Well, wahhh!
Phil Spector fears for his safety in prison
‘They’d kill you here for a 39-cent bag of soup,’ writes the music producerLOS ANGELES – Music legend Phil Spector, in prison for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, has been writing letters about his life behind bars — saying in a letter released Wednesday that he fears for his safety and would like to be moved to “a better prison.”
Spector wrote to his friend Steve Escobar, a musician and music journalist, of his chagrin at being in the same prison as notorious murderers including Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan.
He said he is working with his attorneys “to get a better prison with people more like myself in it during the appeal process instead of all these lowlife scumbags, gangsters and Manson types….They’d kill you here for a 39-cent bag of soup!”
People more like him? I’d say that Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan are like him, given that they are all murderers. One of us doesn’t see Mr Spector as anything but a “lowlife scumbag,” given that he killed someone.
But, you know, even people in prison get the news occasionally. I wonder just how the “lowlife scumbags, gangsters and Manson types” who will “kill you here for a 39-cent bag of soup!” will react to reading that their fellow inmate feels that he is just so much better than they are.
An evening of ‘calm seas’ for Fumo¹
By Robert Moran and Michael Klein, Philadelphia Inquirer Staff WritersFormer State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo appeared fit and in good spirits last night as he joined scores of friends and family at a South Philadelphia restaurant to celebrate his recent marriage engagement.
He and fiancee Carolyn Zinni slipped almost unnoticed into Popi’s shortly after 7 p.m. as Dennis J. Cogan, his defense attorney, drew away the attention of a throng of journalists with some loud joking.
But Fumo was quickly surrounded at the door of the Italian restaurant, and he answered a few questions.
“It’s a celebration of our engagement, and we’re turning a page,” Fumo said, sporting fresh color in his face, a stark contrast to his pale appearance during his federal corruption trial.
Asked what he thought of the critics who argue that his 55-month prison sentence is too short, he responded: “I’d like those people to come with me for half the time and get their assessment.”
Emphasis mine.
Former Senator Fumo is doing his best to live it up during the last couple of weeks before he has to report to the big house. He received a very lenient sentence, considering that the original sentencing guidelines called for 21-to-27 years. A soft-on-crime judge reduced the guidelines to 11-to-14 years, and then sentenced for less than half of the minimum under the guidelines. But poor, poor Mr Fumo thinks even that is just horrible.
He always had an alternative, of course: he could have done something really radical like not broken the law.
I can’t remember where I read this, but I saw a story somewhere which said that the difference between black and white inmates is that most black inmates realized that prison was a natural consequence of what they had done, while a lot of white inmates were just outraged that they were being punished for their crimes. I don’t know if that’s really true, and certainly men like Messrs Spector and Fumo aren’t typical criminals, but you can just smell the sense of entitlement that they are just so angry about having lost, because, my God! the authorities had the temerity to charge them with crimes, a jury of their peers — were any of the jurors really their peers? — was obviously bamboozled into convicting them, and judges, who obviously didn’t realize just how important they were, actually sentenced them to jail!
Me, I wonder why Mr Fumo wasn’t taken straight to jail following his conviction. If he’d been some black kid from Kensington, convicted of knocking over a Seven/Eleven, they’d have taken him straight to jail. There’d be no six weeks to enjoy the good life, to dine at upscale restaurants with your fiancee and friends.
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¹ – The Philadelphia Inquirer, Thursday, 20 August 2009, p. B-1
Maybe Mr.Spector and Charlie M. can callaborate on some new jailhouse music.
He should have thought about this when he killed her.
Also, Phil didn’t hire OJ’s lawyers and jury.
We had a high-profile murder case in Delaware that had political implications.
The appointments secretary of (then) Governor Carper went missing. She had been having an affair with Assistant Attorney General Tom Capano. Capano and family had bipartisan clout. The body of the woman was never found but a foam container that allegedly contained her corpse was recovered by some fisherman.
The woman wanted to break off the affair but in Delaware, it can be fruitless to say ‘no’ to a Capano. The brother of Tom Capano was ‘squeezed’ and he testified. The accused then admitted that the woman was shot but by another woman. His disposal of the remains at sea was the result of ‘panic’. At trial, the ‘panic excuse’ did not go over as well as the claims of Ted Kennedy and the jury found Capano guilty and a candidate for the needle.
Prosecutor Ferris Wharton did a masterful job in spite of the Capano’s hiring the most expensive criminal mouthpieces money could buy.
Capano’s mouthpieces have argued him off of Death Row and they are still trying to spring him.
Society might benefit from him being placed in the general population.
Phil Spector is a killer and should do hard time in a hard way. He should be in the General Population and learn prison manners.