BIO: Coming from an Irish-Catholic, blue collar family in southwest Philadelphia, Sparky McLaughlin joined the Philadelphia Police Department in 1977, made the K-9 unit three years later, then the Philadelphia Highway Patrol Line Squad four years after that. Sparky moved to the Office of the Attorney General's Bureau of Narcotics Investigations Task Force in 1992 while still with the PD, and finally putting his foot though the door in 1995 as a Narc. He was in their employ throughout the period covered in "Damned from Memory". http://www.damnedfrommemory.com
BooksAndAuthor.com: Explain your title "Damned from Memory” as it relates to the book.
Sparky McLaughlin: Damned from Memory or “The ‘damnatio memoriae' method of disappearance was practiced in the Soviet Union. When an important political figure was convicted, for instance during the Great Purge, artists would retouch them out of photographs; books, records and histories would be recalled, rewritten or re-enacted; pictures, busts and statues would be taken down; people would be discouraged from talking about them, and the government would never mention them again. They were made to have never existed - unpersoned - in the same way as was used by the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Notable examples range from prominent Russian revolutionaries who took part in the Russian Revolution but disagreed with Bolsheviks, to some of the most devoted Stalinists (for instance Nikolai Yezhov) who fell into disfavor.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_disappearance
Disappearances work on two levels: not only do they silence opponents and critics who have disappeared, but they also create uncertainty and fear in the wider community, silencing others who would oppose and criticize. Disappearances entail the violation of many fundamental human rights. For the disappeared person, these include the right to liberty, the right to personal security and humane treatment (including freedom from torture), the right to a fair trial, to legal counsel and to equal protection under the law, and the right of presumption of innocence among others. Their families, who often spend the rest of their lives searching for information on the disappeared, are also victims. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_disappearance
The Bastard Squad was tried in the Media without any redress, then when we filed suit to be heard, our entire trial was sealed for National Security and Foreign Relations. My family was physically attacked, my house broken into, and my K9 got a piece of the Black Bagger who was later identified by a Counter-Intelligence operative.
BooksAndAuthor.com: "Damned from Memory" is one hell of an eye opener - How hard was it to get this book published considering the government wanted to 'shut you up' in the first place? Or was it no "Big" deal at all?
Sparky McLaughlin: Actually “Damned from Memory” is a work of Creative Non-Fiction, meaning the names were changed except for those that gave permission to use their names.
The Government went so far as to make my testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence investigators sealed under National Security and Foreign Relations.
Items that had already been printed or spoken about in the media, however incorrectly or slanted they might have been, were fair game, for me to tell the truth. Also all content had been vetted by a Civil Attorney, an Entertainment Attorney, and a Criminal Attorney, so I wrote to correct the misperception that we were ‘bad cops’.
Law Enforcement are not allowed, unless given permission, to talk to the press, and needless to say, we were not given permission.
BooksAndAuthor.com: Explain who is/was "the Bastard Squad"?
Sparky McLaughlin: The Bastard Squad was a pejorative term that one of our Chiefs labeled us in a meeting wherein he said we could only work cases amongst ourselves. He essentially said that we were lepers and he was shutting us off from the rest of the agency. It was a very degrading time in our lives and it was in the early summer of 1996 that the term was applies to the four of us. Eggs, Hoffa, Flash and Myself.
BooksAndAuthor.com: Looking back before and after writing "Damned from Memory" ,do you believe from the top down there was/is any real "war on drugs"? Explain.
Sparky McLaughlin: That’s a tough question and above our paygrade. I fully believe that Law Enforcement is given a set of laws, and based on the laws that they are given, they are duty bound to do the best they can, to enforce those laws. However, when speaking to this subject, you must remember, that Law Enforcement does not prosecute the breakers of the laws. Prosecutors have the ability under the law to either persecute, sorry I mean prosecute, or not. The Law Enforcement Officer is the person behind the camera, and he or she brings the best photo, meaning the totality of the circumstances he or she can to the Prosecutors who make the decisions to prosecute or not.
BooksAndAuthor.com: Do you think there will ALWAYS be ties to drugs and our US political leaders?
Sparky McLaughlin: I think that there is a possibility that any vice or addiction falls prey to persons in power. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Sir John Dalberg-Acton, 8th Baronet.
Persons in Power need to have ‘handlers’ to make sure that they steer clear from molehills that can be turned into mountains. For Instance: If a Politician is at a fundraiser and over half of those FEC forms say “Occupation Requested, Not Received”, that is a real Red Flag. If a person can go to a thousand dollar a plate fundraiser and not list an occupation, that person automatically should come under someone’s radar. If it doesn’t, then the system is flawed.
BooksAndAuthor.com: What have readers been saying about, "Damned from Memory"?
Sparky McLaughlin: I think some eyes were being opened because I back up my assertions with fact. Fact that has been gathered by numerous sources and congressional publications. When you cannot dispute the Facts then that story has legs. Of course there are those that use the story of The Bastard Squad to further their own agendas.
BooksAndAuthor.com: What do you hope to achieve with "Damned from Memory" ?
Validation, if only in the Law Enforcement Community, to start. The General Public does not know that these things go on as a matter of course. They only see what the suits want them to see in the major media outlets. However there is an underground network of LEO’s that are connected to each other by these very type circumstances.
Look at retired DEA Special Agents Rick Horn, Michael Levine and Joseph Occhipinti. They have seen firsthand , the belly of the beast. These are just three of many friends, that by doing their jobs, came under fire for telling it like it is; in fact my first title was going to be “Friendly Fire, The Bastard Squad.”
BooksAndAuthor.com: What's next?
Sparky McLaughlin: I’ve just co-authored a Screenplay with Jack Snyder called “The Bastard Squad” based on my book “Damned from Memory.” Jack writes like he was there beside us throughout the ordeal. It shows both the tragic and the dark humor of The Bastard Squad as the and their families cope with what has befallen them.
I am also writing a book based on where my book “Damned from Memory” leaves off. I follow the money once again but this time to an under budgeted experimental government program.
BooksAndAuthor.com: Explain your title "Damned from Memory” as it relates to the book.
Sparky McLaughlin: Damned from Memory or “The ‘damnatio memoriae' method of disappearance was practiced in the Soviet Union. When an important political figure was convicted, for instance during the Great Purge, artists would retouch them out of photographs; books, records and histories would be recalled, rewritten or re-enacted; pictures, busts and statues would be taken down; people would be discouraged from talking about them, and the government would never mention them again. They were made to have never existed - unpersoned - in the same way as was used by the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Notable examples range from prominent Russian revolutionaries who took part in the Russian Revolution but disagreed with Bolsheviks, to some of the most devoted Stalinists (for instance Nikolai Yezhov) who fell into disfavor.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_disappearance
Disappearances work on two levels: not only do they silence opponents and critics who have disappeared, but they also create uncertainty and fear in the wider community, silencing others who would oppose and criticize. Disappearances entail the violation of many fundamental human rights. For the disappeared person, these include the right to liberty, the right to personal security and humane treatment (including freedom from torture), the right to a fair trial, to legal counsel and to equal protection under the law, and the right of presumption of innocence among others. Their families, who often spend the rest of their lives searching for information on the disappeared, are also victims. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_disappearance
The Bastard Squad was tried in the Media without any redress, then when we filed suit to be heard, our entire trial was sealed for National Security and Foreign Relations. My family was physically attacked, my house broken into, and my K9 got a piece of the Black Bagger who was later identified by a Counter-Intelligence operative.
BooksAndAuthor.com: "Damned from Memory" is one hell of an eye opener - How hard was it to get this book published considering the government wanted to 'shut you up' in the first place? Or was it no "Big" deal at all?
Sparky McLaughlin: Actually “Damned from Memory” is a work of Creative Non-Fiction, meaning the names were changed except for those that gave permission to use their names.
The Government went so far as to make my testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence investigators sealed under National Security and Foreign Relations.
Items that had already been printed or spoken about in the media, however incorrectly or slanted they might have been, were fair game, for me to tell the truth. Also all content had been vetted by a Civil Attorney, an Entertainment Attorney, and a Criminal Attorney, so I wrote to correct the misperception that we were ‘bad cops’.
Law Enforcement are not allowed, unless given permission, to talk to the press, and needless to say, we were not given permission.
BooksAndAuthor.com: Explain who is/was "the Bastard Squad"?
Sparky McLaughlin: The Bastard Squad was a pejorative term that one of our Chiefs labeled us in a meeting wherein he said we could only work cases amongst ourselves. He essentially said that we were lepers and he was shutting us off from the rest of the agency. It was a very degrading time in our lives and it was in the early summer of 1996 that the term was applies to the four of us. Eggs, Hoffa, Flash and Myself.
BooksAndAuthor.com: Looking back before and after writing "Damned from Memory" ,do you believe from the top down there was/is any real "war on drugs"? Explain.
Sparky McLaughlin: That’s a tough question and above our paygrade. I fully believe that Law Enforcement is given a set of laws, and based on the laws that they are given, they are duty bound to do the best they can, to enforce those laws. However, when speaking to this subject, you must remember, that Law Enforcement does not prosecute the breakers of the laws. Prosecutors have the ability under the law to either persecute, sorry I mean prosecute, or not. The Law Enforcement Officer is the person behind the camera, and he or she brings the best photo, meaning the totality of the circumstances he or she can to the Prosecutors who make the decisions to prosecute or not.
BooksAndAuthor.com: Do you think there will ALWAYS be ties to drugs and our US political leaders?
Sparky McLaughlin: I think that there is a possibility that any vice or addiction falls prey to persons in power. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Sir John Dalberg-Acton, 8th Baronet.
Persons in Power need to have ‘handlers’ to make sure that they steer clear from molehills that can be turned into mountains. For Instance: If a Politician is at a fundraiser and over half of those FEC forms say “Occupation Requested, Not Received”, that is a real Red Flag. If a person can go to a thousand dollar a plate fundraiser and not list an occupation, that person automatically should come under someone’s radar. If it doesn’t, then the system is flawed.
BooksAndAuthor.com: What have readers been saying about, "Damned from Memory"?
Sparky McLaughlin: I think some eyes were being opened because I back up my assertions with fact. Fact that has been gathered by numerous sources and congressional publications. When you cannot dispute the Facts then that story has legs. Of course there are those that use the story of The Bastard Squad to further their own agendas.
BooksAndAuthor.com: What do you hope to achieve with "Damned from Memory" ?
Validation, if only in the Law Enforcement Community, to start. The General Public does not know that these things go on as a matter of course. They only see what the suits want them to see in the major media outlets. However there is an underground network of LEO’s that are connected to each other by these very type circumstances.
Look at retired DEA Special Agents Rick Horn, Michael Levine and Joseph Occhipinti. They have seen firsthand , the belly of the beast. These are just three of many friends, that by doing their jobs, came under fire for telling it like it is; in fact my first title was going to be “Friendly Fire, The Bastard Squad.”
BooksAndAuthor.com: What's next?
Sparky McLaughlin: I’ve just co-authored a Screenplay with Jack Snyder called “The Bastard Squad” based on my book “Damned from Memory.” Jack writes like he was there beside us throughout the ordeal. It shows both the tragic and the dark humor of The Bastard Squad as the and their families cope with what has befallen them.
I am also writing a book based on where my book “Damned from Memory” leaves off. I follow the money once again but this time to an under budgeted experimental government program.