Well, I am sure you have all heard that I had a small legal problem today, and I know how stuff gets blown out of proportion, so I thought I'd explain the story myself. Here goes... I have carded a few items in the past 3 days, and I have NEVER done this before. The Grim Reaper got CBI accounts and placed orders, and I picked them up. Well, one of the places Grim ordered from was Paradise Computers, they knew it was a bogus order, but told us the package was shipped. Then they called the FEDS. Anyhow, the Feds must have been watching the pickup spot, then following me around till I met up with Grim to deliver his share of the stuff. As soon as we went to make the exchange, the Secret Service, FBI, state police, and local police were running at us with bulletproof vests and automatic guns. They handcuffed us, separated us, and took each of us back to our homes for them to search. So I haven't talked to Grim Reaper since I saw him lying next to me on the ground being arrested. But here's my story. About 20 agents came to my apartment and grabbed all computer equipment without a receipt. So we still have 1 modem, and this computer system. Anyhow, they grabbed\ every piece of paper they could find. Unfortunately, I am a very organized person, and had "the who's who in the pirate world" written down for my use. So if you ever gave me your real name, number, or address, it is now in the hands of the Secret Service and FBI. This list was quite large, as it took 2 years to compile. These boys did their homework. They knew Enterprize was USA HQ and they knew my handle, and they knew I supplied the group with software. They weren't going for just anyone here guys, they knew they needed to bust a group leader. Well, they did. Got me on carding, pirating, and a ton of other legal terms having to do with both of these. I was charged with 6 different counts, each holding a 5-30 year prison sentence. It doesn't look good for me at all. I'll post a file as soon as I get arraigned and let you guys know what is going on. But I will say this now, and I MEAN it. I love the groups, the software, and the competition. But regardless of what happens to me, I am done forever. No more NotSoHumble Babe, no more USA. I hate to do this to everyone, but I really don't have a choice. And regardless of who I am that got busted, be strong and support what you believe in your hearts: piracy. Don't let them win. You guys can all go on without me. Just promise me you won't give up and throw in the towel. If anyone wants to contact me, you can leave e-mail on Enterprize for me, or call voice AT YOUR OWN RISK. They told me they were tapping the phone lines. Just got to say a few goodbyes... Genesis: man, this stuff is in your blood, don't allow my mistakes to mess up something you've loved your whole life. You Gotta Ski! Silencer: well, you warned me and I didn't listen. I needed to listen to the kid with a knowledgable mind. Sorry, the second time I left a group and left you hanging... Cool Hand: Joe, you are a really nice person to talk to, and you've got a wife and kids. Remember that man, is this stuff worth it? Line Noise: Neil, I guess you are one of the happier ones to hear of my bust. No THG, no USA. You will rule the world man, but be more careful than I was. The PieMan: Well, you can quit threatening to turn my board in if you ever get caught. My board was officially busted. Fab.Furlough: Deep down inside, you are a backstabber. But I still love you man... And to all I didn't say anything to, doesn't mean I don't care. I hope USA will continue to live and prosper. And I will do anything I can(legally) to help USA prosper. Goodbye... The NotSoHumble Babe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date : 01-XX-92 Time : Who knows Commenter : [> ANONYMOUS <] Of course, that was the version she wanted to play to the general public. The NotSoHumble Babe and The Grim Reaper were not just doing this for the first time, it had been a routine thing for quite a while. (For at least 4 months, when TGR carded his 486/33). I guess it would be helpful to take a few steps back, and get a look at the whole picture as I know it (From reliable sources, and from personal experiance with these two people). The NotSoHumble Babe was always known for her good contacts in the software field, that is the reason for USA's quick appearence. People probably wondered how she did it? I am sure she had many ways, but the one tactic she used which gained her the interest of the FBI was telling the software Co's she was a distributor. All of them believed this expept for one. When this one checked her Employer Identification Number, and found it didn't check out with her, they knew something was up. They then had her lines monitored, and because of this found out they had more then a business fraud on their hands, they found out they had a veteran Credit Card abuser, and the leader of a major pirate group. This then in turn caused a lot more investigation to take place, and in turn the interest of the Secret Service. Since they were being monitored, the SS knew all their plans. When TGR had ordered his next shipment of carded goods, the SS notified the company of what was going on, and set the trap. Now, after several months of investigation on The Grim Reaper (Mike Arnolds) and The NotSoHumble Babe, the case was about to come to a close, they had everything they needed to convict these two people in court, and whoever else they wanted. As Amy said in her text above, she and Mike were on the way to meet each other to split the goods they had carded. When Amy went to FedEx to pick up her shit, and go meet Mike, they were surrounded, and arrested. This took place on 1-29-92 at approximately 2:27pm. Mike and Amy were taken back to their houses, where all of their equipment was looked over. As she said, anything without a receipt was confiscated. Then, came the big talks from the Feds - Interrogation. This day totally changed Mike's and Amy's life drastically. Things would not be the same. And because of this, they were both pretty moved. Because of this insecure feeling, and because they are both unable to take this shit themselves, and not implicate other people, they decided to cooperate 100% with the authorities. Anything they didn't have on paper, anything the Feds found unclear, Mike and Amy are/were right there to make a clear picture for them. Amy failed to say this, I see. I know first hand, The Grim Reaper and The NotSoHumble Babe are going to drag as many as they can with them. A loser thing to do, but that's what they are going to do. Looks like it's time for us all to either call it quits for a while, or be very fucking careful. TGR and TNSHB are both history. They fucked up. And now they will pay for their mistakes. But we don't need to be party to their bullshit. Delete their accounts from your board, blacklist them, lock out newusers, change the system pw, and even go as far as deleting all USA affiliates if you feel it is necessary. What about USA? What about Genesis and BBS-A-Holic? Well, Genesis was one of her partners in crime. Thomas always made it a habit to get something out of each of her shipments, so to do this, he had to contribute somehow, nothing is free. He helped card about 25% of the shit they got, so I am sure he is a nervous mother fucker right now. The Feds are monitoring his local FedEx anyway, so if he goes there to pick up his last package, his ass is in jail too. He also was a very avid user of the 950-0511 extender, as the Feds are aware of, and they might pop him for this, who knows? The board? USA? I have heard, but not from Genesis, that USA is now officially dead. BBS-A-Holic is down, and no idea when it will come back up. But when it does again come online, I will not be a member on that system. Thomas is considering turning himself in, if he does this, he said he too will cooperate with the Feds, which means if you were his friend yesterday, and helped him card shit, or anything, then you might share his cell tomorrow. What do you know about The Grim Reaper, The Void, and Vision-x? - The Grim Reaper is getting popped for the second time, therefore, I think his ass will be in jail a few years, once he is sentenced. The Void? I am not sure, but I assume since he had carded all of his computer equipment, that it was all confiscated, along with all of his backups. Mike being in jail, or not, will never again run a board. As for Vision-x, who knows. Warlord has not made a public statement yet, so noone knows yet. He does live in 313 as did the other two, so if I were him I would be scared shitless, especially since he was supposed to receive a carded 386/25 from USA. Felony Net and Toxic Net are all history. Perhaps Warlord will bring them back, though, but I don't foresee this any time soon. The Grim Reaper and The NotSoHumble Babe were charged with Credit Card Fraud, ammounting 18,200$, and software piracy adding up to 72,000$. Once you add Genesis' (Thomas') part in, the credit card fraud will probably amount to 21,000$, but, that's just my guess, based on all this shit he told me about that he assisted in, and some he did on his own. When TNSHB says to call her board and leave her your questions, or number to call you back at, it is just a simple way to drag you in. Dont fall for it. Lives and freedom are too precious to ruin for a bitch like her. Just for the hell of it, here are their telephone numbers, if you want to verify all this shit, just call and ask them. (I advise you do this from a payphone a LONG way from your house, and dont identify yourself) The Grim Reaper (Mike) 313-981-1903/313-981-1296 The NotSoHumble Babe (Amy) 313-442-2523 Genesis (Thomas) 213-328-7507 Hope this has all been helpful. If you want more history on these people, send a public message on OoofNet in care of [>ANONYMOUS<], and I will give the desired history out. [> ANONYMOUS <] From : Static #1 To : All Subject: Bust Date : 01-31-92 00:47 We were busted today, by some Secret Service guys and some FBI people.. This is no bull shit, they were here and made me delete everything I had and get rid of all my disks or they were going to take my hardware with them. There is no hidden section anywhere on this system, from now on everything is Public Domain.. IE: Gifs,mods, stuff like that. When I get done cleaning the place of all my disks I will re-do the system to make the sections look right. They have my user log, so change your passwords. I am not helping them bust other boards or narcing on anyone, this is our deal and we will pay the price. I hope that all of you continue to call here, I will try to run the board the best I can.. We will go multi node soon as things settle down. And we will run a large gif section as they told me that was ok to do. Static 02/03/92 'Lamer Pirate Magazines, Etc...' By THE GRIM REAPER This was originally going to be an article for iNSANITY Magazine #4 called 'Lamer Pirate Mags, Etc' to straighten out the complete bullshit and lies in Badnews #7, but seeing as there are so many rumours floating around, and the future of iNSANITY is undecided I decided to just put out this textfile to explain what is really going on, less a few lamers out there spread all kinds of bullshit and lies, as they seem to do so often. Pretty much everything in Badnews #7 was a complete lie, as most of you already know by now. There didn't have any backdoors to ViSiON-X, and there aren't and weren't any that allowed someone to get the user list. What happened on Showdown was the Sysop PW was given out to the wrong person, and they used it. So again, nothing but BS and hype on their end. While I think the FiRM overhyped themselves, they didn't deserve the ragging they got by BaD, and Bad having failed in their own attempt at a Pirate Group have no right to criticize ANYONE until they've accomplished the same. Perhaps a few of the other groups could have said something to them (and many talked about it) but they didn't deserve the 3rd Degree from a lamer mag. The main reason for this article was that while many found the BaD Mag to be so completely full of shit to the point it was hilarious, some got to thinking that down the line someone might actually believe some of the BS. They claimed to be the group that caused the downfall of THG, PE and others, which was a complete joke... They had absolutley nothing to do with any of that. USA had killed of THG, etc... What else was there to straighten up? 02/03/92 'Lamer Pirate Magazines, Etc...' By THE GRIM REAPER (Cont'd) 'Did they shoot your Dog????' - Anonymous Lamer So what's up? Well, to make it short and blunt, The Not So Humble Babe and I were involved in a carding incident. She most likely was being watched by certain people since she had been using false corporations and fake Tax ID Numbers to order games, and for suppliers for USA. The Secret Service either stumbled across us that way, from one of the orders gone bad, or from the illegal cash and hardware coming in to Enterprize. The NSH Babe (Amy) had a cash flow from Dist Sites and other hot hardware from USA Sites totalling about $3500-5000 a month. She had sent one of her hot laptops she gets every month to Optical Illusion in Canada, and asked him to sell it for her. He wanted to be nice, and tried to sell it. A local from his 416 area wanted to buy the laptop. He went to sell it, and was busted by a plainclothes police officer for possesion of stolen property over a $1000. I found some CC #'s, she had alot of experience with UPS and FedEx from ordering games, and she thought of a way to pick up the packages. We both placed orders (I placed about 2/3rds since she was picking up, and she placed about a 1/3rd). Most of the stuff wasn't for myself, and was meant for other people (Trying to be nice, Eh?). In any case, we shouldn't have done it. TNSH Babe wanted to order a ALOT of stuff, becuz over time she owed people in USA alot of hardware they had paid her for, and she had never sent to them. We ordered a bit too much, more than I thought we should have. 'They had Bulletproof Vests and Grenades??' - Nother |<-Rad D00D!! So then what? Well they found out the packages were coming, and were waiting for TNSH Babe to pick them up. They went back to her place and she gave them permission to come in and search. (Dunno what happened in between then), she talked to them, and they wanted to have her give some of the stuff she got to me when we were supposed to meet for the first time at a Meijers parking lot. There were some weird things going on at the time, and an alarm was flashing in the back of my mind, but I decided to ignore it. Anyhow, she handed me a hard drive or something, then basically they moved in. I saw a car pulling up, and figured what was going on. One guy said, 'Secret Service' (Bout 6 people), and it kinda went downhill from there. But seriously, they weren't that bad and I cooperated with them. They wanted to go back to my house and look around, and wanted permission. They said they would have gotten a search warrant, and it was in my best interest to cooperate, so I let them come in. Basically there wasn't anything in the house, I always throw everything out when I am done with it. As far as the computer went, I didn't even have anything Unzipped on the Hard Drive that I hadn't paid for. They wanted to look further on the computer and in the end did take it, but gave me a receipt. I paid for my entire system, so don't listen to some of the lamer textfiles floating around. There wasn't anything on my system, so I might get lucky and they'll give it back. They also took 3 or 4 computers from Amy's place, but left Static with his. This was the first time either of us had done anything like this. There had been a few attempts in the past, but nothing that had ever been followed thru, or had worked. No no, I've never been busted for this before (more lies), or anything. I've never been arrested for anything before. 02/03/92 'Lamer Pirate Magazines, Etc...' By THE GRIM REAPER (Cont'd) 'I formatted my Hard Drive 3 Times!!' - Local 313 Sysop I don't know if it was overreacting, but our dumb situation seemed to affect alot of other people. The locals over here went apeshit, and many of them formatted there drives and deleted files (20+), and took their boards down temporarily. Many of the major Pirate boards decided to power down for a while. Unfortunatley many of the truly good boards in the world have gone down, possibly forever. BBS-A-Holic has gone down, Enterprize is now PD Only, many INC boards, LSD2 possibly for related reasons, The VOID of course, and many others. Many big namers are considering quitting the pirate scene because they think it's not worth it, and they're right. Some of the boards may come back. BBS-A-Holic was one of my favorites. Many considered The VOID one of the Top 10 Boards in the world as far as Quality went, and I appreciate the users and the support, I worked hard to try to make it the best, and put my heart into it. As are many others, Black Spyrit might be retiring, so I don't know if another iNSANITY Issue will be coming out. It was truly a great Mag if you never saw it. The best. 'I heard they were thrown in jail, and fined $72 Million Dollars!!' - Another neverending Lamer No matter what or who the issue, this never stops eh? I wouldn't believe any of the bullshit textfiles, mostly from jealous people and the few enemies you get when you end up getting towards the top. Especially the Anonymous (surprise) textfile taken off of OOFNet (Surprise again, huh? Heh) are as always complete BS. Try not to be a lamer. There are too many of 'em, and they do nothing for the Pirate world. If you are going to do anything, do SOMETHING. Organize a group of some type, Coordinate Couriers, do some VGA or ANSi work, or get in a group, but don't be a Lamer. Call LD, and establish a Rep, and see what you are missing. All Locals aren't Lamers, but 90% are. A Lamer - A person who calls only Local boards, does nothing but leech files, and doesn't contribute to groups in any ways. Neither BaD, any locals, or Socrates had anything to do with us getting into trouble in any way. 'Don't try this at home kids.' - Grim '92 All things considered, I wish it wouldn't have ended this way. I don't think any of this was good for anyone in the pirate or BBS world. USA is now pretty much a dead group. Many of the best boards have gone down, and others are considering calling it quits becuz it just isn't worth it. INC never was a for profit group, and had no illegitimate cash flow unlike USA. - Adieu's -=INC=- '92 - The Conferences sure were a blast, you guys really cracked me up at times and kept it from getting boring. I have alot of good memories. Sorry if I let you guys down. Call me sometime. Cool Hand - Dumb, eh? You were loyal, and a great organiser. Lestat - A good friend, and a killer accent. Call me. Bloody Butcher - Your Dad still carrying around with that axe? Optical - Hmmm, we shoulda known better... Drew - Hard to get ahold of, hey. Artists - You guys where always great Manufacturer, Tracer, The Eel, and Black SpyriT ofcourse. Ed, give me a call anytime. Socrates (A local 313 Lamer) - You are a true coward, and a true Lamer. How you live with yourself is beyond me. OOFNet - Dead pirate groups, Lamers, no ANSi, and Telegard boards... What more to say? Sought After - Give it up already. I heard you wrote one of those bullshit textfiles, eh? P.S. This article is meant for iNSANiTY Magazine #4. Please make sure it makes it in there. (Black SpyriT) Well, I am sure you have all heard that I had a small legal problem today, and I know how stuff gets blown out of proportion, so I thought I'd explain the story myself. Here goes... I have carded a few items in the past 3 days, and I have NEVER done this before. The Grim Reaper got CBI accounts and placed orders, and I picked them up. Well, one of the places Grim ordered from was Paradise Computers, they knew it was a bogus order, but told us the package was shipped. Then they called the FEDS. Anyhow, the Feds must have been watching the pickup spot, then following me around till I met up with Grim to deliver his share of the stuff. As soon as we went to make the exchange, the Secret Service, FBI, state police, and local police were running at us with bulletproof vests and automatic guns. They handcuffed us, separated us, and took each of us back to our homes for them to search. So I haven't talked to Grim Reaper since I saw him lying next to me on the ground being arrested. But here's my story. About 20 agents came to my apartment and grabbed all computer equipment without a receipt. So we still have 1 modem, and this computer system. Anyhow, they grabbed\ every piece of paper they could find. Unfortunately, I am a very organized person, and had "the who's who in the pirate world" written down for my use. So if you ever gave me your real name, number, or address, it is now in the hands of the Secret Service and FBI. This list was quite large, as it took 2 years to compile. These boys did their homework. They knew Enterprize was USA HQ and they knew my handle, and they knew I supplied the group with software. They weren't going for just anyone here guys, they knew they needed to bust a group leader. Well, they did. Got me on carding, pirating, and a ton of other legal terms having to do with both of these. I was charged with 6 different counts, each holding a 5-30 year prison sentence. It doesn't look good for me at all. I'll post a file as soon as I get arraigned and let you guys know what is going on. But I will say this now, and I MEAN it. I love the groups, the software, and the competition. But regardless of what happens to me, I am done forever. No more NotSoHumble Babe, no more USA. I hate to do this to everyone, but I really don't have a choice. And regardless of who I am that got busted, be strong and support what you believe in your hearts: piracy. Don't let them win. You guys can all go on without me. Just promise me you won't give up and throw in the towel. If anyone wants to contact me, you can leave e-mail on Enterprize for me, or call voice AT YOUR OWN RISK. They told me they were tapping the phone lines. Just got to say a few goodbyes... Genesis: man, this stuff is in your blood, don't allow my mistakes to mess up something you've loved your whole life. You Gotta Ski! Silencer: well, you warned me and I didn't listen. I needed to listen to the kid with a knowledgable mind. Sorry, the second time I left a group and left you hanging... Cool Hand: Joe, you are a really nice person to talk to, and you've got a wife and kids. Remember that man, is this stuff worth it? Line Noise: Neil, I guess you are one of the happier ones to hear of my bust. No THG, no USA. You will rule the world man, but be more careful than I was. The PieMan: Well, you can quit threatening to turn my board in if you ever get caught. My board was officially busted. Fab.Furlough: Deep down inside, you are a backstabber. But I still love you man... And to all I didn't say anything to, doesn't mean I don't care. I hope USA will continue to live and prosper. And I will do anything I can(legally) to help USA prosper. Goodbye... The NotSoHumble Babe