Two Death Threats In Last Month For Black Star

[Publisher's Comment]

We have the proof that some people do care about what's published in The Black Star News. In the last month, we've received two death threats phoned in.

The first call came in at around 11:07 AM on October 27. The call came to the office and I answered.
Me: "Hi, This is The Black Star News. Can I help you?"
Caller: "Is this the newspaper for Black people?"
Me : "Can I help you?"
Caller: "I want to kill you."
I didn't think that was a good proposal. While the caller had a young voice, I could hear an adult voice telling the caller what to say in the background.

A crank call? I called the phone company and was told to hang up and call *57 then call the police, which I promptly did. Two police officers from the New York Police Department, including Officer Davis, badge #19302,came by the newspaper's offices and interviewed me. There had been no more calls, until November 26. That's when Edward Manfredonia, our financial writer who focuses on covering contemporary and historical corruption on Wall Street, got a phone call on his home phone with the warning:

"Keep it up on the Internet and it'll be all over for you."

Manfredonia dialed *57 then spoke with an FBI agent whom he's known for years before reporting the incident to officers at the 110 precinct in Queens where he filed a complaint. He was subsequently contacted by a detective Hector Rivera who interviewed him. Why suddenly these threats in November? What could they be connected to? It's unclear whether the first threat was also intended for Manfredonia or intended to intimidate anyone associated with the newspaper including myself. The second call was clearly for Manfredonia's benefit.

Manfredonia was a trader on Wall Street in the 1980s. He was once wired by the FBI in 1993 to assist in a money laundering investigation and narcotics smuggling on Wall Street. He was also the principal interviewed for a major story in Business Week years ago, focusing on corruption on Wall Street.

In the past few weeks Manfredonia's columns have touched on topics such as lack of enforcement on Wall Street years ago, including during the watch of notables such as Paul Volcker and Arthur Levitt, which permitted major transgressions to occur. He's also written about alleged money laundering and narcotics smuggling during his days as a trader by Wall Street players, including the alleged involvement of Robert VanCaneghan, who until recently was Board member of Canadian oil exploration company NXT Energy Exploration Inc.

This newspaper has focused on investigative reporting for years. In 1999, the newspaper was credited, including by The Wall Street Journal on June 16 that year, for a major scoop involving shenanigans at investment bank Morgan Stanley.

We believe someone or several people feel threatened by our journalism. We hope the police do their part in tracing the sources of the threats phoned in and that the perpetrators are apprehended. We want to assure our readers that we won't be deterred by threats. In fact, we intend to increase our volume of investigative reportage. The paper's motto is: "Speaking Truth To Empower."

Please post your comments online or submit them to milton@blackstarnews.com