BREAKING: Fred Heebe files suit against Times Picayune commenter Henry L Mencken, claims commenter is assistant US Attorney Sal Perricone

All I can say folks is Fred Heebe is throwing some serious money down this rabbit hole filing suit against Times Picayune commenter Henry L. Mencken. Gorden Russell has the breaking news for the Times Picayune and they included a link to the 151 page suit Heebe lawyer Kyle Shonekas filed in NOLA Civil District Court which mostly focuses on specualtion as to the identity of Henry L Mencken being assistant US Attorney Sal Perricone. The alleged defamatory comments are on pdf pages 3 and 4 of the suit and to my untrained eye look pretty weak.  The T-P has 598 of the 601 total comments left to various stories by Mencken on his T-P profile page linked above and there is copy of all his remarks circa December 2011 in Heebe’s suit.

From a bigger picture standpoint this really signals a new level of nasty between Team Heebe and Team Letten.  The speculation as to Mencken’s identity is enticing but it is also not the legal question. Its inclusion in the complaint tells me this is way more than a simple prelude to a US style defamation suit.

File this one under chilling effects from the mean streets of blogging.

sop

36 thoughts on “BREAKING: Fred Heebe files suit against Times Picayune commenter Henry L Mencken, claims commenter is assistant US Attorney Sal Perricone”

  1. How interesting that Heebe isn’t after Mencken’s IP addy from the Times Picayune, rather they want to conduct a fishing expedition by deposing two US Attorneys working the investigation against him.

    Even with the high price experts I don’t see how Judge Chase allows this, especially since it is certain to be opposed and not necessarily by the person behind Mencken’s handle.

    sop

  2. Sharing a post NOLA.com this morning:

    Landfill owner Fred Heebe claims NOLA.com commenter is federal prosecutor
    By Gordon Russell, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune | Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 12:08 PM
    fred heebe-sal-perricone.jpg

    Petition for pre-suit discovery claims that “Henry L. Mencken1951” has defamed him
    Share this story
    Comment posted successfully!

    Your comment is now publishing and will appear shortly.
    ms-vile
    ms-vile March 13, 2012, 12:33PM

    items:
    1. within minutes of NOLA.com posting article three “random” bloggers/cheerleaders came out with a Heebe ‘spin’ of this obvious SLAPP suit.
    2. these three probably bloggers for hire paid by Heebe or Schonekas.
    3. Purpose of SLAPP suit is to delay and distract only (probably while still shredding documents day & night). The brass ring on this merry-go-round would be if some incompetent, and/or bought judge would order federal prosecuters work files to be disclosed, or to recuse a dangerously competent Sal Perricone.
    4. Fat chance of any local court keeping or presuming jurisdiction: and fat chance any federal court not summarily dismissing.
    5. evidence to believe Heebe and his consigliere are desperate as well as ludicrous.
    6. any doubts?? contemplate that this lawsuit does not protect Freddie’s “good name” but is a tactical assault on the prosecutors of his charged criminal conspiracy.

    Lastly. anyone denying that anonymnity is essential to FREE speach and refuses to acknowledge retaliation and consequent repression as reason: is a liar, a hypocrite, or an idiot.

    1. I just read your comment on NOLA ms-vile and it is dead on. Observer judging from Mencken’s comments on NOLA, it is easy to infer he/she is familiar with the local US Attorney’s office. Several of the people that communicate with me are as well but none of them work there. My own opinion based on the totality of Mencken’s comments on NOLA is that he/she is not Perricone or James Mann. FWIW I did not always agree with Henry but he is a quality NOLA.com commenter and as such stuck out (just like Bunhare, Lileth and ms-vile and other high quality commenters that use the same handle to comment across the blogosphere).

      I would hope Henry hires counsel to fight this.

      sop

  3. Is it possible that the US attorney’s office would put comments out there to bait a target into talking? Hypothetically speaking, if they have a wire tap…. then they bait, and get someone fired up to talk on the phone…….just wondering. Not saying it was the US attorney or not – but it would be the only thing that makes sense if it is.

  4. The ultimate goal here is to get the entire NOLA registered users list as a way to try and figure out who is leaking information. I seriously doubt that Henry L. Mencken is a US Attorney but it wouldn’t surprise me to see that Mencken is associated not with the US Attorneys office but with the legal profession in Jefferson Parish who may have fed the Feds information.

  5. This arguably opens a whole can of worms in terms of prosecutorial/attorney ethics if he was the blogger.

    Does what Perricone did, assuming it was in fact Perricone, constitute unethical commentary on an going criminal case?

    I am unaware of any restriction on the civil side that would prohibit a lawyer commenting about an on going civil case as long as the comments are factual.

    Forget defamation, I think that is a weak case unless it was knowingly false.

      1. If I were to base it on that exchange I think I know who the commenter is and if it is that commenter then the RiverBirch gang need to pick out their cemetery plot because this person knows where all the bodies are buried.

    2. Not unless a gag order was put in place by the Federal Judge preventing both sides from discussing the case with the media.

  6. This flimsy,fickle-fingered,foolish, federal, fishing expedition is nothing but a redoubt of dubiety.

    Oops, shouldn’t have used an alliteration now my post will be reviewed in Washington,D.C. by the famous FBI violent profiler, James Fitzgerald.

    I’m headed to Dudley Do-Right country to hideout while the heat blows over.

  8. IMA : It’s not what you know or do, it’s who you know to get you out of sh*t.

    One thing for sure he’s no longer the “Do-Rag – Special Bankruptcy Man” to get certain people taken care of in U.S.Bankruptcy Court.

    “Hotfoot” Claude, have fun walking on egg shells around Federal Court.

  9. Heebe has the same problem that TheRiot … it is impossible that either could be defamed…

    And it is obvious that Heebe’s lawyers are as everybit the jackasses that Phelps,Dunbar displayed themselves to be by filing a suit against the blogosphere …

    maybe these lawyers should refer to a dictionary before making a mockery out of their clients and fools of themselves:

    defame |di?f?m|
    verb [ trans. ]
    damage the good reputation of someone

    defamatory
    adjective
    libelous, slanderous, calumnious, scandalmongering, malicious, vicious, backbiting, muckraking; abusive, disparaging, denigratory, insulting; informal mudslinging, bitchy, catty.

    And here’s a thought… what if Heebe and his lawyers were given the wrong identity of who is really Menchen1951 ???

  10. Regarding Heebe being wrong about the identity of Mencken. He laid it all on the line in a way didn’t he. The astroturfing on the T-P story is top notch.

    The DoJ almost has an equal in terms of resources with Heebe. Like I said a long time ago it is gonna be a nasty fight.

    I imagine this part of the saga will play out rather quickly.

    sop

  11. Can all you legal types answer a question for me…Would this not be a double edged sword in that while Heebe can get Sal under oath… So can Sal get Heebe and others under oath…and this is civil… No Fifth! Just wondering

    1. Let’s asssume heebe is correct about Mencken. All he has to do is get that out in the public so that he can hopefully undermine any prosecution. I don’t know how easy that would be but, regardless, he has outed Mencken and then he drops the suit. I dont see where heebe risks anything with this maneuver other than the $$$ spent on the attorneys and the FBI expert.

  12. WTF… this makes even Nova Scotia justice seem sane! Next, we try to extradite Broussard and Abel to testify in the Fox 8 TV case here.

  13. “According to the suit, Heebe enlisted a former FBI profiler to review 595 comments left by “Henry L. Mencken” below stories posted on NOLA.com. ”

    So how would River Birch hold up to a FBI profiler of mafia waste disposal companies turn up?

    Lets see—Two politically connected non-mob guys running a dump and one made man counting the money…

    Oppssss. You don’t have to be freakin Sherlock Holmes to figure this one out.

  14. Henry Mouton has plead guilty to accepting bribes from a “Rival Landfill Owner” and using his position as a public commissioner to rail against operations at rival landfills in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

    Question for Team Fed…… When will the “Rival Landfill Owner” be named in an indicted and called to task for negotiating this corruption?????

  15. Ok … allright already … I confess … I pretended to be AUSA Salvador Perricone and James Mann to write under the handle Henry L. Mencken1951 … what the fuck did they know about the criminal conspiracy amongst Heebe/Ward and other Jefferson Parish Politico Mafioso buddies like Broussard, to award River Birch an illegal landfill monopoly until I started pounding on Whitmer and Wilkinson beginning in November of 2008 !!!

    Henry Mouton was already in the JP mix with his early JP School Board connections with Roberts, Lagasse and Barry Bordelon getting a contract. The Gentilly landfill rumors had been around for some time after Katrina. The move to replace Waste Management with River Birch began in the summer of 2004!!!

    Now for the benefit of Heebe

  17. He’s Back !!!!!!!!!!Henry L. Mencken1951 that is, on NOLA this A.M. at 6:15.

    He stated something like….’Watching our rights erode’

    How about the SlabbedNation inviting Henry L. to come on over to our site cause its more secure. He could even do maybe a guest post and vent all the sh*t on his mind.

  21. Well, Fred has deep pockets and will go to great lengths to influence public opinion. He is so detached from the ordinary folks. First, he hired that economist out of Baton Rouge to crunch the numbers so that the landfill contract with Jefferson Parish would look like a great deal for the next 25 years, overlooking all other options for the future. Then, he engaged in a media blitz by sending flyers and leaflets in the mail to all registered voters in the Parish encouraging them to contact their elected officials and advocate for the contract on behalf of River Birch. And, let us not forget, the full page ads that were taken out in the Times-Picayune, Gambit and City Business espousing same.

    In the end, the River Birch contract with the Parish was squashed. What a pitty, the money Fred spent on the propaganda war would have been better spent on charitable causes, and his reputation would have been the better for it.
    Now, he is hiring a former FBI profiler in an effort to ascertain the names of bloggers who dare speak out against him and his tactics. Fred does not need any help ruining his reputation. He has done a fine job of that himself.

    1. “The Almighty says this must be a fashionable fight. It’s drawn the finest people”

      “Gidget” aka Jeanette Maier aka the Canal Street Madam’s little black book just keeps coming up over and over and over…..

      I’d invite everyone to run Gidget through our search box on the upper right of this page as we have a page worth of results on that search string.

      Also the following post tag for those that do not have major heart problems:

      http://www.slabbed.org/tag/diaper-fetishism/

      sop

  23. Eyewigger: What you are advocating is taking this defamation suit back to federal court and out of possible home-chef, Heebe pie cooking hands in district court.

    I agree with that advice but we’ll have to see if Henry L. likes the home boy menu or might want to change to a chef who is more meat and potatoes.

    Bon Appetit, and don’t choke on the T-Bone freddie cause there won’t be anyone in federal court to do the Heimlich maneuver.

  25. What would Letten have to say … it is only alleged that one or more of AUSA are the person (s) commenting as Mencken… there has been no legal determination as to the identity of Henry L. Menchen1951… and until then, no one has the right to breech Mencken’s anonymity. Period !

  27. That pretty much makes the venue for the flimsy, fickle-finger,foolish defamation suit federal court.

    The dubiety of the blogger’s name was a great redoubt but the embarrassment will only make the hornets on Camp St. more furious, even more aggressive and planning more stings ,even if such stings results in their eventual death.

    Save your efforts James Fitzgerald I’m not Henry L..

Comments are closed.