- Story Photos:
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There are an estimated 5,000 gang members in Stanislaus County. Leaders say the problem can’t be cured with arrests and incarceration alone, that other forms of intervention are necessary. But what? Law enforcement experts say today’s gang members are often the third or fourth generation of their families so involved. How do you break the cycle? And what’s the price residents are paying in fear? In this ongoing special report, The Bee begins its examination of gangs and their impact in the Modesto area. Our hope is that the coverage will encourage a community dialogue about the problem and what to do about it.
-
ABOUT THE REPORTER Rosalio Ahumada Title: Courts reporter
Coverage areas: Criminal cases, breaking news
Bio: Rosalio Ahumada has been a reporter at The Bee for more than seven years, previously covering crime and public safety issues. He also has worked at the Merced Sun-Star, covering education. Recent stories written by Rosalio
On Twitter: @ModBeeCourts
E-mail: rahumada@modbee.com
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MODESTO — Street gangs in the
Modesto area used to be disorganized, operating independently. They
committed crime, but there was less brazen gun violence.
That all changed in the early 1990s after prison-based Nuestra Familia gang leaders called for unity among Norteños across California. They were ordered to work together to eliminate their common enemy — the Sureños.
The message — produced by a Modesto gang member and sent out via a rap music CD titled "Generations of United Norteños," or "G.U.N." — sparked an ongoing war between the two gangs that rages on today. Gang violence became more coordinated and deadly.
"Now, (the Norteños) knew they had some boundaries," said Stanislaus County sheriff's Sgt. Anthony Bejaran, a former gang investigator. "They had some people telling them what to do and how to do it."
The Sureños responded by establishing their own gangs in Northern California, including areas such as west Modesto and the city's airport neighborhood.
Recruitment for both gangs increased, as did their presence and the culture of fear it spawned. This clash for dominance created a gang hierarchy in prison with more control on what happens on the streets. That remains the case today, with so-called shot callers behind bars still directing criminal behavior such as drug trafficking, home-invasion robberies and revenge killings of former fellow gang members.
The shootings and killings might be about gang colors on the street, but the violence is a byproduct of big business orchestrated by prison gang leaders. Many decisions are dictated by what helps them gain more illicit profits from their criminal enterprise.
Sureños are controlled by the Mexican Mafia prison gang, also known as La Eme, which was formed in the mid-1950s so Latino inmates could challenge whites who controlled the prison drug trade. The Sureños wear blue and associate with the number 13.
Norteños answer to the Nuestra Familia, which was formed in 1968 by Latino Northern Californian prison inmates wanting independence from the Mexican Mafia. They wear red and associate with the number 14.
Until 20 years ago, hostil- ity between Norteños and Sureños was not common, at least in Northern California, where there were hardly any Sureños, and Norteños fought each other from time to time. The demarcation line was Delano, about 75 miles south of Fresno, and the gangs rarely crossed it.
Families with teens and young adults swearing allegiance to the Sureños moved to Northern California cities, including Modesto, for a variety of reasons that had nothing to do with gangs. Rival gang members now were living not far from each other. The Nuestra Familia saw Sureños in Northern California as encroachment on their turf.
Parents looking for affordable housing left Bay Area cities, such as San Jose, and moved to the valley. Many commuted over the Altamont Pass for work but lived in neighborhoods of newly built tract homes in south Modesto. Some of their older children already were experienced Norteños in the Bay Area with strong ties to the Nuestra Familia. In Modesto, they started right where they left off.
"You're bringing in some people with more sophistication and experience in the gang world," Bejaran said.
The two dominant gangs divided the region into blue and red areas and launched all-out war. Violence escalated over the next two dec-ades. Gang members, mostly teenagers known as street soldiers, had their marching orders: Eliminate the enemy.
Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Davis investigated gang crimes from 1995 to 2000. He said gun violence spiked to about two drive-by shootings a month.
"We just had gangsters trying to make a name for themselves, trying to carve out a little piece of the world," Davis said.
Young Norteños used the message behind the "G.U.N." rap album as a call to arms. They had an enemy in their own back yard and newly acquired knowledge from Bay Area gang members to carry out attacks.
Robert Gratton, a top-ranking Norteño from Modesto who later became an author, gang dropout and police informant, released the rap CD to help finance the Nuestra Familia. He died in July 2008 at age 44 in a suspected alcohol-related vehicle crash in Southern California.
"You could clearly see them separate themselves at school, kind of like in a prison yard," said Mariscal, who later became a gang investigator for the Stanislaus County district attorney's office.
As a teenager, Mariscal lived in a home on Imperial Avenue west of Crows Landing Road in south Modesto. He saw gang violence rise as Norteños joined in their fight against Sureños throughout the city.
"You feel more bold and empowered," Mariscal said about Norteños coming together. "It's just that gang mentality that you don't back down."
His old neighborhood became the spawning ground for the Deep South Side Norteños, a gang that became entrenched there and terrorized residents for two decades. It got so bad that law enforcement officials were granted an injunction in 2009 to disrupt the gang's activities and loosen its grip on the neighborhood.
Bejaran also grew up in south Modesto, but he lived there before the Norteños' call for unity. He remembers seeing gang members routinely involved in fistfights, but they rarely used guns, the common method of violence by gang members today.
As a teenager in the 1980s, Bejaran said, "you could walk down any street" and not be harassed. There was not much open gang recruitment. And "Southerners weren't really around."
Gang fights along McHenry Avenue, which were common many weekends, contributed to the end of cruising along the Modesto thoroughfare. There was a large number of gangs, but there wasn't a dominant group.
Bejaran said gangs such as the Eight-Ball Mob and the Night Owls were part of the criminal landscape in the early '80s. There were groups that associated with the Norteños then, but the various Norteño gangs in Modesto sometimes would fight one another.
Today, his old neighborhood just north of Shackelford Elementary School on Crows Landing Road is home to the Original Gangster Locos, a Norteño gang that didn't exist when Bejaran was a teenager.
Sureños also grew in number, even though there are far fewer of them in Stanislaus County. Sureño gangs such as Brick City and 18th Street, which are names for Sureño gangs in Southern California, still exist today in west Modesto. The Brick City gang considers its turf a small area north of Paradise Road near Carpenter Road, and the 18th Street gang claims its territory to be south of the Tuolumne River near Highway 99.
Money is the fuel that powers the engine behind these power-hungry gangs. Street soldiers fight over colors, but their prison leaders orchestrate violence to protect their investments in drug trafficking, armed robberies, burglary and other criminal activity.
Gang members on the street funnel a share of their profits up the chain of command to leaders inside prison. Street soldiers refer to this process as "paying taxes." Decisions made by the Nuestra Familia and the Mexican Mafia routinely are based on their illegal business ventures.
For instance, several years ago, prison gang leaders ordered their street soldiers to stop committing drive-by shootings. Mariscal said the leaders thought drive-bys were drawing too much attention from law enforcement and the media, making it bad for gang business. He said gang members were instructed to walk up and shoot at targets instead.
The result of this power struggle between Norteños and Sureños has created gang leaders in prison who today have more direct control of street warfare than they've had in the past, Mariscal said. Shot callers doing time in Pelican Bay state prison, for instance, are sending orders to street soldiers in Stanislaus County.
"The gang members who are from this county are taking orders from those who are not from this county," Mariscal said. "It's not all about territorial turf battles anymore."
Bee staff writer Rosalio Ahumada can be reached at rahumada@modbee.com or (209) 578-2394.
Stanislaus County gang statistics:
• 5,000: Number of gang members among 64 documented gangs
• 84 percent are Latino-based gangs
• 7 percent are white gangs
• 4 percent are Asian gangs
• 3 percent are black gangs
• 2 percent are miscellaneous
• Of the Latino-based gangs, 82 percent are Norteños; 18 percent are Sureños
• • •
— Vito Chiesa, Stanislaus County supervisor
• • •
"I
don't fear. If they want to kill me, they can kill me. If it's my time
to go, it's my time to go. (But) if I die at the hands of (my son's)
homies, good luck for you because when he gets out (of custody) he'll be
out for blood."
— Tina
• • •
"It's
like (gangs) had a sense of honor (in the old days). They wouldn't
fight innocent civilians. Now they shoot up places for no reason. People
inside their own gang fight each other. It's like everyone's ego is
getting in the way. It's not about a color; it's about egos."
— Steven
• • •
"My
nephew got jumped and stabbed in the stomach with a screwdriver. He
lived and went out there looking for revenge but they caught him at the
mall and stabbed him in the head a couple of times. He lived and yet
he's still in (his gang). He's 16. What's next?"
— Martha
• • •
An automatic death sentence will be put on a familiano (member) that turns coward, traitor or deserter.
— from "Constitution of the Nuestra Familia," Section V
• • •
"I
can take any kid — a rich kid; he doesn't have to be poor — and I can
turn him, make him feel more welcome than their own family. I'll make
them loyal, make them crave to be loyal. He doesn't even know why; he
just wants to please me. I own him."
— imprisoned gang recruiter quoted in "Parents Gang Awareness Program,"a document used with families of Stanislaus County Juvenile Hall inmates
• • •
"Get
involved in other activities and lifestyles. It isn't about the thrill
anymore; it is about blending in and surviving. Reinvent yourself. Shut
your face."
— from "How to change your life and leave the gang and make it," a Juvenile Hall resource
VIDEO: A Mother's Heartache
VIDEO: Gang families
Has gang violence reached your neighborhood? Go to The Bee’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/modestobee, and tell us how gang violence has changed your way of life.
That all changed in the early 1990s after prison-based Nuestra Familia gang leaders called for unity among Norteños across California. They were ordered to work together to eliminate their common enemy — the Sureños.
The message — produced by a Modesto gang member and sent out via a rap music CD titled "Generations of United Norteños," or "G.U.N." — sparked an ongoing war between the two gangs that rages on today. Gang violence became more coordinated and deadly.
"Now, (the Norteños) knew they had some boundaries," said Stanislaus County sheriff's Sgt. Anthony Bejaran, a former gang investigator. "They had some people telling them what to do and how to do it."
The Sureños responded by establishing their own gangs in Northern California, including areas such as west Modesto and the city's airport neighborhood.
Recruitment for both gangs increased, as did their presence and the culture of fear it spawned. This clash for dominance created a gang hierarchy in prison with more control on what happens on the streets. That remains the case today, with so-called shot callers behind bars still directing criminal behavior such as drug trafficking, home-invasion robberies and revenge killings of former fellow gang members.
The shootings and killings might be about gang colors on the street, but the violence is a byproduct of big business orchestrated by prison gang leaders. Many decisions are dictated by what helps them gain more illicit profits from their criminal enterprise.
Sureños are controlled by the Mexican Mafia prison gang, also known as La Eme, which was formed in the mid-1950s so Latino inmates could challenge whites who controlled the prison drug trade. The Sureños wear blue and associate with the number 13.
Norteños answer to the Nuestra Familia, which was formed in 1968 by Latino Northern Californian prison inmates wanting independence from the Mexican Mafia. They wear red and associate with the number 14.
Until 20 years ago, hostil- ity between Norteños and Sureños was not common, at least in Northern California, where there were hardly any Sureños, and Norteños fought each other from time to time. The demarcation line was Delano, about 75 miles south of Fresno, and the gangs rarely crossed it.
Criminal influx
Along with the Norteño call for unity, two other factors created the violent gang rivalry seen in the Modesto area today.Families with teens and young adults swearing allegiance to the Sureños moved to Northern California cities, including Modesto, for a variety of reasons that had nothing to do with gangs. Rival gang members now were living not far from each other. The Nuestra Familia saw Sureños in Northern California as encroachment on their turf.
Parents looking for affordable housing left Bay Area cities, such as San Jose, and moved to the valley. Many commuted over the Altamont Pass for work but lived in neighborhoods of newly built tract homes in south Modesto. Some of their older children already were experienced Norteños in the Bay Area with strong ties to the Nuestra Familia. In Modesto, they started right where they left off.
"You're bringing in some people with more sophistication and experience in the gang world," Bejaran said.
The two dominant gangs divided the region into blue and red areas and launched all-out war. Violence escalated over the next two dec-ades. Gang members, mostly teenagers known as street soldiers, had their marching orders: Eliminate the enemy.
Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Davis investigated gang crimes from 1995 to 2000. He said gun violence spiked to about two drive-by shootings a month.
"We just had gangsters trying to make a name for themselves, trying to carve out a little piece of the world," Davis said.
Young Norteños used the message behind the "G.U.N." rap album as a call to arms. They had an enemy in their own back yard and newly acquired knowledge from Bay Area gang members to carry out attacks.
Robert Gratton, a top-ranking Norteño from Modesto who later became an author, gang dropout and police informant, released the rap CD to help finance the Nuestra Familia. He died in July 2008 at age 44 in a suspected alcohol-related vehicle crash in Southern California.
Rivalry solidifies
Froilan Mariscal was a student at Modesto's Downey High School in the early 1990s when the seismic shift changed how street gangs operated. Even though he avoided the gang lifestyle, many of his fellow students chose sides."You could clearly see them separate themselves at school, kind of like in a prison yard," said Mariscal, who later became a gang investigator for the Stanislaus County district attorney's office.
As a teenager, Mariscal lived in a home on Imperial Avenue west of Crows Landing Road in south Modesto. He saw gang violence rise as Norteños joined in their fight against Sureños throughout the city.
"You feel more bold and empowered," Mariscal said about Norteños coming together. "It's just that gang mentality that you don't back down."
His old neighborhood became the spawning ground for the Deep South Side Norteños, a gang that became entrenched there and terrorized residents for two decades. It got so bad that law enforcement officials were granted an injunction in 2009 to disrupt the gang's activities and loosen its grip on the neighborhood.
Bejaran also grew up in south Modesto, but he lived there before the Norteños' call for unity. He remembers seeing gang members routinely involved in fistfights, but they rarely used guns, the common method of violence by gang members today.
As a teenager in the 1980s, Bejaran said, "you could walk down any street" and not be harassed. There was not much open gang recruitment. And "Southerners weren't really around."
Gang fights along McHenry Avenue, which were common many weekends, contributed to the end of cruising along the Modesto thoroughfare. There was a large number of gangs, but there wasn't a dominant group.
Bejaran said gangs such as the Eight-Ball Mob and the Night Owls were part of the criminal landscape in the early '80s. There were groups that associated with the Norteños then, but the various Norteño gangs in Modesto sometimes would fight one another.
Today, his old neighborhood just north of Shackelford Elementary School on Crows Landing Road is home to the Original Gangster Locos, a Norteño gang that didn't exist when Bejaran was a teenager.
Sureños also grew in number, even though there are far fewer of them in Stanislaus County. Sureño gangs such as Brick City and 18th Street, which are names for Sureño gangs in Southern California, still exist today in west Modesto. The Brick City gang considers its turf a small area north of Paradise Road near Carpenter Road, and the 18th Street gang claims its territory to be south of the Tuolumne River near Highway 99.
Profits go up the chain
Mariscal said today's Norteños and Sureños have such a highly organized power structure that prison inmates ultimately decide who dies on the street.Money is the fuel that powers the engine behind these power-hungry gangs. Street soldiers fight over colors, but their prison leaders orchestrate violence to protect their investments in drug trafficking, armed robberies, burglary and other criminal activity.
Gang members on the street funnel a share of their profits up the chain of command to leaders inside prison. Street soldiers refer to this process as "paying taxes." Decisions made by the Nuestra Familia and the Mexican Mafia routinely are based on their illegal business ventures.
For instance, several years ago, prison gang leaders ordered their street soldiers to stop committing drive-by shootings. Mariscal said the leaders thought drive-bys were drawing too much attention from law enforcement and the media, making it bad for gang business. He said gang members were instructed to walk up and shoot at targets instead.
The result of this power struggle between Norteños and Sureños has created gang leaders in prison who today have more direct control of street warfare than they've had in the past, Mariscal said. Shot callers doing time in Pelican Bay state prison, for instance, are sending orders to street soldiers in Stanislaus County.
"The gang members who are from this county are taking orders from those who are not from this county," Mariscal said. "It's not all about territorial turf battles anymore."
Bee staff writer Rosalio Ahumada can be reached at rahumada@modbee.com or (209) 578-2394.
AT A GLANCE
Stanislaus County gang statistics:
• 5,000: Number of gang members among 64 documented gangs
• 84 percent are Latino-based gangs
• 7 percent are white gangs
• 4 percent are Asian gangs
• 3 percent are black gangs
• 2 percent are miscellaneous
• Of the Latino-based gangs, 82 percent are Norteños; 18 percent are Sureños
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
"Gangs are wreaking economic havoc on our communities and they are destroying the lives and futures of our young people. We know there is a gang problem, but our strategies from the past are not working. The growth of gangs in our community must be stopped and reversed. We must not accept their presence in our community as normal."— Vito Chiesa, Stanislaus County supervisor
— Tina
— Steven
— Martha
— from "Constitution of the Nuestra Familia," Section V
— imprisoned gang recruiter quoted in "Parents Gang Awareness Program,"a document used with families of Stanislaus County Juvenile Hall inmates
— from "How to change your life and leave the gang and make it," a Juvenile Hall resource
VIDEO: A Mother's Heartache
VIDEO: Gang families
Has gang violence reached your neighborhood? Go to The Bee’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/modestobee, and tell us how gang violence has changed your way of life.
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information, experiences and observations about what's in the news.John Valadez a truth seeker is on the front lines helping the innocent.
Orgarized Crime
Johnny Law 209 Rights Protector.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Stool pigeon" redirects here. For other uses, see The Stool Pigeon (disambiguation). For variations on informer and informant, see Informer (disambiguation). For variations on The Informant, see The Informant (disambiguation).
Contents
Criminal informants
Informants are commonly found in the world of organized crime. By its very nature, organized crime involves many people who are aware of each other's guilt, in a variety of illegal activities. Quite frequently, confidential informants (or criminal informants) will provide information in order to obtain lenient treatment for themselves and provide information, over an extended period of time, in return for money or for police to overlook their own criminal activities. Quite often, someone will become an informant following their arrest.[citation needed]Informants are also extremely common in every-day police work, including homicide and narcotics investigations. Any citizen who aids an investigation by offering helpful information to the police is by definition an informant.[citation needed]
The CIA has been criticized for leniency towards drug lords[4] and murderers[5] acting as paid informants, informants being allowed to engage in some crimes so that the potential informant can blend into the criminal environment without suspicion,[5] and wasting billions of dollars on dishonest sources of information.[1]
Informants are often regarded as traitors by their former criminal associates. Whatever the nature of a group, it is likely to feel strong hostility toward any known informers, regard them as threats and inflict punishments ranging from social ostracism through physical abuse and/or death. Informers are therefore generally protected, either by being segregated while in prison or, if they are not incarcerated, relocated under a new identity.
Labor and social movements
Corporations and the detective agencies that sometimes represent them have historically hired labor spies to monitor or control labor organizations and their activities.[6] Such individuals may be professionals or recruits from the workforce. They may be willing accomplices, or may be tricked into informing on their co-workers' unionization efforts.[7]Paid informants have often been used by authorities within politically and socially oriented movements to weaken, destabilize and ultimately break them.[8]
Politics
Informers alert authorities regarding government officials that are corrupt. Officials may be taking bribes, or participants in a money loop also called a kickback. Informers in some countries receive a percentage of all monies recovered by their government.[citation needed]Lactantius described an example from ancient Rome involved the prosecution of a woman suspected to have advised a woman not to marry Maximinus II: "Neither indeed was there any accuser, until a certain Jew, one charged with other offences, was induced, through hope of pardon, to give false evidence against the innocent. The equitable and vigilant magistrate conducted him out of the city under a guard, lest the populace should have stoned him... The Jew was ordered to the torture till he should speak as he had been instructed... The innocent were condemned to die.... Nor was the promise of pardon made good to the feigned adulterer, for he was fixed to a gibbet, and then he disclosed the whole secret contrivance; and with his last breath he protested to all the beholders that the women died innocent."[9]
Criminal informant schemes have often been used as cover for politically motivated intelligence offensives.[10]
Jailhouse informants
Jailhouse informants, who report hearsay (admissions against penal interest) which they claim to have heard while the accused is in pretrial detention, usually in exchange for sentence reductions or other inducements, have been the focus of particular controversy.[11] Some examples of their use are in connection with Stanley Williams, Cameron Todd Willingham, Gerald Stano, Thomas Silverstein, Marshall "Eddie" Conway, and a suspect in the disappearance of Etan Patz.[citation needed]Terminology and slang
Slang terms for informants include:- cheese eater[12]
- dog — Australian. May also refer to police who specialize in surveillance, or police generally.
- fink — this may refer to the Pinkertons who were used as plain-clothes detectives and strike-breakers.[13]
- grass[14] or supergrass,[15] — rhyming slang for grasshopper, meaning copper or shopper[16] and having additional associations with the popular song, "Whispering Grass", and the phrase snake in the grass.[17]
- narc — a member of a specialist narcotics police force.[18]
- nark — this may have come from the Romany term nak for nose or the French term narquois meaning cunning, deceitful and/or criminal.[19][20]
- nose[21]
- pursuivant (archaic),[22]
- rat[12][23] — informing is commonly referred to as "ratting."
- snitch[24]
- snout[25]
- spotter[26]
- squealer[24]
- stool pigeon or stoolie [27]
- tell tale or tell-tale[28][29]
- tittle-tattle[27]
- trick[30]
List of famous individuals
- James Carey, Irish terrorist
- Marvin Elkind, Jimmy Hoffa's former driver and subject of the 2011 Adrian Humphreys biography titled The Weasel: A Double Life in the Mob (Wiley, ISBN 0470964510)
- W. Mark Felt, a.k.a. "Deep Throat," former Deputy Director of the FBI
- Sammy Gravano, former underboss of the Gambino crime family
- Henry Hill, Lucchese crime family associate
- Frank Lucas, New York drug dealer turned informant
- Freddie Scappaticci leading member of the Provisional IRA and year long British informant.
- Joseph Valachi, soldier in the Genovese crime family
- Salvatore Vitale, former underboss of the Bonanno crime family
See also
- Agent provocateur
- Aguilar–Spinelli test
- Counter-terrorism
- Espionage
- Hollywood blacklist
- Pentiti
- Plea bargain
- Turn state's evidence
- United States Marshals Service
- Whistleblower
- Witness Protection Program
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Informants |
- ^ Jump up to: a b The Weakest Link: The Dire Consequences of a Weak Link in the Informant Handling and Covert Operations Chain-of-Command by M Levine. Law Enforcement Executive Forum, 2009
- Jump up ^ Pursuing strategic advantage through political means: A multivariate approach by DA Schuler, K Rehbein, RD Cramer – Academy of Management Journal, 2002
- Jump up ^ Reading English for specialized purposes: Discourse analysis and the use of student informants by A Cohen, H Glasman, PR Rosenbaum-Cohen, J. Tesol Quarterly, 197
- Jump up ^ Kid Who Sold Crack to the President by J Morley. Washington City Paper, 1989
- ^ Jump up to: a b Government Corruption and the Right of Access to Courts by UA Kim. Michigan Law Review, 2004
- Jump up ^ Private detective agencies and labour discipline in the United States, 1855–1946 by RP Weiss. The Historical Journal, 2009. Cambridge Univ Press
- Jump up ^ Judicial Control of Informants, Spies, Stool Pigeons, and Agent Provocateurs by RC Donnelly – Yale Law Journal, 1951
- Jump up ^ Thoughts on a neglected category of social movement participant: The agent provocateur and the informant by GT Marx – American Journal of Sociology, 1974
- Jump up ^ Lactantius. "On the Deaths of the Persecutors".
- Jump up ^ CIA Assets and the Rise of the Guadalajara Connection J. Marshall – Crime, Law and Social Change, 1991
- Jump up ^ scc.lexum.umontreal.ca
- ^ Jump up to: a b Role of the Rat in the Prison by HA Wilmer. Fed. Probation, 1965
- Jump up ^ The Origin of fink "informer, hired strikebreaker" by William Sayers. A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews. Winter 2005 Cornell University
- Jump up ^ Criminal classes: offenders at school by A Devlin. 1995
- Jump up ^ The Intelligence War in Northern Ireland by K Maguire – International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, Volume 4, Issue 2 1990 , pages 145–165
- Jump up ^ Oxford English Dictionary, "A spy or informer, esp. for the police"
- Jump up ^ Greer, Steven C., Supergrasses: a study in anti-terrorist law enforcement in Northern Ireland
- Jump up ^ Chicano intravenous drug users: The collection and interpretation of data from hidden from Hidden Populations by R Ramos. 1990
- Jump up ^ Prison patter: a dictionary of prison words and slang by A Devlin. 1996
- Jump up ^ Some ethical dilemmas in the handling of police informers by C Dunnighan, C Norris – Public Money & Management, 1998
- Jump up ^ Oxford English Dictionary, "A spy or informer, esp. for the police"
- Jump up ^ Speaker and Structure in Donne's Satyre by NM Bradbury. Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900, 1985.
- Jump up ^ Sociology of Confinement: Assimilation and the Prison" Rat" by EH Johnson. The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science. 1961
- ^ Jump up to: a b Reflections on the role of statutory immunity in the criminal justice system by WJ Bauer – Journal of Criminal Law. & Criminology, 1976
- Jump up ^ Oxford English Dictionary, "A police informer"
- Jump up ^ Instigated Crime by S Shaw – Alta. LQ, 1938
- ^ Jump up to: a b Elevating the Role of the Informer: The Value of Secret Information. MW Krasilovsky. ABAJ, 1954
- Jump up ^ On Truth and Lie in a Colonial Sense: Kipling's Tales of Tale-telling by A Hai – ELH, 1997
- Jump up ^ Telling tales in school by A Minister. Education 3–13, 1990
- Jump up ^ Prison ministry: hope behind the wall by Dennis W. Pierce – 2006
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