Perversion Of Justice

Generally, I’m not an avid reader of nonfiction, but I’ve made an exception for Julie K. Brown’s book, Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story.

I’ve now read it twice. Once in 2021, when it was published. And again last week, as Epsteingate re-emerged from the swamp.

In my humble opinion, Brown did a great service by forcing the powers that be to take another look at Epstein, his crimes, his cronies and the look-the-other-way crowd who might have protected us from him. Had they not, you know–looked the other way.

The Epstein saga first seeped into public view back in the 00s, when Florida prosecutors and police got word the fabulously wealthy financier was sexually trafficking teenage girls.

They investigated, prosecuted and gave him a sweetheart deal. Leaving him free to eventually leave jail and continue to sexually traffic teenage girls.

He might still be out there if not for Brown, a reporter for the Miami Herald, who started her own investigation in 2017.

Eventually, Brown put together a powerful series about Epstein’s depravity, filled with first-hand testimony from his victims who provided some shitty details that I’d just as soon forget. Like the egg shape of his penis.

Her series also took the deep dive into that aforementioned sweetheart deal Epstein got from prosecutors and cops as well as the lawyers he hired to help him get that deal.

Motivated by her revelations, federal prosecutors in New York City reopened the case. Eventually, the feds arrested Epstein, charged him with sex trafficking, convinced a judge to deny him bail and stuck him in a cell with a behemoth named Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police offer turned drug dealer who was in prison because he was charged with (and eventually convicted of) kidnapping and murdering four men.  

The feds kept Epstein in that cell even after he attempted to commit suicide–or maybe Tartaglione tried to murder him. It’s not clear what happened.  Tartaglione says he tried to prevent Epstein from committing suicide. But I’m not sure anyone believes him.

Brown remains baffled as to why the feds would have "bunked a hulking accused quadruple murderer with a sixty-six-year- old nerd with an egg-shaped penis who happened to be the nation's most famous child molester."

One theory is the feds are clueless. Another is that they were hoping Tartaglione would kill Epstein, or drive him to suicide. You tell me which theory speaks worse of the feds. 

The feds moved Tartaglione, leaving Epstein alone. And he did commit suicide, or so the feds say. Brown writes: “Thus far, the FBI and the Justice Department have not persuaded me–or a majority of the public–that Jeffrey Epstein killed himself. Perhaps with a new administration in the White House someone will finally examine how and why Jeffrey Epstein wound up dead.”

Ha, ha, ha…

The feds put this guy into the same cell as Epstein...

In her book, Brown reviews Epstein's A-team of high-priced lawyers, including Kenneth Starr, who, just to remind you…

Was the special prosecutor who investigated Bill Clinton’s misdeeds with Monica Lewinsky–with the assistance of a then- young lawyer named Brett Kavanaugh, now Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh.

So in one instance, Starr's feigning outrage at the sordid details of Clinton’s dalliances. And in the next he’s trying to convince the feds to drop the case against Epstein, who was raping teenagers.

Doesn't get more hypocritical than that.

I’ll close with a relevant quote from Brown’s book…

"What many, although not all, federal prosecutors do is take the connections that they’ve gained in public service straight to the bank. They go into private legal practice, or they become bankers, consultants, lobbyists, political operatives, or fixers, like Kenneth Starr, who used his political connections in the White House to get the Justice Department to review Epstein’s case. Then they can earn lots of money from wealthy people, like Epstein, who are trying to get away with bad deeds.

“Of course, none of this is illegal.”

Thank you for your service, Julie K. Brown.