Saturday, February 15, 2020

What the Brady List Should Mean to Our Readers

1,540,686 @ 6:17 pm
1,540,621 @ 4:35 pm
1,540,582 @ 3:31 pm

What the Brady List Should Mean to You
by Joe Viglione

          Stop and Frisk?  Really??

Top 5 @ 3:31 pm






   On October 1, 2019 the Medford Chief of Police, John D. Buckley spoke to the Medford city council in a slow and methodical speech proclaiming with zero evidence "These are all good men and women."  The firestorm erupting was the allegation of compensation fraud involving almost a quarter of the Medford police.   27 officers were named in an explosive 64 page document from Pembroke private investigator Paul L'Italien, a retired member of the Massachusetts State Police after 27 years of service.  

    This writer requested the L'Italien report and Medford City Hall - the now former city solicitor to be specific -  went bonkers, kicking and screaming and writing and protesting and including in the cc: District Attorney Marian Ryan, two police officers, two lawyers...not wanting to hand over the document.   The ex solicitor's skewed reasoning was that Marian Ryan was investigating - yet the police chief had already handed out the discipline and the monies were purportedly returned.  My position was simple: doesn't matter if 500 investigations are going on, the people have a right to the documents.  In an October 24, 2019 letter from the Secretary of State's office the determination in my favor was this: "The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records."   This is key for anything anyone is requesting from a government in Massachusetts and at the core how this writer has prevailed on many occasions seeking documents that some city officials do not want the public to obtain and see.

     On February 10, 2020 the list the DA's office sent me included three additional Medford police officers beyond the twenty-seven contained in the L'Italien Report on the compensation fraud.

      Out of 117 officers on the "Middlesex District Attorney's List of Law Enforcement Officers Subject to Discovery Notices  2013 to February 10, 2020" - also known as the Brady list of the past seven years - the unfortunate truth for Medford is that thirty officers on the list makes Medford the worst offender.   The State police and the Lowell police are tied for second with thirteen each, Somerville with a dozen and Framingham with 5 round out the disreputable Top 5.

     Here are the thirty Medford officers on the current Middlesex D.A.'s Brady list: MEDFORD in alphabetical order:  1)Jordan Cannava  2)Mark Cardarelli  3)Joseph Casey 4)Frank Cassarino 5)Guy Champa 6)Elizabeth Chiribi 7)Kevin Conway 8)Frank Cugliata 9)Daniel D'Amico 10)Barbara DiCristofaro 11)Donald DiMare 12)Derek Doherty 13)Patrick Doherty 14)Hugh Duffy 15) Robert Furtado 16)James Grubb 17)Charles Harnet (Hartnett) 18)Richard Iozza 19)Matthew Jones 18)Miguel Lopez 19)Matthew Martin 20)Shawna McNeill 21)Jason Montalbano 22)Shawn Norton 23)David Olsen 24)Robert Passacantili 25)Mike Pellegrino 26)Angelo Raffaele 27)Robert Richard 28)Lawrence Rogers 29)Patrick Smith and  30)Igor Tomaz


     Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn inherited this mess from the previous two administrations hell bent on denying the public its right to know, even though the public funds these individuals who violated the oath of office.   The administrations of Michael J. McGlynn and his alleged surrogate, Stephanie Muccini--Burke, were intentionally secretive.  Lungo-Koehn won the election in 2019 with a promise of integrity, unity, community, transparency and now Breanna has a big opportunity to shine. 
     February 21, 2018 Fox 25 news reported that then-City Councilor Breanna Lungo-Koehn "says she notified police last week after multiple school employees brought the issue (discovery of a gun magazine in a Medford school) to her attention." Lungo-Koehn was most proactive on this serious situation and this writer believes that it was one of the keys to her victory.  
    Earlier in 2017 during my investigation into a Chapter 74 board at Medford High School I alerted Lungo Koehn, Councilor Michael Marks and School Committee person Mea Mustone (who garnered the second amount of votes in the last election under Lungo-Koehn) that this quasi Cable Advisory Committee under the moniker of a "Chapter 74" board had - in my opinion - violated the Open Meeting Law.  I filed a complaint and the Attorney General's office found that the OML was violated. The first person to bring it to the public on the city council was Breanna Lungo-Koehn.  All bringing to the public the fact that the transparency Lungo-Koehn promotes is something that is part of her positive track record.




























EARLIER DRAFT

     On October 1, 2019 the Medford Chief of Police, John D. Buckley spoke to the Medford city council in a slow and methodical speech proclaiming with zero evidence "These are all good men and women."  The firestorm erupting was the allegation of compensation fraud involving almost a quarter of the Medford police.   27 officers were named in an explosive 64 page document from Pembroke private investigator Paul L'Italien, a retired member of the Massachusetts State Police after 27 years of service.  

    This write requested the L'Italien report and Medford City Hall - the now former city solicitor to be specific -  went bonkers, kicking and screaming and writing and protesting and including in the cc: District Attorney Marian Ryan, two police officers, two lawyers...not wanting to hand over the document.   The ex solicitor's skewed reasoning was that Marian Ryan was investigating - yet the police chief had already handed out the discipline and the monies were purportedly returned.