Shamsud-din Ali - man of the cloth or mafioso? - PhillyBlog

seand · #1 (**permalink**) 04-02-2005, 04:41 PM

One of the darker aspects of the on-going FBI probe of corruption in Philadelphia circulates around a man named Shamsun-din Ali. According to FBI he, with the help of longtime friend and political ally Ron White, engineered a deal where he was paid to "collect" back real estate taxes from a prominant Chestnut Hill property manager.

According to the FBI, although the property manager had already paid the taxes in full to an aide of city council member Donna Reed Miller, White and Ali arranged for Ali to get a contract from the city to "collect" the back taxes. Ali was allowed to reduce the amount of taxes due to the city, giving the realty company a healthy discount and paying himself a handy commision in the process. Ali allegedly split this commision with Miller's aide who held onto the first check for payment in full and of the back taxes and later destroyed the check after Ali had gotten his second partial payment. The FBI has detailed wiretaps of negotiations of this transaction, ehich have been published in both daily newspapers.

Ali's wife and daughter are accused of running a no-work adult education scheme where various members of their family and church were paid for teaching adult literacy and GED classes that were never actually held.

The even more nefarious side of the FBI allegations claim that Ali had been a higher up in the Junior Black Mafia since his time in prison the 70's and that he contiues to be. According to reports in the Philadelphia Daily News, the FBI first found out about the real estate tax collection scheme indirectly because the were wiretapping the cell phones a drug ring, who were talking about having to drop off a "street tax" payment to Ali as boss in the Junior Black Mafia, which led to taps on Ali's cell phone and then to information on the tax collection scheme. The assumption is that the Feds don't have enough evidence for a succesful RICO prosecution of Ali but enough, they believe, for a succesful case on municipal corruption.

Some of the allegations about Ali are quite eye-opening. What do people make of this man, Shamsud-din Ali? Is he an innocent man of the cloth or a cold-blooded mobster with close ties to various players in city government? What about his close personal relationship both as a friend and personal religious advisor to Kenny Gamble?

seand · #2 (**permalink**) 04-20-2005, 01:45 PM

Quote:

NEWSMAN ELIMINATED FROM ALI JURY POOL

By KITTY CAPARELLA

caparek@phillynews.com

Tyree Johnson may know more history about Muslim cleric Shamsud-din Ali than the government that is prosecuting him in federal court on racketeering charges.

But Johnson, 60, was the first person eliminated from a 150-member jury pool yesterday when U.S. District Judge Bruce Kauffman asked potential jurors questions on behalf of attorneys for Ali; John Christmas, former aide to Mayor Street's chief of staff, and John Johnson, head of Hi-Technology Recycling Waste Management Inc.

John Johnson showed up yesterday for his trial after his unexcused absence on Monday.

Asked if anyone knew the defendants, Tyree Johnson's hand shot up. The editor of Westside Weekly, and a former reporter for the Daily News and KYW-TV said: "I know all about Shamsud-din, including his past."

In the 1970s and '80s, Johnson covered criminal activity in Muhammad Temple No. 12, which Ali later took over and is now known as Philadelphia Masjid.

In 1978, Tyree Johnson reported that Imam Wallace D. Muhammad, then-head of the American Muslim Mission, the nation's largest Muslim organization, was trying to rid the mosques of criminals in ranking positions, but the Philadelphia mosque continued to have ties to the Black Mafia.

Ali was then its resident imam.

In 1973, Johnson was the first to expose that Black Inc., a community organization, was a front for the Black Mafia, and was getting government money to run community programs. At the time, some of the then-Black Muslims became known as the Black Mafia.

Johnson once testified against a Black Mafia hit man, Herschell "Jolly Green Giant" Williams about a 1974 shooting. And the Drug Enforcement Administration reported that the Black Mafia issued a murder contract on Johnson's life.

In the early 1970s, Ali was known as Captain Clarence Fowler, in the Fruit of Islam, a paramilitary organization in the Nation of Islam.

Fowler was imprisoned for the 1970 execution-style murder of Dr. Clarence Smith, minister of Wayland Baptist Church.

Fowler's conviction was overturned because of what was ruled as an improper photo lineup used by investigators - he was the only one in a picture wearing a bowtie. As a result, House Speaker Leroy Irvis asked the Legislature to award Fowler $450,000 for spending six years in prison and Fowler got the money.

After he was released in 1976, Fowler changed his name to Shamsud-din Ali and took over the Philadelphia Masjid, at 47th Street and Wyalusing Avenue.

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/11438986.htm

rlc · #3 (**permalink**) 04-20-2005, 03:04 PM

He's a convicted murderer who got off on a technicality. He is about as "holy" as the porn star Annabell Chong...

seand · #4 (**permalink**) 04-26-2005, 01:39 PM

Well the laborer's union are big fans on Imman Ali, no matter how his family spends their money.

Quote:

Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Wzorek asked Gillespie if it would bother him if union donations paid Ali's American Express bill.

"No I don't think so," Gillespie said.

On Nov. 30, 1999, a $15,000 donation from the Friends of Labor - a group of four laborers unions in the area that raise money for charity - was deposited into the Sister Clara Muhammad School account, testified IRS agent James Agnew, who analyzed union and other donations to the school between 1998-2003.

In the next four days, Agnew said, Ali's wife, Faridah, moved $13,000 out of the school account and into her own, then paid $2,500 for her daughter Lakiha Spicer's luxury New York apartment and $9,329.49 for the Alis' two American Express bills.

Of his $1,100 donation in 2000-2001, Gillespie said: "If the people who work there got paid, that's great."

School employees weren't paid for months at a time, and then it was only a $250 stipend or less, according to two employees who testified earlier.

Faridah Ali, assistant director of the school, treated the school's account as her own, according to Agnew's analysis. And the Ali family enjoyed the high-life.

A six-day trip to Las Vegas. A cruise to Florida. Shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue. Two Mercedes Benzes. Dinners at city hot spots: Tangerine's; La Famiglia, and Zanzibar Blue, according to bills entered as evidence.

The credit cards were in the name of KIFS: the Keystone Information and Financial Services, a debt-collection company the Alis owned; and Elite Services: Faridah's former beauty salon. But credit cards were issued to Shamsud-din, Faridah, and Faridah's daughter and son, Lakiha and Azheem Spicer.

Whenever the Alis' personal money problems grew worse, they tapped their union pals, particularly Sam Staten Sr. - under the guise of helping Sister Clara Muhammad School, according to FBI taped calls played yesterday.

Staten bailed them out more than once, Agnew's analysis showed. They received $15,000 to $25,000 annually through Staten's three laborers' groups.

In a June 27, 2001, letter, Faridah appealed to Staten and other benefactors for $10,000 because the school was "in desperate need of money to complete our summer program."

Staten gave $5,000 for the summer program, and was trying to raise another $5,000.

Faridah told Lakiha what she was going to do with Staten's donation, according to an Aug. 4, 2001, wiretapped call that was played in court.

"I can pay some of my bills cause, ah, Sam Staten gave me a check for $5,000... and he said he's gonna try to get me another five from the union... So, ah, now, I can pay my income tax."

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/...l/11489957.htm

eldondre · #5 (**permalink**) 04-26-2005, 08:54 PM

"PATRICK Gillespie, who represents 41 unions in the Building and Trades Council, yesterday described Muslim cleric Shamsud-din Ali as an "outstanding citizen, outstanding cleric and a person to be emulated.""
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/11489957.htm

rlc · #6 (**permalink**) 04-27-2005, 01:40 PM

Unfrickenbelievable. I'm almost speechless. I can't even cmprehend what Gillespie said.

All I can say is that Gillespie could rape a nun right in front of a church and yell out to union guys who were passing by to give him more money so he can make sure more convicted murderers can pay their credit card bills and these union numskulls would say "Okay Pat, just tell me how much yous guys need and I'll get it to ya. Just take it right out of my check, ya know!"

Philadelphia deserves the government it gets when a majority of its citizens are so stupid as to fall for this bullshat...

seand · #7 (**permalink**) 04-27-2005, 02:13 PM

A major problem with the trial is that although the Feds feel thay have a pretty solid racketeering case against Ali for collecting "street tax" from drug dealers, because Ali was not involved in the trafficking directly the defense argues all the hours of tapes of Ali calling the drug dealers to collect payments are "prejudicial" and not admissable. They seem to be angling for a mistrial. So far the judge has allowed the tapes but seems to take issue with live testimony expaining the meaning of the tapes.

Quote:

MUSLIM CLERIC Shamsud-din Ali was boasting about introducing Saba, Baha and Yusef - all drug dealers - to an unnamed cocaine supplier, in a tape-recorded conversation played in federal court yesterday.

"Everybody that got helped, I made sure they knew this dude. Yusef, included. Baha, all of them. They couldn't get none," said Ali on the June 10, 2002, taped conversation. "I'm the guy who told him."

The witness who recorded the conversation for the FBI, convicted drug manufacturer Leonard Wideman, explained that the guys Ali mentioned "wanted to get together" with Sam "Norristown Sam" Collins. And Ali was "co-signing" or vouching for them.

Asked why they wanted to meet Collins, Wideman replied: "They say Sam sells drugs. I don't know. I never saw any drugs."

Ali's lawyer, James J. Binns, leapt from his chair and objected to the exchange about drugs. The judge sustained the objection, then huddled with lawyers in a sidebar conference, after dismissing the jury for the day.

There was talk of a possible mistrial, according to three attorneys. U.S. District Judge Bruce Kauffman said he would hear arguments this morning.

Such is the dilemma in this racketeering trial, now in its eighth day. The exchange between prosecutor and witness placed Ali in a possible drug conspiracy, for which he was not charged, two lawyers said.

The government has maintained it can use uncharged drug crimes to show how the Alis used Sister Clara Muhammad School as a racketeering enterprise to solicit money from illegal activities.

Drug dealers donated money to the school, in part as charity and in part so that Shamsud-din would make drug introductions, as heard from a witness and in tape-recorded conversations played yesterday.

Binns, however, has argued repeatedly that mentioning drugs in an essentially "white-collar" trial is "highly prejudicial" to Ali.

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/...l/11498816.htm

I have to agree with rlc and el - I can't believe Gillepsie would feel free to endorse Ali without shame considering the preponderous of extremely incirimidating evidence that is out in the public sphere as a result of these trials. Inside deals are one thing, but the level of criminality that politcal players in this town appear to think is "OK" never ceases to make my jaw drop. It is simply mindboggling that so many major players in local politics choose to associate themselves with Mr. Ali. Don't these people have any sense of shame?

TC08105 · #8 (**permalink**) 04-27-2005, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Don't these people have any sense of shame?

No, they don't. And that's why this town is slowly dying. There is no sense of outrage. This is business as usual.

The sheep will go to the polls and vote as they are told, and the cycle continues.

seand · #9 (**permalink**) 05-06-2005, 05:31 PM

OK this story is a little dense but its got all kinds of juicy stuff.

City Kenneth Trujillo and his aide Daniel Cantu-Hertzler smelled something fishy in the unprecedented 10% "commission" paid to Shamsud-din Ali's KIFS financial firm to collect Chesnut Hill's Bowman Properties' back taxes of $685K. They did not think KIFS had done any work to collect the money. In fact Ali had done "work" to stop Bowman's initial payment in full from being deposited so he could "earn" his "commission". The intial payment in full had already been given to Donna Reed-Miller's chief of staff, Steven Vaughn. Vaughn has since plead guilty for the felony count of fraud.

Because of their well-founded missgivings, Cantu-Herzler tried to go around Street aide John Christmas (who was pushing for the deal) via email to check in with Street's high level of aides - Shawn Fordham and George Burrell. Essentially Fordham backed up Christmas, indicating that the whole sketchy deal (which was in fact fraud) was supported by the mayor's office.

Very interesting. In many ways it is a shame the FBI never got to proceed with their bugs of Burrell and the Mayor - who knows who would be on trial right now?

Quote:

Former City Solicitor Kenneth Trujillo yesterday testified that if he had known checks for $658,000 in delinquent city real estate taxes had been sitting in a staffer's drawer for a month, "I would have run, or walked to the bank, and cashed them."

In mid-October 2001, Muslim cleric Shamdsud-din Ali had dropped off the 22 checks from Bowman Properties, without a stipulated settlement agreement, causing confusion in the city Law Department.

One of Trujillo's deputies, Daniel Cantu-Hertzler, advised the tax staff at the time to hold the checks "until we can sort this out," according to earlier testimony.

Yesterday, during a federal racketeering trial for Ali and others, Trujillo testified that either Cantu-Hertzler, chief of the corporate and tax unit, or Deputy City Solicitor Cynthia White Williams had told him that Ali's firm, Keystone Information and Financial Services, had brought Bowman Properties into compliance, even though Keystone had no contract at the time with the city.

Before leaving the Law Department on Nov. 1, 2001, Trujillo testified, he authorized Keystone to get jurisdiction in a city contract to collect back real estate taxes from Bowman - work normally handled in-house by city lawyers.

A week later, Inquirer reporter Craig McCoy was asking questions about Bowman, a controversial tax delinquent, and its tax settlement, making city officials uneasy, according to testimony.

Three weeks after Trujillo left, Cantu-Hertzler apparently had second thoughts about whether Ali or Keystone had done any work regarding Bowman. He drafted a Nov. 20, 2001, e-mail asking for confirmation from mayoral aide Shawn Fordham and George Burrell, the mayor's secretary for external affairs.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Brian McMonagle, Cantu-Hertler testified earlier, he talked with acting City Solicitor William Thompson and decided that sending the e-mail "was not a prudent thing to do."

Cantu-Hertzler told McMonagle he wanted Fordham's input, even though he had been dealing with McMonagle's client, John Christmas, for months on the issue.

Christmas, special assistant to the mayor's chief of staff, and Fordham pressed for Keystone to get a 10 percent commission and for Bowman's interest payments to be frozen as of June 1, 2001, Cantu-Hertzler testified.

On Dec. 28, 2001, Keystone's contract was finally approved, allowing it to collect delinquent real estate taxes for a 10 percent commission.

By mid-February 2002, the Bowman settlement appeared to be "unraveling," because its managing partner, Richard Snowden, had not signed the city agreement, according to a Feb. 15, 2002, e-mail of a city tax collector.

Christmas then told the Law Department to proceed with a sheriff's sale, postponed twice, of a major Bowman property in Chestnut Hill, another e-mail said.

Snowden eventually signed the city agreement, and Keystone received a $60,595.61 commission check dated March 26, 2002.

Christmas and Ali are accused by the government of defrauding the city of $60,595 regarding the Bowman settlement after a City Council aide, Steven Vaughn, withheld Bowman's 22 checks so Ali's firm could obtain a city contract.

The alleged scheme is one of eight charged in a federal racketeering indictment.

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/...l/11577366.htm

seand · #10 (**permalink**) 05-08-2005, 07:02 PM

Hmmm. It appears rather than Ali adeptly maniputlating the city for his personal gain, it appears that Street aide John Christmas and Councilwoman Reed-Miller chief of staff Stephen Vaughn had to coach Ali how to bag the bogus contract. Its one thing to look the other way when a political ally is running a scam on the city, but it is another thing to hold the scammers hand and walk him through the entire process. Why did Christmas and Vaughn put so much effort into making sure Ali got this deal? Interesting . . .

Quote:

Even though Christmas and Vaughn repeatedly prepped Ali for meetings with the city Law Department, and later with top mayoral aide George Burrell, Ali often failed to make the critical points the two advised, according to several wiretapped conversations played yesterday.

As early as July 2, 2001, Vaughn offered to script what Ali should say to deputy city solicitor Cynthia White Winters.

"Make the presentation to them," Vaughn said. "I'll write it."

On Aug. 28, 2001, Vaughn coached Ali about how to ask Burrell to call Winters to make sure Ali's firm, Keystone Information and Financial Services, would be allowed to collect real estate taxes, normally an in-house job in the city Law Department.

"Just call him and tell him what you wanna do," Vaughn said. "When they say yes, then you come and get me and we go over there...

Three weeks later, Ali told Christmas that he only talked to Burrell - again about his fee - while Christmas tried to pin Ali down on the settlement agreement, according to a Sept. 18, 2001, wiretapped conversation.

"You don't wanna lose the taxpayer," warned Christmas. "Your goal is to get a settlement agreement entered into between the city and the taxpayer, Bowman. That's your goal."

The next day, on Sept. 19, 2001, Vaughn outlined a Bowman proposal that Ali could present to the Law Department:

The immediate payment of back real estate taxes for 1999 and 2000, and to pay 2001 taxes within the next 90 days and all "use and occupancy" taxes that were due.

"Ya follow me?" asked Vaughn. "You want me to write it up?" Ali declined.

"Tell them you'll have the check tomorrow morning," said Vaughn. "Or you'll have it at four o'clock today."

On Oct. 5, 2001, Ali turned in the 22 Bowman checks that Vaughn had withheld, including one for $143,461.22 that Vaughn had received the same day.

Vaughn told Ali in a wiretapped conversation the next day, that he let Christmas know he wasn't happy with Ali's commission.

"You all should of looked out for him, so he at least could have got 25 percent," Vaughn said.

By late October 2001, Burrell had talked to then-City Solicitor Kenneth Trujillo, who "was a little uncomfortable" with allowing Keystone "to act as co-counsel with the city," Christmas told Ali in an Oct. 29, 2001, taped conversation.

(snip)

Quote:

Behind the scenes in the Bowman Properties tax settlement, two city officials were engaged in a tension-filled, high-stakes, balancing act.

They were trying to prevent Bowman's managing partner from settling the back taxes, while coaching Muslim cleric Shamsud-din Ali to stay on message so he could get a city contract to collect the taxes.

"I need to get this closed out this week, or the taxpayer is not even going to be around anymore," said John Christmas, special assistant to the mayor's chief of staff, during a wiretapped Aug. 14, 2001, conversation with Ali.

"I mean he's gonna go ahead and do it himself," Christmas warned Ali for the second time in three hours. City Council aide Steven Vaughn also warned: "The taxpayer's getting antsy."

Ali, however, was more concerned about the city "short-changing" him on a contract he didn't have yet, than bringing in the taxpayer, according to the tape recording.

The three had met earlier with Bowman's managing partner Richard Snowden, who found it "unusual" that his checks to the city hadn't been cashed. He wondered what was holding up the settlement, not realizing that Vaughn had held the checks back, to allow Ali to get cut into the deal.

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/...l/11587464.htm