Dear Monica,

   Sorry to hear that you're so busy; I did summer session once and I 
have to admit that I did not find the intense routine much fun, 
either...

   I went looking for that book last night and could not find it! Since 
I am working on a novel based loosely upon my research, I really should 
do a little re-research, so I will find at least some newspaper citings 
of the toxic cloud over Manhattan.

   I did find a couple of decent books that I can recommend: "Toxic 
Nation, The Fight to Save Our Communities from Chemical Contamination," 
by Fred Setterberg and Lonny Shavelson (Berkeley Public Library# 363.738 
Se78t)--I met Lonny a few years back, before his book was finished; he's 
a medical doctor and really knew his material (last I knew he'd gone to 
Guatemala to assist, as the experience of writing the book had wiped him 
out); "The Toxic Cloud, The Poisoning of America's Air," by Michael 
Brown (#363.7 B814t, Mr. Brown wrote "Love Canal," as well, 1978 or so?, 
the first real book to address the toxic waste issues; about the time my 
piece was supposed to come out in Mother Jones,(1981) he had a piece in 
Penthouse, of all places, about groundwater contamination from chemical 
wastes that wasn't bad as an overview--he also wrote investigative 
reporting pieces on Mafia involvement with the hazardous waste dumping 
and had his life threatened (more on that below...); "Not in Our 
Backyard," by Marc Mowrey and Tim Redmond (S.F. Bay Guradian writers, 
#363.7 M872n), not bad for the activism viewpoint--you might want to 
take a look at pp. 302-303, for the "Fate" of my source at the E.P.A., 
Mr Hugh Kaufman, at the "dirty hands" of what I call the Fed. Gov't's 
"snitchocracy" (patterned along the lines of the Russian or Chinese 
Communist bureaucracies, where those not playing "team ball" have lifes 
made suddenly "interesting," as the old Chinese curse goes); Hugh had a 
"Fury" (the allusion is to Greek mythology, forgive another digression, 
but the metaphor is too apt--rather than having given "human foibles" to 
the gods, the real contribution of the Greeks was to note what happens 
when humans assume godlike importance, i.e., "hubris," all too often 
what a "tyrannos" would pronounce upon a rival as one's "Fate," with the 
attendant screaming and shrieking "Furies" in all demented and 
hysterical "female" as pathological nightmare form, had an all too human 
hand "controlling" (these days the analogy might be like the 
snake-oil-huckster "wizard" in "Wizard of Oz" pulling those levers 
behind the Toto-exposed curtains...); from p. 302: "All of a sudden, 
Kaufman's mail was mysteriously commandeered , opened and destroyed.  
His superiors ordered him not to talk to the press..." [July 1982, he 
files a complaint with the Labor Dept. alleging harassment and illegal 
spying upon him--one report for which he was nearly fired had him "in a 
motel room with a woman on company tiem," the woman turned out to be his 
wife...; the hired-gun "Fury" behind these matters was Rita Lavelle, 
who, the next year, was convicted of perjury regarding her 
"disinformation" of Hugh and sentenced to six months)...

    (Excuse my not transcribing the aforegoing "shorthand"; sometimes, 
as a creative writing tool, the technique really conveys what I'm 
feeling--other times, the "abuse" of grammatical rules can be merely 
annoying.)

   I've attached a file for you, as well, from a recent case in which my 
buddy Hugh took on the "corporate giants" again--and won! If you'll 
remember my telling you how the mere "threat" of "libel" functions as a 
"big chill" deterrent to dissemination of vital information, why, wait 
until you read this case: for a television piece in which a swirling 
pool of contaminated muck--with the attendant "mud-sucking" gurgles and 
oozes--was captioned "the sound of money" regarding a flagrant polluter 
was found to be "libellous." Hugh was an expert witness called in on 
federal  appeal, and, as you'll read, they managed to reverse...One 
takes little victories as one can...

    Oh yeah, as i ran up an extensive phone bill with Mr. Kaufman while 
doing my piece, he became curious as to how I was progressing, and even 
told me that I was the only one in the media with whom he dealt that 
"really had a clue" (He offered all kinds of good items that nobody was 
"running with," as they say, that I attempted; one in particular, which 
should have been printed in "The Nation" except for the bizarre 
"political correctness" of "can't criticize Carter *our* Democrat," was 
how the Resource and Conservation Recovery Act of 1976, of which Mr. 
Kaufman,was a major contributor in writing, had been deliberately 
"sabotaged"--buried within the 2,000 plus pages of the final bill were 
half-a-dozen pathetically easy ways around the much-touted "manifest" 
paperwork that was supposed to track a hazardous material "from cradle 
to grave"; Mr. Kaufman's pointing the matter out in committee was 
patently ignored...(He told me too, that my piece and his appraisal that 
it was going to be "mighty good," something "real" finally, was the 
beginning of "our" troubles, ala Nixon's "black bag" creeps, if you "dig 
what I mean" (reference to Gill Scott Heron's "H2O-Gate Blues," one of 
my all-time favorite jazz poems you too may enjoy...)

     One last little item (the copy being sent is to my business agent, 
Prof. Maxine Hong Kingston, Dept. of English at Cal, who--believe it or 
not--actually requests me to write in this mode when I'm able, fast, 
spontaneous, one big long bardic swell, so I hope you don't mind, as I 
truly do wish to assist you with your work...).
About the Mafia thing: I investigated that angle, too (I had a grant 
from the Washington, D.C. based "Fund for Investigative Journalism"), 
but, ironically enough, ran "afoul" on that count as well.  

     To give you my beginning (which I'm using in my novel, "Green 
River," with all the attendant mythology of what happens when you befoul 
the "wellsprings of inspiration," as the notion of groundwater was known 
to my ancient Celtic ancestors--whose warnings against the actual rape 
of the "Well Maidens" as metaphor and symbol of the need for reverence 
and respect of "Sovereignty," the "Mother Earth" principle, were most 
prescient): one day, scanning the local papers for an "item" (I read 
about a half-dozen a day, looking for a potential story to freelance 
that the small timers would overlook).

    A one paragraph item grabbed me.  Some farmer had found oil drums 
full of industrial waste in a far field where a couple of his cows had 
died after drinking the contaminated swamp water.  Mention was made of a 
decomposed body in one but nothing further--as to identity or cause of 
death--ever made print. 

    So I took up the investigative trail and found another hot lead in a 
little town in mid-Pennsylvania, Pittson (near Scranton-Wilkes Barre).  
Millions of gallons of hazardously contaminated "sludge" oil had been 
dumped down some abandoned coal mine shafts; the matter most likely had 
gone unnoticed for several years until heavy spring rains caused 
"sluice" tunnels to overrun into the Susquehanna River (my "Green River" 
in my novel and, too, the same matter from a screenplay that I tried to 
pitch to "Fonda Films" in 1990-1991--according to my attorneys, Patrick 
and Terence--the S.F. Dist. Att.--Ms. Fonda had been highly interested 
and authorized a check for $100,000 to purchase the option on that 
synopsis and the rights to my full-length script, "City of Nights," 
about my night cabdriving in Oakland, yet I never got a penny; the 
matter has been ripped off since by Steven Seagal's "Fire Down Below,' 
in which the mines are now in Kentucky and the cyanide-laden waste 
dumped by helicopter instead of tank-truck).

     This river (famed for Three Mile Island, as well) provides drinking 
water for many people in New York State, Pennsylvania et al down to the 
Chesapeake Bay...

     Another intriguing angle was that in Pittson/Kingston resided the 
reputed head of the Genovese/Tieri crime family , one "Big Russ" 
Bufalino, also known as the "Gentleman Don" for not only the natty way 
he dressed (the Manhattan garment district being part of his turf) but 
too his impeccable manners and sense of "fair play." My editor at Mother 
Jones wanted me to jump all over this angle, but, quite frnakly, 
according to my sources, it just didn't pan out. Not only had an 
Assistant N.Y.S. Attorney General, John Fine, mentioned to me that 
"Bufalino and his family  don't seem to be  players," but too my 
"trucking" industry sources (Big Russ was noted for truck heists of 
cargo throughout the Northeast--his people were so good that between the 
airports at NYC and the destination millions of dollars of cargo would 
be repalced with foam pellet boxes and even with all kind of "security" 
personnel the matter would still happen) said it didn't wash (one guy, 
an old Teamster in New Jersey, said it was the "wannabe" up-and-comers, 
mostly garbage haulers who were small-time "chump change" who somehow 
had gotten the connections for "kick backs" to oil company exec's; the 
firm would be charged the going market rate for proper disposal and then 
these garbagemen would hire immigrant cabdrivers and other "scab" 
truckers to haul 6,000 gallons in a tank truck to some field or stream 
and "midnight dump" it--for a measly $100 or so, netting the handlers a 
profit of several thousand bucks.

     Now the other interesting "item" from one "in the know" was the 
Hoffa murder. (Big Russ is dead now, so not to worry!). Big Russ 
allegedly had Hoffa taken down, the body chopped into pieces for three 
55-gallon drums, one sent to each boss in Chicago, Detroit and Buffalo 
as "warnings"--not because Hoffa was getting to be too much a "big shot" 
but instead precisely because of the toxic waste dumping: Hoffa saw the 
burgeoning industry as "the sound of money" for the Teamsters and Big 
Russ, in the mode of the "old school" Dons like his predecessor, Vito 
Genovese, had forbidden the matter just as Vito had nixed any drug 
dealing or prostitution (or even, believe it or not, "domestic 
violence") for any "made" members...

      So, my magazine piece became "the end of  a way of life." In 
Pittston, I'd noticed, most of the people had big front porches on which 
they sat on hot summer days, the neighbors dropping by to chat, the 
doors all left unlocked still.  Some of the older ones with whom I'd 
talked mentioned about the river and all, how they used to swim in it as 
children but not now... 

     I tied the matter in with how the ruthlessly "ambitious" chump 
change garbage collectors, under the "political patronage" of some 
"heavies" in New York State--allegedly including then Gov. Cuomo, Felix 
Rohayten the "fundraiser" and his partner in "solid waste management," 
Jesse L. Jackson,(?!?) the latter two left unmentioned by myself "in the 
name of political correctness"--had gotten the more dimbulb "lunk 
enforcer" types that the newer "hotshots" like John Giotti and his 
dumbass kid favored to do the "dirty work"...

     But the libel problem, like I said, plus this editor's (Joe Klein) 
insistence that he "rewrite" the piece to include the Carlos Marcello 
family's alleged involvement in Louisiana (about which my sources had 
indicated "doubtful," telling me too that Marcello, whatever his 
character issues might be, was being "hung out to dry" for the Kennedy 
thing and that any reporter worth his salt should be able to figure 
something as basic as that out, grumbling about "you sure this rag 
you're writing for is respectable?") and waste dumping there--gutting my 
"way of life" passing, the most powerful part of the piece--all 
prevented the publication--my six months of work, which would have been 
worth it as a pitch for a nonfiction book deal, for which I'd made the 
necessary and good contacts,(I was editing a man's book, "Showtime at 
the Apollo Theatre," about the halycon days of the Blakc Renaissnace in 
Harlem, circa 30's and 40's, which my friend, Ted Fox, did indeed get 
published, by "Holt, Rinehart and Winston," in 1982) was "sound of 
money'ed," so to speak...  

hope you enjoy and I'll research further that cite,
tom   

(P.S. Cannot find the Texas case in my disk, either; I will refind and 
email...)

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