I don't like to speculate - but the reported suicide of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the "DC Madam," is difficult for me to fathom. The suspicion I hold, that the "suicide" of this 52 year old seemingly vibrant woman, who could reveal the identities of powerful Washingtonians who used her "escort" services, may have not been a suicide at all, causes me sadness - over the tragic death of Palfrey herself, and over my distrust of the powerful who have proven time and again that they will do anything to protect their fortunes and their "good" names.
According to the HuffingtonPost, reporting on the suicide click here, Palfrey had spoken out on suicide in the past when she reflected on the death of one of her former escorts, University of Maryland Professor, Brandy Britton. Palfrey said of Britton's suicide,
"This is a woman who was divorced, who was trying to raise two, ah, high-school children, college-age children... [Britton had] the great job title, the great position, all the respect in the world, but she wasn't making enough money. So she decided to do a little moonlighting... And she was publicly outed, is a good way to put it, she was absolutely humiliated. Ah, she couldn't take the humiliation. Her whole life was destroyed. And she, she just, ah, ultimately committed suicide."
From the tone of Palfrey's words, she seemed to view Britton's suicide as an unfortunate and tragic response to personal degradation and humiliation. Palfrey, herself, was feisty and outspoken in her defense of her escort service - claiming the services rendered were adult fantasies and within the realm of legality. She also believed the purchasers of the services should be subjected to public scrutiny and bear culpability if there was culpability to bear. Palfrey wanted to make public the names of her clients, which she claimed were contained in an infamous "black book."
Moments ago I spoke with Arizona-based progressive radio host, Meria Heller (meria.net), who interviewed Palfrey in July. Heller said Palfrey was "vibrant and filled with future plans." Heller finds it inconceivable that Palfrey would have taken her own life.
The Florida police and Palfrey's mother have confirmed Palfrey's death. According to Florida police officer, Captain Jeffrey Young, Palfrey was found hanging from a nylon rope in a storage shed close to the home of her 76 year old mother, Blanche Palfrey, who discovered her daughter's body.
I, for one, am hopeful the public - particularly the blogger community - will hold the authorities accountable for a thorough, open and honest investigation of this bizarre and tragic occurrence. In this highly political year, egregious acts are possible - if not probable - particularly when the futures and fortunes of the powerful are at stake.
Addendum: May 2, 2008
I read the following smoking gun article, as provided by a commenter on another site. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0501081palfrey1.html The documents are important to review.In thinking it through (absent supportive statistics), I wonder how many potential inmates state they have had thoughts of suicide prior to their incarceration to garner sympathy from the court.Perhaps this is a common ploy.I'll contact defense attorneys to try to find out.
Any attorneys out there who can shed some light?
Secondly, to Drew Terry, who commented below, thank you. I read the same Time.com article earlier today click here and sent Dan Moldea an email. I'm attempting to correspond with Moldea, who worked with Palfrey, knew her personally, and who stated (see below) that he categorically accepts Palfrey's suicide as true absent any investigation of his own.I've asked Moldea for an interview to discuss his conclusion prior to investigation.
According to the Time.com article, Moldea "last year examined Palfrey's phone records and discovered the name of Vitter, a Republican, as a client of Palfrey's escort service — Pamela Martin & Associates — the last time he saw Palfrey in person was less than week before her conviction on prostitution charges on April 15."Moldea said:
"A friend and I met with Jeanne and we had a sushi lunch near the courtroom."She was upbeat and hopeful. She felt the prosecution had not made the case and that she was going to walk. She was hopeful to the end. But, when the jury came in with her conviction, she reportedly was taken aback. When I heard that I knew that, for her, it was all over. There is no question in my mind that she took her own life."
Much thanks for all the responses here and for the valuable information everyone's provided.I tend to shy away from conjecture.This article was an effort to engage the vast brain-trust of the blogger community, of which I am a part.
As we know all too well in cases and issues of greater import than this, corporate media cannot be trusted to report the truth.It lives in the land of Reverend Wright and flag pins.Interesting that a story with potential salacious interest like the "suicide" of "the DC Madam" has led to no investigative reporting on the part of corporate media.That for me is an indicator that corporate media has been told be "hush."They're not speculating at all about Ms. Palfrey's death - which would likely draw an audience.Unusual for a media that thrives on speculation, innuendo, and inflammatory "news."They've quietly buried Ms. Palfrey - along with her list.
I, personally, don't know if Deborah Jeane Palfrey committed suicide or not - but I'm willing, as best as I can, to attempt to seek the truth.Interesting that Ms. Palfrey shared the same middle name as another renowned "suicide" of nearly 46 years ago.Interesting that corporate media won't hype this story as it does with so many others, since the audience appeal is so inviting.Clearly the BLOWBACK this case could provide is NOT in the corporate interest.
Linda Milazzo is a Los Angeles based writer, educator and activist. Since 1974, she has divided her time between the entertainment industry, government organizations & community development projects and educational programs.
Linda began her writing career over 30 years ago, starting out in advertising and promotions. From 1976 to 1989, she operated an independent public relations service providing specialty writing for individual and corporate clients. For the past six years, Linda has focused on political writing. Her essays, letters and commentaries have appeared in domestic and international journals, newspapers, magazines and on dozens of respected news and opinion websites. She's an educator and creator of a writers' program she's taught privately and in public schools. She currently facilitates an advocacy writing workshop and is developing an advocacy writing program to be implemented in public and private educational institutions and in community based organizations.
A political and social activist since the Vietnam War, Linda attributes her revitalized-fully-engaged-intense-head-on-non-stop-political activism to the UNFORTUNATE EXISTENCE OF GEORGE W. BUSH and her disgust with greed-ridden American imperialism, environmental atrocities, egregious war, nuclear proliferation, lying leaders, and global tyranny!
It's not a fact that I throw around a lot, but we all have a past – and hopefully, a future.
Years ago, I used to work undercover for the feds, which is one reason I have the insight I do. I owned and operated three (3) escort and modeling agencies, one in LA, New Orleans, and Dallas. Two of them were federal sting operations.
I could have forecast this but would have been labeled a nutcase if I did, but people in the business know better than to EVER even think of releasing their client lists - even under threat of prison. (Besides, my client lists were taken away from me anyway, although I had a spare copy hidden away, as anyone would...) Powerful people use these agencies, and this statement isn't meant to be a pun, however, it would be suicide for any high-class agency to release their client lists or even threaten to do so!
We served politicians, Judges, prestigious attorneys and doctors, and even members of the clergy - plus the occasional people that were in law enforcement. The stings were drug related and there was never a time when the authorities were even remotely interested in the client names, and even if they were, we kept our high-profile clients hidden from the authorities.
Twenty years ago, the rates were $65.00 - $85.00 per hour for the Agency, depending on who the client was – most calls ran multiple hours, and the ladies charged anywhere from $150.00 per hour up to $1,000 or more, and it doesn't take a genius to understand the type of clientele that could afford those prices.
I will never believe the DC Madam committed suicide except for failing to understand a rule that is well-known within those that run agencies of this sort; the clients are paying for a lady, but most of all, their confidentiality - and if an owner breeches that - the owner IS committing suicide, although not by their own hand. I will never believe it was an actual suicide, but will always believe that she should have known better. Anyone in that business knows it, and while I was engaged in that business off and on for ten years, there was never a time that we released our client lists - and even today, I'd rather jump into a phone booth with an angry mountain lion rather than even dreaming of releasing client lists, even though they are over 20 years old.
William Cormier
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William Cormier (117 articles, 5 quicklinks, 17 diaries, 292 comments)
on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 3:59:56 PM
I also think she should have kept her mouth shut. It seems she was motivated by a basic desire for fame and attention, and that's a cheap reason to break your word about confidentiality and set out to destroy people.
Why didn't she want to release the names of all her "escorts," too? Oh, right: she wanted to protect them, so they wouldn't want to commit suicide like the girl mentioned here. It's okay for women to be prostitutes and privately create this "fantasy world," but NOT okay for high-powered government men to participate. What a stupid double standard.
I think prostitution is a filthy practice, detrimental to all who engage in it (glad you got out, William.) But I also hate to see private freedoms ransacked and oaths of confidentiality broken.
I disagree with the Madam, who thought the world had some kind of "right" to know her scandalous information. The punishment those men would receive would NOT fit their crime, but would be much, much worse. This is like cutting off a man's hand for stealing a loaf of bread. The Madam's clients are essentially no worse for using her business than anyone else who has an affair, yet they would be exposed and humiliated in front of the world for it, lose their careers, and follow Spitzer into the world of shame and ruin.
I would never say "serves her right," but I do think what she was trying to accomplish was pure, malicious treachery.
If people had better discernment, we wouldn't be electing these types of men into office in the first place.
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Ingrid (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 114 comments)
on Friday, May 2, 2008 at 7:54:19 AM
The public has a right to know if those representing them are truly representing them, or are they representing shady values and lacking virtue? People who engage in such sleazy activities are not only unfaithful to their spouses and putting them at risk of HIV and STDs, never mind the emotional trauma--but they are, also, putting themselves into a position to be blackmailed by large, unethical corporations and gangsters(special interest groups like Oil Barons), putting their country at risk, and even at war.
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Marysue (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments)
on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 9:07:39 AM
I respectfully disagree that we have a right to know. My opinion is that most government officials are doing a sleazy job anyway, and most Americans do a very poor job doing their background homework before filling in their ballot sheets. We shouldn't have to resort to begging pimps for information in order to supplement our discernment: usually, a person's integrity is knowable without stooping so low.
So that's my main point: I believe you can know a "public servant's" integrity without knowing every little thing they do in private. And I think everyone is entitled to a private life. Hillary Clinton, for example, has no integrity. So anyone who votes for her is partially responsible for her actions in office, in my opinion. Bill Clinton? No integrity. I didn't need Monica Lewinsky to tell me that.
People think it's some kind of virtue to vote, but only an educated vote for people with sound morals is virtuous. What America needs is more discernment, not more spies.
Thank you anyway for your thoughts here.
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Ingrid (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 114 comments)
on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 6:58:40 PM
this is sad and disgusting. She said publicly several times that she might be murdered, and it would be made to look like a suicide.
There were very powerful, very dangerous men in her little black book...
The Florida police wasted no time and has already ruled it a suicide. Interesting that this took place in Florida...There will never be a serious investigation.
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francine (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 301 comments)
on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 4:11:49 PM
The death of Riad Elsolh Hamad on the 13th of April, now Palfrey. She stated emphatically on Alex Jones show that she would NEVER EVER commit suicide. She struck me as a tough cookie, not the kind of person that would give up without a fight.
Is there a running count of political prisoners and "suicides"? First they took her house, then her accounts, then her freedom and ultimately her life. It seems nowadays the squeaky wheel gets "greased".
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john riggs (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 396 comments)
on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 4:44:20 PM
Just add the DC Madam to that long list of very fortuitous 'suicides' of those who cross paths with the establishment. I have no doubt that there were many a powerful name on that client list and while this is only a matter of speculation on my part one has to wonder if this particular operation were involved in that sexual blackmail ring that has so long existed in DC. One also has to wonder whether some of those clients may have been involved in that little matter that Sibel Edmonds uncovered about the Turkish-Israeli- Pakistani moles who were operating at the highest levels and selling and stealing U.S. secrets.
I wonder how many neocons were on that client list.
I would certainly hope that the full investigative power of independent researchers and bloggers digs into this one because it could be one hell of a thread to pull on and God only knows what can be unravelled.
Just my two cents
EE
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Ed Encho (6 articles, 12 quicklinks, 55 diaries, 385 comments)
on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 4:52:58 PM
That is what made me come to the conclusion that ALL of these bastards are working together, the trail of bodies is a two family tradition and too much to be simply poo-poohed away by the narrow minded and the on the payroll disinformation agents out to debunk such things.
The intersection of the Clinton and Bush crime families at Mena is something that is not given the scrutiny that it is deserving of. It is only a "vast right-wing conspiracy" if you remain in the phony left-right paradigm that has been set up and used so successfully by the oligarchy to divide and conquer us.
Just my two cents
EE
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Ed Encho (6 articles, 12 quicklinks, 55 diaries, 385 comments)
on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 5:42:58 PM
Enough of these conspiracy theorists. Are you trying to insinuate that partisans from D.C. had hitmen go to Florida and murder the madam, and make it look like suicide?
What makes this a crazy thought is that the trial is over.
People get distraught after being involved and exposed in a criminal prosecution and conviction. She was facing a very long sentencing. Let's spell it out: D-E-P-R-E-S-S-I-O-N.
-dusty
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Dusty Nathan (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 51 comments)
on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 5:26:12 PM
Why not get with the real world of deep politics, that "conspiracy theorist" crap is getting old and is a linguistic trick used to lump in those with serious and legitimate questions with the UFO chasing freaks.
Conspiracy Researcher to you sir and the rest of the coincidence theorists.
Just my two cents
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Ed Encho (6 articles, 12 quicklinks, 55 diaries, 385 comments)
on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 5:39:02 PM
The fact the trial was over is irrelevant. In federal court, which is where she would be tried if arrested in D.C., sentencing is everything. First, you plead or go to trial and are found guilty (roughly 95% of the time due to the lack of any effective discovery rules), and then you cooperate with the prosecution because you are facing some draconian sentence. In the Madam's case, she was looking at over fifty years incarceration. A selective release of client names to hurt administration enemies would have been quite a coup for the murderous regime currently in power, and would probably have earned her a very lenient sentence. This is hardly a conspiracy theory, but rather, an example of realpolitik. Her murder also serves to point out the absence of any ethical difference between the R's and the D's.
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W.M.L. (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 283 comments)
on Friday, May 2, 2008 at 11:06:13 AM
If you believe that there was an organized group of agents working for AlQaeda who wanted to bomb the World Trade Center, then you believe there was a conspiracy to bomb the WTC--a conspiracy theory.
If you believe that tghe WTC was brought down by an organized group of agents working for AlQaeda who wanted to terrorize the U.S., then you believe there was a conspiracy to destroy the WTC--a conspiracy theory.
There are many conspiracy theories out there. Just because some of them are far-fetched doesn't mean they all are. Some of them are going to be true.
And that is why calling something a "Conspiracy Theory" doesn't make me want to automatically dismiss a theory anymore.
I'm not going to say she didn't kill herself, but announcing that it was a suicide before announcing who it was, or getting a coroner's report, doesn't help make the case that it was a suicide.
"She stated emphatically on Alex Jones show that she would NEVER EVER commit suicide." Visit the Alex Jones Show archives and you can hear her for yourself. What part of MURDER don't you understand? What use is ultimate power if you can't even ice a threat like a mouthy madam?
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JustHisWordsdotcom (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 14 comments)
on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 5:55:39 PM
If Waxman was worth anything at all he would have convicted someone by now. He's as worthless if not more so than Conyers and Pelosi. If you want to know where Waxman is at, ask why he hasn't had Sibel Edmonds testify in open hearings? My toe-nail clippings have more worth than this piece of sh*t.
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Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 1262 comments)
on Friday, May 2, 2008 at 6:50:39 AM
In the movies, the guy with the gun always talks about how much fun it is going to be to shoot the other guy....and then the other guy finally takes the gun away from him and shoots him with it. If the woman was talking about giving us the files, she should have done it. And, she would likely have still been alive. I hope she had something set up to release them in the event of her untimely death. We'll see soon.
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Roger (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 336 comments)
on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 6:20:08 PM
