The Queens DA Investigation Reconsidered (part 1)

Michael Armienti's Interviews Reconsidered

I was reading from The Good Book a few weeks ago when I came across this passage:

 

This sent me back to The People Vs. David Berkowitz audio files to see if I could make anything out related to this comment in their Darlene Christiansen interview. 

(Btw, Something I just noticed while putting files together for this post is that her interview is titled "Tape #1". More on this later.)

 

For roughly the first ten minutes, the sound quality is terrible, but from what I can make out they're discussing "Reeve Rockman" and ND people associated with John Carr.

At the 19:00 mark we find out who was the source of the urine JC was said to have drank at a party. I only point this out because I take this to mean that Phil Falcon was deeper into the occult than he claimed and likely a leader. He did, after all, have an extensive Western occult library for a guy who claimed to have only practiced "Indian medicine".

However, nothing about an electric chair from start to finish on this tape.

But is there a tape #2? No other single-tape interviews are noted as "Tape #1".

When you play her boyfriend Tom Turkey's interview, which was taped on the same day, it begins with Armienti saying that it is a continuation of tape #1. Darlene's? 

Can't be, the conversation is different; Darlene's abruptly ends during a discussion about Phil Falcon, his, ahem, German Shepherd puppies (!!) and her first meeting with Phil. Tom Turkey's taped conversation begins with John Carr getting freaked out about passing cop cars.

Fortunately, we do have a transcript of Tom Turkey's entire interview. It starts off with Tom and Armienti discussing John Carr and his relationship to "Rockman". So no, it's not a continuation of Darlene's tape. 

Did Darlene make the statement about the electric chair on tape #2? And if so, what else is on that tape?

Possibly. And then let's not forget about this:

No, the police were not "hot on his trail" as a witness to incidents that occurred at the Carr residence when he wasn't even around. Also, I think Linda would have known if JC was simply spouting gibberish in a drug-induced state.

Something else caught my attention while going through these archives, namely why were there no recordings of David Snyder, Lee Slaghter or Jeff Nies? Lee claimed John Carr knew David Berkowitz well enough to "bum around" Yonkers with him, but Snyder denies it...and yet Jeff Nies essentially confirms what Slaghter said ("...friend of the Son of Sam Killer, they were more than acquaintances..."). Neither Snyder, Slaghter nor Nies were recorded directly, we're simply given Michael Armienti's version of the conversations (and yet Dona Farmer was given center stage for a considerable amount of time?).

To me, one of the most interesting conversations has to be between Armienti and "Roger Flood".

For those who don't recall, Roger claimed to have knowledge of a cult that was involved in the Son of Sam attacks before anyone else. 

What I find strange is that Armienti gave a very specific description of the individual who passed the information (wtf?) about Roger's knowledge of cult involvement. Flood even blurts out the name. 

By the end of it, Armienti is happy to take Roger's word for it that he knew nothing about any cult whatsoever. We can close the file on that one! One and done strikes again.

Why would Armienti not protect his source better? If Flood had loose lips, I think it's likely that he made these remarks to several people. And why did Armienti let the matter drop? Or maybe he didn't, we just don't have any Queens DA reports to confirm whether or not Flood was let off the hook so easy. Said reports could be collecting dust in someone's attic or crawlspace as we speak. Flood does make an appearance in Maury's notes, however.

Throughout various taped conversations, there seems to be considerable interest in "Reeve Rockman". This is likely due to him having a place in Queens, according to TUE (more on this in a later post). The problem is that they never seem to place him in New York, only North Dakota. Were any of his New York associates interviewed? I would love to know.

When it comes to the North Dakota interviews in general, there doesn't seem to be much interest in confirming a strong link between David Berkowitz and John Carr. Dossenko was never asked, Craig O'Connor was never asked, Linda, Leslie Shwago. One would think this to be paramount.

A lot of people have found it suspicious that Lt. Terry Gardner's tape is so hard to listen to. After all, he was 100% #TeamMaury. However after listening close a few times, it seems he's simply discussing the information David Berkowitz sent to him regarding the occult and the type of aircraft John Carr serviced at Minot AFB. Still odd though.

That's enough of my nonsense for now, thanks for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Queens DA tapes in the comments below. 

To be continued...