The State May Record This Call ... Page 7

SECTION TITLE: "That's what friends are for"
DATE: Sunday, May 20, 2001
PLACE: At my desk, writing this article

I just received a call from Marty this evening. In this call, he specifically asked that I not do anything more to bring publicity to his case. For the record, this article is being written without the permission of Marty Frankel. He is afraid of antagonizing his jailers and prosecutors. However, I promised this article to this magazine long before Marty asked me to stop bringing publicity to his case. Marty authorized me to publicize his case on the Pacifica Radio network on April 28, 2001. He phrased his words carefully, saying, "You know that Pacifica thing? I am not opposed to it." Marty wanted to stress the horrible prison conditions in the American Prison-Industrial Complex in a Pacifica radio show.

So why am I doing this? I am defying the wishes of my friend, not out of disrespect, but out of a sense of social responsibility to expose the methods of the "media vultures" that tend to prey upon those who are too helpless to fight back against propaganda campaigns of the Bourgeois press. To explain myself and my actions to Marty, I said to him: "Marty, sometimes in life, one is the Chess player, and other times in life, one is the Chessman." He acknowledged that this was true but he did not change his mind. He said he knew that my "heart is in the right place" but he essentially asked me not to move him, as the Chessman in this game. He is fearful for his life and his fate in the prison system. I hope he will forgive me, someday, for writing this article. I also should tell you that in an earlier phone call Marty said that the government's public statements about $200 million dollars being the subject of this case, is an exaggeration.

Marty says that the government knows it is an exaggeration. The figure of $200 million is wrong, he said.

Call #22, Saturday, May 12, 2001

PAVLITO: "Another thing, a week ago. I mean, last Sunday, there was big thing in the Blade by Mike Sallah, saying that, uh, they're thinking about going after everybody who 'blackmailed' you. There's a whole big 'blackmail' thing. And they're using your astrology day-planner, to, uh, locate people who blackmailed you. And they're going to take that money. And they're saying that there's two-hundred million dollars missing, and that they've only recovered sixty-million."
MARTY: "Well there isn't two-hundred million. You know, you know the story. There isn't two hundred million missing because that's a fake. That's a figurative number. That's like an invented figure. The public doesn't know that."
PAVLITO: "I know."
MARTY: "The government does know that, uh"
PAVLITO: "Yeah."
MARTY: "So, they always keep saying. They'll keep saying that till I die. The day I die, they'll say that. But I think, I don't know, I don't know if the government will ever know or ever believe me. But at some point I hope the government, I hope, will say 'OK'"
PAVLITO: "Well, The Treasury agent told me the same thing. He said that they are inflating that number, because someone is trying to profiteer off of the money that they can recover. Like they profiteered . . ."
MARTY: "That's actually true."

Marty has found a new calling. He told me that he wants to be seen as a 'social reformer', as person who will actively seek prison reform for the rest of his life. That is now his cause, and knowing him as I do, I know that he is sincere in his intentions although perhaps unschooled in his organizing methods.

Call #26, Sunday, May 20, 2001

MARTY: "The most important thing for me, is prison reform. Honestly. I know that sounds weird because I'm facing all this stuff. But from when I got in here, I mean, I feel worse for the other people than I do for myself. And I know that I'm facing all this heavy stuff and all. It's just, you know, this is crazy! What they do in these places to people is wrong. It's just wrong."
PAVLITO: "I agree with you Marty, but . . ."
MARTY: "How can a human being, deny somebody food? If you did this, on the outside. If you took someone and threw them in a little box, and then played with them and denied them food. It's wrong; You would think that person was the sickest person on earth. When you take away people's freedom you've done enough to them. You don't have to take away all their hope, all their schools, their right to read. It's crazy."

On April 29, we did a small radio show on WBGU (only 1000 W transmitter) which generated more media attention than any of us thought possible. It was a small media probe to see what would happen. We found out today, what would happen, when a huge article was published in the Toledo Blade.

On this day, May 20, 2001, a large article was published in the Toledo Blade, which cited selected quotations from the WBGU radio show on April 29, 2001. I specifically object to the Blade article for various reasons, because it gives the distinct impression that Marty Frankel is trying to "hire" the attorney Johnny Cochran to represent him. Be it known that Marty is in no position to hire anyone for anything. The government has seized everything he owned as a wealthy man, under the RICO statutes. The only persons in contact with The Cochran Firm, are my wife, and myself not Marty. I was only authorized by Marty Frankel to contact some attorneys, not hire them. Furthermore, I am in no financial position to hire Mr. Cochran for anything myself. I simply cannot pay him to help Marty or anyone else. It was my thought, erroneous as it may have been, that the government might be compelled to release some of Marty's funds to allow him to hire an attorney that would be more favorable to Marty's best interests. Only Marty can decide if he wants to seek different legal representation. I only offered to make new contacts.

It is significant to note that this May 20th Blade article mentions that, according to Kari Dooley from the prosecutor's office, that the German authorities have yet to send any proof of any alleged 'escape attempt' by Marty Frankel from the UHA prison in Hamburg, Germany. Yet Marty is still assumed to be guilty. Gary Dorsey, from the US Marshals, stated in this article that Marty's prison accommodations were made on the basis of the 'escape attempt' accusation by the German authorities, and based upon Marty's notoriety. How does one prove that one did not try to escape from a prison that one was not even in? Marty claims that on February 27, 2001, the date of the alleged escape attempt, that he was in the JVA prison in Hamburg, commonly referred to as the "Sankt Afu" prison. Who is the alleged accomplice that tried to help Marty escape? How was the accomplice punished? Why does the March 1st, Blade article mention that Marty used a piece of 'wire' to cut bars, but the May 20th Blade article mentions a 'file'? Why was the March 1st Blade article, about Marty's alleged 'escape attempt' pulled from the Blade website?

The smear campaign against Marty Frankel has many internal inconsistencies in it. On the one hand, Marty Frankel is supposed to be, according to the official press hype, some kind of criminal mastermind, some genius that has broken new ground in realm of white-collar crime. On the other hand, he is also supposed to be a fool, a man who would try to saw the bars of his cell with a piece of wire while smiling for a video camera (in plain sight) to record his escape attempt in Germany. Even my new friend in Germany, Gerhard, commented in an e-mail that he could not believe that anyone could be so stupid as to try cut bars in front of a video camera. Likewise, Marty Frankel is supposed to be, according to the Bourgeois press, a con man who never traded any stocks or commodities. Marty supposedly just took people's money from them, yet never invested it. Yet without any ability to forecast market moves and prove your talent, how can you motivate wealthy people to give you large sums of money to invest?

There are other inconsistencies to ponder. For example, if the Grand Inquisitors have an airtight case against Marty, why do they need to rely on media smear campaigns to prejudice public opinion? Why do they rely on an unproven 'escape attempt' to justify putting him into SuperMax and Maximum Security prison conditions? It is interesting to note that the Toledo Blade has many of their previous articles about Marty available on their website (www.toledoblade.com), but as of this day (May 20) the March 1, 2001 story about the so-called 'escape attempt', cannot be viewed by internet users. It has been pulled (but we offer you a copy of it here for your inspection). Why do this? Why hide the words that accuse Marty of trying to escape from the UHA prison in Germany? Why continue to rely on this unproven escape attempt to justify Marty's prison conditions? Why do they keep him in prison conditions that do not fit the nature of his alleged crimes? The answer is that they want to break Marty's will to resist a plea bargain deal? Why do they need to deny Marty access to funds he needs to hire an attorney? The answer is, they don't want a trial. Why is the legal and public relations game rigged against Marty if the case is so strong? The answer is, they want to generate a public lynch mob mentality that will not ask why there was no trial for Marty Frankel. The last and perhaps most glaring inconsistency relates to the accusation that Marty Frankel is a suicide risk to himself. Why would a man who is a suicide risk, fear for his life in a Connecticut State prison? If one wants to die, then one should be willing to embrace his murders. That would seem logical but the entire nature of the inconsistencies we are expected to believe in, is quite irrational.

One worker asked me why I was trying to make a hero out of Marty Frankel. That is not my intent at all. To me, Marty is neither hero, nor villain. He is simply a friend who is now a victim. In some respects he is a victim of his own choices in life, in another respect, he is a victim of massive lynch mob hysteria. If I tell his story fairly, then I can also point out that machinery of victimization and demon-ization that is being used against him. This machinery combines the Bourgeois media with the actions of government agencies to create a climate of "guilt by accusation" in the press and "guilty until proven innocent" in the prison detention centers (where suspects are pressured into accepting deals). On the other hand, I see Marty as a man with a light, in the form of media attention, that can shine on some of the darkest levels of our society, both high and low levels of our class society. Marty Frankel, the man who once wanted to move among the higher strata of the class structure, now wants to resist the injustices produced by that class structure. For years, I too have tried to resist the injustices produced by the class structure of our society. So now I see Marty more as a kindred spirit who wants to act, not just be an intellectual who wants to pontificate and polemicize. Marty Frankel now wants to change/reform society, not just climb its social ladders.

I cannot save Marty. Neither can I redeem him in anyone's eyes. But I do wish that I could save him from prejudice and injustice? I wish that because I feel that he could redeem himself in everyone's eyes if given a chance to do that. So, to me, Marty Frankel is a worthwhile person. Furthermore, dear readers, he is my friend. In the Hindu traditional concepts of wealth (The "Artha" of the "Kama, Artha, Dharma" phases of life), a person who has many good friends, is considered to be wealthy. Money alone does not make a man or woman wealthy. I think that even Marty Frankel now knows that to be true. He knows that real friends can neither be bought nor sold. I also know that, if he could do so, Marty would help me if I found myself in trouble . . . . . After all, that's what friends are for.

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