Wednesday, June 11, 2003

SALDANA CASE GOES ON JULY 8.
GIlbert Saldana's murder case goes to trial (finally!) on July 8. They start jury selection. If you've been playing along at home, you know that Saldana was one of the shooters who killed Kenny Wilson. The judge is much admired straight shooter Trish Bigelow.






MORE LA TIMES SCREW UPS.
We don't want to sound like a broken record, but why is it every story the LAT does on gangs and criminals is tragically flawed. On June 9, 2003, the Times did a piece on legendary Eme member Donald Big D Garcia. Donald, whose real first name is Conrad (bet the Times didn't know that) has been in our files for many years. Big D was a full-blown carnal and a shot caller. In the story, they state that he has dedicated his life to gang intervention through Victory Outreach and he currently works for the legendary Blinky Rodriguez. The Times does not mention that Big D has dedicated his life to Christ or that he was a made Eme brother. The piece, written by Michael Krikorian, was not much more than puffery for BiG D and left out alll the gruesome details. Krikorian almost made Big D sound like one of those gruff but lovable Damon Runyon characters -- a tough guy as ready with his fists as he is with a hand extended to help the less fortunate. Krikorian also left out all the questionable characters involved with Blinky's program like Robot Salas and Ernie Roybal. Wally wrote a letter to John Carroll at the Times pointing out a number of problems with the piece but, big surprise, no response from the Times. We'll see how this goes. But Wally is not holding his breath.

YEAH, THEY'RE MAKING A FEDERAL CASE OUT OF IT!
In The Hat has just been informed that the US Attorney's office in Los Angeles is now officially involved in the Kenny Wilson murder investigation. USA Tom O'Brien, known to many at the LADA's office as a good guy and solid prosecutor, is on the case. No indictment yet, but that should be coming soon. Kenny and his family may at long last get some vindication. The credit for Federal involvement goes to Northeast Detective Andy Teague who has been relentless in his quest to see justice done for Wilson.