Conference 7.286::digital

1808.0. "(AP) "Grisly message gets to theft informant"" by PRIMES::ZIMMERMANN (VOTE for 'REAL CHOICES' to DCU) Tue Mar 17 1992 00:14

Reprinted without permission.  Any errors in spelling or grammar should be
assumed to be mine.

'The Washington Times', Washington D.C., Saturday, March 14, 1992, page A5

"Grisly message gets to theft informant"

Boston (AP) - It seemed like a fairly routine crime - equipment was being
filched from a computer company.  Routine, that is, until an informant
in the case received the severed head of a lamb in the mail.

Now the case has taken a bizarre twist with some wondering if the underworld
was responsible or if the act was one of increasingly violent high-tech
criminals.

The message, though, was unmistakable.

"It's the Silence of the lambs," said Roger Cox, a lawyer for Edward
Desmond Jr. "Someone doesn't want him cooperating with the government any
further."

The incident recalled a scene from the book and film "The Godfather," in 
which mobsters leave the head of a movie producer's prized horse in his bed 
as a threat.  It also recalls "The Silence of the Lambs," the book and movie 
about an FBI trainee's pursuit of a serial killer.

Federal prosecutors won't comment on whether the case might have Mafia links,
and Mr. Cox said he doesn't think the mob was involved.  But Edith Flynn,
a professor of criminology at Northeastern University specializing in organized 
crime, says the signs are there.

"My guess is that once the prosecution is done, you'll find the fingerprints
of organized crime behind this operation," Miss Flynn said.

Mr. Desmond, 28, helped the government during its 2 1/2-year probe the led
to the July 1991 indictment of 16 people - including himself - on charges of
stealing $6 million in equipment from Digital Equipment Corp.  The computer 
parts were resold in California.

Mr. Cox said Thursday that he and federal prosecutors are negotiating a
plea bargain for Mr. Desmond, who plans to testify at the trial in August.

He won't comment on the lamb's head, Mr. Cox said.

The White box with a Boston postmark arrived at Mr. Desmond's home in
suburban Lexington on Feb. 28.

"He opened it up and here's this hideous severed lamb's head," Mr. Cox said.
"When he called me his voice was shaking."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Louks wouldn't comment on a possible
mob connection, but he did say the lamb's head "can easily be construed
as a threat against Mr. Desmond."  The box was being tested for fingerprints, 
he said.

Experts say high-tech theft is becoming more violent as potential profits
rise, especially in California's Silicon Valley, where thieves have snatched 
tens of millions of dollars worth of computer chips.

"At first it was employee theft, then burglaries, then robberies," said
Curt Codey, a detective in Freemont, Calif., and president of the Silicon
Valley chapter of the High-Tech Crime Investigation Association.

"Now it's graduated into robberies where shot's have been fired at employees."

    
    
    
        Just saw this story in VNS. Pretty strange stuff going on.
    
    
                                            Phil...