|
|
Chapman's sanity, Hoover's Death Squad
From: Salvador
Astucia (cropdustersal@cs.com)
Subject: Re: Some New Facts on Lennon's Murder
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles
Date: 2004-11-02 10:19:45 PST
[Jeff]
> Well, Chapman must have been declared insane regardless,
> correct? ...
No, Mark David Chapman has never been declared insane by
the state of New York or any other governmental body,
not at the federal level, not at the state level, and
not at the local level.
On June 22, 1981, Chapman was given a competency hearing
where it was determined that he was not legally insane,
and as a consequence, he was sentenced twenty years to
life at Attica State Prison.
Although Chapman immediately confessed to killing Lennon,
his lawyer had advised him to plead innocent by reason of
insanity. Immediately after the shooting, Mark was held
for psychiatric evaluation at Bellevue Hospital to
determine if he was mentally fit to stand trial. After
24 days he was transferred to Riker's Island, a remote
jail on the outskirts of New York. Then on January 6,
1981, Chapman went before Justice Herbert Altman where
Chapman and his lawyer, Jonathan Marks, pled "Not guilty,
by reason of insanity." A battery of psychiatric tests
ensued.
A trial date was eventually set for June 22, 1981.
Justice Dennis Edwards was assigned to the case. On
June 8, 1981, Chapman unexpectedly told his lawyer,
Jonathan Marks, he wanted to drop the insanity defense
and plead guilty. On June 11, 1981, Jonathan Marks filed
a motion with Justice Edwards for a competency hearing.
As a result, a competency hearing was held on June 22,
1981 instead of the scheduled trial. On that date, Justice
Edwards was satisfied that Chapman was legally sane,
and as a result, the trial was waived and Edwards
sentenced Chapman twenty years to life on August 24, 1981.
During the competency hearing, Chapman stated that
he did not communicate verbally with Lennon before
the shooting began. This is highly significant because
virtually all other accounts claim that Chapman called
to Lennon, and Lennon responded by turning. At that
point Chapman allegedly began shooting.
The following is an excerpt from the transcript of
the competency hearing on June 22, 1981, where Chapman
told Justice Dennis Edwards he did not communicate with
Lennon:
EDWARDS: "Would you tell us approximately how far away you
were from the victim Mr. Lennon, when you started to fire
the shots?
CHAPMAN: "I am not quite sure but I think it is around
twenty feet.
EDWARDS: "And at any time during the firing of the shots
did the distance between you and Mr. Lennon change or did
you remain?
CHAPMAN: "I don't think so, no.
EDWARDS: "You remained approximately in the same area?
CHAPMAN: "Yes, your Honor.
EDWARDS: "What was Mr. Lennon doing just before you started
to fire the shots at him?
CHAPMAN: "He was approaching the door that would lead to up
to the security area.
EDWARDS: "And what were you doing just immediately before
you fired the shot?
CHAPMAN: "A second before?
EDWARDS: "Yes. Or a moment before. In other words, as you
were standing. Did you stand and wait for him?
CHAPMAN: "Yes, your Honor, as he did. As he passed me I
stepped off the curb and walked a few steps over, turned,
withdrew my pistol and aimed at him in his direction and
fired off five shots in quick succession.
EDWARDS: "Did you say anything at or about that time?
CHAPMAN: "No, your Honor.
EDWARDS: "Do you recall if the victim said anything that
you heard?
CHAPMAN: "No, your Honor.
EDWARDS: "And as I understand you say that you were therewith
the intent to cause the death of John Winston Ono Lennon and
that you fired the five shots from your pistol with the intent
to cause the death of John Winston Ono Lennon?
CHAPMAN: "Yes, your Honor.
=== end of excerpt===
Why didn't Edwards ask more questions about Chapman's claim
that no words were spoken between himself and Lennon? Again,
virtually every written account of the shooting says Chapman
called Lennon by name. Lennon reportedly responded by turning
to Chapman who immediately began firing. But Chapman provided
a completely different description to Justice Edwards.
Was Justice Edwards unfamiliar with the crime? I seriously
doubt it, given that John Lennon's murder was one of the
most sensational events in the history of New York City.
One of the primary crime scene witnesses, Sean Strub, gave
a different description of the shooting.
The following is an excerpt from the transcript where
Jeanne Downey, of Channel 2 TV, CBS in New York, questioned
Sean Strub on live television just moments after Lennon's
death had been announced to the world around midnight
Dec. 9, 1980:
DOWNEY: "Was there any kind of an exchange, do you know,
between Lennon and the suspect?
STRUB: "That's what the doorman [Jose Perdomo] said that
there had been some sort of altercation or argument; I
heard the cops say that Lennon was hit twice in the back.
I heard someone else say that the guy had apparently been
hanging around all evening, and another person said he'd
been there all week, and he was just kind of like waiting
for him.
DOWNEY: "Thank-you very much, Sean, who is a witness who
at least heard the shots surrounding the shooting and
apparent death of John Lennon...
===== end of transcript =====
NYPD Lieutenant John Schick corroborated Strub's claim that
words were exchanged between Chapman and Lennon; although
Schick described a one-sided exchange where Chapman
called to John and John responded by turning around.
Schick's description of the crime appeared in the New York
Times on Dec. 9, 1980, the morning after the shooting.
The following is an excerpt from the front-page NYT article
written by Les Ledbetter:
"Lieut. John Schick of the 20th Precinct said the
gunman let the Lennons pass him and enter the building's
passageway before shooting the singer. Lieutenant Shick
said the man called out 'Mr. Lennon' and then pulled
a gun from under a coat and started firing."
(Les Ledbetter, NYT, Dec. 9, 1980, "John Lennon of the
Beatles is Killed; Suspect Held in Shooting at Dakota",
p 1)
Why did Justice Edwards accept Chapman's confession
when Chapman's description of the crime was so dramatically
different from that of an NYPD police officer and a
crime scene witness, not to mention Jose Perdomo,
the doorman at the Dakota?
People confess all the time to crimes they did not
commit. But if it can be determined that the person's
confession does not match the crime, then the person
who gave the false confession is normally released.
That did not occur in Mark David Chapman's case.
[Jeff]
> Why would J. Edgar Hoover be interested in seeing John
> Lennon dead, by 1980? It makes no sense.
Sure it does. A credible charge was made, in 1993, that
Hoover had a personal assassination team comprised of
hit men supplied by the Genovese Crime family of New York,
care of mobster Frank Costello. Although Hoover died
in 1972 and Costello died in 1973, it is quite plausible
that the ties they allegedly established between the FBI
and the Genovese Family remained in place after their
respective deaths.
In 1993, Michael Milan (pseudonym) claimed he was
a professional hit man and a member of Hoover's
personal assassination team. Milan described
the hit team in a 1993 book entitled "The Squad."
If the alleged FBI/Genovese alliance remained in
place after the deaths of Hoover and Costello,
then Morris Levy (also linked to the Genovese family)
would be a prime suspect as the individual who quite
possibly provided a professional hit man to kill
John Lennon. Levy died of cancer in 1990, at the
age of 62, after being convicted of conspiracy to
commit extortion and sentenced to ten years in prison.
To read more about Morris Levy's possible connection
to Lennon's murder, click here:
http://www.jfkmontreal.com/john_lennon/Usenet/LennonvsLevy.htm
[Jeff]
> ...you still never answered my main question: Why has Mark
> Chapman, never to this day, ever suggested to this day that
> there were others involved in Murdering Lennon? He claims
> to this day..that he acted alone.
Because Chapman truly believes he is guilty. Mind control
was used, not to make Chapman commit murder, but to make
him believe he was the murderer, although a professional hit
man most likely shot Lennon, care of the late Morris Levy
at the behest of the FBI.
Salvador
===
Ordering information for Salvador Astucia's books can be found at
http://www.jfkmontreal.com/raveningwolf/
Also see Astucia's homepage:
http://www.jfkmontreal.com
Charlie Manson was friends with Frank Costello,
mobster linked to Hoover's FBI Death Squad
From: Salvador
Astucia (cropdustersal@cs.com)
Subject: Re: Some New Facts on Lennon's Murder
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles
Date: 2004-10-30 12:05:27 PST
[...]
[Jeff]
> You just said he was a programmed assassin.
> You contradicted yourself in 2 sentences above.
I never claimed Chapman was a programmed assassin,
and I do not understand how someone could
misunderstand my statements above, unless he/she
has ulterior motives, or unless the person is an
an idiot, a liar, an illiterate, or all three.
To read my detailed explanation of why the
Manchurian Candidate theory is not believable,
click here:
http://www.jfkmontreal.com/john_lennon/Chapter02.htm#10Manchurian
[Salvador]
>> It simply means an obsession was planted in
>> his [Chapman's] mind to kill Lennon.
[Jeff]
> You're using the words "Thinks" "programmed"
> & "Obsession" to describe how Mark Chapman
> was feeling, when he shot Lennon. Guess what?
> Those words indicate pre-meditated murder.
Only if Chapman was the person who pulled the
trigger. This has never been established. Chapman
was never tried for murder. In addition, his
recollection is quite foggy in certain areas.
He even told the parole board this month (October
2004) that he blocked from his mind for months
the memory of seeing Yoko look at him through the
glass windows of the police car, right after the
shooting, because it was so traumatic. That doesn't
sound like the words of a cold blooded murderer.
It sounds like someone whose mind was being
controlled by others, through drugs and hypnosis.
If he blocked Yoko from his mind, what else did he
block?
[Salvador]
>> He [Chapman] fought the obsession [to kill
>> Lennon] because he is basically a decent
>> person, incapable of committing murder.
[Jeff]
> Then why did Chapman murder Lennon?
He did NOT murder John Lennon. Someone else
shot Lennon, most likely standing across
from the lobby doorway, standing inside a
doorway that led to a service elevator.
On my webpage, I point to two prime suspects
who may have been the true shooter:
(1) Lennon's personal assistant, Fred
Seaman, and (2) a professional gunman
supplied by gangster Morris Levy who
was linked to the Genovese Family.
Of the two suspects, I lean more towards
Levy's professional hit man than Seaman;
however, I suspect Seaman was involved
in the murder conspiracy since Seaman stole
some of John's personal possessions
immediately after the murder.
I further believe the FBI often employs
organized crime to do its dirty work. In fact,
a man who claims to be a hit man for the
mob wrote a book, published in 1993,
call "The Squad," which supports my
theory. The author--who uses the pseudonym,
Michael Milan--claims he was a member of
J. Edgar Hoover's personal hit team,
a group of professional hit man supplied
to Hoover by mobster Frank Costello,
also linked to New York's Genovese family,
like Morris Levy. In fact, Charlie Manson
claims he befriended Costello while the two
men were inmates at the Federal Reformatory
at Chillicothe, Ohio, long before the Tate
murders occurred.
The following text from my book (Rethinking
John Lennon's Assassination) gives an overview
of Manson's life and his association with Costello:
http://www.jfkmontreal.com/john_lennon/Chapter09.htm
To digress for a moment, do you honestly believe
a bunch of upper middle-class girls between 18 to
21 would commit mass murder simply because a guy
like Manson told them to? This doesn't make any
sense. But once you realize Manson's connection
to Frank Costello, and Costello's mob connection
to Hoover and the FBI, it introduces the strong
possibility that Sharon Tate et al were actually
murdered by professional killers supplied by the
mob, working at the behest of the FBI in order
to discredit rock music, which in 1969 had become
a major force and tool for political expression for
America's youth who opposed US military
involvement in Vietnam.
There is every reason to think the Costello-
Genovese connection was used by the FBI to
murder John Lennon, except Costello died in
1973. But Morris Levy was right there to take
his place and do favors for the FBI, like
supply a professional hit man to kill
John Lennon.
To read more about Morris Levy's possible
connection to Lennon's murder, click here:
http://www.jfkmontreal.com/john_lennon/Usenet/LennonvsLevy.htm
[Salvador]
>> But when he found himself standing near
>> Lennon's bullet- ridden body, and doorman
>> Jose Perdomo said he shot Lennon, he
>> (Chapman) believed he was guilty.
[Jeff]
> Chapman was standing there right? The doorman
> pointed out that it was Chapman, and he was
> still standing there after he shot Lennon.
The doorman, Jose Perdomo, was a Cuban exile
who hated Castro. This alone provides cause
to believe Perdomo was part of the conspiracy
to kill Lennon and set up Chapman to take the
fall.
[Salvador]
>> To get a reality check on what my book really
>> says about John Lennon's murder and the mysterious
>> deaths of other rock stars, read the following web page:
>>
>>
http://www.jfkmontreal.com/john_lennon/lennon_report.htm
>>
>> As I read the odd posts in this thread, I was
>> fascinated by the desperation of those who wish
>> to conceal the facts related to John Lennon's
>> murder.
>>
>> The latest technique of truth suppression,
>> wherein false premises are made about my book,
>> is an interesting disinformation technique, but
>> it is the third technique used so far.
>>
>> The first approach was a bunch of regulars on
>> this newsgroup (many of them likely the same
>> person using multiple screen names) attempted to
>> malign my character. When that failed, the second
>> approach was to forge my identity and write
>> complete nonsense, much of it vulgar. Now, a third
>> approach is being used wherein the identity of
>> Mister Charlie (one of my main critics) is being
>> forged, and Mister Charlie's clone actually defends
>> my book, but in doing so, the clone introduces
>> far-fetched claims that my book does not make.
>>
>> Very interesting, indeed.
===
Ordering information for Salvador Astucia's books can be found at
http://www.jfkmontreal.com/raveningwolf/
Also see Astucia's homepage:
http://www.jfkmontreal.com
|