Mystery of Alvin Greene’s Financial Backers Solved!
Short answer: you
Long answer, SLED found out that Greene saved up his money from the service and was on unemployment. Since he livesl, shall we say frugally, that money was just sitting around.
But how’s it feel to be footing the bill for this tool?
In its investigation, Lloyd said, SLED had access to all Greene’s checking and savings accounts.
Those monthly statements showed Greene, 32, had a monthly balance last fall of several thousand dollars in his Bank of Clarendon checking account in Manning, Lloyd said.
Last October, Greene received a $5,843 check from the U.S. Department of Defense in connection with his discharge from the military last year.
“That brought him up to more than $8,200,” Lloyd said.
Greene continued having a checking account balance of about that amount into March, when Greene received a federal income tax refund of $2,173 and a state tax refund of $932, Lloyd said.
“At that point, he had more than $11,400 in his account,” Lloyd said.
Greene was also getting a $1,100 monthly unemployment check, Lloyd said. Since Greene lived with his father and had few expenses other than “haircuts and groceries,” his unemployment check was another source of government income for the discharged veteran, Lloyd said.
Kind of puts that whole unemployment extension thing in perspective doesn’t it.
Of course, the word on the street is still that something is extremely fishy with Greene. His affiliation with a pro-North Korea group is just the tip of the iceberg of his godless communism according to one source. But frankly I’ve been digging for weeks and the only thing I can be sure of is a) some people say he’s a dealer b) everyone agrees he’s a crackpot.
h/t Snark and Boobs
Word on the Street: Hells Angels in Setting Up Shop in Greenville Area?
I got a couple of emails from readers who saw Hells Angels gang members flying their colors in various locations around Greenville County. Coincidentally, the Mrs. and I were in Simpsonville a couple of days ago and saw two Hells Angels riding through the downtown like they owned the place. Needless to say we rushed home and I loaded my shotguns.
I did a little digging and the word on the street is this: the recent round up of members of The Outlaws MC by Federal authorities, which included members in both Carolinas, Tennesee and Virginia, has left a vacuum in the south that the Hells Angels believe they can fill while the Outlaws are under the gun. The Angels are especially interested in the new drug market of Greenville, driven by Northeastern transplants who are leery of some of the rougher areas of the Dirty South and do a lot of their buying on the bar circuit and in the clubs. The recent biker fest in Simpsonville was indeed a chance for many 1%er clubs to scout the local area and see what’s what.
The Angels, like the Outlaws, also make money in “prostitution” which in their cases is actually sexual slavery. Women (many times strippers or runaways because they are easy to victimize) are kidnapped, raped and forced to service the club as well as being pimped out for money to outsiders. As I understand it, the “gentleman’s” clubs in the area are not run by people willing or able to stand up to an organization like the Angels, so now is a good time to get out of the business if you’re a dancer.
The Angels run drugs and guns as well, and many groups up north and especially across the southern border would like to get their hands on some good old fashioned South Carolina firepower. The Hells Angels are known to be allied with the Mexican Mafia so it’s likely they will be working as middlemen for Mexican gangs.
Now, this is a big territory and it’s just as likely the Hells Angels will set up shop in one of our neighboring states, putting in the occasional appearance to maintain control of the area. But Greenville, flush with money, drug users and unclaimed territory, is a prize that groups like the Angels can’t afford to pass up.
Word on the Street: “Rampant Drug Use” at Hollingsworth Park at Verdae
The Hollingsworth Park at Verdae development promises home owners a quaint village that Norman Rockwell might fine saccharin. Ultimately the town within a town will include not only high end housing for the newcomers to South Carolina but shops and other amenities that will guarantee those rich transplants won’t have to mingle overmuch with the rest of the hoi polloi. The average price for a home there will be $500,000.
All in all it is an idyllic, insular community. Or it will be when it’s finished.
And therein lies the problem. Half finished homes and a park that was built prior to the project being completed (and which is open to the public, a deal the developers made with the city in exchange for some tax breaks I hear) make Hollingsworth little more than an isolated playground for anyone looking for privacy after dark. A tipster emailed me to claim that the majority of people making use of the area are getting high. The term that was used was “rampant drug use.”
I decided to check out the park section myself yesterday for evidence that this is true. While taking a stroll with the Mrs. I did see a dime bag or two laying around, but frankly these days I’m sure you find dime bags everywhere.
Not that you’re supposed to be there after dark, but if you are it’s worth noting that you may run into people under the influence of various substances. It’s also likely that as more people realize how much privacy the area affords it will become either a “cruising” spot (where gay men troll for anonymous sex) or a hot spot for prostitution.
Victimless Crime File: L.A. Pot Dispensaries Hit for Not Paying “Taxes”
Legalization advocates are given to making the outrageous claim that ending prohibition stopped mob violence and thus ending drug prohibition will end drug related violence. This theory ignores the Mafia’s continued involvement with liquor related industries (night clubs and liquor warehouses) and more disgustingly the violence the mob participates in even today is swept under the rug by people who are making a dishonest attempt to get their drug(s) of choice legalized.
Gangs that made money from pot, for example, will not simply give up and find some other illegal activity to replace their cash cow if pot is legal. They will stay involved, and the easiest way is through “taxes” placed on the starry eyed hippies who think legalization will be the beginning of the Age of Aquarius. “Taxes” is the criminal code for extortion, usually through a protection racket. This is how the mob stays involved in nightclubs, by telling the owners they will “protect” them for a steep fee or cut of the business. Of course what club owners are buying protection from are the tax collectors themselves, and the morgues of Jersey are littered with people who refuse to pay up.
Which brings me to this L.A. Now story concerning violent robberies at two different pot dispensaries a few hours apart. Two different workers were killed in the robberies. One of those killed was Matt Butcher, the son of a well known labor union leader. Since being the leader of a labor union is a good gig where you make lots of money Julie Butcher’s explanation for why Matt was working in a medial marijuana store seems less than credible:
Matt Butcher was the son of Julie Butcher, a well-known L.A. labor leader. Butcher’s mother described the killing as “totally senseless,” saying her son was simply trying to cobble together part-time jobs in a tough economy. “He was one of the most peaceful people,” said Julie Butcher, who works as a regional director of the Service Employees International Union Local 721. “He would have given them anything they wanted. There’s no reason for anyone to die over marijuana.”
Right. Actually I’ve gotten three different contacts about this story, and the general consensus is that the reason people “had” to die was that these dispensaries refused to pay their “taxes.”
There’s two schools of thought here. The first is that a gang (which some believe was a Mexican Mafia affiliate) told the dispensaries they needed to pay taxes and the dealers said no. They may or may not have went to the left wing interest involved (what? you think people support legal pot with no way to profit over it?) who, because they didn’t take it seriously, sent a couple of rabble rousers to run security. The second is that the dispensaries did pay taxes but either stopped or shorted who they owed.
Either way these robberies were really about sending a message. Word on the street is that the message is Eme (the Mexican mafia) owns Los Angles. Legal or not, you sell weed, you pay your taxes.
Dr. Know, however, says that the dispensaries do pay taxes – to the mob who, through the unions, have direct access to most lefty groups. The problem is the mob has no real stroke on the streets of L.A. anymore. The Mafia can’t control turf the same way the Eme affiliated gangs can and this was a message to everyone as to who the real power is in the city.
No matter what the truth is, the fact is that legalized dealing will be subject to the same pressures as illegal dealing and only the most naive person thinks otherwise.
“Coyote” Safe House Found in Greenville?
S.W.A.T. teams were called out to a house in Greenville County after a hostage situation was called into police. After a stand off ALL seven people found in the house were detained and police will not release their names or anything but the most basic information.
SLED officers told WSPA that the bust was related to the “growing drug trade’ in the area:
A hostage situation unfolded as SLED agents rushed to the scene.
In the end–more than half a dozen people were taken into custody–in what agents say is part of a growing drug trade in the Upstate.
This all unfolded on Sulfar Springs drive in Berea this afternoon.
News Channel 7 was the only news crew at the scene.
Agents handcuffed 7 people, taking them into custody.
The director of SLED tells us they got word this morning that three people were being held hostage inside the home.
SLED isn’t able to say how they were alerted to the hostage situation.
When swat team members and agents got there–a standoff ensued until the suspects inside surrendered.
Agents are still trying to determine who is who amongst those in the house. And they can’t yet give identities or where the suspects are from.
Significantly, while weapons were found at the house no drugs have been reported. Human smugglers are often also involved in drug smuggling so these thugs may have gotten on to LE radar during drug investigations. It is a common practice for “coyotes” to hold people who contracted with them to hostage for extra cash. It is especially likely when the illegals are young women, who the smuggling gangs force into prostitution.
WSPA has raw video of the arrests.The house was on Sulfar Spring Drive in Berea.
Word on the street is that a bad apple looking for drugs or hookers turned Good Samaritan when he or she saw what was going on.
Also a rumor Dr. Know sent me is that MS-13 has been smuggling illegals into South Carolina for years and have moved into Greenville County. I found a 2006 story from WIS10 which details Richland county’s problems with the gang and they are very active in North Carolina.
But again these are just rumors for now. We’ll keep digging.