The Albany Times Union has ranked the arrest and indictments of Nxivm leaders Keith Raniere, Nancy Salzman, Allison Mack, Lauren Salzman, Clare Bronfman and Kathy Russell as the second biggest story in the Capitol Region for 2018.
The number one story was the tragic limousine crash that killed more than two dozen people.
As for the Times Union – no media outlet has done more over a longer time than this newspaper – whose publisher is George Hearst.
Reporters James Odato, Dennis Yusko, and Brendan Lyons have time and again pulled back the covers on this dangerous group since 2003.
“For residents of the Capital Region, the revelation of NXIVM’s cult-like activities and the alleged criminal conduct of its leaders came as little surprise. The Times Union had extensively reported on the inner workings of the secretive group dating back 20 years, including a 2012 series that raised allegations Raniere had sex with underage girls and had used the well-funded organization to punish defectors and critics with crippling litigation.”
The Times Union also gave me a shout out in their story:
“The intensive and fast-moving federal investigation that began in Brooklyn last year followed a New York Times story that highlighted NXIVM’s secret women’s club and their practice of branding, which had first been reported months earlier by Frank Parlato, a former NXIVM publicist who runs various news blogs in Buffalo and has been at odds with the organization for years. “
Overall, the Times Union gives a great overview of what’s going on and brings into focus some of the important recent developments in the case.
It is one of the best stories I’ve read for a fast and good explanation of what the Nxivm case is all about.
I found this particularly interesting. It concerns Raniere’s condition in prison.
The Times Union wrote:
“For nine months, Raniere has been held without bond at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn that houses about 1,600 suspected offenders, including violent gang members and others charged with serious crimes.
“The 58-year-old has remained in the facility’s general population without incident, according to people familiar with his incarceration. A federal judge has rebuffed his attorneys’ repeated attempts to have him released on bond pending trial.
“For Raniere, his decades of living off the grid and controlling the intricate details of his followers’ lives have quickly faded. A man who declined to drive, vote or apply for a credit card — and who apparently falsely claimed he was the smartest person in the world and a brilliant college student — is now relegated to constant government oversight, and has no control over any of his daily activities.
“Still, ‘I have been impressed with his ability to withstand the pressures of incarceration, because no one wants to be there,’ said Paul DerOhannesian, an Albany attorney who is a member of Raniere’s defense team. ‘I think no one wants to be in jail, and he’s not pleased with that, but I think he’s more equipped than most people.'”
I wonder if this is true. Frank Report sources say he is not well equipped at all and has been faring poorly. The claim that he is now in general population is also interesting.
Frank,
Keith is NOT in the general population at MDC.
That is absolutely not true. He couldn’t be.
Why?
…because if he really got headbutted and then curled up in the “fetal position” while crying (while in the general population), he’d have been assaulted dozens of times after that since punks don’t get free passes in the general population. Punks get attacked. If you punk out and don’t stand your ground in a fight, it’s open season on you in the general population.
Also, Keith’s already ratted out his fellow inmates and made reports to the correctional officers. If he was in the general population, he’d be attacked every day for doing that. Rats and punks get attacked.
Prisoners have their own rules and Keith has violated just about every rule. He can only do that because he’s being housed in the sex offenders unit and is surrounded by other PUSSIES and WIMPS (and he’s not in the general population).
I suggest you get some sources to verify this shit.
Don’t ask Claviger to verify it though. His sources are lying sacks of shit and that dude doesn’t have a clue as to what’s really going on inside MDC. He may be a defense attorney, but he’s a clueless one when it comes to MDC.
This must be so distressing – KAR was only the #2 story. Guess he’ll have to have his minions sue the Albany TU into the ground for not naming him #1. That is…if they can spare the cash from the legal defense fund.
Is Definitely NOT in gen pop. He’s with the deviants 100 percent
The Albany Times Union should do more investigating into the criminal regime that is slowly destroying New York State
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo granted clemency to 29 people on Monday, including immigrants who are facing deportation.
In a New Year’s Eve, statement, the Democrat took a shot at President Trump for the partial government shutdown, which stems from an impasse over border security funding.
“While President Trump shuts down the federal government over his obsession with keeping immigrants out, New York stands strong in our support for immigrant communities,” Cuomo said. “These actions will help keep immigrant families together and take a critical step toward a more just, more fair and more compassionate New York.”
Twenty-two of the individuals who received pardons were immigrants who, because of convictions mainly related to drug crimes, could have been deported.
Among the seven others who had their sentences commuted are four convicted murderers and three others behind bars for armed robbery.
Asshole Cuomo hates the legal citizens of New York
Wow. No other words.
No there really are not. Many here are rightfully angry about the crimes of NXIVM on one hand and could give two shitz about the crimes of their so called elected officials. Nice to see that Cuomo is so worried about certain families while crapping all over other families.
Cuomo’s timing is perfect. He would not have executed these pardons right before the election, instead they were done just after the election and just maybe these actions of his will be forgotten by the time the next election comes around.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
hope you each had a good one! many happy returns for the year!
Attorneys always represent their clients in the most positive light. The reality can be quite different.
Not sure how to gauge the attorney’s comments. He’s saying Raniere is doing well withstanding the pressures of prison, but compared to who? There’s a world of difference between the way one acts in the company of their attorney and the reality of their life in prison. What makes me wonder about this claim is the fact Raniere meets with a team of attorneys more than once a week, which is odd – most inmates see a lawyer once a month at most.
Raniere’s trial is eventually going to happen. He’s enjoying a Cinderella period right now, where he can still imagine there’s a chance this will all go away. I would be more interested in knowing what his life is like when it’s time to go to court, when people start testifying against him, when he has a more sober assessment of the total jail time he’s facing after all superseding indictments have been issued.
When an inmate is convicted for a long stretch, most prisons automatically put them on suicide watch for a couple weeks while that reality sets in. Something no one will tell you is it’s the weeks leading up to that when the inmate is most at risk of self-harm. I don’t know, I think there’s something about letting your opponents go to a great deal of effort to document your crimes and not letting them actually getting the conviction that gives the hopeless a sense of satisfaction.
I’d put the odds of Raniere offing himself before trial at better than 50%. It just fits with all the details we know about him, the control, the manipulation, the desire to spite his enemies. His legal defense is expensive, even for the wealthy, and eventually the pep-talks with lawyers won’t be affordable anymore (either because of a lack of cash or because his attorneys will have actual work to do.) What matters is how he deals with the pressure then, when there’s every incentive to direct his anger upon himself.
I see Raniere as a font of awfulness. He can’t help but spread it, it’s part of his messiah complex. If there’s no where for it to go, he’s going to drown.
“For Raniere, his decades of living off the grid and controlling the intricate details of his followers’ lives have quickly faded. A man who declined to drive, vote or apply for a credit card — and who apparently falsely claimed he was the smartest person in the world and a brilliant college student — is now relegated to constant government oversight, and has no control over any of his daily activities.”
This is my favorite synopsis – the Times-Union is relentless. Raniere’s situation is richly deserved. Let’s hope it stays that way, because he can never be trusted to reform his behavior, if released. He represents the grotesque corruption of unlimited money and power in the hands of a psychopath. I use that term now instead of sociopath because of his plans to get enemies imprisoned and possibly killed in Mexico. Whatever the correct diagnosis, he is a very dangerous man who right now is likely dreaming of revenge.
This is Karma at its best. I hope it brings some peace to the survivors.
Reading this blog is an eye opener with regard to just how far the tentacles of this organization reached, inside and outside the US. We should all feel safer with him behind bars.
Very well put, Orange. The world is a safer place with Vanguard locked up. Let’s just hope he and whichever psychos are apparently trying to hijack his mad methods (IMO) are all put away for good!
Hear, hear OCD.
Why anyone would expect Paul DerOhannesian to tell the truth about anything?
There is absolutely no way he is in general population with his case being so high profile and the fact that it’s been alleged he is a child molester.