Monday, April 17, 2006

WANTED: THE PHOTO OF DUKE CUNNINGHAM, TOMMY KONTOGIANNIS AND GEORGE W. BUSH, 3 CRIMINALS WORKING ON A PRESIDENTIAL PARDON SCHEME

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I don't know if the San Diego Union-Tribune has turned into one of the best investigative newspapers in America or if they just happen to have the most crooked officials in their area to write about (between Duncan Hunter, Jerry Lewis, Brian Bilbray, Howard Kaloogian, Dana Rohrbacher and, of course, former area resident Randy "Duke" Cunningham). But whatever the reason, anyone who wants to follow the intricacies and machinations of the Republican Culture of Corruption in Washington DC is better off reading the San Diego Union-Tribune than even the New York Times or Washington Post!

Today Joey Cantupe has penned a much-needed follow-up on a side road of the Cunningham scandals few reporters have ventured down: sleazy New York Republican mystery man and big time briber Thomas "Gus" Kontogiannis. I started looking into Kontogiannis last summer when it started to look like Cunningham was getting caught for all the millions and millions of bribes he was taking as part of the criminal conspiracy that was Jerry Lewis' Defense Appropriations Committee.

You'll find my Kontogiannis research-- with some huffing and puffing-- on the link I've attached to his name above. The Union-Tribune has some of that background too. They make a good point that I missed, namely that Cunningham was like a kept-woman for Kontogiannis-- as they call it "a congressman on retainer." He was hoping that-- and bankrolling-- Cunningham's future, not as a prison inmate but as the next Donald Rumsfeld. An FBI agent working on the case put it like this: "Let's look at it this way. Duke Cunningham had power and no money, and Tommy Kontogiannis had money [$70 million range, not Cheney or Bush kind of wealth] but no power." (And on this not too complicated concept, Tom DeLay and Rick Santorum were able to subvert the American democratic system into the Republican Culture of Corruption that has come to rule in DC-- and that has already sent Cunningham to prison and will soon send dozens of Republican elected officials to the same fate.) Oh, and Kontogiannis is also a two-time convicted criminal, both times for bribery, and must have a pardon in order to avail himself of lucrative business opportunities with Uncle Sam.

In 2000, Kontogiannis was arrested for receiving more than $2 million in kickbacks in a bid-rigging scheme involving junk computer foisted on the Queens School District. The district Superintendent, Celestine Miller, a Republican scam artist, with absurd pretensions to get elected to Congress helped Kontogiannis defraud the district. He financed her doomed campaign, in part by giving her a brown paper bag filled with $50,000 in cash. That Cunningham sold him a presidential pardon for $400,000 is the most covered-up part of the Randy "Duke" Cunningham scandals. That's because there's only one person who can grant presidential pardons and it isn't Randy "Duke" Cunningham (nor is it Vice President Cheney, nor Irving Libby, nor Michael Brown, nor Gale Norton, nor Tom DeLay nor any of the myriad corrupt scoundrels Bush has surrounded himself with. Only Bush can grant a presidential pardon. What was his cut of the $400,000 bribe from Kontogiannis?

My favorite paragraph in the Union-Tribune story is: "The two men also visited the White House together. Kontogiannis had his picture taken with Cunningham at a White House reception, and friends of Kontogiannis say the businessman kept a photo of himself with Cunningham and President Bush in his house." I bet federal prosecutors would love to have it!

But there's more-- Kontogiannis and a shady Saudi operative living in Southern California, Ziyad Abduljawad, took Cunningham and another crooked Republican California congressloon, Ken Calvert, to Saudi Arabia. Calvert and Cunningham were not there for sightseeing-- nor on government business, at least not legitimate government business.

Kontogiannis is the very worst kind of human detritus, a wealthy crook who has stolen and cheated his way to the top of the financial heap, an utter scumbag treating everyone "below" him with haughty contempt. He has dozens of law suits pending against him, mostly for cheating everyone he's done any kind of business with. That he found the GOP and low-life whores and rogues like Duke Cunningham, Peter King, Ken Calvert and George W. Bush is completely fitting. Hopefully they'll all share a prison cell someday.

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16 Comments:

At 7:03 AM, Blogger knighterrant said...

I'm a San Diegan. We just happen to have a gaggle of crooked politicans, and stupid ones at that. The local's nickname for San Diego is "Enron By the Bay."

 
At 3:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

damn straight down with tyranny. check out www.voteword.org. from one outraged citizen to another.

 
At 6:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for keeping us up to date with a paper I don't check out on a regular basis. There's more than enough slime to go around in the Rep party these days, isn't there.

 
At 8:54 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Comment on "Down With Tyranny"; You're looking for a photo of Tommy the Con Kontogiannis with Pres; look no further for answers than the Greek Orthodox Church he's finaced almost single- handledly; check those crooks out!Dora Bakoyiannis; the Prime Minister, sort of Coni Rice of Greece, is best pals of Tommy Con's stays with him at his North Shore digs and helps him launder her grubby dirty funds; look at her; look at a church in Brookville called Resurrecytion Russian Orthodox; oh yes Tommy Con runs with that crowd too! Good luck!

 
At 7:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

great work dwt. yor site is now on my drop down box. i hope all these crooks do some serious time. so serious that they rat out bush and cheney for some leniency.

 
At 10:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ANGELO EVANGELOS POLLATOS OF HAMILTON EQUITY IS NEXT ON LINE! TOGETHER WITH HIS SKUM SISTER ROSA KARANASOS AND CHRIS KARANASOS. MORTGAGE FRAUD IS ONLY THE BEGINING! JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED! LET THEM ROTT IN JAIL!

 
At 6:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

GROUP KAPPA CORP.AT ONE CROSS ISLAND PLAZA,OWNED BY KONTOGIANNIS SHOULD BE NEWS WORTHY AS ONE OF THE CORRUPT PROPERTY OWNERS ALONG WITH GLADYS RIZZO, MANAGER OF SITE. THEY ARE SELLING THE 2 FAMILY UNITS,WHICH ARE RENT STABLIZED,AND CONSIDERED MULTI-DWELLINGS AS CONVENTIONAL 2 FAMILY HOMES TO PRIVATE OWNERS,WHICH SOME ARE NOW FACING FORCLOSURE. THE SITE IS NOW IN A DISGRACEFUL SITUATION. ALL OF THE COMMUNITY TRASH DISPOSAL USED BY TENANTS HAVE BEEN DEMOLISHED AND TRASH IS NOW LEFT THE EMPTY SPACE. A REAL SHAME IN A RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD.

 
At 4:08 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

the only lawsuite there will be is the one ur getting slapped with u fraudster!
keep up the crime!
u wont have a dime!

 
At 2:21 PM, Blogger bunny said...

listen, I know rosa and her brother. they are very good people.from a very hard working family. please leave them alone. And to all the people hating on them Get A LIfe. And to all who dont know them please dont believe everything you hear.obviously someone has an ax to grind. but i can tell you that Rosa is a great person with a heart of gold. I feel sorry that this is going on. please leave them alone....

 
At 12:23 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ALONG WITH GLADYS RIZZO, MANGER OF THE SITE AT SPRINGFIELD GARDENS, SOMEONE SHOULD ALSO BE LOOKING AT RODNEY BAUSSAN, THE PERSONAL BODY GUARD TURNED MAINTENANCE MANAGER AT BROOKVILLE PLAZA

 
At 6:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think they all should go straight to jail, peolple work hard to make a living, and here in this what was a complex, is a total disgrace for anyone to live in-- in the garbage area home owners are now dumping ther demolition trash, it is open season each teneatt is taking care of their own apartment from plumbing problems to extermination, taking care of landscaping every season cleaning the trash just to live, and you think you should get paid Gladys Rizzo Group Kappa now Tom Russ Plaza Real Estate all the same company Gladys still works in the same office, all of sudden the same maintence guys are cleaning up snow safter 3 years of no service because the tenants have not collaborated with DHCR and the Civil courts ENOUH is Enough no wants to live free, but what are we paying for no dam service at all we are own supers-I will rather pay and live in a decent complex

 
At 4:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

gladys knew what she was doing for years. people buying the apartments as houses, with only one sewage line , how did she do that ?, now there is all sorts of back up with no one to solve the problem, all in the name off greed (MONEY).i hope she turns as green as the money.

 
At 8:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

group kappa put the temamts in so nuch problem that i think group kappa and his flock should go to hell and meet with the deviel

 
At 8:31 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

3/4 of the tenants there are slobs section8 people with 60' plasma tv put can't pay the balance of the rent not covered by section8.

 
At 2:26 PM, Anonymous Aaron said...

In your Kontogiannis research have you come across any the dealings he had with the FBI agent Mikey Suits or Michael Grimm. I understand that Grimm was taking payoffs from him including money for a development in Florida and then a biofuel company in TX. Grimm was kicked out the FBI for his activities. He is now running for congress in NY.

 
At 10:38 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Queens block 13041,has straw buyers,rent regulated tenants and several foreclosed buildings. Tenants pay rents but landlords don't pay the mortgage. Tenants go to court,Judge says don't pay anyone who can't provide a legal deed of ownership.HPD has lien on buildings for emergency repairs. Those tenants who receive section 8 the rents are sent to Group Kappa Corp,who has been indicted for mortgage fraud along with the owner Thomas Kontogiannis. The FBI is about to round up all of these crooks.

 

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