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From: Will Galison, Blackstar News
To: Philip Eure, Inspector General over the NYPD
NYC Department of Investigation
80 Maiden Lane
New York, NY 10038
7/19/14
7/19/14
Re: The Ongoing Cover-up by the NYPD of the
Assassination of Sunny Sheu
Dear Mr. Eure:
I am writing to you in your capacity as the new Inspector General of the New York Police Department. I am a fourth generation resident of Manhattan, a musician by profession and a journalist by avocation. I am also a good friend and professional colleague of Gina Belafonte and her family, who have a close friendship with Mayor DeBlasio.
Dear Mr. Eure:
I am writing to you in your capacity as the new Inspector General of the New York Police Department. I am a fourth generation resident of Manhattan, a musician by profession and a journalist by avocation. I am also a good friend and professional colleague of Gina Belafonte and her family, who have a close friendship with Mayor DeBlasio.
This letter regards the ongoing cover up - by elements of the NYPD - of the murder of Sunny Sheu, a victim of high- level mortgage fraud, and a whistleblower. It also regards the apparent attempt by members of the Department of Investigation to convince the complainant that an earnest investigation is underway, when it does not appear to be.
Sunny’s case was discussed in depth in my 2012 article for Truthout.com, and is also the subject of a blog, which has received nearly 80,000 views so far. It was also covered by New York’s Blackstar News, and many other reputable news sources.
While evidence of the NYPD’s complicity in Sunny’s actual murder is circumstantial, it undeniable that elements of the NYPD have been involved in its cover-up since the day of his death on June 26th 2011. It is also evident that elements of the NYPD committed numerous felonies during the events that lead up to Sunny’s death, and in its immediate aftermath. It is these criminal acts that fall directly and uniquely under your jurisdiction as Inspector General of the New York Police Department:
NYPD crimes related to the death of Sunny Sheu
- In February of 2009, Sunny was illegally detained for hours without a warrant by two NYPD detectives of the Queens DA squad. According to Sunny’s sworn testimony to the FBI, these detectives threatened Sunny with death if he should go to the press or the "authorities" regarding his complaints against the judge in his mortgage fraud case. They also told him that “his house belonged to the bank”, and that he should stop his efforts to save his home in court. The warrantless detention has been confirmed by the clerk of the Queens DA and by NYPD Captain Sylvester Ge, and has been widely reported.
Sheu was so alarmed by the detention and threats that he went directly to the FBI, the OCA the CJC, the Blackstar News and other media, and posted a video on Youtube, stating that if he were killed, it would be at the hands of “Golia’s men”, meaning the NYPD detectives who detained and threatened him on Golia’s behalf.
- At 5:30 AM, June 27th 2010– less than ten hours after his death, several NYPD officers went to the New York Hospital in Queens, illicitly “identified” Sunny’s body, and had it transferred to the Queens Morgue. There is no legitimate way that these officers could have identified Sheu’s body (unless they were the same detectives who abducted him), and as there was no “official” crime or investigation, the summary removal and autopsy without identification by next of kin was illegal and bizarre.
-According to Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Corrine Ambrosi, the NYPD officers who ordered the removal of Sheu’s body did not register their names with the Medical Examiner’s office; an egregious breach of protocol.
-Less than one hour after Sunny’s death, NYPD Detective Chris Austin of the 109th Precinct falsely told Sunny’s friends (including a medical doctor) that Sunny had died of an aneurism- with no head trauma- and refused to send detectives to take a witness statement from them (audio evidence available). This false claim was repeated weeks later (after the Medical Examiner’s report contradicting it) by another detective of the 109th precinct.
-On June 28th 2010, NYPD Captain Chris Austin of the 109th Precinct made a report to NYPD Medical Examiner Liason Detective Grant, relating false information regarding Sunny’s death. In his report, Austin conceded that Sunny did indeed have head trauma (he could not hide this fact from the M.E.) but claimed that a 911 witness told police and EMS that “the 911 caller stated that the decedent was walking with a pedometer in his hand when he collapsed”, and that [homicide] squad was holding this case as accidental, with no criminality”. The actual 911 tapes, obtained through FOIL, prove that none of the three 911 witnesses reported seeing Sunny fall. No records of any interview by Police or EMS were received in response to FOIL and no exemptions were cited. There is officially no police report of the incident. More bizarrely, the Queens DA's office has claimed that the investigation was called off because there were “no witnesses”.
- On July 1, 2010, the Queens Medical Examiner ruled the cause of Sunny’s death to "blunt force trauma to the head with skull fractures and brain injuries" and the manner of death “undetermined”. Despite this determination, which automatically mandates an investigation, the NYPD has never investigated Sunny’s death.
Doctor who treated Sunny admits“foul play”.
There is also evidence that other parties were coerced into lying about the circumstances of Sunny's death. Zeeshan Ahmed, the ER doctor that was treating Sunny when he died, vigorously denied at the scene that Sunny had suffered any head trauma at all. When confronted by Blackstar News publisher Milton Allimadi about the discrepancy between this denial and the official coroner's finding of “blunt force trauma with skull fractures and brain injuries”, Ahmed admitted to Allimadi that “there was foul play”. Essential treatment for head trauma includes trepenation, the relieving of pressure in the skull due to swelling and displaced tissue. If Ahmed's failure to trepenate, through intentional negligence or otherwise, contributed to Sheu's death, charges must be brought for manslaughter at a minimum. Letters to the hospital administrators have been ignored, and Ahmed is still employed there.
NYPD surveillance of Sheu before his death
Even more sinister is the fact that in the months before his death, Sunny Sheu’s personal emails were monitored and manipulated by parties associated with the NYPD. Sunny showed me, and others, emails that purported to originate from his email account, that he did not write. Sunny, who had served as an electronic communications specialist in the Taiwanese military, and who made his living as a computer technician and software developer, demonstrated to several friends how he traced the manipulated emails to hacks originating from “nypd.org”, an unofficial web presence of the NYPD. The whereabouts of Sunny’s computer is currently unknown.
The Department of
Investigation’s Sham Response
After Sunny’s death, repeated, formal attempts to bring this case to the attention of Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly were ignored. Likewise, many other Government agencies ignored Sunny’s desperate pleas for protection before his murder, and have refused to investigate or respond to questions after his death.
This case appears to implicate parties who are being very well protected, and it appears that Jon Kantor and Eddie Lebron of the Department of Investigation are endeavoring to protect the perpetrators while diverting it from your attention and fraudulently pretending to investigate the case.
In the nine weeks since they claim to have opened an investigation of Sunny’s death:
- neither Kantor nor Lebron has ever mentioned your office, or suggested that I bring the allegations against the NYPD to your office’s attention, now or in the future. I wrote them an email asking if they had reported the case to your office, and they did not respond.
- neither Kantor nor Lebron has brought me or any other witnesses in to be interviewed. In fact Lebron has refused multiple requests to do so.
- neither Kantor nor Lebron has requested any information about the case, or clarification of any information already made public. In fact, when told that I possessed crucial videos, documents and recordings that have never been made public, Lebron refused to request them.
- neither Kantor nor Lebron has inquired about other witnesses in the case or information they possess.
Furthermore, Lebron has refused to answer any questions regarding general police protocol, and has misrepresented matters of police procedure in a way which appears to make excuses for the NYPD. For example, Lebron stated that a death, the manner of which is ruled “undetermined” by the M.E. is not necessarily subject to investigation. This statement defies not only common sense, but also the testimony of two retired NYPD detectives, Joe Mazzilli and Pete Fiorello who are assisting me on this case pro bono. These detectives- who are both willing to testify before you- have assured me that Kantor and Lebron’s handling of this case is a travesty, and an intentional whitewash.
The delinquency of Kantor and Lebron in this matter does not surprise me. During the Bloomberg administration I contacted the DOI several times regarding the Sheu case and other government abuses, and was always met with similar mendacity and disregard. Kantor and Lebron are veterans of that administration, and perhaps they have not received the memo that things have changed.
From what I have heard from the Belafontes and others, Bill DeBlasio is sincerely committed to cleaning up systemic corruption in the NYC government. I know that the Mayor will not look kindly on corruption in the NYPD and especially within his Department of Investigation. I also have researched your accomplishments and reputation, and feel confident that you share the Mayor’s convictions.
It is imperative that your office investigate this case, because the assassination of a New York citizen with the abetment of the NYPD is a matter of urgent importance, and because it falls directly under your jurisdiction. Your office should also look into efforts to whitewash this case by parties at the DOI.
I realize that you are coming into a difficult job and that you will be confronting a large backlog of cases. Nevertheless, given the extraordinary significance of the Sunny Sheu case, I would appreciate an acknowledgement of this letter from your office within the next week or two. Given recent developments and the extraordinary efforts underway to keep this case from being properly investigated, I have concern for my safety and the safety of other witnesses and sources. I believe that consulting your office is the proper channel at this point. If you feel that the case is not under your jurisdiction, I will be obliged to take up my friends’ offer to bring this matter directly to the Mayor’s attention.
After Sunny’s death, repeated, formal attempts to bring this case to the attention of Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly were ignored. Likewise, many other Government agencies ignored Sunny’s desperate pleas for protection before his murder, and have refused to investigate or respond to questions after his death.
This case appears to implicate parties who are being very well protected, and it appears that Jon Kantor and Eddie Lebron of the Department of Investigation are endeavoring to protect the perpetrators while diverting it from your attention and fraudulently pretending to investigate the case.
In the nine weeks since they claim to have opened an investigation of Sunny’s death:
- neither Kantor nor Lebron has ever mentioned your office, or suggested that I bring the allegations against the NYPD to your office’s attention, now or in the future. I wrote them an email asking if they had reported the case to your office, and they did not respond.
- neither Kantor nor Lebron has brought me or any other witnesses in to be interviewed. In fact Lebron has refused multiple requests to do so.
- neither Kantor nor Lebron has requested any information about the case, or clarification of any information already made public. In fact, when told that I possessed crucial videos, documents and recordings that have never been made public, Lebron refused to request them.
- neither Kantor nor Lebron has inquired about other witnesses in the case or information they possess.
Furthermore, Lebron has refused to answer any questions regarding general police protocol, and has misrepresented matters of police procedure in a way which appears to make excuses for the NYPD. For example, Lebron stated that a death, the manner of which is ruled “undetermined” by the M.E. is not necessarily subject to investigation. This statement defies not only common sense, but also the testimony of two retired NYPD detectives, Joe Mazzilli and Pete Fiorello who are assisting me on this case pro bono. These detectives- who are both willing to testify before you- have assured me that Kantor and Lebron’s handling of this case is a travesty, and an intentional whitewash.
The delinquency of Kantor and Lebron in this matter does not surprise me. During the Bloomberg administration I contacted the DOI several times regarding the Sheu case and other government abuses, and was always met with similar mendacity and disregard. Kantor and Lebron are veterans of that administration, and perhaps they have not received the memo that things have changed.
From what I have heard from the Belafontes and others, Bill DeBlasio is sincerely committed to cleaning up systemic corruption in the NYC government. I know that the Mayor will not look kindly on corruption in the NYPD and especially within his Department of Investigation. I also have researched your accomplishments and reputation, and feel confident that you share the Mayor’s convictions.
It is imperative that your office investigate this case, because the assassination of a New York citizen with the abetment of the NYPD is a matter of urgent importance, and because it falls directly under your jurisdiction. Your office should also look into efforts to whitewash this case by parties at the DOI.
I realize that you are coming into a difficult job and that you will be confronting a large backlog of cases. Nevertheless, given the extraordinary significance of the Sunny Sheu case, I would appreciate an acknowledgement of this letter from your office within the next week or two. Given recent developments and the extraordinary efforts underway to keep this case from being properly investigated, I have concern for my safety and the safety of other witnesses and sources. I believe that consulting your office is the proper channel at this point. If you feel that the case is not under your jurisdiction, I will be obliged to take up my friends’ offer to bring this matter directly to the Mayor’s attention.
Sincerely,
Will Galison
