Texas assistant district attorney whacked

[jimmy olsen]

Rare that a prosecutor is killed, was he closing in on something big, or is this just the work of a vengeful ex-con?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/assistant-da-shot-and-killed-outside-north-texas-courthouse-2-suspects-remain-at-large/2013/01/31/a508b3f6-6c07-11e2-8f4f-2abd96162ba8_story.html

Police chief: No sign slain Texas prosecutor feared for safety before shooting near courthouse
By Associated Press, Published: January 31 | Updated: Friday, February 1, 6:40 PM

KAUFMAN, Texas — Authorities don't know whether a Texas prosecutor who had extensive experience with organized crime feared for his life before he was fatally shot, but they're poring through the cases he handled for leads to his killer, officials said Friday.

No arrests have been made since Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was gunned down Thursday morning in a parking lot about a block from his office at the Kaufman County Courthouse. Authorities are searching for one or two suspects. Witnesses have said the killer was dressed in black with facial features covered.

Kaufman police Chief Chris Aulbaugh said there's no indication that Hasse, 57, had been afraid he might be killed and, although the prosecutor was a licensed peace officer, officials refused to say whether he was carrying a weapon.

"We are reviewing Mr. Hasse's cases and following up on any leads that would give us rise for a person of interest," Aulbaugh said. In addition to local authorities, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating the case.

That could be a daunting task. Hasse joined the Kaufman County district attorney's office three years ago and previously worked in the Dallas County district attorney's office.

Hasse was chief of the organized crime unit when he was an assistant prosecutor in Dallas County in the 1980s, and he handled similar cases in Kaufman County, 33 miles southeast of Dallas.

Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland said Hasse was one of 12 attorneys on his staff, all of whom handle hundreds of cases at a time.

"Anything anybody can think of, we're looking through," McLelland said.

In recent years, Hasse played major roles in Kaufman County's most high-profile cases, including one in which a justice of the peace was convicted on theft and burglary charges and another in which a man was convicted of killing his former girlfriend and her 10-year-old daughter.

"Hasse was a top-notch prosecutor who did a lot of things," said Steve Hulme, a family law attorney who practices in both Dallas and Kaufman. "There are a lot of cases to look at."

As a licensed peace officer in Texas, Hasse could openly carry a firearm and make arrests. According to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education, Hasse obtained his license in 1988 and kept it current through 1995. He then allowed it to lapse for 16 years before renewing it in July 2011.

"If you saw Mark around the office or the courthouse, he generally had a pistol," said Bill Wirskye, a Dallas attorney who recently served as a special prosecutor on a murder case in Kaufman County.

Wirskye, a former Dallas County prosecutor, said prosecutors in Texas have been known to carry guns, although it's not typical.

"I don't think (Hasse) lived in fear, but he was always careful," Wirskye said. "He knew the job carried certain dangers."

Along with looking at Hasse's cases, authorities are monitoring video surveillance cameras from convenience stores and other businesses in the area to see if a vehicle linked to the killing was spotted. The vehicle is believed to be an older model, gray, four-door sedan.

Authorities also hope that a growing pot of reward money will lead to an arrest. By late Friday, more than $70,000 had been put up, with $30,000 coming from Dallas County DA Craig Watkins' asset forfeiture fund.

"We will follow every lead that we receive," Aulbaugh said.

The Kaufman County Courthouse reopened Friday, and many county employees were back at work, although the DA's office remained closed.

"We're in mourning," Judge Bruce Wood said during an interview in his office. "I think we're still in a state of, 'We can't believe this happened.'"

___

Robbins reported from Dallas.

[Eddie Teach]

Texas is turning into Mexico.

[Razgovory]

Even the mob balked at killing prosecutors.  They put the hit on the Dutchman because he was going to kill a DA.

[CountDeMoney]

Sounds to me like it was a simple exercise in an individual's 2nd Amendment right to combat the tyranny of an oppressive government.

[Scipio]

Sounds to me like it was a simple exercise in an individual's 2nd Amendment right to combat the tyranny of an oppressive government.

Sounds like Ray-Ray made a side trip to Texas on the way to NOLA.

I heard that he's looking forward to retirement so that he can spend more time stabbing his family.

[CountDeMoney]

Don't be hatin' on the Most Reverend Ray because someone's taken 20 years' worth of the gun lobby's constant white noise interpretation of the right to bear arms to defend oneself against evul gubbmint types like prosecutors seriously.

Texas cracker gun fucks reap what they sow.  Guess he should've brought a gun to a gun fight.

[Razgovory]

Sounds like he had a gun.  Guess it didn't save his life.

[Viking]

wacked means crazy
whacked means assassinated

[DGuller]

Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland said Hasse was one of 12 attorneys on his staff, all of whom handle hundreds of cases at a time.

Now McLelland dude has been whacked as well, along with his wife.  Seems like Aryan Brotherhood has declared war on law enforcement.

[jimmy olsen]

Wow. That's pretty crazy. Looks like we got a full blown conspiracy going on! 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57577158/deputy-texas-district-attorney-wife-found-dead/

Deputy: Texas district attorney, wife found dead

   
Updated March 31,2013, 12:31 AM ET

KAUFMAN, Texas A North Texas county district attorney and his wife were found dead in their home Saturday, two months after one of his assistant district attorneys was shot to death in a parking lot a block from his office.

Police, FBI agents and Kaufman County sheriff's deputies were investigating the deaths of county District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, sheriff's Lt. Justin Lewis said late Saturday. CBS Station KTVT Dallas reported that security is being increased involving all Kaufman County officials.

Lewis said he couldn't discuss the investigation in further detail, including the nature of the couple's deaths and whether authorities believe it is linked to the Jan. 31 fatal shooting of an assistant Kaufman County district attorney, Mark Hasse.

KTVT also reported that the McLellands have five children, including a son who is a Dallas police officer.

The Dallas Morning News reported that Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh said the McLellands had been shot in their home and that although investigators didn't know if their deaths and Hasse's were related, they couldn't discount it.

"It is a shock," Aulbaugh said late Saturday, the paper reported. "It was a shock with Mark Hasse, and now you can just imagine the double shock and until we know what happened, I really can't confirm that it's related but you always have to assume until it's proven otherwise."

Sam Rosander, who lives in the same unincorporated area of Kaufman County as the McLellands, told The Associated Press that sheriff's deputies were parked in the district attorney's driveway for about a month after Hasse was killed.

Aulbaugh said recently that the FBI was checking to see if Hasse's killing could be related to the killing of the head of Colorado's prison system, Tom Clements, who was gunned down after answering the doorbell at his home.

Evan Spencer Ebel, a former Colorado inmate and white supremacist who authorities believe killed Clements, was gunned down in a March 21 shootout with Texas deputies about 100 miles from Kaufman.

Aulbaugh said at the time that the investigation into whether the cases were linked was routine for attacks that appear similar. Both targeted law enforcement officials. Authorities have investigated whether Hasse's death could be linked to a white supremacist gang.

Aulbaugh had said there's no indication that Hasse, 57, had been afraid he might be killed and, although the prosecutor was a licensed peace officer, officials refused to say whether he was carrying a weapon.

Hasse was chief of the organized crime unit when he was an assistant prosecutor in Dallas County in the 1980s, and he handled similar cases in Kaufman County, 33 miles southeast of Dallas.

McLelland had said Hasse was one of 12 attorneys on his staff, all of whom handle hundreds of cases at a time.

"Anything anybody can think of, we're looking through," McLelland said after the assistant prosecutor was killed.

In recent years, Hasse played major roles in Kaufman County's most high-profile cases, including one in which a justice of the peace was convicted on theft and burglary charges and another in which a man was convicted of killing his former girlfriend and her 10-year-old daughter.

[CountDeMoney]

CBS Station KTVT Dallas reported that security is being increased involving all Kaufman County officials.

I'm sure the Deputy County Assessor appreciates that.

[Fate]

Texas Tejas is returning into Mexico.

Fixed it for you.

[FunkMonk]

Texas Tejas is returning into Mexico.

Fixed it for you.

One can only hope.

[Phillip V]

Rick Perry needs to activate the Texas National Guard and declare martial law until this threat is eliminated.

[Syt]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22019433

Aryan Brotherhood of Texas: How did neo-Nazi prison gangs become so powerful?

Three US justice officials who tackled white supremacist prison gangs have been killed. Originally formed to fight other gangs, these groups are now accused of a range of criminal activities on the outside, from drug smuggling and kidnapping to murder. How did neo-Nazi prisoners set up huge criminal networks?

With skinhead haircuts and swastika tattoos, their leaders are buried deep within the brutal confines of America's penitentiaries.

But three murders in less than three months have shone a spotlight on far-right prison gangs, whose empire of drug-dealing, racketeering and murder extends well beyond the walls and barbed wire around them.

The bodies of Kaufman County, Texas, district attorney Mike McLelland, 63, and his wife Cynthia, 65, were found on Saturday.

McLelland's deputy, Mark Hasse, was killed in January, on the same day it was announced that their office was pursuing a racketeering case against the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT), a white supremacist group formed in Texan jails.

Police are investigating whether their deaths were linked with the killing of Tom Clements, Colorado's head of prisons.

The chief suspect in that case, ex-convict Evan Ebel, is said to have belonged to the 211 Crew, another violent racist prison gang. Official documents state his body was covered with Nazi-themed tattoos. Ebel died in a shoot-out two days after Clements.

While the killings remain unsolved, they have focused attention on the increasingly dangerous white supremacist networks formed in prison.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which monitors hate in the US, describes the ABT as "the most violent extremist group in the United States". It says the gang, thought to have around 2,000 members, has committed "at least" 29 murders in the US between 2000-12.

Its primary objective has moved beyond conducting turf wars inside jails or propagating racist ideology, however, into running a ruthless Mafia-style organised crime network.

An FBI indictment in November 2012 charged 34 ABT members with three murders, several attempted murders, assault, kidnapping and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine. According to court papers, the ABT has a tightly organisational structure composed of five regions, each run by a "general."

"If you look at domestic extremist groups in the US, they are responsible for more homicides than anyone else, although most are crime-related, to do with insubordination or revenge or against those who owe them money," says Brian Levin, director of California State University's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.

Of the confirmed ABT murders from 2000-12, the ADL estimates that 41% were "internal killings".

Three ABT members have pleaded guilty to the murder of Mark Davis Byrd Jr, who was beaten, tortured stabbed and shot in San Antonio in 2008.

Byrd, who had reportedly embezzled drugs he was supposed to deliver, had two of his fingers cut off - a calling card of the ABT, whose modus operandi dictates that a digit should be removed from its victims as a trophy.

The US's original neo-Nazi prison gang, known simply as the Aryan Brotherhood, emerged in California's San Quentin State Prison during the late 1960s.

Desegregation of American jails meant inmates from different races were integrated for the first time, and simmering tensions between them saw prisoners group together along ethnic lines in cliques such as the Black Guerrilla Family or the Mexican Mafia.

Initially, their primary purpose was to offer protection from attack.

"Prisons are hostile environments," says former Texas prison warder and gang expert Terry Pelz. "We lock up a lot of people and we have a lot of racial hostility within prison. That's why these gangs form."

Quickly, however, the Brotherhood branched out into smuggling contraband into jails, which gave it a foothold in the lucrative drug trade.

Although its constitution demands that members must be "genetically of European ancestry" and believe in "the racial purity of the white race", its leaders have proved pragmatic in their dealings with non-white outsiders.

"They are a criminal syndicate first and the ideology comes second," says Levin. "They will work with other criminal syndicates even if they belong to ethnicities they dislike - it even says so in their constitution."

They have also forged alliances with other white supremacist prison gangs such as the Nazi Lowriders and the European Kindred.

Today the Southern Poverty Law Center estimates that the California-led Aryan Brotherhood has some 20,000 members both in and out of custody. In 2011 the FBI said it was active in 16 states as far apart as Washington, Virginia, Tennessee and Indiana.


The ABT was formed after Texas desegregated its jails in 1979, when Texan prisoners independently adopted the same markers and structures as the Brotherhood.

It applied to join the wider organisation, but according to TJ Leyden, a former skinhead turned anti-racism campaigner, "the only way to join was to be brought in by a made member, and there were no made members in Texas", so it remains unaffiliated and autonomous.

Greater emphasis was placed by the ABT on signing up members on the outside who could assist with smuggling or drug deals - a practice frowned upon by the mainline Brotherhood, which considered such recruits more likely to accept plea bargains to avoid jail.

What both factions had in common, however, was a steady intake of new inmates who turned to them for protection from the vicious brutality of life in the US prison system.

According to Leyden, the Nazi iconography functions as a means of ensuring these recruits stay loyal, even after they are released, as the groups' codes insist that membership can only be revoked by death.

"They need the swastika, they need the SS bolts, they need these symbols as a form of control," he says.

"If you have that stuff on your body you are not going into a black cell. And when you get out, employers will see the tattoos and say, 'I'm not giving you a shot.' Staying on the street is short-lived for most of them."


Leyden suggests such gangs may have been welcomed by prison guards because they assumed much of the task of policing inmates for them.

If the ABT were responsible for any of the recent killings of justice officials, it would represent a dramatic change in orientation.

Previously the group had been careful to avoid confrontation with the authorities, and some of those who followed their rise have expressed scepticism about whether they are behind the murders.

"If they are involved in this, it's a major step for them," says James W Marquart, a University of Texas criminologist.

"Typically, they are not involved in this sort of high-stakes activity. They like to keep it on the down-low as much as possible."

Alternatively, it may be that the killings are a desperate acknowledgement that the legal proceedings against them posed a serious threat to the ABT's existence.

Few would doubt, however, that groups like this still have the potential to demonstrate to the outside world their potential for sheer barbaric savagery - a capacity that has long been all too familiar to those on the inside.

Timeline

9 November 2012: Some 34 alleged Aryan Brotherhood of Texas members indicted by the FBI over three murders, several attempted murders, assault, kidnapping, and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine

December 2012:Texas Department of Public Safety warns it has information to suggest the ABT is "actively planning retaliation against law enforcement officials"

31 January 2013: Kaufman County, Texas, Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse shot dead on the same day the justice department announces his office is pursuing a racketeering case against the ABT

19 March: Tom Clements, head of Colorado's department of corrections, is killed

21 March: Lead suspect in Clements' killing, Evan Ebel (above), dies in a shootout with police. Ex-convict Ebel had Nazi tattoos and was linked to a far-right prison gang

30 March: Hasse's boss Mike McLelland, 63, and his wife Cynthia, 65, found shot dead in their home