March 6, 2013 Vol. 2 Issue 3 The Case for Ted Kuhl’s Innocence Table of Contents The Case for Ted Kuhl’s The Brussels Airport Innocence Diamond Heist by J. Patrick O’Connor p. 3 March 6, 2013 Vol. 2 Issue 3 DEAD IN THE WATER Publisher by Harriet Ford p. 11 Joe O’Connor [email protected] The Shankill Butchers Editor J. Patrick O’Connor [email protected] Authors by EPONYMOUS ROX p. 7 Ronald J. Lawrence J. J. Maloney David Lohr by Robert Walsh p. 5 H. P. Albarelli Jr. Lora Lusher Jane Alexander Lona Manning Before Lizzie Borden Betty Alt Hal Mansfield Black Power, the “Third Scott Thomas Anderson Peter Manso Man,” and the Assassinations Mel Ayton David Margolick Joan Bannan Jessica Mason of Bermuda’s Police Chief Dane Batty Allan May Scott Bartz Paula Moore and Governor Bonnie Bobit John Morris Gary Boynton Richard Muti John Lee Brook Tim Newark Patrick Campbell Denise Noe Amanda Carlos Lt. John Nores Jr. James Ottavio Castag- J. Patrick O'Connor by Thomas D. McDougall p. 13 nera John O'Dowd J. D. Chandler Robert Phillips Ron Chepesiuk Liz Porter Dirty Laundry: Cold Case Denise M. Clark Mark Pulham Kendall Coffey Joe Purshouse by Mel Ayton p. 9 84-137640 Peter Davidson Patrick Quinn Anthony Davis Randy Radic Scott M. Deitche Michael Richardson Michael Esslinger Ryan Ross Steven Gerard Farrell Eponymous Rox Don Fulsom Anneli Rufus Mark S. Gado Laura Schultz, MFT Mary Garden Cathy Scott Oliver Gaspirtz Fred Shrum, III Erin Geyer Ronnie Smith David A. Gibb James A. Swan, Ph.D. Anthony Gonzalez John Tait by James R. Melton p. 15 Dennis N. Griffin Marilyn Z. Tomlins Randor Guy Claudette Walker Charles Hustmyre Robert Walsh John F. Kelly Phillip K. Wearne Subscribe to Crime Magazine David Kirschner, PhD. Sandra Wells Barbara Kussow Evan Whitton http://crimemagazine/subscribe Doris Lane Peter L. Winkler Jason Lapeyre Daniel B. Young 2 The Brussels Airport Diamond Heist In a daring, commado-style operation, eight masked, heavily armed gunmen pulled off a lightening quick heist of more than $50 million worth of diamonds. by J. Patrick O’Connor For centuries, Antwerp has been the world’s center of diamond trading and remains so today. According to a Helvetic Airways aircraft at the Brussels international airport (Photo: Associated Press) spokesperson for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre about $200 accompanied by armed escorts that locked, a black Audi A8 sedan and million in diamonds enter and peel away once the Brinks vans ar- a black Mercedes van with blue leave Antwerp daily, with about 99 rive at the airport’s locked gate. police lights flashing pulled up next percent of that moving through the to the airplane at 7:47 p.m. By 7:52 Brussels Airport in several ship- On the evening of February 18, p.m. the vehicles and 121 packets of ments each week. The spokesper- 2013, eight heavily armed masked the diamonds were gone in a light- son said that diamonds traded in men were outfitted in airport secu- ening quick and incredibly compe- Antwerp last year had a total value rity uniforms and drove two black tent robbery. of $51.9 billion, accounting for 80 vehicles that had police-style lights percent of the world’s rough dia- on top. They arrived at Zaventem With commando efficiency, some mond trade and 50 percent of trade International Airport in Brussels in of the gunmen stood in front of the in polished stones. The only other darkness intent on pulling off the jet plane pointing machine guns major diamond center is Dubai, in most audacious heist in airport his- equipped with red laser sights at the United Arab Emirates. tory. They knew, due to construc- the pilots and Brinks crew while tion near the main security gate, others calmly – speaking French – Diamond brokers from around the that gate would be unlocked. Using ordered ground workers to open world store their diamonds and wire cutters, they opened a section the aircraft’s cargo doors. Without gems – sometimes for as little as of the other 10-foot-high security firing a shot, the robbers unloaded a day – in one or more of the 160 fence on the perimeter of the air- all but four of the diamond packets safety-deposit boxes located in port and then waited eight minutes that contained packages of both an underground vault at the An- for the Brinks van to unload some polished and uncut diamonds and twerp Diamond Centre. Once a 125 packets of diamonds in the sped away within five minutes of deal is brokered for the sale of the cargo hold of Flight LX789, a Hel- arriving. diamonds, shipment is arranged vetic Airways jet waiting to depart through the Zaventem Interna- in the next 18 minutes for Zurich, The London Daily Telegraph re- tional Airport in Brussels. The dia- Switzerland. ported that most of the diamonds monds are placed in small packets were uncut and that 90 percent and driven by armored Brinks vans Minutes after the diamonds had were bound for the Indian city of to the airport. On the 25-mile trip been offloaded from the Brinks van Surat, via Zurich. Initial estimates to the airport, the Brinks vans are and the doors to the cargo hold placed the theft at $50 million, but 3 inside informa- agement company,” told The New tion. “This is an York Times. The theft, he added, obvious possibil- was “incredibly audacious and well- ity,” she said. organized,” and beyond the means of all but the most experienced and Quoting airport strong nerved criminals. “In jobs security insiders, like this we are often surprised by The Wall Street the level of preparation and infor- Journal reported mation: they know so much they that “the preci- probably know the employees by sion of the Brus- n am e .” sels heist suggests extensive help Levy told The Times that “the au- from airport dacity of the crime recalled in some insiders,” noting ways the so-called Pink Panther that “all airports robberies – a long series of bra- employ thou- zen raids on high-end jewelers in sands of low-paid Geneva, London and elsewhere at- because most of the diamonds were workers and face tributed to criminal gangs from the uncut and could possibly be worth high turnover.” Balkans. But he said the military far more one expert told The Wall precision of Monday’s diamond Street Journal that the take could An aviation-security specialist robbery and the targeting of an air- come to more than $300 million, knowledgeable about the Brussels port suggested a far higher level of which would make the Brussels Airport robbery told the Journal organization than the cruder Pink heist the largest airport robbery “the thieves appeared to have de- Panther operations.” in history by over $200 million. In tailed information about both the 2005, an armed gang hijacked a cargo and operations at the airport, The Mercedes Vaneo used in the Brinks truck at Schiphol Airport in and likely had help from people at robbery was a stolen taxi. It was Amsterdam and escaped with an the airport.” found burned out within 10 miles estimated $90 million of diamonds. of the airport shortly after the “I am certain this was an inside robbers fled. The Audi, which had The 29 passengers onboard were job,” Doron Levy, an expert in air- French registration plates, has not unaware of anything amiss until in- port security at a French risk man- been recovered. formed after the robbers had made their getaway that their flight had been cancelled. No one inside the airport happen to take notice either. “There is a gap of only a few min- utes” between the loading of the gems and the moment the plane starts to move, said Caroline De Wolf, a spokesperson for the Ant- werp World Diamond Centre. “The people who did this knew there was going to be this gap and when.” Ine Van Wymersch, a Brussels pros- ecutor, said the police were inves- tigating whether the robbers had (Photo Mirror UK) 4 The Shankill Butchers Over a 10-year-year period, from 1972 to 1982, the Shankill Butchers gang, led by psycho- path Lenny Murphy, terrorized Northern Ireland Catholics, becoming the most prolific group of serial killers in British history. by Robert Walsh “A lasting monument to blind sectarian bigotry.” – The Shankill Butchers, as described by their trial campaigning lawfully to preserve judge, Lord Justice O’Donnel. The Troubles – A Short History links to Britain (campaigning ac- cording to the law as it then stood, Ireland in general (and Northern In order to understand the Butch- often with the unofficial connivance Ireland in particular) has long had ers they need placing in context. of an often openly biased police a troubled, violent and dark his- Northern Ireland itself was born of service and judiciary) were known tory. Invasions, rebellions, famine, talks between the British and Irish as Unionists, while their paramili- revolution, civil war and what are following the 1916 Easter Rising tary groups (and their own politi- generally described as “The Trou- and subsequent violence. As part cal front groups) were collectively bles” have cast a long shadow over of a treaty between the British labeled Loyalists. the Emerald Isle and its neighbor and the Irish rebel leadership, six (and former colonial ruler) Great of Ireland’s 32 counties were split There was also a religious differ- Britain. In recent years, especially from the newly-formed Irish Free ence. Republicans or Nationalists after the peace talks and ceasefire State (today’s Irish Republic).