Recap

Gov't Failures & Cover-ups

Investigative reporter Peter Lance discussed his book, Cover Up, which maintains the U.S. government has been covering up its own counterterrorism/intelligence failures since the mid-1990s.

Lance began his presentation by discussing Ahmed Amin Refai, an alleged al Qaeda mole who worked as an accountant for the New York Fire Department. According to Lance, Fire Marshall Ronnie Bucca uncovered Refai's connections to terrorist 'Blind Sheik' Rahman, as well as evidence that Refai had obtained plans to the World Trade Center prior to the first bombing. Bucca shared this information with the New York office of the FBI, Lance explained, but was ignored.

Lance also spoke about an alleged corrupt relationship between FBI Supervisory Special Agent R. Lindley DeVecchio and mafia hitman Greg Scarpa Sr. He said DeVecchio would inform Scarpa Sr. about the location of his rivals so he could eliminate them. One such rival, Nicky Grancio, was killed with a shotgun blast to the head. Lance claims the FBI covered up the relationship between DeVecchio and Scarpa Sr., and read a 'smoking gun' memo during the program as evidence.

Next, Lance connected the son of Scarpa Sr. to Ramzi Yousef, whom he believes ordered the bombing of TWA 800 from his prison cell in order to get a mistrial in his own terror bombing case. Again, Lance suggested the FBI had been alerted in advance to Yousef's plans, but failed to act on the intel. Lance also offered an update on a U.S. military program called Able Danger.

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