One Reporter's Journey
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Emmy Award winning broadcast journalist Rich Newberg revisits his forty-six year quest to better understand the human condition. Beginning with his earliest days as "The Troubleshooter," when he brought the camera and microphone to those in society who didn't have a voice, Mr. Newberg reflects on the social upheavals, historical milestones, and lives of extraordinary people he covered throughout his storied career. He dedicates his memoir to the people of Buffalo, New York, who he says "are passionate about the issues that shape our lives." Rich Newberg spent almost four decades of his career at WIVB-TV in Buffalo, seeking to illuminate those issues.<br /><br /><span>Mr. Newberg’s video memoir is co- produced and edited by his long-time colleague and friend, Mike Mombrea Jr., WIVB-TV’s chief Photographer.</span>
<em>Originally aired on WIVB-TV.</em>
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Rich Newberg Reports Collection
WIVB (Television Station : Buffalo, N.Y.)
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
2015-12-28
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Murphy%2C+Kurt+%28Graphic+Artist%29">Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Artist)</a>
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Copyright held by WIVB-TV. Access to this digital version provided by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Videos or images in this collection are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the expressed written permission of WIVB-TV and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Users of this website are free to utilize material from this collection for non-commercial and educational purposes.
Digital Collections of the B&ECPL
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Moving Image
Lynn DeJac Exonerated
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=DeJac%2C+Lynn">DeJac, Lynn</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Criminal+investigation--United+States--Case+studies">Criminal investigation--United States--Case studies</a>
Lynn DeJac of Buffalo, New York served thirteen years in prison for a crime she did not commit. In 1994 she was wrongly convicted of murdering her fourteen-year-old daughter, Crystallynn Girard.<br /><p><span>In 2007, DeJac’s conviction was vacated after Buffalo Police cold case detective Dennis Delano brought forth DNA evidence he claimed linked DeJac’s ex-boyfriend, Dennis Donohue, to Crystallynn’s death. Donohue could not be charged because he had testified before a grand jury and was granted immunity from prosecution.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span>However, he was later convicted of murdering a woman he had once dated.<br /></span></p>
<p><span>DeJac, according to the Innocence Project, became the first woman to be exonerated of murdering someone based on DNA evidence. She had given birth to twin boys while behind bars and later married their father, Chuck Peters, while serving her sentence. She also had an older, estranged son, Edward.<br /></span></p>
<p><span>WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg and News 4 Chief Photographer Mike Mombrea Jr. were with DeJac the day of her release and also documented the reunion with her family. During a live interview that evening, DeJac told Newberg, "</span><span>The</span><span> truth will set me free." </span></p>
<p><span>Shortly after the state of New York paid DeJac a settlement of $2.7 million dollars, she was diagnosed with cancer. She died at age fifty on June 18, 2014. Her husband and twin sons, Keith and Douglas were with their mother when she passed away.</span></p>
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Rich Newberg Reports Collection
WIVB (Television Station: Buffalo, N.Y.)
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
2007-11-28
2014-6-18
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Copyright held by WIVB-TV. Access to this digital version provided by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Videos or images in this collection are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the expressed written permission of WIVB-TV and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Users of this website are free to utilize material from this collection for non-commercial and educational purposes.
Heroes of Normandy
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Fifty years after the Allied amphibious invasion of Normandy during World War II, Western New York veterans of D-Day reflect on their roles and experiences as they descended on the northern coast of France. The seven-part series was presented on WIVB-TV as a tribute to all who took part in the invasion, which claimed 16,293 American lives. D-Day, led by U.S., British and Canadian forces on five beachheads, helped liberate Northern France from the Nazis and enabled the allies to launch their drive into Germany.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Newberg%2C+Rich+%28Producer%2C+Writer%2C+Host%29">Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)</a>
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Rich Newberg Reports Collection
WIVB (Television Station: Buffalo, N.Y.)
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
1994-5-30
1994-6-6
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Copyright held by WIVB-TV. Access to this digital version provided by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Videos or images in this collection are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the expressed written permission of WIVB-TV and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Users of this website are free to utilize material from this collection for non-commercial and educational purposes.
John Rigas Trial and Conviction
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<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Adelphia+Communications+Corporation.">Adelphia Communications Corporation.</a>
<p><span>On July 8, 2004, John and Timothy were found guilty of conspiracy, securities and bank fraud. They were convicted of hiding $2.3 billion in debt, while looting Adelphia of $100 million.<br /><br />Michael avoided prison by pleading guilty to making a false entry in a financial record. Michael Mulcahey, the former director of internal reporting for Adelphia, was acquitted. The government’s main witness, James Brown, Adelphia’s former vice president for finance, had pleaded guilty to fraud in 2002.<br /><br />Less than a year later, on June 20, 2005, John <span class="highlight">Rigas</span>, who at age 80 suffered from heart problems and bladder cancer, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. His son Timothy received a 20-year prison sentence. John’s sentence was later reduced to 12 years, and Timothy’s to 17 years, after a federal appeals court threw out part of the government’s case.<br /><br />John and Timothy began serving their prison terms on August 13, 2007, when their initial appeals were denied. Two weeks earlier, John sat down with WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg, proclaiming his innocence and desire to clear the family name.<br /></span></p>
<p><span>U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand had also ruled that after serving two years, John could regain his freedom if he were diagnosed with less than three months to live. On February 19, 2016, after serving 8 years in federal prison,</span><span class="highlight">Rigas</span><span>, at age 91, was granted a compassionate release. He had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.</span></p>
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Rich Newberg Reports Collection
WIVB (Television Station: Buffalo, N.Y.)
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
2004-02
2004-03
2004-07
2007-07-31
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Copyright held by WIVB-TV. Access to this digital version provided by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Videos or images in this collection are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the expressed written permission of WIVB-TV and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Users of this website are free to utilize material from this collection for non-commercial and educational purposes.
Digital Collections of the B&ECPL
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Moving Image
John Rigas Indicted
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<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Adelphia+Communications+Corporation">Adelphia Communications Corporation</a>
<span>On July 24, 2002, 77 year old John </span><span>Rigas</span><span>, the founder and CEO of Adelphia Communications Corporation, was indicted on charges of securities, wire, and bank fraud. Two of his sons, Timothy and Michael were also charged, along with two company executives. Timothy had been Adelphia’s financial officer. Michael served as chief operating officer.<br /><br />John Rigas, the son of Greek immigrants, had started Adelphia in 1952 with a $300 dollar investment. He grew the company to the nation’s fifth largest cable company.<br /><br />Following the indictments, John Rigas talked exclusively with WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg, refuting federal charges of conspiring to defraud investors, looting corporate accounts, and failing to disclose $2.3 billion dollars in company debts.<br /></span>
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Rich Newberg Reports Collection
WIVB (Television Station: Buffalo, N.Y.)
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
2003-01
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Copyright held by WIVB-TV. Access to this digital version provided by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Videos or images in this collection are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the expressed written permission of WIVB-TV and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Users of this website are free to utilize material from this collection for non-commercial and educational purposes.
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Moving Image
City Grill Massacre
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<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Murder+investigation--New+York+%28State%29--Buffalo">Murder investigation--New York (State)--Buffalo</a>
<span>One of the most horrific crimes in Buffalo history unfolded in the early morning hours of August 14, 2010. A gunman shot four people to death, execution style, and wounded four others. It happened at the City Grill restaurant on Buffalo’s Main Street.<br /><br />The shootings followed an argument inside the restaurant. One of the victims who were shot to death had been celebrating his first wedding anniversary.<br /><br />The gunman escaped, and during the days that followed, many Buffalo inner city residents lived in fear that there would be more bloodshed. Although there were more than a hundred patrons in the restaurant at the time of the shootings, authorities said they were having a hard time locating people willing to cooperate.<br /><br />Buffalo police had arrested a suspect less than 12 hours after the shootings, but he turned out to be the wrong man.<br /><br />Eleven days later, as authorities were closing in on another man who had emerged as the main “person of interest,” 23-year-old Riccardo McCray decided he would rather surrender peacefully than risk a showdown with Buffalo Police.<br /><br />On August 25, 2010, community activists Darnell Jackson and Bishop Perry Davis brought McCray to WIVB-TV studios in North Buffalo. Jackson had contacted the station’s senior correspondent, Rich Newberg, the night before, indicating McCray was seeking a safe haven to surrender. <br /><br />Newberg had a long history of reporting on the struggles of inner city residents, and had provided nightly updates following the City Grill shootings. <br /><br />While McCray waited for his attorney to arrive, Newberg interviewed the suspect, who volunteered the fact that he had been at the City Grill at the time of the shootings, but denied being the shooter.<br /><br />McCray was then peacefully taken into Buffalo Police custody and charged with first and second-degree murder and possession of a weapon.<br /><br />At McCray’s trial, Newberg was called as a witness for the prosecution. His entire interview of McCray was played for the jury in a packed courtroom.<br /><br />McCray was found guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.<br /></span>
FEATURED REPORTS
CITY GRILL MASSACRE RETROSPECTIVE
1. WIVB-TV Anchor/Reporter Dave Greber’s retrospective dating back almost ten years includes footage from the City Grill massacre that had never been made public before. Greber interviews former WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg who reflects on the day Riccardo McCray was brought to him to surrender. McCray was later convicted of murder, attempted murder, and criminal possession of a weapon.
February 17, 2020
(Runs: 6:18)
SURRENDER OF RICCARDO MCCRAY
2. Shortly after handling the surrender of Riccardo McCray, the primary suspect in the City Grill shootings, WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg gave a first hand account of how it all unfolded. It was posted on the WIVB-TV website. Newberg would later testify at McCray’s trial. He was a witness for the prosecution. His entire interview of McCray was played for the jury.
August 2010
(Runs: 4:05)
FIRST TELEVISED REPORTS OF MCCRAY’S SURRENDER
WIVB-TV / News 4 Buffalo
August 25, 2010
(Runs: 13:44)
3. Reports begin with “Breaking News” cut-in to programming followed by Rich Newberg’s first reports on McCray’s surrender, McCray being charged with the City Grill shootings, community reaction, and potential use of Newberg’s interview with McCray as evidence by prosecutors.
MCCRAY ARRAIGNMENT
WIVB-TV / News 4 Buffalo
August 26, 2010
(Runs: 2:05)
4. Riccardo McCray is arraigned on charges including murder attempted murder, and weapons possession.
EXPERTS REVIEW MCCRAY SURRENDER AND
INTERVIEW
September 3, 2010
(Runs: 3:00)
5. WIVB-TV Legal Analyst Terry Connors and former New York State Attorney General Dennis Vacco review the video showing the McCray surrender and interview. They believe the interview by Rich Newberg could be used in court.
RICH NEWBERG TESTIFIES AT MCCRAY TRIAL
(March 25, 2011)
(Runs: 2:32)
6. WIVB-TV Investigative Reporter Luke Moretti reports on Rich Newberg’s testimony in court as a witness for the prosecution. Newberg said his role was to obtain information from McCray who chose to answer all the questions that were raised and denied being the shooter.
REPORT ON JURY DELIBERATIONS
(March 31, 2011)
(Runs: 3:22)
7. WIVB-TV reporter Laurie Schultz says jurors wanted to review the testimony of the getaway car driver. She then shows excerpts of closing arguments by the prosecution and defense. Her report includes surveillance video of the shootings used as evidence in McCray’s trial.
MCCRAY FOUND GUILTY (3/31/2011)
(Report Aired: April 1, 2011)
(Runs: 2:23)
8. After seven hours of deliberations, the jury finds Riccardo McCray guilty of three counts of first degree murder and several counts of attempted murder in the first degree. Prosecutors believe the surveillance video was powerful evidence in the trial.
McCray never took the stand and there were no witnesses who testified in his behalf.
MCCRAY SENTENCING
(June 2, 2011)
(Runs: 2:59)
9. Riccardo McCray receives the maximum sentence of life without parole. WIVB-TV reporter George Richert shows courtroom video of victims’ family members emotionally telling the judge the impact of McCray’s actions on their lives and the lives of their loved ones. McCray killed and wounded his victims by firing 10 shots within 17 seconds.
McCray stood up during sentencing and once again declared that he wasn’t the shooter. Upon passing sentence, Erie County Judge Sheila Di’Tullio told McCray, “You’re a thug and you’re a murderer and you’re a person with no remorse and no conscience. Quite simply, Riccardo McCray, you take a life and you get life.”
[42:05 —Total running time for segments 1 though 9]
COVERAGE OF CITY GRILL MASSACRE
RICH NEWBERG REPORTS
(August - September 2010)
(Runs: 1:09:16)
10. Comprehensive series of reports beginning with the morning of the shootings at the City Grill in downtown Buffalo and ending with the surrender of Riccardo McCray to Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg at WIVB-TV studios.
[1:09:16 — Total running time for these reports]
[1:51:34 — Total running time for 1 through 10]
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Newberg%2C+Rich+%28Writer%2C+Reporter%29">Newberg, Rich (Writer, Reporter)</a>
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Rich Newberg Reports Collection
WIVB (Television Station: Buffalo, N.Y.)
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
2010-08-14 (Shootings take place)
2010-08-25 (McCray surrenders)
2011-03-31 (Found Guilty)
2011-06-02 (Sentenced to life without parole)
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Copyright held by WIVB-TV. Access to this digital version provided by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Videos or images in this collection are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the expressed written permission of WIVB-TV and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Users of this website are free to utilize material from this collection for non-commercial and educational purposes.
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Cynthia Dwyer: 53rd Hostage
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On April 10, 1980, Cynthia Dwyer, a 49 year old wife and mother of three young children, decided to travel to Iran to learn more about the revolution that had toppled the Shah, and to find out anything new about 52 people from the American Embassy in Tehran who had been taken hostage on November 4, 1979 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.<br /><br />Mrs. Dwyer, a freelance writer and book editor, had obtained an Erie County Sheriff’s press card and had a long history of taking up causes of the underdog. Despite warnings that travel to Iran could be dangerous, she made the journey, only to be arrested on May 5th, 1980 and charged with being a spy for the CIA.<br /><br />She may have been set up for arrest by possible agents of the revolutionary government who had spoken to her of a plan to free five American hostages separated from the larger group. There had earlier been an aborted U.S. rescue attempt that ended with a helicopter crash and the loss of eight American service personnel.<br /><br />Inside the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, Mrs. Dwyer said she was subjected to about 50 hours of interrogation. She was quoted as saying she “heard executions of many Iranians accused of treason.” She later said she had lived in “constant fear of death” during her nine months of incarceration.<br /><br />On February 4, 1980, two weeks after the 52 hostages were released, Cynthia Dwyer was tried and convicted of espionage. She had been denied a lawyer and called the proceedings a “kangaroo trial…complete nonsense.” However, five days later, thanks, in part, to intervention by the Swiss government, Mrs. Dwyer was released by the Ayatollah Khomeini and expelled from Iran.<br /><br />She arrived at Kennedy Airport in New York on February 11, 1981 and was immediately reunited with her family. Her husband, John Dwyer, Chairman of the English Department at Buffalo State College, had kept Cynthia’s story in the headlines. WIVB-TV news reporter Rich Newberg had established a trusted relationship with the family and provided Buffalo, CNN, and CBS Newsfeed with updates during Mrs. Dwyer’s ten-month odyssey.
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Rich Newberg Reports Collection
WIVB (Television Station: Buffalo, N.Y.)
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
1980
1981
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The Case Against The Lackawanna Six
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In September 2002, six Yemeni-American friends from Lackawanna, New York, eight miles outside of Buffalo, were arrested and charged with giving material support to the terrorist organization al-Qaeda. It was the one year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
They had attended a al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in the Spring of 2001, just months before the attacks on the United States.
In his State of the Union address in 2003, President George W. Bush referred to the six as being part of an “al-Qaeda cell.” He said that along with other alleged cells broken in Hamburg, Milan, Madrid, London and Paris, “We have the terrorists on the run. We’re keeping them on the run. One by one the terrorists are learning the meaning of American justice.”
The men had grown up in the second largest Yemeni community in America and were all native born or naturalized U.S. citizens. One was a soccer star in high school. Another was voted “friendliest” in his graduating class.
There was never proof that the six had been plotting terror attacks on American soil or that they were, in fact a homegrown terrorist cell.
However, in December 2003, faced with possible long prison sentences if found guilty during a trial, all pleaded guilty to “providing material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.” They were given sentences ranging from seven to ten years.
Author Dina Temple-Raston, who wrote the book “The Jihad Next Door: The Lackawanna Six and Rough Justice in an Age of Terror,” says the men left the training camp early when they realized America would be a target.
During a 2007 interview on National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation,” Temple-Raston, NPR’s FBI correspondent, said the men were addressed by Osama bin Laden, who told them there were suicide bombers ready to take action against the United States and Israel.
After returning to Lackawanna, she said the men were not truthful to the FBI about their activities in Afghanistan and were later arrested.
As part of the plea bargain agreements, the defendants agreed to cooperate with federal terrorism investigators.
A seventh suspect from Lackawanna, Jaber Elbaneh, escaped from a Yemeni prison but later turned himself in to Yemen authorities in 2007. He had been placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list.
The alleged recruiter of the Lackawanna Six, Kamal Derwish, was killed by a drone in Yemen on November 3, 2002.
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Rich Newberg Reports Collection
WIVB (Television Station: Buffalo,N.Y>)
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
2002-09-10
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The Lackawanna Six - Case Revisisted
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On April 24, 2004, Fox journalist Geraldo Rivera originated his “At Large” program from Buffalo City Hall. The purpose was to take a second look at the case against the so-called “Lackawanna Six.” His guests included the prosecutors and some of the defense attorneys who took part in case.
Discussions centered on whether or not the six friends from Lackawanna, New York, just outside of Buffalo, were actually part of a terrorist “sleeper cell.” Questions were raised about the practice of what has been called “preemptive justice,” meaning the arrest of individuals who were considered possible threats for violent acts that were never committed.
Prosecutors argued that attendance at a terrorist training camp and failure to disclose the fact to the FBI, were grounds for the arrests. All the defendants ended up pleaded guilty to “providing material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.” They were given sentences ranging from seven to ten years.
Defense attorneys maintained that their clients were lured into attending the training camp and realized too late what they had gotten into. They accepted plea bargain agreements that limited their prison terms. They agreed to cooperate with the U.S. government regarding information they had obtained during their time in the Middle East.
During their stay at the camp in Afghanistan the men from Lackawanna had been addressed by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden who said the United States would be a target of terrorist activity. Most of the defendants, according to their attorneys, decided they wanted to leave the camp early and have nothing to do with any attacks on America.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hochul said the defendants were told by bin-Laden that “forty to fifty men (would be) enroute to attack America,” but chose to remain silent when they returned home in the summer of 2001.
He questioned whether that information might have helped avert the attacks on 9/11.
Defense attorney John Molloy said all six had remained silent “out of fear.” He said they “were petrified” on 9/11 and that “they were afraid that they were next.”
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Rich Newberg Reports Collection
Fox News
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
2004-24-04
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The Lackawanna Six - President George W. Bush Visits Buffalo
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On April 20, 2004, President George W. Bush came to Buffalo to push for an extension of the Patriot Act, which granted the FBI the right to secretly conduct surveillance activities on American citizens without proving probable cause. This included physical searches and wiretaps.
President Bush maintained that The Patriot Act had been instrumental in the arrests of the so-called “Lackawanna Six,” a group of friends from a small city outside of Buffalo, New York who attended a al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan just months before the 9/11/2001 terror attacks on the United States.
While President Bush had referred to these men as belonging to a “terrorist cell,” their defense attorneys said the six had been lured to attend the camp, not realizing what it was all about. After being addressed by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-laden, most tried to leave the camp early. According to their attorneys, they wanted nothing more to do with al-Qaeda.
Faced with a trial and potentially lengthy prison sentences, they all pleaded guilty to “providing material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.” They received sentences of seven to ten years in prison and agreed to share information with the US government.
WIVB-TV senior Correspondent Rich Newberg reports on President Bush’s visit to Buffalo and the Patriot Act support he received from US Attorney Michael Battle and Buffalo FBI Agent In Charge Peter Ahearn.
Four days after the president’s visit, Fox News journalist Geraldo Rivera conducted a debate on the Patriot Act during a live Fox News Channel cablecast originating from Buffalo’s City Hall. “At Large with Geraldo Rivera” took a second look at the case of the The Lackawanna Six.
In reviewing the case, Rivera reports that the FBI had been tipped off by an anonymous letter that a group of Arab Americans that had traveled to Afghanistan was there to “meet bin-Laden and stay in his camp for training.” Rivera states that the men had told their neighbors they were going to Pakistan for religious instruction.
President Bush had stated that the Patriot Act “helps us to be able to connect the dots.” However, University at Buffalo constitutional law professor Dr. Lee Albert maintained that The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 had already allowed the CIA and FBI to cooperate in the Lackawanna Six case. “I don’t think the Patriot Act had a lot to do with this case,” he said.
FBI Special Agent Peter Ahearn disagreed and said, “The dots were connected” through the Patriot Act. He said shared information between the CIA and FBI led to the connection to a foreign terrorist organization. He said it had started as a criminal investigation but that the “spin of this case” changed. He added that seeing “the whole picture” helped reveal “how al-Qaeda operated overseas.”
During the debate, Patriot Act proponent Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute maintained that there had been “utter paralysis in the country’s intelligence community before 9/11.” She added, “For months after 9/11 the political community, the media, was railing against our failure to connect the dots. The Patriot Act solved that.”
Patriot Act critic, former US attorney Bob Barr, said there has never been a federal law that prohibits intelligence agents and prosecutors to talk with each other. He said there is a danger that the Patriot Act could be used “as a subterfuge to undermine the Bill of Rights.” He added, “If we say, well prosecutors should be able to get anything, anytime, anywhere that they want simply because they say it’s to fight terrorism, then we might as well just throw the Bill of Rights, and especially the 4th Amendment (the right against unreasonable searches and seizures) out the window, and I don’t think we ought to do that as a country.”
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Rich Newberg Reports Collection
Fox News
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
2004-24-04
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