How Holmes Would Work the Epstein Case
August 12, 2019
Given the roll call of high and mighty involved, Michael Brenner inspects
the many dead ends investigators are likely to hit.
Jeffrey Epstein, center. (YouTube)
By Michael Brenner
Jeffrey Epstein is dead. An alleged suicide who was found strangled in his
prison cell Saturday morning at the federal Metropolitan Correction Center
in NYC. He made an apparent previous attempt on June 23 after which he was
placed under suicide watch and received daily psychiatric examinations for
six days. On June 29 he was returned to his original cell with the suicide
watch removed, but scheduled to be checked by guards every 30 minutes. They
did not do so the night of his death. There is a suggestion that they were
working an unnaturally long overtime shift.
Thats all we know for sure. Lets put ourselves in the position of those
famed fictional detectives and consider their methods for dealing with
hundreds of such cases. What lessons have Jules Maigret, Cain, Inspector
Salvo Montelbano, et al, taught us?
First, we should attempt to ascertain with as much exactitude as the
evidence permits what happened. Epstein choked to death by what means? A
belt? The legs of his trousers? By his own hands? If the first, why wasnt
the elementary rule of removing every possible instrument of
self-destruction from the cell observed especially whatever it was he used
in the first attempt? Where did he hang himself from an overhanging pipe
or other protuberance? If so, why was he placed in a cell so designed?
Forensics
Bruno Crémer as Jules Maigret. (Wikimedia Commons)
How long had Epstein been dead when the body was discovered? Do we know with
certainty the cause of death, i.e. could he have been killed by poison, for
example, before the hanging? How long would it normally take for one to die
from a self-administered hanging of this sort? How does that relate to the
sequence of look-ins by guards? Are there any other observable marks on the
cadaver?
Motives
Numerous. All those associated with Epstein before his 2006 conviction,
during his virtual imprisonment, and subsequently by whomever might appear
in his little black book, or remembered by pilots or other staff (e.g. one
pilot testified that former President Bill Clinton was on 10-to-20 Lolita
Express flights; the doorman at Epsteins Manhattan apartment saw President
Donald Trump join the party on several occasions). We are talking about a
large slice of the American elite political, economic, legal,
entertainment. More than a cross-section, it is a veritable roll-call of the
high and mighty. In addition, there is Prince Andrew and an array of Gulf
sheiks. They all had compelling reason to want to keep Epsteins mouth shut.
So, too, those who arranged his unprecedented, highly dubious plea bargain
in 2006.
That may include the FBI and/or CIA which had a strong situationally defined
interest in getting their hooks into Epstein who was in a position to
blackmail all of the above. So, too Mossad, Israels intelligence agency.
Lets note that Ghislaine Maxwell (Epsteins No. 2 and sometime partner)
is the daughter of the British publisher Robert Maxwell who is now known to
have run an extensive intelligence network for Mossad among the London elite
for which he was honored by President Shimon Peres and six former
intelligence chiefs when buried in Jerusalem after a mysterious death off
his private yacht in 1991.
Cooperation from any of this list of suspects is unlikely.
Interrogation
Appropriate methods vary by person and circumstance. Here are a few standard
techniques to get tongues wagging.
No. 1. Build an irrefutable case against one of the suspects and then use
that as leverage to induce a denunciation of others particularly the most
exposed and vulnerable. This is an old standard that retains its
effectiveness. Blackmail holds its value. Some of the young women who served
as sex slaves for our lords and masters should be able to identify the most
recognizable figures. Doubtless, though, most have either been bought off
(as Trump did Stormy Daniels and others), will be bribed, or blackmailed by
virtue of their reluctance to put at risk their present lives. And they will
need guarantees of protection. From whom? accidents happen.
No. 2. Physical coercion. Fortunately or not, this method is ruled out
because of the cases high visibility. Moreover, CIA Director Gina Haspel is
currently unavailable as she is fighting tooth-and-nail to stay in the good
graces of her boss. In addition, the Thai government reportedly has
withdrawn its grant of access to the local black sites out of fear that
the countrys highly lucrative sex tourism trade could be harmed by further
exposure of the unsavory goings-on beyond the world of massage parlors.
No. 3. Psychology. There are a variety of approaches that evidently are more
effective for eliciting vital information than physical coercion. Only
morons like those in the CIA believe that you can beat the truth out of
resistant suspects of course, for them the real satisfaction came in the
torture rather than in the solicitation of vital information. Revenge is
what the War on Terror has been all about. There is also the risk that they
will fabricate information in order to stop the pain and/or because they
have paid to do so.
Those more subtle methods may run into other obstacles.
For one thing, the high and the mighty have developed over their years in
power both a sense of impunity/immunity and a pathological conviction that
they can do no wrong whatever the action involved. Defense mechanisms are
elaborate and well- practiced. They are habitual liars; many are clinical
narcissists who may be unable to differentiate truth from falsehoods
altogether, e.g. Trump. Second, appeals to honor, morality or sense of
embarrassment may also be fruitless because these people tend to be
shameless. Can anyone recall the last time that a prominent public figure
in the United States has demonstrated genuine remorse?
NYC prison where Jeffrey Epstein died. (Jim Henderson, CC0, Wikimedia
Commons)
A Strategy
If there were some intervention by another party that facilitated or
encouraged Epsteins death an admittedly overriding IF then the best way
of determining who it was is to concentrate on the narrow end of the funnel.
IF someone arranged for a lifting of the suicide watch with an ulterior
motive in mind, or instructed guards to space out widely their look-ins at
Epsteins cell, or forgot to remove the drawstring from his pajamas that
conjectured person (or his intermediary) could be identified by whomever
implemented the instructions/suggestions. Said person(s) could be more
easily intimidated, blackmailed or induced to spill the beans than any of
the big shots.
The behavior of the psychiatrists who gave permission to lift the suicide
watch is also suspect. Their action is being described as unheard-of by
renowned psychiatrists. One distinguished professor has told me in
confidence that they will be in deep professional trouble for their warped
judgment alone whatever other circumstances obtain. All of their
communications with outside parties should be examined. Any signs of evasion
should evoke intense grilling psychiatrists are easier to break than
al-Qaeda fanatics, Mafia hitmen or narcissistic politicos.
Conclusion
We are assured that the investigation will cover the whole gamut of
Epsteins illicit actions, including the 2006 cover-up, which will be
pursued. At the moment, most powers-that-be seem to agree on that.
Doubtless, will see a long editorial from that holier-than-thou/pillar of
the republic, The New York Times board, calling for a full and thorough
inquiry as to what happened. They will cite the public interest in
reaffirming the impartiality of our hallowed judiciary including looking
back at 2006. They will make no mention of the awkward fact that they
themselves paid the matter little heed for 13 years. Understandable
numerous persons cited are folks they run into at Upper East side cocktail
parties and the Hamptons.
Prediction: The Department of Justice, led by Trumps lackey Attorney
General William Barr, will insist on controlling all aspects of the
investigation. If they can turn up a few snippets regarding the Clintons,
they will leak them. Then, the entire affair will slip from public view. We
have become expert at losing the past in the mists of the present like the
fog rolling through the Golden Gate that erase all images on a regular
24-hour cycle.
So, a year of two from now, there will be a low-key announcement that the
investigation has found nothing that calls into question the conclusion that
Epstein indeed committed suicide alone and of his own volition. His
earlier alleged crimes will be said to be excluded by the statute of
limitations or the absence of credible evidence due in part to the deaths of
certain principals. One negligent guard will be singled out for dereliction
of duty; a letter of reprimand will be placed in his personnel file and he
will be punished by a denial of coffee breaks for a full two weeks. Maybe,
just maybe, the American Psychiatric Association will devise some new
guidelines re. Suicide Watches in prison without specifically mentioning
this incident.
Michael Brenner is a professor of international affairs at the University of
Pittsburgh. mbren@xxxxxxxx
