February 14, 2013

The Cross Dossier, Exhibit D: The mystery of the gray sweatshirt

Another question arising from Quintin Cross’s document file, regarding the unsolved break-in at City Hall: What happened to the gray sweatshirt?

Generic gray hoodie
Generic gray hoodie
Surveillance video from the night of the burglary revealed two men trying to remove some luan plywood that was blocking a City Hall doorway.

The first, identified initially by both Officer Nicolas Pierro and Detective John Funk as Cross, was noted in the video as wearing “a light colored hooded sweatshirt.” The second man, whom police identified initially as McClendon, was said to be wearing a “do rag” and “a light colored sweat shirt.” Charges against both men were dropped after a second grand jury refused to indict them.

A report filed by Detective David Miller in the late afternon of the 19th, several hours after Cross had left the station, stated that he and Detective Finn had

checked the alley behind Quinton’s [sic] house. In the Alley and stuffed partially in Quinton’s back yard fence was a grey sweatshirt. Pictures of the sweat shit [sic] were taken and the sweatshirt was secured.

The back yard fence in question is located less than a half-block from the back entrance to City Hall, by which the burglars entered the building.

Asked by this site about the sweatshirt, Cross replied:

That's a great question I wondered about the so-called sweatshirt myself they see a certain sweatshirt on the video and miraculously they find one of a similar nature in my back yard well you are going to have to ask Scali

One other brief mention of a sweatshirt—described as Yankees apparel—is made in an early list of materials missing and collected, with an estimated value of $1. However, it is not indicated if this was the same sweatshirt found in the fence. 

A report filed two days later by Officer Daniel Scali stated that on the Sunday night just before the burglary, at about 11:15 pm, the officer

observed McClendon and Cross walking Northbound on 6th Street towards State Street... McClendon was wearing a red due [sic] rag on his head and a multicolored shirt, Cross was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt. As I drove past, McClendon turned his face away from patrol...

After that, mentions of sweatshirts then disappear from the record. No further references to a gray sweatshirt have been found in the documents to which this site was provided access —which include extensive legal briefs, evidence reports, checklists, and other “discovery” materials obtained by the defense, along with internal defense documents. Nor is there any indication in the dossier that the sweatshirt was the subject of any forensic analysis.

 

Hoodie2
Detail from City Hall surveillance video, showing one man in a “do rag,” another in a gray hooded sweatshirt
Questions about clothing were, however, an obvious subject of interest to the police in the immediate aftermath of the burglary. In addition to the search of the alley which turned up the gray sweatshirt, Cross was asked by Funk on the afternoon of March 19th what he had been wearing the night before.

 

Cross replied that he was still wearing the same clothes as the previous night. He’s seen on video that afternoon visiting the police station carrying a black-and-white striped sweatshirt (perhaps an ironic fashion statement on prison garb), as opposed to a gray one.

It thus seems all the more unusual, to the lay observer at least, that neither the police, nor the prosecution, nor indeed the defense showed any interest in the gray sweatshirt found stuffed in a fence behind a suspect’s house. It does not appear to have been the subject of further investigation, and did not become a subject of the legal wrangle over the police and D.A.’s office’s failure to turn over evidence, which focused primarily on videotaped interviews as well as finger- and footprint analysis.

Possibly the presence of a gray sweatshirt discarded behind a suspect’s home was deemed too inconclusive to be of any use to either side. Any competent defense attorney would point out that gray sweatshirts are a dime a dozen just about anywhere you go. Yet such evidence could have contributed both to the prosecution’s circumstantial evidence, as well as to the defense’s high dudgeon about being denied access to it. Neither showed any further interest in it, or the photographs said to have been taken of it.

The impression left is that either everyone forgot about it, or else no one wanted to deal with it.

With Hudson mayor Bill Hallenbeck and District Attorney Paul Czajka recently speaking to the issue of evidence-handling in regard to another failed case in addition to this one, the mystery of the gray sweatshirt seems an all the more timely one to solve.

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February 13, 2013

BREAKING: Hudson Aldermen reveal new ‘super powers’

  • Council members gain ability to see 50 years into future
  • Discovery of Ricktonite expected to revolutionize local politics

HUDSON, N.Y. — In a bombshell revelation, the City of Hudson Common Council announced on Wednesday that its members have attained full-fledged super powers. 

“All but two of our Aldermen recently gained the ability to see far into the future,” said Council President Donald Moore at a press conference held at the offices of A. Colarusso & Sons, Inc., just across the line in Greenport.

“This newly-acquired super-vision allows the Council to see as much as fifty years ahead with absolute, perfect accuracy,” Moore added.

Council President Don MooreThe hastily-convened press conference came on the heels of the Council’s 10-to-1 vote to prevent future elected officials from changing Hudson’s Waterfront zoning in any way, or using eminent domain at that location, for the next fifty years.

“Fifty years ago, many thing were different than today,” 5th Ward Alderman and Taghkanic resident Carmine Pierro reminisced, pushing Moore from the podium and speaking from typewritten notes.

“Cable television, email, and the world wide web did not exist. There was no such thing as Medicare or Medicaid. Roe vs. Wade had not yet protected a woman’s right to choose. There were still segregated restaurants and funeral homes. American car companies dominated the global auto market. And the cement industry, God bless it, dominated our local economy.

“But we now understand that things aren’t going to continue changing,” Pierro added. “Hudson history has come to a standstill. With our new ability to see fifty years ahead, we are 100% certain that the City will be just the same in 2063 as it is today in 2013.

“Therefore, we predict that Hudson’s waterfront needs and vision will not change whatsoever over the next five decades. Even though a few malcontents say that LWRPs are supposed to be living, breathing, adaptable documents, we can say with absolute confidence that the current plan won’t need any changes for well beyond our lifetimes.

“We also are confident that no future Aldermen will ever think differently than we do,” concluded Pierro.

The Council’s new super powers of foresight were acquired, 3rd Ward Alderman John Friedman Esq. explained, thanks to the discovery by Paul Colarusso of a powerful metallic substance in the City’s former backup water supply off Newman Road, at the bottom of a soon-to-be-revived quarry.

“I’m a lawyer, not a scientist. But from what I understand it’s sort of like Kryptonite,” explained the ponytailed Friedman, whose crisp seersucker suit featured an American Flag lapel pin. “Exposure to this special magnetic metal, which may have arrived on a meteorite that splashed into the quarry eons ago, conveys astonishing powers of soothsaying.”

“We're thinking of naming it Ricktonite!,” Moore burst in, breathlessly adding that “City Attorney Cheryl Roberts also has super powers, but she got them from being bitten by a radioactive spider while campaigning for Assembly in Spencertown.”

“If only the Council had these powers back in the days of Urban Renewal,” lamented 1st Ward Alderman Nicholas Haddad. “We might never have built Bliss Towers, the Terrace Apartments, the low-rise, or bulldozed so many historic buildings. Imagine what Bill Loewenstein could have achieved if he’d only had a dose of Ricktonite!” Later attempts by reporters to determine whether Haddad was being facetious were unsuccessful, as he had stepped out for a smoke.

The Council took on its new super powers during a top-secret midnight visit to the former backup reservoir. During the hush-hush gathering, which was not publicly-noticed, members cannonballed off a craggy quarry cliff known to teenaged trespassers for generations as “Frankenstein.” Reaching the bottom of the frigid waters, each Alderman grabbed for a handful of Ricktonite—and was instantly enlightened as to the City’s future for the next half-century.

Ricktonite“It was freezing, but it was worth it,” said a still-shivering 4th Ward Alderman Sheila Ramsey. “Luckily, we had emergency heaters and blankets on hand, generously provided at only a nominal charge by the Galvan Initiatives Foundation.”

Two Council members declined, however, to take a dive for the City.

1st Ward Alderman David Marston abstained from the recent Council vote, after obstinately refusing to be exposed to the mystery magnetic metal. Pressed for an explanation, Marston glumly said the substance’s long-term health effects “required more study,” a statement which elicited a chorus of groans from his fellow Aldermen. “I’ve noticed that ever since they got their doses of Ricktonite, my fellow Council members seem even more lethargic and complacent,” Marston retorted.

But to the surprise of many, 5th Ward Alderman Robert “Doc” Donahue also declined to take the polar bear-style plunge, though voting in favor of the fifty-year moratorium on Waterfront changes.

“I’ve always had the power to see into Hudson’s future, thank you very much,” barked Donahue, saying that to learn what will happen next in Hudson politics all he has to do is “just ask Rick himself.”

4th Ward Alderman Sheila Ramsey disagreed very mildly with Donahue’s assessment: “The next time some pesky citizen comes in here, demanding to know whether we think we have a crystal ball to see into the future, we’ll be able to say, Why, yes. Yes, we do.”

In response to questions about whether the City might benefit economically from the discovery of Ricktonite, Moore indicated that Roberts had instructed him that all rights to the super-mineral were held by Colarusso, even though the company is still technically leasing the former quarry from the City.

“If we wanted to try to ‘claw back’ the rights to the discovery, we’d have to repay the company for the lease they’ve held for several years now,” explained Moore. “I’m not sure the power to see into the future is worth a million dollars. We probably couldn’t afford it. But I may ask Cheryl if she’d be willing to advise us further on that during a future executive session. Actually, all that was off the record—I’d prefer you didn’t print it.”

“Now, if only we could also see into the past,” concluded 3rd Ward Alderman and Police Committee member Chris Wagoner, “Then maybe we could solve the City Hall burglary.”

in Cities | Hudson, Humor, Parody, Satire | | Comments (0)

February 12, 2013

Video of firefighters sets off flame war

In response to CBS6’s story about Hudson firefighters being dragged behind cars during last weekend’s blizzard, the City’s fire chief has responded to the station—still known to those of us who grew up with it as WRGB. The station says:

On Monday morning, CBS6 sent a link of the video to the Mayor of Hudson. He didn't offer a comment, but the Fire Chief did release a statement. He told CBS 6: that's a sight that will never be seen again on warren street and that they are dealing with it internally.

That hasn’t seemed to tamp down the online flame wars between those who think videographer Lance Wheeler should have suppressed the footage, and those who point out that the “sledding” was dangerous, illegal and a bad example.

CBS6’s original post on Facebook (scroll down from this link to the item) now has a whopping 667 comments, and has been shared 197 times. Many comments defending the sledders are punctuated by ALL CAPS SHOUTING and multiple exclamation points, such as:

  • give me a break !!!! they are just having some fun!!!
  • seriously.... this is news???? LET THEM HAVE FUN!! THEY RISK THEIR LIVES RUNNING INTO BURNING BUILDINGS WHILE EVERYONE ELSE IS RUNNING OUT!
  • Why was this even filmed??

Meanwhile, on the other hand:

  • They are breaking the law hands down.. everyday citizens would be ticketed for doing the same thing...what's the difference?
  • They should absolutely be punished. They are wearing their bunker gear, representing their department, and are out dicking around. They're doing things that people get hurt or killed doing, and wearing $5,000 worth of equipment.
  • I think that they should get punished for this. The turnout gear he is wearing costs around $1500-2000 and is not designed to dragged down the road. He could easily have ruined this equipment, or even worse got seriously hurt. If this happened in my fire department I hope the guy would get punished. Now if he wasn't wearing his turnout gear I would just say that he is pretty stupid for doing this.
  • I guess the question is - what reaction would someone who is not a volunteer get doing this? Just because this person is a volunteer firefighter (as I am) - it does not make these stupid acts "ok". Think about how much that turnout gear costs that they are using while performing these dumb acts. Should the chief or administration 'punish' them ? Maybe - maybe not.... BUT they should definitely be ashamed of it.

Jerry, a commenter on a different Facebook thread, who comes from a true “old Hudson” family, simply posted the code demonstrating that clinging to vehicles is indeed illegal. This touched off a vicious argument, leading to what he felt were thinly-veiled suggestions that maybe certain homes shouldn’t be protected from fire. He writes of the exchange:

When “opinion” turns to the threat of retaliation on my family in Hudson, it becomes a personal attack. My statements are fact based and not biased because of a personal relationship with the Firemen or Fire Company. I listed the VAT law violated to educate those that may not have realized a law was broken.

The commenter provided the following screenshots from Facebook for publication, from which last names have been redacted. This exchange includes a Hudson fire chief, a former mayor (who agrees with Jerry), and what appears to be one young firefighter who says to Jerry that the next time there is a fire in his house, he should put it out himself:

Fbthread

 

in Cities | Hudson, Media & Publishing | | Comments (0)

February 11, 2013

It’s all fun and games until somebody’s head gets crushed

Sledding

Videographer Lance Wheeler is getting heat from some quarters for releasing a video of Hudson firefighters “sledding”—being dragged by a rope—behind vehicles on Warren Street during the recent blizzard.

Some comments on Facebook and on CBS6’s website blast Wheeler for posting the video, as if it were intended to make the firefighters look bad. “Butt out and mind yer own,” writes one Canojoharie commenter. “What the hell was Lance thinking by submitting this?” writes another. Others say that the firefighters’ well-appreciated sacrifices on our behalf entitles them to a little fun.

Such attack on Wheeler makes little sense for at least four reasons:

  • Wheeler’s track record of covering emergencies locally has earned him a solid reputation among first responders, making it obvious he meant them no disrespect;
  • If there is nothing wrong with sledding behind a vehicle, then there should not be anything wrong about publishing it;
  • The first portion of the video makes it obvious that Wheeler did not run out to play “gotcha” with the firefighters, but rather stumbled upon the scene while shooting routine footage (what people in the biz call B-roll) of the storm, and found it funny; 
  • And, since the footage was at minimum entertaining and potentially newsworthy, it’s not a reporter’s job to suppress news just because some might not like it.

The real reason for the hostile and defensive reactions is, in all likelihood, a simple one: because it is plainly illegal. Section §1233 of the New York State Vehicle And Traffic (VAT) laws reads as follows:

Clinging to vehicles

  1. No person riding upon any bicycle,coaster, in-line skates, roller skates, skate board, sled, or toy vehicle shall attach the same or himself or herself to any vehicle being operated upon a roadway.
  2. No person shall ride on or attach himself to the outside of any vehicle being operated upon a roadway.

    The provisions of this section shall not apply to: (i) vehicles in an emergency operation as defined in section one hundred fourteen-b of this chapter; and (ii) farm type tractors used exclusively for agricultural purposes or other farm equipment; and (iii) riding on the open, uncovered cargo area of a truck with the permission of the operator of such truck; and (iv) vehicles employed by a municipality for local garbage collection; and (v) vehicles participating in a parade pursuant to a municipal permit.
  3. No vehicle operator shall knowingly permit any person to attach any device or himself to such operator's vehicle in violation of subdivision one or subdivision two of this section.

So why is clinging to vehicles illegal? Because even when it’s all in good fun, it can be really dangerous. As another commenter at CBS6 writes,

We had a kid years ago that thought it was fun to be pulled behind a truck on a tire on a state highway. He died that same night because the tire swung out around the truck into the path a an oncoming car. That oncoming vehicle belonged to a dear friend that had no chance of avoiding the teenager. An image that is never forgotten in a life time. This too was a snow storm. It may seem like fun, but fun can easily turn into tragedy. 

in Cities | Hudson, Media & Publishing | | Comments (0)

February 10, 2013

R.I.P. Richard Artschwager

image from www.contemporaryartdaily.com

Richard Artschwager, the internationally-reknowned artist who lived for many years in Columbia County, has died at 89.

Richard used to rent a place next to the church on Union Street, and also in my barn behind Curtiss House, mainly for spraypainting some of his deeply, appealingly weird wire figures.

As the link above notes, Artschwager works could not be fit into any neat category; his art was truly sui generis. I remember being both baffled and charmed when I first saw his drawings and sculpture in person (as opposed to reproductions) in Soho at Mary Boone in the early ’90s. The bafflement was part of the charm. He truly made art only for its own sake, following his own peculiar path.

I saw his wife Ann just a few days ago in T.J. Maxx of all places. She mentioned that Richard’s retrospective at the Whitney was just closing, and moving on to L.A. It’s at least wonderful that the retro happened in his lifetime. 

His immense talent aside, he was a witty but gentle guy, and will be much missed. The Times’ obituary is here.

in Art, Cities | Hudson, Obituaries | | Comments (0)

The Cross Dossier, Exhibit C

Email from Linda Mussmann to Susan Tipograph

The search for (and failed case against) Quintin Cross and Jamont McClendon engaged the local political class to a remarkable degree. Due to the City’s tangled web of rivalries and allegiances, Cross’s career in electoral politics, as well as the inherently political nature of a City Hall burglary, records show that both the defense and the prosecution received help from various political players.

For example, on the day the burglary was discovered, the email pictured above was sent by former Hudson Democratic chair and four-time Mayoral candidate Linda Mussmann to lawyer Susan Tipograph. The New York City-based attorney, a longtime associate of Time & Space Limited, was already representing Cross regarding legal attempts to compel him to pay restitution for his illegal charges on a City credit card. The email alerts Tipograph that, in Mussmann’s words, “Quintin has screwed up big time.” The next day, Mussmann forwarded a Register-Star article to Tipograph regarding the warrants out for Cross and McClendon’s arrest. A printout of this email exchange was provided by Cross in the box of documents made available for this site’ inspection.

Another local player assisting Cross’s team was former School Board candidate and education blogger Lynn Sloneker, who now serves as news director of radio station WGXC. The documents provided by Cross show that Sloneker responded to his request for media research, providing excerpts of articles covering the current and previous case.

The trove of documents also reveals a hand-drafted (but unsigned) agreement between Cross and Taghkanic residents Dan and Mary Udell, in which they agree to post his bond in exchange for weekly meetings with Cross and regular updates from him about the case. The Udells were honored several years ago by the Columbia County Democrats for their videotaping of Hudson City Council and other local meetings.

On the other side of the case, Cross’s records also show that former Mayor Dick Tracy contacted the Hudson Police Department during his six-week disappearance. Tracy passed along a report that a resident of the Crosswinds housing complex was receiving packages on the former alderman’s behalf. When the HPD investigated, the person in question denied both doing so and knowing anything about Cross’s whereabouts. Tracy also passed along a tip that someone familiar with Cross believed he “was somewhere in Texas.”

A Register-Star employee contacted the HPD on March 21st to say that she thought she saw Cross and McClendon at the Cheesecake Factory in Colonie Center. Investigation by the Colonie police did not turn up any evidence they had been there.

Meanwhile, Cross has responded to widespread talk that recently-resigned HPD chief Ellis Richardson somehow influenced the handling of the case. (During his interview with Detective Funk, the policeman leaves for about 20 minutes after saying, “Let’s see what my boss wants.”) Cross wrote in an email last week that:

I am close with the Chief and I know for a fact he wasn't around that day actually he was in Albany and I know that I was indicted by the time he got back.

In a transcript posted yesterday of his own interview, McClendon asks to speak with the Chief, but Detective Funk says that he is there on the Chief’s behalf and that he should talk to him as such.

in Cities | Hudson, Crime, Law Enforcement, Media & Publishing | | Comments (0)

February 9, 2013

Saturday Art: Wadsworth Athenaeum

Statue

Some 22 years ago, my first paid writing gig was for a British magazine, reviewing a Ralph Earl show at The Wadsworth Athenaeum, which was then celebrating its 100th Anniversary. A short business trip to the Hartford area brought me back to the Wadsworth for the first time since then. And I found its eclectic collections just as impressive as two decades ago.

Now, many regional museums have eclectic collections. It’s a function of availability and necessity—they take whatever they can get, by any reasonably-recognizable artis. But the Wadsworth is both eclectic and selective, with deep, well-chosen areas of expertise from early American furniture and painting to Minimalism (Sol Lewitt in particular).

There isn’t much else to see in Hartford, but if you’re ever in the area it’s absolutely worth a visit... Below is a gallery of some additional cameraphone shots of rooms and pieces there.

Chest

Egyptian

Eyes

Eyes

Eyes

Eyes

< Eyes

Gun

Gun

Gun

Gun

Gun

Church

Profile

Profile

Profile

Profile

Profile

Profile

Gallery

 

in Art, Regions | Conn. River Valley | | Comments (0)

February 8, 2013

Greenport opposes Premier PILOT

image from www.townofgreenport.com


It hasn’t been reported in the local press yet, but on Wednesday the Greenport Town Board unanimously passed a resolution expressing its opposition to the payment-in-lieu-of-tax plan for Premier Brands.

The PILOT proposal under consideration by the Columbia County Industrial Development Agency would allow Premier to avoid paying its full share of taxes over the next 10 years. The Westchester-based company intends to site a warehousing operation in the now empty Wal-Mart space on Fairview Avenue, in the Price Chopper plaza.

Notably, the attorney representing Premier is Bill Better, the former Columbia County attorney who stepped down after three female County employees filed sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits against him in 1997. One of those suits alleged that that “Better forced her to contribute to the local GOP, and was sexually harassed and stalked by him,” and was settled for $120,000. Another similar suit was reportedly settled for $210,000. Better denied the charges, with his attorney characterizing the suits in the Times-Union as “a stick-up.”

Better is also currently representing PCB processors TCI of NY before the Ghent Planning Board, and was retained last year by the Stuyvesant Town Board at a $250-per-hour rate to address lawsuits related to Will Pflaum’s dog boarding business.

in Economic Development, Planning & Land Use, Politics | Columbia County, Towns | Greenport | | Comments (1)

February 7, 2013

The Cross Dossier, Exhibit B

Jamont McClendon and Detective Funk

 

As noted in the first post in this series, former Hudson Alderman Quintin Cross has provided this site with access to a large trove of documents his defense collected during the time that authorities tried (but ultimately failed) to prosecute him and a friend, Jamont McClendon, for the much-discussed burglary at City Hall.

Coincidentally, just hours after the first installment was published, the City of Hudson announced that Hudson Police chief Ellis Richardson was retiring.

Below are excerpts of a second key video from that dossier. This site has made a partial transcript of the HPD’s interrogation of McClendon on the night he was arrested in a house on State Street—roughly two weeks after the burglary and after warrants went out for the pair’s arrest.

This wide-ranging conversation covers an extremely diverse set of topics, from the definition of racism, to why he and Cross like to go to the Red Dot, to what McClendon was doing on the night of the burglary, to questions about political influence, to whether “hippies in Harlemville” could be harboring Cross.

The interview runs nearly four times longer than Cross’s, and is far more emotional and far-ranging. Detective John Funk and McClendon have an obvious rapport, and the conversation reveals a great deal about both life on Hudson’s streets and the folks who police it—humanizing both the suspect and the detective. Their dialogue is by turns argumentative, compassionate, lighthearted, tragic or just profane.

McClendon is handcuffed throughout, and complains to Funk of his treatment during his arrest. Later, he was assigned a public defender, John Leonardson, whose role in the case has been very low-profile. But other documents indicate that Leonardson’s thorough research and forceful briefs were instrumental in the outcome. Leonardson argued that this interview should have been disclosed to the defense earlier; that it both contained “Brady” material which would aid the defense, but also was not admissible as evidence against his client; and that McClendon arguably should not have been quizzed without an attorney present.

Detective Funk repeatedly alludes to a legal constraint that he is under, that the interview is supposed to be limited to information regarding the whereabouts of Cross—who at that point was still missing—and not the sealed indictment against McClendon which would be opened in court the next day. (As one legal expert noted to me this week, the pair were not technically fugitives from justice during their disappearance, because they had yet to be arraigned before a judge.)

Funk first reads McClendon his Miranda rights, which McClendon acknowledges, tells him he has a warrant for his arrest and an indictment from Columbia County court, and gives him a bottle of Pepsi. (Later, he offers to let him smoke out the window of the police station office.)

McClendon says that he has been in Hudson, not Albany. Funk says he is not going to ask about the case; but McClendon says he wants to know about the case. He says he doesn’t know what he’s been charged with, and Funk asks why he didn‘t come into talk sooner... From there it’s off to the races:



JM: I didn’t partake in anything. Really. I didn’t do nothin’. I just got out of jail... When I called here, you just had me on hold—I don’t know, two, three minutes. I just kept hanging up. What the fuck. If they wanted to talk, we could talk.

FUNK: I’ve been trying to find you since the 19th of March... You didn’t try that hard to come see me. I’ve known you, and I’ve always been straight with you.



FUNK: I’m not bullshitting you, I’ve got nothing to gain by lying to you. So since the 19th, when this investigation started, I’ve talked to one person, and I haven’t had a chance to speak with you. And unfortunately for you, you got drawn into it, after I spoke to one person—

McCLENDON: I got drawn into it? How the hell did I get drawn into it?

FUNK: I can’t really discuss the case with you, I can’t ask you specific quesitons. So I’m asking you, what you’ve heard since the 19th, when you heard that the cops are looking for you with a warrant. What did they say?

McCLENDON: I thought it was for, cause I got bailed out of jail, I thought it was for a ticket I had to pay, at first. No, they say, they want you for something serious. [Heard it from a] couple of girls on the street... And then, I saw my face in the paper, and I say, what the fuck? And I read it, and say, ‘Oh, my goodness.’ Then I spoke with Quintin, and he said, ‘Ain’t got nothin’ to worry about—they let me go.’ I was like, what the hell they even speaking to us for, what’d we do?

FUNK: What did he tell you? Plus, what did you read in the newspaper?

McCLENDON: He told me we were wanted for questioning... Not a big deal.

FUNK: Why wouldn’t you want to come here and clear your name?

McCLENDON: Because I’m scared to death. I got a long history.

FUNK: I know your history. You got nothing to be scared of.

McCLENDON: I got a lot to be scared of.

FUNK: Not if you—if you come in here, you ask for me, you could have asked for me specifically.

McCLENDON: Swear to God, you know how many times I came in here and asked for you? 

FUNK: No, I don’t.

McCLENDON: Very many times, you and Delaney. They told me hold on... You know what they did? I’d just end up going to jail, because I just get feisty with them, or I have to get bailed out for somethin’ else.

FUNK: Or you take off running. Did you take off tonight?

McCLENDON: No, they just started off slammin’ me.

FUNK: Oh, jesus. Well.

McCLENDON: They just came in and started slammin’ me around.

FUNK: You alright?

McCLENDON: Yeah, I’m alright.

FUNK: Pissed off?

McCLENDON: Yeah. Yeah, I’m pissed off.

FUNK: You’re in a kind of a little bit of a pickle. What laywer you have representing ’ya? Public defender?

McCLENDON: I don’t have nothin’. I don’t even have a family. I just have me, really.



FUNK: Let me ask this. You know where Quintin is?

McCLENDON: Didn’t Quintin—wasn’t Quintin going to get a job in China?

FUNK: He was gone.

McCLENDON: I’m pretty sure he went.

FUNK: No, he didn't.

McCLENDON: I’m pretty sure he went.

FUNK: Really? When did he leave?

McCLENDON: I saw when he got on the bus... I don’t know, a day or two after see— not seeing you, a day or two after he came and tell you. Or did he come and see you? I don’t know who he saw.

FUNK: He saw me. I got stuck with this case. I got the short end on this one. For a while.

McCLENDON: And he got on the bus to go to Albany, said he got to go catch his plane. That was it.

FUNK: That’s the last you saw him and talk with him.

McCLENDON: And we went to go eat. I forgot where we went to eat, I dunno, Baba Louie’s or some shit like that. Somewhere on Warren Street.

FUNK: Hmm... After this all happened. I heard the big joke is that you can, you can literally walk into Hudson P.D. like that because we just let people go.

McCLENDON: What?

FUNK: Someone is putting that on Facebook. Unless you got a neon sign blinkin’ off and on, Hudson P.D. isn’t going to arrest you.

McCLENDON: I don’t know.

FUNK: You never hear that?

McCLENDON: Nah, I just know, I didn’t do shit. I just know that for a fact... I just... All this indictment shit, what happened at the prelim and the hearing? Where’s the evidence at? There can’t, there can’t be no evidence.

FUNK: Why?

McCLENDON: Because I didn’t do shit.

FUNK: Jamont. Let me ask you this... YOu made mre forget what I was going to say. Oh, I know what I was going to say. What I understand is, when they took you into custody, did you ask to speak to the Chief?

McCLENDON: Yeah.

FUNK: Now the Chief has given me the—the Chief trusts me enough to have me come in when I’m done working, to maybe speak to you. So I want you to think, I want you to think to yourself, that if you were going to speak to the Chief, I’m actually working on his behalf. And the Chief trusts me enough to speak to you about what you wanted to speak to him about.

McCLENDON: I was going to ask him the same questions. Like what’s going on, like why am I even in it?

FUNK: Why? What did Quintin tell ya?

McCLENDON: Quintin didn’t tell me shit.

FUNK: He sat right here [points] on his cell phone when I was talkin’to him.

McCLENDON: [Incredulous] What, Quintin did?

FUNK: Yup.

McCLENDON: And he told me somethin’?

FUNK: That’s what he said... He was on his cell phone the whole time.

McCLENDON: Talkin’ to me? I don’t think so.

FUNK: No? Then he was not being truthful to me... Alright.

McCLENDON: Cause know why? 

FUNK: Why?

McCLENDON: I don’t even have a cell phone.



FUNK: Let me ask you this. We’re talking man-to-man here. If you don’t do something—

McCLENDON: He definitely... I’m pretty sure he got on that plane. I’m pretty sure.

FUNK: Well, then he must have got under on some other name, because I’m pretty sure we had all our bases covered, unless someone gave me bad info... Have you heard from him since he’s been in China?

McCLENDON: I spoke to him... when we’s on Facebook.  But after that, just, he says he’s shutting his Facebook off.

FUNK: He turned it back on. I saw it on Friday.

McCLENDON: I don’t know... He’s not one of my friends. He probably got a different name.



McCLENDON: Me and Quintin, that’s one of my best friends, but we don’t really associate how we used to back in the day. ’Cause... We’re into two different type of things.  You know? He’s not into what I’m into, like—

FUNK: What are you into and what’s he into?

McCLENDON: Basically, I’m broke, living house to house. He got a job and shit and he’s taking care of a home. He wants to go out and party and whatever, and I can’t do that, ’cause I don’t have it. You know? So I always go my other way; but if I ditch him, he'll be mad at me for like two, three weeks. You know?

FUNK: So, why, why does he hang out with you? Are you guys cousins? Or are you just friends?

McCLENDON: Naw, we just friends.

FUNK: Um, and he’s got, he goes to school, he’s got a job...

McCLENDON: Yeah, he got everything going for him.

FUNK: Yup. And what have you got going for you?

McCLENDON: I only have a kid to worry about. I was living good. I was living good, I just didn’t have no money. You know? I had enough to go pay for food and shit like that, I ain’t had enough to go and smoke some blunts and shit like that... I don’t smoke weed anyway, but—

FUNK: You like to tip ‘em back though, I know you like to drink.

McCLENDON: Yeah, I like to drink.

FUNK: You’ve been drinkin’ for  along time.

McCLENDON: I go to Wunderbar...

FUNK: Who you go there with, Jamont, let me ask you?

McCLENDON: Um, a lot  by myself. I know a lot of people, but I’m pretty much a loner.



FUNK: So you and Quintin, you’ve been friends, but you don’t really associate like you used to?

McCLENDON: Yeah, like we went out for his birthday, because his birthday was March 11th, and we pretty much hung that whole week... He said he going to fucking China to study and be a teacher. He said you going to hang with me for a couple of days, I’m like yeah, don’t ditch me. He’s like ‘Yo, if you need a place to stay, you can stay here...’ Because I just got out of jail, you can stay here. Mess with your old lady around the corner—he say you better stop messin’ with her, she’s too old. I don’t care.

FUNK: Older woman, that’s OK, that’s good for you... They’ve got that nurturing side, they want to be all nurture—take care of ’ya.

McCLENDON: Yeah. 

FUNK: Now, when I had a chance to speak with him, he said you’re, you guys are around each other all the time.

McCLENDON: Yeah, but not lately, cause I’ve been in jail. Shit.

FUNK: Now he, you know, we both know Quintin, he’s a pretty popular guy—

McCLENDON: I see.. We see each other every day, every day, well almost every day, but we don’t... like, wehn he’s going to hang somewhere, like right now, I’m probably not going with him, I’m probably sitting with them for a few munites until they line up to go somewhere, ’cause where they go, or what they’re going to do costs money. If I’ve only got 50 bucks in my pocket, I’m not spending my last 50 bucks, because I know I got to provide for the next day... You know?

FUNK: If he was going to go hang somehwere right now, where would he go?

McCLENDON: Probably go to Wunderbar, or go... Or he likes to go other places, like Red Dot, American Glory... 

FUNK: OK. Why’s he like to go to those bars?

McCLENDON: We got our hippie friends.

FUNK: Why’s he like to hang out there?

McCLENDON: Because they’re classy, they’re casual.

FUNK: There’s some money there.

McCLENDON: Some money there?

FUNK: They take care of, well, people, You know, classy—you’re going to drink good stuff, people are going to be buying you nice... So, he’s got, he’s got a network of friends that’s got money. He’s got a network of friends that got power. He knows people in the right places.

McCLENDON: Yeah, I don’t know about that.

FUNK: What do you mean you don’t know about that? ... He was a public servant. He got elected into office. And he held a position in city hall, so that tells me—

McCLENDON: So you think they’re hiding him?

FUNK: Who?

McCLENDON:  Is that what you’re thinking?

FUNK: You never know.

McCLENDON: I don’t know.

FUNK: I don’t know about that. But my point being—

McCLENDON: But I think, if he was going to go... I don’t know.

FUNK: Wunderbar, American Glory. Red Dot.

McCLENDON: We got a bunch of hippie friends, shit like that.

FUNK: Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm... Where did you go, where’s his best, most favorite place to hang out.

McCLENDON: Probably at the bars.

FUNK: Which bar? Savoia? Ever hang out at the Savoia?

McCLENDON: Not often.

FUNK: Why?

McCLENDON: ’Cause, I just don’t like to go down there myself, I can’t say why... Too much shit happens there.

FUNK: Like what? [Crosstalk]

McCLENDON: You tell me what kind of stuff that happens there.

FUNK: I don’t go to Savoia!

McCLENDON: You a cop, it ain’t like you don’t know. You been here forever.

FUNK: [Laughs] Seems like forever.

McCLENDON: —that bullshit to me.

FUNK: [Laughs]  Well, I just wanted to find out if that’s why you don’t go down there, too many problems with people down there.

McCLENDON: I don’t really have problems with anybody.

[Funk then tries to turn this conversation toward the upcoming indictment, and use the foundation laid above to pit McClendon and Cross against each other by implying that McClendon will be made to take the fall for his friend. However, McClendon doesn’t bite on the gambit.]

FUNK: Let me ask you this. Knowing who Quintin is, and knowing the people Quintin knows , and let’s just say, this whole indictment thing, when they open up this indictment, you’re going to be the first one. You’re going to be the first one that they’re going to see... Jamont McClendon. What’s he do? He don’t have a job. He’s got a kid. He—and this will be their words—he’s got a kid, he don’t work, he’s just drawin’ off of everybody else. Never had a job, never really amounted to much. And I’m just saying, this is what people are going to start thinking. Then you get—here’s Jamont McClendon, he gets caught up, here’s Quintin Cross. Suit, tie, got a lawyer with him, he was an elected official in Hudson. He’s got friends at the Red Dot. He’s got political friends, he’s got friends with money. What’s he going to say when he comes to court? What are they going to say about him? What? If this really happened, what they said in the newspaper, who are they going to believe? If he says he didn’t do it, and you say you didn’t do something... He didn’t do something, you didn’t do something. Who are they going to believe? The guy who’s goin’ to China, or got a nice political position somewhere, got a job, got this, got that, knows the right way to do it—or this poor kid right here?

McCLENDON: I want to tell you this. We didn’t do shit at all. I don’t even know how we’re linked to this.

FUNK: I’m just saying, Jamont, if—

McCLENDON: Out of all the people in the world, us two? Out of all the people in the world. 

FUNK: Well? My thing is, who are they gonna, when it comes down to a finger-pointing thing, who are they going to believe, Jamont?

McCLENDON: I don’t care what they believe, because I didn't—

FUNK: I’m just saying, I’m just saying. Think of it this way. You just said a little bit ago, you’ve got a family and a wife and a kid to worry about. 

McCLENDON: Yeah, but I’m living good though, so I don’t really care about—

FUNK: How are you going to feel when your own best friend, he going to turn his back on you. Because you’re going to jail, he ain't, right now. Because you’re Jamont, Jamont McClendon. And this is Quintin. The other guy who’s in hiding.

McCLENDON: Well, look in China, and bring him back.

FUNK: And what’s he gonna say?

McCLENDON: I don’t know what he’s gonna say. But I know he’s going to be like, why are we even here?

FUNK: He knows why. He knows why he’s here. He knows why, that’s why he took off, and that’s why he left. He knows exactly why. And I'd be hard-pressed to believe to that you don’t know why.

McCLENDON: So why didn’t I take off then?

FUNK: Because you’re smart enough to come in here and say, I didn’t do something. I didn’t have anything to do with it. You got caught up downstreet, that’s the only reason you’re even here. Because this who thing would have just kept going on and on, and I would have to go sit in front of the church tomorrow, when Leslie’s being laid out, looking for you and him.

McCLENDON: If I was going to run, I could have been left. You guys would’ve never found me. Not in a million years.

FUNK: No? Why do you say that. You’re probably right.

McCLENDON: I know I’m right. You guys would have never found me. But I don’t want to lve my life like that. I do petty shit. I don’t pay fines, shit like that. I don’t really commit real crimes.

FUNK: What’s a real crime?

McCLENDON: Like felonies, shit like that. That’s a real crime.

FUNK: Mmm-hmmm. Why don’t you?

McCLENDON: Because, like, why would I?

FUNK: I don’t know! That’s what I’m here to ask.

McCLENDON: I’m asking questions and you’re not answering none of my questions.

FUNK: Yes, I am.

McCLENDON: No you’re not, you’re beating around the bush. I want to know what’s going on.

FUNK: I, I, I can only tell you so much. I can’t get into specifics. I can call Albany, because Albany P.D.’s looking for you, so’s Troy, and you’re going to be all over the news. You’re going to have your 15 minutes of fame. So... I thought you might have an idea of where Quintin’s hiding out. That’s what I wanted to find out.

McCLENDON: I have no idea. Does Quintin have an indictment?

FUNK:  What’s it say in the paper? There’s a warrant for him, right?

McCLENDON: I don’t know. I don’t read the paper much.

FUNK: Everybody knows. You got to be the only one that don’t know.

McCLENDON: Yeah, cause the paper is fucking depressing. I don’t really read the paper...

FUNK: Hmm. Good news don’t sell.

McCLENDON: First thing you open up to is obituaries.

FUNK: As long as your name ain’t in there. Right? I keep looking for mine. Thank god I ain’t been in there yet. ... I want to find out where Quintin is. Or give me a phone number, or someone who would know wehere he is. He ain’t in China, I can tell you that. I know he’s not in China. 

McCLENDON: I’m pretty sure he is. I was—I sat right there on Front Street when he left on the bus, and I just walked away.

FUNK: I can get on the bus, and drive up to Price Chopper, and get off the bus right there. How do you get out of the country, Jamont? Let me ask you that—

McCLENDON: He got a passport. Alright? He already had it set up and everything. He had a plane ticket and everything. Everything.

FUNK: Mmm-hmm. OK. You ever heard of Homeland Security? You watch the news. They go after terrorists and shit?

McCLENDON: You call Homeland Security?

FUNK: Maybe we did.

McCLENDON: See, there you go, beating around the bush again [laughing].

FUNK: You’re smart. You’re smarter than that. ... You think I’m half-assing what I’m doing here? I know he didn’t go to China, and I know he’s going to be coming back to Hudson, ’cause he put it on Facebook. I just thought maybe you'd go out of your way to help me out, to maybe give me an idea where he might be. Give me a cell phone number... Because I’m going to tell you something kid, and I hate to say this, hear me out. That little scenario I gave you, who they going to believe, Quintin or Jamont. And don’t take this the wrong way. They ain’t going to believe shit you have to say. ’Cause right now is your opportunity to say, well, why should you be sitting in jail, while he’s out going to the Red Dot and trying to be the victim? You’re going to be the bad guy, you’re going to be the street kid, the thug ont he street that got caught. He’s going to come waltzing in, looking like someone he’s not, and he’s going to come out smelling like a rose. You'll go to prison, and he'll get friggin’probation, if it even goes that far. ’Cause you’re Jamont McClendon, and he’s Quintin Cross, and I’m telling you face to face the way I see it. What I see comin'. And I don’t want to see that happen, because you may not necessarily be the culpable, the most culpable person? You know what that means?

McCLENDON: Yeah, I know what that means, but like I said,  I didn’t do nothin’ at all. At all.

FUNK: I’m not asking you what you did. I know what happened. I know what happened that night.

McCLENDON: So what happened that night then?

FUNK: You’re going to find out tomorrow. You don’t want to tell me where Quintin is, I can’t, I’m not going to tell you what I know.

McCLENDON: I really don’t know where Quintin is.

FUNK: Somebody knows where he is. I think you know, I bet you know somebody.

McCLENDON: Why don’t you ask one of his family members?

FUNK: We have. You think they’re going to tell me? ... According to him, you guys do everything together. This is what he said.

[...]

McCLENDON: And know what, when I talk to Ellis, I’s going to tell him that the same thing. He’s out of the country. Cause that’s what he said he was going to do. But I didn’t want to tell nobody but Ellis.

FUNK: Well, I’m here because on Ellis’, the Chief’s be—I got to call him the Chief because he’s my boss and I have respect for him. My job is to find out what I can from you that you would tell him. Because he don’t need to get involved. He’s the Chief of Police, that’s not his job. I’m here to do the job, to make Ellis—

McCLENDON: I’ve known him all my life, though.

FUNK: You don’t think he would look out for you? He wouldn’t put his career on the line, he wouldn’t do anything he’s not supposed to.

McCLENDON: I don’t expect him to. He got a job description...

FUNK: And I’m not kissing his ass, but he’ll give everybody two, three, four chances. If you keep fucking it up, then you’re going to pay for it.

McCLENDON: I never got a chance from you guys at all.

FUNK: That’s what—you ain’t never got a chance from me?

McCLENDON: Yeah, from you, maybe.

FUNK: Maybe! I’ve always been good to you. If you run, I’ve always told you, I’m not going to run after you. I’m going to catch you sooner or later. And I caught you, they got you tonight. And I wanted to talk to you when this all went down, this other thing went down, I says I got to talk to Jamont. And I sat right there, and I sat and told your friend right there, when he sat right there, and I said ‘where’s Jamont’ and he said ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know.’ I don’t know. So now guess what. You don’t even have the opportunity he had, the got chance he to come in here and tell me what happened. And he got up, and he walked out the door. You’re sitting here in handcuffs, I can’t get in the dis—to tell you what I know... It would make things that much easier, Jamont, if I had the opportunity—so if he told you, to get the fuck out of here, or other people should get out, then they all fucked you, and you’re sitting here, and he’s out doing whatever he’s doing.

McCLENDON: He never told me to go anywhere. He just told me don’t worry about nothin’.

FUNK: You know what? He didn’t give you good advice. But I’m telling you, you would have come in here that same day, and you would have walked right out of here. Just like he did. Not that I’m playin—not that he got any special favor, he had the opportunity to tell me what happened. You got fucked, and didn’t get the opportunity to come tell me what happened. Because now I gotta watch what I say and ask certain things that you want to say, because my hands are tied now. And I would love to hear what you have to say other than ‘I didn’t do anything.’ Come on, Jamont, I didn’t pick you out of thin air. You know I’ve been around, I been here forever.

McCLENDON: All I know, somethin’s up.

FUNK: Mmm-hmm.

McCLENDON: I need to know what’s up.

FUNK: You need to give me, tell me something, and can tell, I’ll tell you whatever I can. But I can’t tell, I can’t get into detail, and even discuss the other par—I don’t want to talk about Jamont. I want to know where Quintin might be... or I want to know who Quintin might be hanging out with. Or what was discussed after. Because I already know what led up to you, to you and Quintin, or Quintin leaving for CHina, and you just being around town. I know what led up to that on the 19th, I know what happened on the 19th, which was a Monday night, or Monday morning. I know what happened. So does he. Now, you know what? If he didn’t tell you, then he really stuck it to you, because he knows what happened. So you’re on your own to figure out what the fuck happened that night.

McCLENDON: He tell me he was questioned about somethin’, and that was it.

FUNK: Questioned about what?

McCLENDON: He say, he was questioned about somethin’. I don—Somethin’ took place, and I was implicated, and he was implicated. I said what, he say he didn’t want to discuss it now. Then he start talkin’ to his mother, and then he start talkin’ to his baby mother, his kid mother.

FUNK: The one up in Albany?

McCLENDON: Yeah. And then, did you check there? You checked there.

FUNK: First floor apartment, on S—Street?

McCLENDON: I don’t know exactly where she lives... [Crosstalk] And then...

FUNK: But just so you know, all, I’ve got detectives, they’r watching it, they’ve got his picture... But I’m thinking he’s going to come down and pay his respects to Leslie, his aunt. And let me tell you what, if you don’t pay your respects to his dead aunt, what kind of person, what kind of man does that tell you he’s going to be?

McCLENDON: Yeah, but you basically just want to catch him. You don’t care.

FUNK: What?

McCLENDON: You don’t care if he goes there.

FUNK: Yes I do. Yes I do. Cuz, let me ask, if he was incarcerated, and his aunt died, you mean to tell me he wouldn’t want to go? Guys do that shit all the time, Jamont. I know that. Whether they like him or not. But right now, he’s scared, he don’t know what to do. You got caught. Tell me he don’t know. He knows you’re here. He’s sweating right now, being afraid of what you’re going to tell me. You know what? Maybe he should be. I wasn’t there that night, but I know what happened. You guys were there.

McCLENDON: Where were we?

FUNK: At his house on 5th Street.

McCLENDON: Yeah, we were. We were sitting there on the porch, getting drunk. A bunch of people where there—

FUNK: Fryin’ turkeys. Right? Fried turkey?

McCLENDON: How the fuck did you know that?

FUNK: Who the fuck are you talking to, kid? I don’t know everything, but I kn—just so you know.

McCLENDON: So you all were watching this?

FUNK: No-ho. I was home in bed, Jamont. I got called at 6:30 in the morning to come in here. I’m in bed at 10 o’clcok at night on a good night. But I do my job, and I ask questions. And that’s what I gotta do. And unfortunately or fortunately, however, you want to look at it, my direction, I get led to certain places.

McCLENDON: Yeah.

FUNK: I don’t wanna see you in an any worse situation you are right now. I want to know—I would love to know what you know right now. But... What I want to—about what happened that night. Because I’d love to hear your version of it, other than ‘I don’t know, I don’t know,’ because I know you know. Anyway. I want to know where Ja—where—if Quintin wasn’t in China, if he was in the, if he wasn’t have this world trip lanned, where he might be, where he might go, other than his baby’s mother’s house up on, up in Albany.

McCLENDON: Check in any one of his family’s house.

FUNK: OK, I can ch—

McCLENDON: We’re not related, people just think we are.

FUNK: I thought you were his cousin.

McCLENDON: No, people just think we are.

FUNK: Are you related to the Chief? I heard you’re his cousin, too.

McCLENDON: The Chief?

FUNK: Chief’s your cousin?

McCLENDON: Nnnnnn...

FUNK: Alright. I tell you what, Jamont, I hear a million different stories.

McCLENDON: Yeah, but that’s what you should do. He got sisters, he got brothers.

[They discuss Cross’s brothers, sisters and other relatives, and where they live]

FUNK: Where would you go?

McCLENDON: I have no place to go.

[Funk again tries the strategy of pitting Cross against McClendon]

FUNK: I wanted to get your version, because I, I would believe you, over, over... And I’m not shittin’ ya. Because you’ve got a lot to—like I said, they’ll look at you, and say fuck him, pardon my French. Fuck, you know what? Jamont, he’s got, what’s he gonna do? What’s he going to amount to in society, where, this kid here is going to go to China, teach people how to speak English. They don’t give two shits about guys like you. I hate to say it.

McCLENDON: I know they do.

FUNK: That’s the bullshit part of it. And I’ll tell you another thing, and this aint me talkin’, I’m just telling you what I see. You don’t, cause, when it boils down to it, it’s, it’s you or me. And I say that hypothet—as a hypothetically, it’s going to be either him or you. You know what, fuck, Jamont, you’re my man, I ain’t gonna, I’m not going, I’m going to use what people I know, and this going is to fall on you. And I’ve seen it for a long time, Jamont, I’ve been around, I’ve been around enough to see guys do it on a regular basis. And I don’t want to see this happen to you. Cause like you say, you get drunk, you might run, get in a fight here or there, get a resist cahrge, whatever. But it’s never been a felony where you’re going to wind up going to prison. You’re not the prison guy. You’re not a prison guy. And I’m not saying Quintin is, iether, But I know Quintin’s smart enough to say, let’s see, me, or Quintin—or, me, or Jamont. You’re going to use everything—

McCLENDON: I don’t even have the type of record he has.

FUNK: It don’t matter, bud. It don’t matter. You know peopl—If you didn’t know Quintin, would you go stand out, hanging out at the Red Dot?

McCLENDON: Yeah, I would actually.

FUNK: Would you really?

McCLENDON: Yeah, that’s just my style. See that’s the thing about you, they gave you wrong because of my appearance.

FUNK: There you go.

McCLENDON: That’s the thing about it.

FUNK: There you go. Because when this comes to court, and it goes before a jury, you’re going to sit there and they’re going to to just that. It aint’ nothing to do with the color of your skin. It ain’t got anything to do but who you know. That’s what it all boils down to in life. It’s who you know, and who, and the connections that you—

McCLENDON: What are even the charges?

FUNK: I don’t know, it’s an indictment.

McCLENDON: You can’t tell me the charges. C’mon, you know you know.

FUNK: It’s charging you with a felony, a sealed indictment number.

McCLENDON: A sealed indictment? Ain’t that drugs?

FUNK: No. Not drugs. What did Quintin tell you?

McCLENDON: Huh? ... Quintin said we took something. He ain’t told me from where, he didn’t ell me where.

FUNK: C’mon, Jamont. You know what he said.

McCLENDON: Quintin is very secretive, and he like, and he smiled about it like, these motherfucking, like they keep tryin’ me, he like, cause he got a lawsuit on it, or some shit like that from the last time, because he got falsely accused—

FUNK: Who did!

McCLENDON: Y’all didn’t falsely accuse him. But y’all sent him upstate illegally.

FUNK: I didn’t send anybody upstate.

McCLENDON: He said, so they trying to get to all of us. He was like, but don’t you worry about it, I got somethin’ for ’em.

FUNK: He’s got something for us?

McCLENDON: Yeah.

FUNK: Uh-oh. Like what?

McCLENDON: That’s what he said.

FUNK: Someone gonna shoot me and kill me?

McCLENDON: Nah.

FUNK: I hope not.

McCLENDON: He’s not like that. He know politics. He’ll play politics, you know.

FUNK: YOu know, the hwole race thing? Cause he told me, the only reason I brought him in was cause I think all black people look alike. You think I’m racist?

McCLENDON: No, I don’t think you’re racist.

FUNK: You think I’m prejudiced?

McCLENDON: Nah.

FUNK: I don’t discriminate against nobody, Jamont.

McCLENDON: I think you got the wrong person. You need to let me up out of thses cuffs. I know that.

FUNK: [Laughs] I can’t do that.

McCLENDON: I know that.

FUNK: I think, I gotta get into it.

McCLENDON: I think the rest of them might be racist, though?

FUNK: Do you really?

McCLENDON: Yeah, especially the—who’s the fuckin’ D.A. again?

FUNK: Who, Czajka?

McCLENDON: Yeah, definitely.

FUNK: He ain’t racist. What’s a racist to you?

McCLENDON: Hate for somethin’ else. It don’t have to be a skin color. It can be a demeanor, it can be a demeanor, it can be anything.

FUNK: Do you hate me?

McCLENDON: No. Why would I even be talkin’ to ya?

[...]

McCLENDON: Been out of jail a couple of weeks.

FUNK: [laughing] Well, guess what, bud? You’re going to be going back tonight. I just wanted to find out what you might know or what you wanted to talk to the Chief about. I think that—go ahead.

[...]

McCLENDON: I would have came here, but my record and everything, sometimes people don’t want to hear shit

FUNK: I’d come pick you up, if you called me... I wanted to find out what happened before I had to get an indictment, before I had to sit in front of the grand jury and presented my evidence. And they found there was enough to indict. You think I like doing what I gotta—there’s days where I hate doing what I gotta do. Cause you’re not a, I don’t think you’re a hardened criminal. You’re just a guy that gets fucked up and then does foolish things.

McCLENDON: This is gonna go very far, cuz I’m not just going to let them accuse me of something that—nah, it’s not gonna happen.

FUNK: ALright. I’ve lost some, I win some, and I don’t consider it a win. I’ve had convictions and I’ve had acquittals. they call them wins and losses. Cause when I put, when someone goes to jail, bad people belong in jail and go to prison.. There are a few bad ones there who should be there that aren’t. You’re not one of the bad ones. Like I said, you get caught up in stuff that you don’t normally, that normally you wouldn’t do. And at times I think that you get led to believe that it’s going to be all right because of who you are, who you’re with. I don’t want this to be one of those situations. I would like to know where Quintin would be...

McCLENDON: You’re asking me all these questions, but you’re not answering none of mine... You gotta know what the charge is. You said you worked the case. You definitely know what the charge is.

FUNK: I was asked questions in front of the grand jury, which I’m not allowed to discuss. The grand jury is a secret preceding. The D.A. and all the grand jurors discuss the evidence, and what can be charged. That’s why it’s a sealed indictment.

McCLENDON: I just want to know what the charge is.

FUNK: What’d the newspaper say.

McCLENDON: [Long pause] I don’t remember what the newspaper said, or I wouldn’t be asking you. I want some for real shit, I just want to know what the charges are.

FUNK: Well, hold on a second...

McCLENDON: You got a newspaper in here?

FUNK: ... I’ve got a copy of it. [To Officer] You got the packet in there? [Funk steps out for several minutes] Now, this is what was in the newspaper. [They sit side-by-side and look at a paper]

McCLENDON: Burglary at the City Hall? What?

FUNK: So there ain’t no drug stuff—

McCLENDON: Can they just say that?

FUNK: That’s what I’m investigating.

McCLENDON: You couldn’t just say that?

FUNK: You asked me what the warrant said. What’s the warrant say?

McCLENDON: How could they say that?

[...]

FUNK: So that’s what’s in the newspaper. ... They’re taking advantage—you’re being taken advantage of, whether you believe it or not. You’re getting bad information. You’re going to be the fall guy on this, Jamont, I’m telling you. I’m telling you as I sit right here—

McCLENDON: Third degree burglary.

FUNK: Yup.

McCLENDON: At City Hall. For third degree burglary. What the hell was taken?

FUNK: Property.

McCLENDON: Like what?

FUNK: What do you think? What are you gonna bur—what are you going to steal when—

McCLENDON: [Incredulous] What the hell could you take from City Hall? Only thing I ever went there for was a birth certificate.

FUNK: I don’t know. I don’t know what goes through people’s heads.

McCLENDON: Oh, my goodness.

FUNK: All I’m saying is, all that stuff I said to you before, I meant what I said. You put these two guys side-by-side, sittin’ in court. You have a right to go to a trial, which would be a good idea. But who are they going to look at, who are they going to believe, who are they going to look at? The former alderman, the scholar going to China? Jamont McClendon, lengthy criminal record. Doesn’t really do much. So when, I say all of that because, when this all comes out, there’s a story to be told. He’s going to have a story, and you’re going to have a story. The jurty’s going to be able to say, let’s see, tlet’s think this over here... He’s got a lot going for him. This guy... Cause at a trial that all gets brought out. He got bad checks, or used a credit card. What’s this guy done? What’s he done? They don’t care?

McCLENDON: Yeah.

FUNK: He’s got a ten-page rap sheet. He’s got a felony. You’re smart. Ahh, credit card. Oh, this guy—assault. Resisting. Assault. Resisting. Escape. Holy shit.

McCLENDON: Yeah, I know.

FUNK: This is a bad... He’s the ringl—he made this guy do something he didn’t want to do. That’s what I’m saying I see coming down the road. That’s what you need to think about in your head. [...] He told you, don’t worry about. I got in a little trouble, and I walked out. Here you sit, and he’s somewhere doing this, wondering ‘what’s Jamont telling the police?’

McCLENDON: I don’t know, man. I wish I knew where he was. Man, oh, man. Lying motherfucker.

FUNK: [...] I feel bad, because you’re in a shitty situation. I don’t want to see you get fucked because of somebody else.

[...]

FUNK: I’m just thinking out loud. As people that don’t do this.

McCLENDON: He told me he’s going to China. That was the whole week. That was the only reason I was with him for the few days. We had a cookout. We had some friends in front of his house, there were a bunch of us, there were people there I didn’t even know. I think a couple days before that we was at Savoia’s, we had the birthday party at Savoia.

FUNK: Kind of like a going-away party.

McCLENDON: Yeah. You know. That was it.

FUNK: So that Monday afternoon, when you were at his mother’s house. After he left here.

McCLENDON: Monday afternoon?

FUNK: That Monday, when he came to the police station, when I talked to him. Alright. What did he say to you after he left here?

McCLENDON: He just said... Well, first of all, he didn’t even tell me he went at first. He just said, ‘Oh, these motherfuckers picked me up for some bullshit.’ I said, what do you mean? And he said, um, he said me and you did something. He’s like, but don’t worry about it. I said, Did what? He’s like, ‘took something.’ He’s like ‘You never took nothing a day in your life, and I know I didn’t take nothing. These crackers is trying to get me again. And I ain’t falling for the bullshit.’ I said what he do then, he said asked questions. I said, what it had to do with me? ... They said you showed him some pictures. Somebody did, said, is that Jamont? He’s like, what you talk about, is that Jamont? That ain’t Jamont. And he was like, well, we think it’s Jamont, you should tell him to come in. And then he said, he said... Or he laughed and made another cracker joke.

FUNK: A cracker joke?

McCLENDON: Yeah.

FUNK: What is it? Tell me.

McCLENDON: He said to me another cracker joke.

FUNK: You can tell, I won’t be insulted.

McCLENDON: No, I don’t like that type of shit, you know. And I was at my aunt’s house, and I go to my girl. Fuckin’ [name redacted]—didn’t tell me no shit. And then he was like, well, we should go out to eat [and] to a movie. ... We left, we went to American Glory, had a few drinks, and then we left and went to Baba Louie’s. And then we partied a little bit, and the next day, he got on a bus.

FUNK: [...] So you went out that night?

McCLENDON: No, we were at people’s houses, though. We weren’t at bars and shit.

FUNK: Did he say anything about worrying about getting picked up, getting arrested?

McCLENDON: No, I wouldn’t be fuckin’ walkin’ around like that.

FUNK: I didn’t think so. And then you saw him get on the bus.

McCLENDON: And that was it.

FUNK: And that was the last time you spoke with him?

McCLENDON: That was the last time I spoke with him. I saw his phone number was [redacted]. But there’s no point [calling], because he turned it off.

[...]

FUNK: So he got on the bus down on Front Street [on Tuesday]?

McCLENDON: On Front Street, yeah.

FUNK: What bus goes down there? [Crosstalk] To go up to Albany?

McCLENDON: Yeah. It only costs $5.50.

FUNK: Oh, so it’s like the commuter bus...

McCLENDON: You didn’t know that?

FUNK: Hell no, Jamont. I never worked in Albany. I’ve been working here my whole life.



FUNK: You talked to him on Facebook? ...

McCLENDON: Yeah. But I talked to him through my little brother’s Facebook.



FUNK: You know what Jamont, I’m just going to give you a little advice. ANd I give this advice to a lot of people, including my own family. What you decide to do now is a hard decision to make. But. The hardest decisions are usually the right decisions to make.

McCLENDON: Yeah, but, you really think I know where he is, and I don’t.... Why wouldn’t I tell you? At this point, I wouldn’t really give a fuck.

FUNK: Did he tell you everything that you needed to know? Did he tell you all that?

McCLENDON: No, he didn’t.

FUNK: What did he say?

McCLENDON: Selfish bastard. He just said that you showed him a few pictures, and you said that looked like Jamont. He basically gave me the impression that you guys looking for me for somethin’. I said, I didn’t do shit. ... He didn’t exactly tell me. If he exactly told me, with that situation, that shit at City Hall, I’d be like, ‘oh, shit.’

FUNK: City Hall, think about it. That’s high profile. That’s an important thing, that’s the City government.



FUNK: When he gets picked up, it’s all going to fall on you...

McCLENDON: If he really went to China, he’s not getting picked up.

FUNK: Well, he didn’t go to China, I can tell ’ya.

McCLENDON: Where the hell that gonna leave me?

FUNK: Yup.



McCLENDON: I didn’t do shit. I didn’t. No. I will go all the way with this...

FUNK: I hope you do.



McCLENDON: I don’t burglarize. I don’t. ... So you’re saying I broke into a building, but didn’t take nothing?

FUNK: I’m not saying you broke into any building. I’m saying what a burglary is.

McCLENDON: I know what you’re not saying, and I know what you are saying, but I know what’s being said. ... So we broke into a building, but didn’t take anything? Get the fuck outta here... I don’t believe this is going to go very far.

FUNK: Maybe it won’t Jamont.

McCLENDON: But you know, Czajka’s in office, so he’s probably going to want to send us somewhere...

FUNK: Only where the evidence goes...

McCLENDON: I never broke into a building. And there’s no evidence on me.

FUNK: OK.

McCLENDON: None.



McCLENDON: Did you collect the evidence?

FUNK: Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.

McCLENDON: Well, I tell you, maybe Mr. Funk, you’re wrong.

FUNK: I’ve been wrong before, bud.

McCLENDON: Huh. You haven’t been wrong much, though.

FUNK: No?

McCLENDON: Oh, that’s the problem. [Points at surveillance camera] We can’t even really talk in here. We can’t even really have a conversation.

FUNK: [Laughs] Yes, we can. That’s here for me, really. So I don’t say anything inappropriate.



McCLENDON: I wish I knew where that motherfucker was. Because I would have came when he came. I didn’t think it was that serious, you know? Cause by the way he said it, it was just so... He was just so fluffy with it, that...

FUNK: He wasn’t concerned about it.

McCLENDON: Then a couple days later, when I saw the paper, and he’s in China, I’m like holy shit. I’m like damn, for real? [Pretends to be holding a phone] Said, can I speak to the detective? Who am I speaking to? I have to speak to a detective? Then I hung up. Then I do it again? Can I speak to somebody? Hold on, one minute please? ... Not going to let them GPS where I am. If I’m going to come, I’m going to come. Not going to happen. So then I’m thinking like, damn, what the fuck? Hold up, I didn’t do nothin’, no! ... Then I’m thinking, what am I gonna do? So I said, fuck it. I stayed at my girl’s house, but then I said, I’m not gonna stay here, I don’t want to get you in trouble. ... Everybody don’t have the same heart as you [meaning Funk]. They gonna send somebody else there, and it’s gonna turn into something else. ...

FUNK: That ain’t true.

McCLENDON: You cops are grimy... I know I ran a lot, but what would you do if I jumped in my car and just started running toward you.

FUNK: I’d probably run, too.

McCLENDON: They provoke it. [...]

FUNK: They’ve got a job to do, too, Jamont. ... If everyone was like me, guys would be getting away with stuff all the time. Because I like to believe what people tell me. Believe it or not. I’m naïve enough to believe that guys are being honest to me. That’s my fatal flaw. And I’ll always be the way I am.



FUNK: I know you kept your head down low because you didn’t want it to escalate to what you said. As soon as someone saw ’ya, this is what was going to happen.



McCLENDON: I’m really being arrested because y’all haven’t seen us. It went to the grand jury because you haven’t seen us. Is that it? Basically?

FUNK: No! No.

McCLENDON: Yeah. Yeah. Hell yeah. That’s basically it. Cause you put your back to the wall, and you’re like, fuck, you know?

FUNK: Put my back to the wall? Nah.

McCLENDON: Or whatever. ‘Fuck, let’s send the paperwork further, I think we should do it.’ You probably had everybody else up your asses, saying this, and that, and this and that. And just got tired of it. That’s probably what happened.

FUNK: I look at it this way. Nobody got killed. Nobody—You didn’t rob a bank. The building didn’t get blown up... What happened, happened. It could have been a heck of a lot worse. By my whole point was to talk to you to find out what you knew that day when I spoke to Quintin, my next person to speak to, you can ask anybody, I need to speak to Jamont. You can ask anybody. I wanted to talk to you more than I wanted to talk to him. Because I believed that you would have been honest, more honest to me, than Quintin was honest to me that day. I’ve never dealt with Quintin. That was the first time I had a face-to-face conversation. I can talk to you. Cuase I gain nothing by bullshitting or lying to you.

McCLENDON: Right. ... He said that you showed him a picture of me. Like, somebody took a picture of something... And said it was me. And I said, ‘What?’ I said, yeah, right, I never left your house. But he said, well that’s what he said. The way he acts, you’ve got to laugh about what he does, but...

FUNK: Listen, I have a good sense of humor. However it was said. I have a job to do, I have evidence that I collect and I pick up and I go where the evidence leads me. Now... No, I can’t even go there.

McCLENDON: Yes, you should.

FUNK: Nah. I can’t. I can’t. I don’t want to jeopardize anything. And I don’t want to get you in trouble, and I definitely don’t want to get me in trouble.



McCLENDON: There’s nobody here [in Hudson]. It’s a bunch of little kids, or people from fuckin’ New York, or—

FUNK: Why do they all come up here, may I ask you? You ever hear them talkin’, why they like it here so much?

McCLENDON: Yeah.

FUNK: Why?

McCLENDON: Because the drugs are cheaper down there and they can sell them more for up here.

FUNK: Still? That’s still the #1 reason?

McCLENDON: Some people, it’s just for better livin’. Because like us, they don’t want to go through the bullshit down there.

FUNK: There’s bullshit no matter where you go.

McCLENDON: It’s cheaper to live here.

FUNK: Yeah, I’ll give them that. I’ll give them that. So listen, you don’t want to tell me no more? Because I’m going to call the D.A. when I’m done talking to ya. Let him know that, you know, you talked to me for a good hour-and-a-half.

McCLENDON: I don’t know, I’m trying to think on it now. Could I have a tissue please?

FUNK: Hang on to that.

McCLENDON: [blows nose] ... I need my last cigarette before I go to jail forever.

FUNK: I can get you a cigarette. You ain’t going to jail forever.

McCLENDON: Yeah, it seems like it.

FUNK: It just seems like it now.

[They move next to the office window, where McClendon smokes a cigarette]

FUNK: When this talk started about leavin...

McCLENDON: I wasn’t talkin’ bout going to leave. He made everything sound like it was going to be OK.

FUNK: He sugarcoated everything, to make you think that it was no big deal like—

McCLENDON: He embellished it, like, what the fuck? I’m thinkin’ that now.

FUNK: I’ve got more, you don’t have to smoke it down to the filter. Now, you’re hippy friends out in Harlemville, would he go out to Harlemville?

McCLENDON: Yeah, they’d protect him. They’d protect him.



McCLENDON: Why am I so important in the inquiry?

FUNK: There’s what happened, and there’s what’s being told what happened. Somewhere in between, someone is going to tell, someone’s going to say what happened... The true, honest, what happened. And I believe that is you... I don’t want to see you sit in jail like you’re public enemy #1 and him walking around like I’m something better than that. Because when it all boils down we’re all the same...

McCLENDON: I didn’t go in that building. I didn’t do anything. ... In fact, there was a cop sitting on the corner [the night of the burglary, when they were partying on the porch; obvious worn down, McClendon alleges that cocaine was present at the party.]



FUNK: You’re not a bad guy, you’re not a bad person. We all make mistakes. A guy told me years ago, that’s why they put erasers on pencils.

in Cities | Albany, Cities | Hudson, Crime, Law Enforcement | | Comments (0)

February 5, 2013

EXCLUSIVE: The Cross Dossier


EXHIBIT A: The Hudson police interview of Quintin Cross, conducted on the afternoon of March 19th, 2012

News broke on December 10th of last year that a second grand jury had declined to press charges against Quintin Cross and Jamont McClendon in Hudson’s high-profiile City Hall burglary case. Since then, many have wondered: What caused the case against them to fall apart?

The pair had disappeared on the afternoon of March 19th, shortly after a first grand jury’s vote led to the issuance of warrants for their arrest. Though the burglary involved less than $100, the pungeant combination of a City Hall break-in, Cross’s felony plea for misusing a City credit card, and their sudden disappearance generated intense media interest and a widespread impression that the two had something to hide.

In early April, the Hudson police discovered McClendon camped out in a State Street house. Meanwhile, during his six-week disappearance Cross found a high-powered lawyer (with the help of Time & Space Limited’s Linda Mussmann) before eventually turning himself in.

While previously he pled guilty to a fourth degree grand larceny charge related to improper charges on a City of Hudson credit card, Cross has in this case insisted on his innocence, while also raising issues of social justice, race and fairness in the New York police and court systems. Cross is now heading up a new nonprofit organization called The Staley B. Keith Social Justice Center, named for another former Hudson alderman.

The collapse of the case raises many additional questions. Were the wrong two people accused, or did the pair skate on a legal technicality? If innocent, why did they flee? Does the City really have what it has termed an “open investigation” of the burglary, or does it have more of an interest in burying the matter? And, with another local election season in the offing, will the defunct case now live on as a political football, —tossed around in the Fall Mayor’s race, or used to reshape the future of the Hudson Police Department?

In the context of such lingering questions, this site has had on-again, off-again discussions over the past month with Quintin Cross about taping a live interview, possibly with the help of professional videographer Lance Wheeler.

While Cross has decided to hold off on such an interview for now, the former Hudson alderman has offered something potentially far more explosive and illuminating: Access to a large trove of documents and digital assets gathered by his defense in an effort to rebut charges that he burglarized City Hall.

This dossier provides a glimpse into both the planned strategy for defending Cross against the (now-dismissed) charges, and also into the materials obtained by his defense from the prosecution via the legal “discovery” process for a trial that eventually got called off. Taken together, these provide insight into why the high-profile case unexpectedly collapsed on the second go-round.

The video above is the first and arguably most crucial of those assets: A tape of the police interview of Cross which was led by the HPD’s John Funk on the afternoon of March 19th, 2012. 

 


The burglary had been discovered early on the morning of March 19th, 2012. By early afternoon, City officials and Detective John Funk had already testified to a grand jury, wrapping up its proceedings around 2:30 pm. Around the same time, police records indicate that the HPD brought Cross in for a voluntary interview with Funk in the presence of Officer Filli.

The interview ended at 3:27 pm, according to the timestamp on the video, with Cross walking out of the station a free man. Just three minutes later, at 3:30 pm, the warrants for his and McClendon’s arrest hit the HPD dispatcher’s desk... at which point the pair disappeared. Three minutes sooner, and there might have been no disappearance.

This police interview became a key bone of contention in the now-cancelled trial, since it was not provided to the defense in a timely way as required by law. (District Attorney Paul Czajka has been generous in taking responsibility forthe omission, though the first responsibility lay with the HPD.)

The video has not been edited above except in two ways: (A) to remove two long and uninformative stretches when Cross just sitting and waiting, and (B) to bleep out the names of citizens mentioned by Funk in the course of the interview.

Legal briefs show that Funk’s mention of one such name had extraordinary value to Cross’s defense as so-called Brady material, a legal term referring to “exculpatory or impeaching information and evidence that is material to the guilt or innocence or to the punishment of a defendant.”

One can see how the content of the suppressed interview may have introduced reasonable doubt regarding the charges, since the same officer who testified to the first grand jury that he recognized Cross on the City Hall surveillance videotape, barely an hour later speculates about whether it’s a totally different Hudson resident. Perhaps this was intended as just an interrogator’s trick, but the value to a defense is immense.

Questioning Cross at length about whether he was responsible for the burglary, and trying various Law & Order-style gambits in an effort to induce him to confess, Funk leaves for a long time—then comes back and abruptly shows Cross stills from the City Hall videotape. The following conversation occurs:

FUNK: Does that look like anybody you know?

CROSS: I can’t see it.

FUNK: You can’t see it? What, did it shut off? ... You don’t know who that guy is? You don’t know who he is? Okay.

[CROSSTALK AS FUNK ACCIDENTALLY BUMPS INTO CROSS]

FUNK: ... I guess, I’m asking you to help me out on this then. Because, whoever did this... What do you think should happen to him? He broke into City Hall.

CROSS: That sucks.

FUNK: That’s stupid—

CROSS: Yup.

FUNK: That’s, that’s some, that’s, that’s minor league stuff. Uh... And you, you're definitely sure it wasn’t you. That ain’t you there?

CROSS: No.

FUNK: You know [MALE FIRST NAME]? You know [MALE FULL NAME]?

CROSS: Yeah.

FUNK: [FEMALE FIRST NAME]’s boyfriend? Could that be him?

CROSS: Let me see?

FUNK: This guy right here. I know, I’m standing right on you... That guy definitely looks like Jamont. So I gotta find him, because I know he'll tell me if he was there. Don’t that look like Jamont?

CROSS: Is it in color?

FUNK: No, it's in night vision.

CROSS: Oh, yeah.

Funk at this point drops the question of who appears on the film, moving on other topics such as the possible need to interview Cross’s mother and sister about his whereabouts on the night before. Funk asks Cross to tell Jamont “to get his rear end over here” if he sees him, and the interview ends on a casual note. Only three minutes later, the HPD began actively looking for him.

Though Cross’s dossier includes extensive investigative materials provided to the defense, the materials provided show no indication that the other male mentioned by Funk was ever interrogated or sought by the HPD. While the name could be fictitious, a male of that same name (bleeped out above) does appear in Hudson voter registration rolls, and is roughly the same age as Cross.

 


In the first half of the video above, Officer Filli more deftly elicits information about Cross’s rumored impending trip to China, casually getting him to tell when and where his flight out of the country would leave—that Thursday, from Newark.

Other printed records provided by Cross reveal that the Hudson police over the next 72 hours was feverishly contacting airport officials to prevent him from leaving the country if he showed up for the flight. Filli also cleverly invents a way to get Cross to show him the bottom of his shoe, for reasons that become clear below.

Making the case to Cross that “videotape don’t lie,” Funk comes in and genially quizzes Cross. In the course of their sparring, Funk indicates that the police have gathered fingerprint, footprint and DNA evidence. Later, the results of such some of those tests were also withheld for a time from the defense, with their results appearing to have been inconclusive.

Talking expansively, Funk says that he has no animus toward Cross, and that he recognizes his role in the community, and that he knows “who he knows,” and that he is not interested in all that “bullshit” about the credit cards, Funk argues that if hypothetically Cross were guilty of the burglary, it would be in his best interest to confess up front.

Cross wisely does not take the bait, declining to give either a statement or a deposition before leaving.

Mailing labelAs far as the provenance of the dossier: Cross indicates that his attorney Susan Tipograph was moving offices and sent it to him for his own safe-keeping. Notably, the stamp-plastered box in which the documents arrived from Tipograph in late December was addressed not to Cross, but to “Linda Mussman[n]” at Time & Space Limited, 434 Columbia Street. While there is no way of saying whether the file has been manipulted to influence this site’s reporting, the randomness of some of the material—such as the inclusion of one of Cross’s tax returns—suggests that it has been presented without much editing.

This site expects to report in further depth on other materials to which Cross has provided access over the next few days.

in Cities | Hudson, Crime, Law Enforcement | | Comments (1)

January 29, 2013

$23 million in damages at TCI, but no smoke alarms

image from www.sampratt.com


An official report on the catastrophic fire last summer TCI in Ghent reveals that despite an estimated $23,000,000 in damages, the PCB processor did not have smoke alarms, sprinklers or standpipes installed in the building.

The $23 million estimated loss is doubly surprising given that the property was only assessed at less than 2.5% of that amount. According to Ghent’s final 2012 assessment roll, TCI’s assessment was just $564,259, resulting in less than $5,000 in Town and County property taxes.

The report’s existence only came to light due to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request and subsequent article by John Mason for The Register-Star on January 26th.

Chief investigator Randi Shadic of the NYS Office of Fire Prevention and Control forwarded the results to the County Fire Coordinator, West Ghent Fire Chief, and State Police Investigator in charge, but requested that they “not release the report or related documents unless it’s pursuant to a subpoena or Freedom of Information Law request.”

Among other things, the report reveals that:

  • During the fire, a 20,000 tank of mineral oil “suffered a catastrophic failure which caused the entire tank to become airborne, exit the structure through the roof and land a great distance to the north and east of the structure.”
  • The structure at 39 Falls Industrial Road “is owned by KMOJ Acquisitions LLC of Kearney, New Jersey and is doing business as TCI of NY LLC.” Note: The 2012 Ghent tax rolls show the property as owned by TCI Realty of NY, LLC.
  • Yet another company, Power Substation Services (PSS) of West Virginia, “had been operating at the TCI facility for approximately two years.” Note: Extensive records obtained via FOIL by this site from Ghent give no indication that TCI ever notified the Town of the presence there of PSS or KMOJ.
  • The report says that “PSS is a business that processes transformer oils containing polychlorinate biphenyl (PCB's) at a level higher than that which TCI is allowed to handle.”
  • Investigators were not able to make their first entry into the structure until September 6th, almost five weeks after the fire. Some materials had already been removed from the site by that time. Concerned about “the possibility of chemical contamination” in the building, they had to wear Level C hazardous materials suits, respirators and other safety gear to do so.
  • The fire was discovered by a TCI employee who responded to a “motion alarm activation inside the building.” His first call was to a manager, who called the alarm company, who called Columbia County 911. Note: If you ever discover a fire, it’s probably a good idea to call 911 first.
  • TCI had a burglar alarm system in place, which went off at 9:55 but was assumed by the alarm company to have been triggered by a bird or other animal. It went off again four minutes later at 9:59—at which point the company rep evidently went to see what was happening. The report attributes this motion detection to “the movement of smoke or possibly flames,” not a person. Note: State application materials submitted but apparently withdrawn by TCI earlier in the year appear to indicate that the building was also under video surveillance, but no mention of such records is made in this report.
  • Firefighters entered the smoke-filled building through the front entrance and also by forced entry through the rear door, eventually spotting flames. Note: It is not indicated what masks or other breathing apparatus or chemical exposure protection were used, if any. 
  • PSS was handling PCBs in “two mobile processing units,” a “process rig” and a “dehydration rig,” with “numerous 55 gallon steel drums stored under and immediately next to the processing trailers.”
  • “The combustible portions of the trailers were nearly 100% consumed by fire,” with the steel drums also sustaining “extensive fire and heat damage.” Some collapsed, and others had “holes burned through the sides.”
  • The steel beams, trusses and metal roof panels of the building likewise collapsed, testament to the extreme heat of the fire.
  • The fire was not believed to have been “at floor level” initially.
  • The report favors the hypothesis that the fire orginated “in the south/west portion of the warehouse area of the structure near the processing trailer units.” It discounts or rules out numerous other causes, from electrial wiring problems to a lightning strike.
  • Repairs were made to PSS’s processing trailer on the day of the fire, specifically replacing a heater used to melt the sodium used by PSS to break down PCBs. A higher wattage heater (7,500 instead of 6,000 watts) was installed.
  • This heater “was left on” overnight on purpose “to resume processing of oil” the next morning.
  • The report states that the PSS employees reported the “operating temperature of this heater and mixer chest is 250 degrees,” while also noting that “the ignition temperature” of sodium is 239 degrees ... and 250 degrees. That suggests the sodium could have been ignited by the heater, as acknowledged in the report.
  • Another possible cause cited is “the possibility of a chemical reaction or spontaneous heating of materials combined in [a] trash drum” used to dispose of oil-soaked rags and other materials alongside the trailer.

Endnotes: Ghent resident Patti Matheney spoke with a representative of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, who expressed surprise that PSS was handling PCBs of a concentration indicated in the report, and who requested to see a copy of it.

Neither the Feds, State, County or Town of Ghent are known to have imposed any fines or cited the facility for any permit, fire or other code violations related to the disaster last summer. The Town has, however, indicated that the West Ghent fire company will need to increase its budget by 10% as a result of costs incurred for fighting the fire.

in Accidents & Emergencies, Counties | Columbia, Media & Publishing, Towns | Ghent | | Comments (2)

January 27, 2013

Purple Greenport

Skyset

Sky over Widewaters Plaza, Greenport (NY).

in Landscapes, Photographs, Towns | Greenport | | Comments (1)

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