Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 11:19:17 -0400
Reply-To: [REDACTED] at [gonix.gonix.com]
From: "Mike Riddle" <[REDACTED] at [gonix.gonix.com]>
Subject: Why Didn't They Just Knock?  Mike Barnicle, Boston Globe, 5/16/96

Boston Globe:Extra! (http://www.globe.com/)

 `Why didn't they just knock?' By Mike Barnicle, Globe Columnist,
05/16/96 

   Today we have the story of how 26 white accountants with guns
drawn knocked down the door of a 66-year-old black woman from
Mattapan because they suspect her of laundering money for her
28-year-old, drug-dealing grandson. That's what happened a few days
ago when agents from the Criminal Investigation Division of the
Internal Revenue Service appeared at the front door of a Westmore
Road home owned by Betty Smith, who has acted as mother to Keillen
Smith for the past 23 years since his own mother suffered brain
damage from snorting too much angel dust. 
   The IRS states that 26 agents pushed their way into the  home
because nobody answered the bell and Betty Smith's phone number was
unlisted. The IRS states that agents had their guns out because
Keillen is dangerous. The IRS states that 26 people were needed
because there was so much work to do looking for all the items
listed on a federal search warrant. 
   Before we get to Betty Smith's version, let's point out that
Keillen Smith - local mobster - indicted once for murder and again
for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, has since December been
detained under house arrest on Westmore Road, wearing an electronic
bracelet provided by the Justice Department. An ordinary
letter-carrier, a Boston homicide detective or anybody representing
Ed McMahon and the Publishers Clearing House  sweepstakes could
have walked up the front steps and spoken to him at anytime. 
   Betty Smith: 66 and dignified. Worked at the welfare department
for 22 years. Graduated from  the University of Massachusetts at
age 55. Cannot move without a walker. Must go to dialysis three
times a week on Warren Street. Has an artificial shoulder, one
artificial hip and two artificial knees. Has owned the Westmore
Road two-family where she lives for 27 years. A really dangerous
woman! 
   ``I guess they figure I'm Ma Barker,'' she was saying yesterday,
sitting at her kitchen table, smoking Salem Menthols and smiling
despite the weight of her days. ``They suspect me of money
laundering. I know they do. 
   ``But I would like to ask them: When is my damn life my own?
Keillen is 28 years old. How long can I keep a rein on a
28-year-old man? Maybe I just have a mother's unconditional love
for him but I am not a fool. He is a good boy who has done some bad
things. I know that. He and I live in two different worlds and my
life's been real hard. When do I rest? 
   ``They came bursting in my house with their guns out, shouting,
`Sit down before you get hurt.' Keillen was asleep. It was early
in the morning. There was no need to do it like that. 
   ``I reached for my cigarettes and a female agent smacked my hand
away. She said, `Be still and fix your breakfast.' Who could fix
their breakfast with 26 people with guns in their house? It looked
like the cops following the O.J. Bronco down the highway. Good
Lord! 
   ``They gave me the warrant and then they took everything: My
deed for the house here. For some property our family has down in
Georgia. My coupon books for my mortgage. My life insurance papers.
My power of attorney for my mother who is 88 and in a nursing home
in North Carolina. Everything. It's a wonder I didn't have a heart
attack. 
   ``Why didn't they just knock or call me on the phone? I would've
let them in. I have nothing to hide. They knew Keillen was here.
He can't go anywhere. They could've shouted up the stairs and I
would've let them on in. Why did they have to act like I was some
animal? Some murderer? 
   ``When Keillen was a boy, I got him into Metco. He went to
school in Wellesley. Maybe I failed but I fought,'' Betty Smith was
saying. ``And I know from that experience that they would never,
ever have done this to no white person, come barging in here under
all these assumptions; 26 people with their guns out. It's a
different system of justice. 
   ``I mean, they weren't even police. It was tax people. Not real
detectives. You could tell they were scared too because they were
in a black neighborhood. They kept asking me if I had a dog, a
Rottweiler? They were fascinated with dogs.'' 
     ``I'm old,'' Betty Smith said. ``This upset me. This was no
way to treat a human being. All they had to do was knock.'' 
   That morning, the 26 armed IRS agents took a ton of items away.
They also removed Keillen Smith, violated his parole, and put him
back in jail. And yesterday, the federal government declared it
wants to take Betty Smith's house on Westmore Road because her
grandson sold drugs and may have been involved in murder while his
66-year-old crippled grandmother simply went to dialysis and failed
to make a citizen's arrest. 

 This story ran on page 27 of the Boston Globe on 05/16/96. 

Mike Riddle                        |  My views should not be taken as those
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