October 2- 8, 2003

city beat

Tele-Trouble

Cheat Sheet: Whoever distributed Youngbloodís phone records was a little loose with the facts.

Who stole Michael Youngblood’s cell-phone records?

by Howard Altman

An inch-thick stack of allegedly stolen cell-phone records has touched off another firestorm in an increasingly ugly Philadelphia mayoral campaign.

Each side is crying foul over the records -- first reported by City Paper online Monday afternoon -- and lawyers are threatening to sue anyone divulging the contents of those records, the existence of which might constitute a felony.

The records are for the private cell phone of Michael Williams, better known as Michael Youngblood -- former City Council aide, ex-convict and confidant of mayoral hopeful Sam Katz.

A cover sheet attached to the records attempts to draw a link between Katz and Youngblood over the infamous incident at Katz's North Philadelphia headquarters -- that may or may not have involved some sort of incendiary device -- by stating that Youngblood and Katz had a six-minute telephone conversation at 10:57 p.m. on Aug. 27. The letter alleges that the incident occurred sometime that night.

Whoever distributed the letter, however, failed to realize the alleged firebombing actually took place the previous day.

"Katz is on vacation at his cabin in the Poconos when he makes the call," the cover letter states. The letter also states that Katz and Youngblood had a conversation on the morning of Aug. 26. The Katz campaign and a lawyer for Youngblood both lambasted the error and questioned the judgment of whomever distributed the phone records, which were delivered to City Paper Monday by a man who refused to identify himself or the source of the documents.

The phone records are the latest dustup in the race between incumbent Mayor John Street and Katz.

"This is a desperate attempt by the Street campaign to use stolen phone records to make a link where there is none," says Katz spokesperson Maureen Garrity. "I have talked to police. There is no evidence of who it was who threw the firebomb. [The mayor's brother] Milton Street said he knows who did it. He should step forward and give that information to police."

Milton Street could not be reached for comment. The Street campaign denies any connection to the phone records.

"That is simply and utterly false," responds Street's spokesperson Dan Fee. "If they weren't shamed about their contact with this convicted extortionist, they should be ashamed for making this claim. The only thing to do when someone like that calls you is to hang up."

Fee adds that the Street campaign "did not obtain, nor did we possess these records. The Katz campaign ought to spend less time attacking and more time explaining what Sam Katz was talking to Michael Youngblood about."

The records consist of more than 4,000 calls to and from Youngblood's personal cell phone. The calls were made between May and September of this year.

The cover sheet also attempts -- with a high degree of discrepency with the actual phone records -- to show that Katz and Youngblood were in constant contact.

On Sept. 27, Katz told the Daily News that he began bouncing phone calls from Youngblood to his campaign staff once his campaign was "up and running."

The cover sheet lists 38 calls between Katz's personal cell phone and Youngblood's between May and August. Most lasted only one minute, but three lasted five minutes, one lasted six minutes, one lasted eight minutes, two lasted nine minutes and two lasted at least 19 minutes. Of these calls, 11 are not in the records obtained by City Paper.

Garrity says the calls do not indicate any contradiction of Katz's statement to the Daily News that he began shunting Youngblood's calls as the campaign unfolded.

"There is no contradiction," says Garrity. "Early on, Sam was the only one that Michael knew, but Sam got busy with other things, and he would say, åCall Maureen.'"

The cover sheet tallies 96 calls between Youngblood and Garrity. The records indicate fewer than 20.

"He calls me," Garrity acknowledges. "He'll tell me stuff he heard. We get lots of information from lots of people. He passes along interesting rumors he has heard, interesting things he heard about the campaign."

Garrity would neither elaborate nor give any specifics.

Youngblood could not be reached by presstime and several calls to the address listed on the cell-phone bills went unanswered. But two lawyers speaking on his behalf vociferously denied any Youngblood link with the alleged incendiary incident. They also expressed outrage over what they say is the theft of Youngblood's personal records.

"That is utter nonsense that there is any connection whatsoever with that incident," says a clearly angry Joe Podraza, an attorney with Sprague & Sprague. "I would imagine that Michael talks to so many people, including the governor of this state. There is no conclusion to be drawn here. No merit to it. It is desperation by some folks to even manufacture those claims."

Podraza says he does not know who is distributing Youngblood's cell-phone records, nor would he speculate.

But whoever took them violated federal law, he says.

"They are stolen," Podraza says. "Michael reported this to the Postal Inspector and the U.S. Attorney's office a few weeks ago. Someone rifled through Michael's mail in violation of federal law. Anyone should expect the privacy of their mail to be protected. I will tell you this. If we can find out who took those records, we will hold them accountable."

Rotan Lee, who also represents Youngblood, says whoever is distributing the phone records is "trying to Willie Hortonize Sam Katz," referring to the infamous 1987 presidential election ads in which George Bush used a black murderer to show that Michael Dukakis was soft on crime. Lee says linking Horton and Dukakis "effectively did in Dukakis.

"This is a nasty scenario," adds Lee, referring to the injection of private phone records into a very public, increasingly heated election.

Lee -- who co-hosts a radio show with City Paper senior writer Daryl Gale -- adds that his client's phone company, Cingular, and anyone who publishes any specific information about Youngblood's phone records, will be sued.

"I would consider this to be the fruit of a poisonous tree," Lee says.

Efforts to reach Cingular for comment by presstime were unsuccessful.

The phone records were apparently disseminated to various Philadelphia media outlets, but everyone shied away from the story due to threats from lawyers until after it appeared on the CP website, sources say.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office says he referred Youngblood's call to the U.S. Postal Inspector's office. The U.S. Postal Inspector's (USPI) office "has no record" of any complaint lodged by Youngblood or any of his attorneys.

"I researched it," says USPI spokesman Tom Boyle. "That included sending an e-mail to the entire division. I went through every mail theft complaint, anywhere a complaint was lodged, and did not find such a complaint lodged anywhere in our system.

"It is feasible that if [Youngblood] walked into a postal office and filled out a form, the complaint could be in transit."