If you do not label every aspect of your personality with different colors, you will not recognize them and they will come up and seize you.
November 20, 2006 4:20 AM   Subscribe

 
The Moors totally stole my idea.
posted by Meatbomb at 4:48 AM on November 20, 2006


The part about building pyramids, not the part about molesting kids.
posted by Meatbomb at 4:50 AM on November 20, 2006




Did you know that disco was crafted by the devil to ensnare black people?

Ah, so they're Baptists?
posted by Meatbomb at 5:00 AM on November 20, 2006


That religion goes all way to eleven.
posted by Colloquial Collision at 5:30 AM on November 20, 2006


Did you know that disco was crafted by the devil to ensnare black people?

Actually, I find this single statement eminently plausible.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:15 AM on November 20, 2006


The infamous pyramid compound [gmaps] was seized for non-payment of taxes and demolished last year.
posted by dhartung at 7:21 AM on November 20, 2006


Everything, in short, was calculated to convey the impression—to public and jury alike—that these were very dangerous people. “The threat of violence was completely over-hyped,” Manubir Arora, one of York’s lawyers, later recalled. “I was even scared myself.”

Every day, a handcuffed and shackled York was escorted into the courtroom by Sills (though he had no jurisdiction in the county where the trial was held)...The government’s case rested on 14 witnesses—male and female—who claimed that York had molested them. Six of York’s alleged victims ended up testifying for the defense that they had not been molested by him but that prosecutors pressured them to say so.

The defense also presented a gynecologist who reported that there was no medical evidence whatsoever of wounds, flesh tears, or prior medical treatment to corroborate the testimony of violent acts of molestation. The defense argued that if the accusers were to be believed, York—a 58-year-old with a heart condition—would have to have committed 12,000 molestations over ten years. “It was like he was having sex with everything that moved,” Arora said. “It got to the point where it was almost laughable.”

After a three-week trial, York was convicted on four counts of racketeering and six child molestation-related charges. While there may have been sufficient grounds for a prosecutor to proceed with some molestation charges, the extent of the alleged abuse, and the absence of corroborating evidence, should have raised reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors.

The RICO racketeering case was even less plausible, and smacked of ulterior motives...

What the RICO did was enable the government to evict the Nuwaubians from Tama-Re and confiscate their property. On July 14, 2004, Royal issued an order permitting the government to seize Tama-Re, now valued at $ 1.7 million. The Egyptian temples were demolished, the gods smashed, and the land sold. Sills personally drove a bulldozer to tear down the compound.

Last September, the Putnam County Sheriff’s department and the FBI received checks for $546,000 and $350,000 respectively from the sale of the land.


Wow, how have I never heard of Nuwaubianismbefore? Fascinating story. The aerial photos of the compound in the "let's" link are great.

[cough] And the nominees in the Most Unnecessarily Cryptic Post category are...
posted by mediareport at 7:33 AM on November 20, 2006


[cough] And the nominees in the Most Unnecessarily Cryptic Post category are.

Yeah, really. The only justification for a cryptic post is if you're trying to make a subtle, on-the-fly association with some already oblique subject matter. But this is a solid post, with really interesting content. You should have had enough confidence to lay it out on the front page.
posted by Faze at 8:26 AM on November 20, 2006


Dum dum dum dum DUM!
posted by DenOfSizer at 8:27 AM on November 20, 2006


Thank god...I was about to say WTF?!?! and Wikipedia and DenOfSizer to the rescue.
posted by dozo at 10:28 AM on November 20, 2006


Heh. Erm. Oops. Well, I'd thought to make the post more clear, but I found the subject so huge and bizarre, and the very nature of the topic so esoteric, that I thought this would be the sensible way to do things. Obviously, I should have just been more clear. Oh well, never again...

At any rate, I hope people enjoy the links. It's a bizarre story about not only a deeply strange new religion and social movement, but also the deeply strange criminal troubles surrounding it.

I should also point out that Mr. York is in the same Supermax prison as the Unabomber, Zacarias Moussaoui, Woody Harrelson's dad, Tupac Shakur's stepfather, Matthew Hale, Terry Nichols, and the Shoe Bomber.
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:49 AM on November 20, 2006


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