Not-Stempler on the Guest

At sometime after 4pm today a person called 'Guest' dropped a comment on MSV that sent shock waves through Hoboken's political blogosphere.

Because 'Guest' claimed to have spoken with federal agents about the current F.B.I. investigation in Hoboken and shared details of "what's going on here"... with results that are sure to have 3 suspected 'persons-of-interest' reaching for the Mylanta tonight.

Here is the post in it's entirety:

I spoke with a few colleagues today, both of which are federal agents. While neither of them is on this case I asked some questions to get an idea of the scope of the investigation. I had emailed all of them a simple email of whats going on here and what rumors are and I asked a few questions. Here are the answers.

1. People in question, the Lane guy, Perry, Mrs Mason, do you think they're being watched closely? 

Answer - Yes. 

More than watched. Hudson County corruption is at the top of many agents list, a bust like this makes the papers and gets agents advanced within the bureau, this is no simple bribe case. It's 100% guaranteed in a case like this that the suspects are under constant surveillance. I would assume they are all being tapped. Home phones, cell phones, work phones are all likely being listened to. They are all likely being tailed and listened to as they walk around alone or with others. These days with technology I can hear someone 1000 feet away with a device the size of a quarter, no more need for hearing dishes you saw on the TV in the 80's. A level of this investigation you can also bet if they drive then they're likely being tailed as we say (followed). This is a big case, there is likely a swarm of 25-35 agents working it,

2. Are those named in question #1 likely facing actual jail time? 

Answer - Yes, lots of time. 

People forget there are 2 levels of prosecution. You have the county / state level and then you have the federal level. On a state or county you're typical district attorney is a preppy just out of law school guy ready to make deals or the DA is a failed lawyer turned DA to make a few extra bucks to play the ponies. County and state level DA's are bottom of the barrel. On the federal level, it's another ball game. The DA's take their cues from the agents and the first thing they want to know is "did they play ball"? You better hope that if you keep quiet and don't roll on others , the prosecutor played a hell of a round of golf the day before or found out he is going to be a grand father recently otherwise you are fucked. Based on what you sent me to view and consider the named people are looking at between 15 months and 96 months apiece. Whomever has the most to lose is always the first person to give ev eryone else up.

Did you just spit out your coffee?  You don't drink it?  Then go make some, read the post again and you'll spit.

My G-d, what a terrific read... but, was it credible?   It seemed so to me, but I sent it  over to my legal department, Not-Stempler, who has NEVER charged me his $850/hr fee. My question was simple: what do you make of this?

Here's what Not-Stempler had to say about Guest's post.

As always, your inquiries provide me, as well as my colleagues, a welcomed diversion from our sometimes less than amusing work.

Hoboken, as we have come to learn, is such an interesting place, and we have come to rather enjoy the unabashed antics of the local politicians.

As to the blog post that you submitted for our comments, the post does not contain specifics, but is more akin to a contextual analysis of state of federal investigations and prosecutions. With that in mind, and speaking for the two other colleagues with whom I shared your email, we generally concur with the observations made by the federal agents which were conveyed to the person self- identified as “Guest”.

Our general experience leads us to endorse the observations that federal agents are motivated to make arrests which are “newsworthy” and which generate photo opportunities, not only for their own career enhancement, but also to serve as reminders/deterrents to the general public that there are consequences for breaking the law.

As to Hudson County, a discreet inquiry made by one of my colleagues confirmed our general belief that the appearance of so many agents, initially, when the city’s servers were taken, indicated a significant allocation of investigative resources.

The nature of the subsequent indictment against Mr. Ricciardi, and the unusual and painstaking reference to others under investigation, coupled with the references to the monitoring of local blogs, serves to us as a clear indication that the indictment was also intended to publicly convey a warning signal to anyone else who may committed criminal acts in Hoboken, which may be discovered by a forensic examination of the servers, to consult counsel and come forward.

As noted in the second answer in the blogpost, it is axiomatic that, when representing defendants within the cross hairs of the FBI or the US Attorney, the first defendant to deal, with the best information, will get the best deal. Those that fight in the face of overwhelming odds, or who straggle in late, are usually left to languish for a few extra years as guests in a federal penitentiary.

We also generally concur with the projected lengths of incarceration set forth at the end of the post made by Guest. I trust that you will find this response helpful.

Thank you, Not-Stempler!

Guest, we want MORE.