September 17th, 2008

CLOSURE! FINALLY!

Over two years has passed since the mafia cops case was thrown out by Judge Weinstein, and there is finally a verdict from the appeals court. Today, September 17th, 2008 they have decided to reinstate the convictions against Louis Eppolito and Stephen Carracapa. In other words, the ex-hitmen will remain in Jail for LIFE. More importantly we finally have true closure. Words cannot describe what this means to us. We are feeling a combination of relief, closure and peace now that we know that justice has finally been served.

There is no doubt in our minds that the appelate court has made the correct decision. The case should never have been thrown out. We are grateful that we can finally say "It's over!" 22 years later, almost two weeks after what would have been Israel Greenwalds 57th birthday, he can rest in peace knowing his killers will never see the light of day.

Deep breath.....it's over.

It will soon be one year since the appeals...

It is simply unbelievable. Simply crazy and surreal. After waiting waiting waiting almost a year after Weinstein threw the mafia cops verdict into the toilet, we finally had the appeals October 2007. It is now a few weeks short of October 2008 and yet the appellate court has not yet been able to come up with a decision.

The mafia cops are still sitting in jail waiting.
The families of the murdered victim's are still holding their breath waiting.
The witnesses are growing older and older, memories fading.
The years are passing...

And the judges on the appellate court are taking their sweet little time. As if there is no great rush for justice to be served. No great rush at all.

It's simply amazing!

I just read most of the book and am both horrified and saddened by Jimmy Breslin's blatant lack of "investigation" into my father, Israel Greenwald's, real story. You would think if you were writing a "true story" you would at least try and get all the facts straight. Instead he chose to use Kaplan's testimony alone to tell Israel's tale. Kaplan-a man who himself admits he never met Israel and could only tell his perspective of what happened and not what really happened on Israel Greenwald's end. Breslin chose to tell my father's story in one short paragraph without attempting to find out from Israel's family, or even from old FBI files, what really went down over two decades before. He showed no sympathy at all and even worst, completely dehumanized my father in this book. Even Guy Lawson, author of "The Brotherhoods" was more accurate. Click to read an excerpt from the "Brotherhoods" book related to Israel Greenwald's story.
This book is a huge disappointment to me and my family and another slap in the face from a journalist who should know better than to offer a one sided perspective to a very complicated and tragic story. Below is a letter I wrote to Mr. Breslin as a response.


Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Dear Mr. Breslin,
I have just read your book "The Good Rat" and am all too familiar with many of the events described in your book as my father was murdered by Kaplan and the cops. His name was Israel Greenwald.
I am writing you this letter because I am profoundly saddened, hurt, and angered by the brief passing reference you made in your book concerning my father and the circumstances surrounding his murder. You took an extremely complicated story, one filled with many different characters and layers and basically summarized his story into one short paragraph, which I can summarize in one sentence: "Israel Greenwald - man involved in a bond scheme with Kaplan decides to pocket banker commission and gets himself killed." Although you may say that as Israel's daughter I am too emotionally involved to decide which version of events are in fact correct, I am still aware and objective enough to know that the version you wrote is false, damaging and cruel.
It is completely illogical to assume that my father would try to pocket money that was supposed to go elsewhere and then simply return to his regular life. If my father ran away, then perhaps your theory would have merit, but he in fact returned home to his family and business and made no attempt to escape his everyday life. If my father was aware of who was behind all this (Kaplan, Bonda and the Mafia) and what this scheme was all about (stolen bonds), why would he return to his regular routine and try to investigate on his own where the money disappeared to? You do know that my father made a secret tape recording of him asking Jeweler number where the money went? You do know this - don't you....? Trust you also are aware that Kaplan himself hired the Mafia cops to kill my father and the order did not come from his Mafia contacts. (Perhaps you should rename your book "The Good Murderer")
Please refer to a theory mentioned in another book, "The Brotherhoods" by Guy Lawson and William Oldham (the detective who investigated the Mafia cops case), where they presume (correctly) that my father likely did not even know that he was involved with and was likely used and lied to by Jeweler number one. The truth is that the real story may never come out, since my father is not alive to tell his side of the story, and the other person who does know (Jeweler number 1) will never talk or admit to any involvement.
I write you this letter Mr. Breslin, not necessarily to convince you that my father was ultimately a "good guy" who unwittingly fell into a "bad" situation - but rather to give you my message, which is...... before you destroy a (good) person's reputation, especially one who cannot defend himself, please do some more research to be certain that every powerful word you transcribe with that sword you call a pen-is based on truth. I ask that if there is ever a reprinting or retelling of the story in your book that you see to it that my fathers memory is given a fair and just representation.
Sincerely,
Michal Greenwald
on behalf of Israel Greenwald’s Family

I just got word that Jimmy Breslin, renowned journalist and author, just came out with a book called "The Good Rat" about Burt Kaplan. Now I have not yet read the book although I am certain it is written very well and is quite fascinating, however the title off the bat irks me. To me Burt Kaplan is the man who hired those cops to kill my father. He is the man who took my father's life and deemed it worthless. He is the man who thought nothing of getting rid of him, who could care less that we the family had no clue what happened to him. He is the heartless, evil man who lived his life selfishly. He is my father's true murderer. To describe him as "good", to put the word "good" in the same sentence as his name, to refer to this man in any positive way is a huge slap in the face to my father and to my family. I don't care if the title just means that he ratted well....which we all know he did. I just don't want this man portrayed in any heroic light just because he decided to testify (for his own gain.)

In one of the reviews I saw Breslin quoted Kaplan as saying: "Stand-up is what I used to be. When someone has a problem, they take their punishment and go to jail, they don't give up anybody. They take -- they take responsibility for the crime."
Oh really? So how do you explain giving up my father's life out of your own fear of going to jail? Or are you trying to say it is a greater sin to rat than to obliterate someones life (whom you never even met) and destroy a family?


Here is a letter I wrote September 2006 to Kaplan that I never sent out for various reasons.

Mr. Kaplan,

I am the eldest daughter of Israel Greenwald, the Orthodox Jewish Jeweler you had killed 20 years ago. I know that you never met my father, nor did you know anything about him. You simply took it in your own hands to get rid of him, as you would a roach or insect, because you were afraid that if he cooperated with the FEDS, it would somehow lead to you and you’d go to jail. In the end your despicable actions led you to the one place you tried so desperately to avoid. Life is ironic.

My father was a devoted husband and incredible father, only 34 years old, just starting his life. He was a God fearing man; an honest and respected businessman, used by someone he thought was a friend. He never heard of you, nor would he have associated with you.

While you were living the high life of gambling and crime, my father was praying three times a day and supporting his community and those in need. You were dreaming up new ways to steal while my father was thinking of new ways to make the world better. You both came from the same heritage, and both of you were above average in intelligence and driven to succeed, but you chose to live a lawless immoral life while my father chose to live a G-d fearing moral life.

My father’s one fatal mistake, by trusting his friend and business associate, caused your paths to cross and you nominated yourself as “Angel of death” and ordered his execution.

I will not get into all the pain and heartache, the nightmarish existence you caused in our lives by brutally taking him away from us. It is not far fetched for you to imagine the effect this would have had on your own daughter if it were you who were murdered and your body hidden.

It is interesting to note that we are now in the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, otherwise known as “The Days of Repentance”. We learn in Judaism that while God decides on Rosh Hashanah man’s fate (ie. whether he lives or dies, how he will live or die etc.), he seals it on Yom Kippur and our actions during these days can alter God’s decree. And one of the actions that have the power to alter God’s decree is repentance.

It is true that you wholeheartedly admitted to your crimes, which in Judaism is considered part of repentance. By doing that my family and I could finally have closure and for that we are grateful. You could have taken this despicable deed to your grave with you, but for whatever reason, regardless of your motive, you did the right thing and ended our 19 year long nightmare.

However, if you think that this is enough to be considered “repentance” you are missing the most important and final step. Simply put, without an apology your admittance is clearly unremorseful and therefore not counted.

And although forgiving you for what you did to me and my family feels like the furthest thing from my heart and mind since I consider you the sole man responsible for such unimaginable pain, I do feel that if you were a man with any dignity, a man that cares about the legacy you will leave behind, you would show true remorse and apologize.

We want an apology from you for murdering our father and for changing our lives forever. We want an apology for the nightmare you caused and the ocean of tears you helped create. We want you to apologize for what we lost and what we will never have. If you ever get a chance to play with your grandchild in freedom one day, we want you to always remember that you took away our children’s grandfather and we want you to apologize for that. We want you to apologize to my dead grandparents who died of a broken heart. Apologize to my mother who at the young age of 32 was left alone with no answers and two children who had many questions. And most of all, we want you to apologize to us for hiding his body all these years and for taking away our basic right to have a grave. That cruel and evil action alone deserves an apology by itself.

An apology will not erase what was done, but at least when you stand before the final judge- God - who determines your eternal future; you can say that you tried to repent. At least you can one day look into your grandchild’s innocent eyes, eyes that hopefully will never see and experience the evils you subjected us to, and you can say “Hey, I may have been bad, really really bad, but I tried in the end to make it better.”

Without an apology you prove to the world and more importantly to your family that you are nothing but a selfish, cold blooded killer who shows no remorse for the crimes you committed against humankind and God.

I challenge you to apologize, whether you mean it or not, because despite what you did to us, I still believe that everyone, no matter how much evil they committed and how low they have sunk, has the potential to turn their lives around.

Signed,
Michal (Eldest daughter of Israel Greenwald)
on behalf of my mother Leah Greenwald, sister Yael Greenwald
and my Grandparents (Dov and Sarah Greenwald-may they rest in peace)

Today will be 22 years. Over two decades from the day my father left us and never returned. It has been 22 years since Burt Kaplan decided to play God or atleast play the angel of death. 22 years since 2 NYC cops decided that their lust for money was more important than their badge. My cousin was born a week after my father was murdered and just last week he got married. That is what can happen in 22 years. It took almost two decades for this crime to be solved and yet here we are, 22 years later, waiting...

We are waiting for the appeals decision. The court is taking their time. We are waiting for justice to be served through the city who was responsible for hiring those thugs. We are waiting for compensation for all that we lost that we can never get back. We are waiting for a day when this can all truly be in the past. We are waiting....

But at least we have a grave after 22 years. At least we know the truth after 22 years. We are grateful to God for at least that.

APPEALING FOR TRUE JUSTICE

The Appeals took place on October 18th in downtown NYC. Arguments from both sides were heard and we can only sit back and wait for the appellate court to decide whether to uphold Judge Weinstein's decision to throw out the case based on statute of limitations or whether to uphold the juries verdict that there is no statute issue because the conspiracy never ended. This is in essence what it comes down to: Did the conspiracy end after they retired from the police force or did they continue their life of crime. The government argued that their life of crime continued, as proven in court with their money laundering and drug dealing activities, therefore there is no statute issue. The mob cops lawyers argued that the conspiracy ended as soon as they retired from the police force and moved to Las Vegas (conveniently right across the street from each other).
It is obvious which verdict we are hoping and praying for, but no matter what the appellate court ultimately decides, we are 100% certain justice will prevail and these murderers will never see the outside of their cells again. We just hope that we are spared another trial and that this matter can finally end so that Israel Greenwald can finally rest in peace and we can have true closure.

THE LETTER

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In a recent article featured in the Daily News there was a blurb about the letter my mother received from the FBI when she was searching for information about my father. Here is a letter my mother wrote on July 14th 1990 in her attempt to find answers. The letter illustrates the ridiculousness she had to face and how this tragedy was really so unique in its absurdity and horror.


July 14, 1990

U.S. Department of Justice
Federal Borough of Investigation
Freedom of Information Privacy Acts Section
Information Management Division
90 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington D.C. 20530



FOIPA 334,251
Freedom of Information Appeal



Dear Sir,

On April 1, 1990 I sent you a letter requesting information about the investigation related to my husband Israel Greenwald. Two months later, after many telephone calls to your offices asking why I didn't receive any answers, you sent me a letter denying me any information.

You wrote:" The Federal law prohibits disclosure of such records in the absence of written authorization of the other individual". (Does that mean you want a written authorization from my husband?! Is he alive?! Or maybe you would like me to provide a written authorization from his murderers?)

Are you making fun of my tragedy? For four and a half years I have been begging and pleading the FBI for information about my husband's disappearance. I have provided them with all the information possible to assist them with their investigation and I have also pointed out the suspects involved with his disappearance. The suspects are walking around free, and I am left alone with great difficulties to support myself and my two children. For lack of information, I can not get any social benefits so badly needed and I am about to lose my house and have
no money to pay for my children's school.

According to the "Freedom of Information Appeal" I am again requesting the information about what happened to my husband and the father of my children.
Please help us.

Yours sincerely and hopefully,

Rachel Leah Greenwald