Criminal Complaint

Filed By Norman E. Kjono

Redmond WA - On October 27, 1997 a criminal complaint, regarding promotion on the Internet of a tested and proven scheme for tobacco product tampering to insert cyanide in cigarettes, was filed with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The complaint was filed in person during a conversation with an agent of the Seattle, Washington FBI office, and by certified mail. The certified mail complaint was posted prior to meeting with the FBI agent at the Seattle office.

This Internet posting includes the full text of that FBI complaint, two later supplements, and a demand letter sent to Action On Smoking And Health (ASH). ASH is the anti-tobacco enterprise that is currently promoting the scheme for cyanide product tampering on its Internet web site. A transmittal cover letter to Louis Freeh, Director of the FBI in Washington D.C., is also provided.

There are seven (7) documents linked on this web site to this introduction and complaint overview:

1. Original FBI Complaint, October 27, 1997 - Three Pages. Two enclosures, the full text of the ASH cyanide scheme promotion and the announcement that ASH and John Banzhaf were honored at the White House are included.

2. Complaint Supplement November 3, 1997 - Four Pages. While two enclosures are referenced, they are not linked as they are not part of the proofs for the complaint, they are explained in detail in the letter, and how they may be acquired is referenced in the letter text.

3. Complaint Supplement December 1, 1997 - Four Pages. The enclosure (letter to Mr. Banzhaf) is directly linked below.

4. Demand Letter To John Banzhaf, Esq. and ASH November 29, 1997 - Three pages. The enclosure (cyanide scheme) is accessed through document 1. above.

5. Letter of Transmittal December 11, 1997 - Addressed to Louis Freeh, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Enclosures are the above four documents.

6. Proofs of Delivery for Documents - Certified mail receipts for documents 1., 3., 4., and 5. Fax answer back confirm for document 2.

7. Product Safety Alert - A one page document that provides the complete text of the ASH web site cyanide scheme promotion, formatted for download. This product safety alert should be printed out and widely distributed to tobacco retail establishments. The tobacco cyanide product tampering threat is taken very seriously by myself and other persons. The book, "Gasp! A novel of Revenge", by Frank Freudberg is real. "Gasp!" is published by Barricade Books. That publisher is also the publisher of "The Anarchists Cook Book", which reportedly contains explicit instructions as to how one could construct a fertilizer and diesel fuel bomb similar to that used in the terrible Oklahoma City federal building tragedy.

Though formatted for Internet publication, each of the above documents contains the verbatim text of the original document.

I believe that there is a direct and immediate threat to the physical safety and personal well-being of an identifiable "target group" of US citizens. I believe that this threat is intentionally promoted by a federally subsidized 501(c)(3) public advocacy foundation, and that the foundation is an active and integral part of a larger professional activist anti-tobacco enterprise. It is to eliminate or reduce this organized and intentional threat to my physical safety and personal well-being that I filed my complaint with the FBI on October 27, 1997. Evidence reviewed to date indicates that this threat is real. It is probable that others may have the motivation, means, and opportunity to carry it out. This is important because the threat is apparently communicated with the intention of achieving objectives of the anti-tobacco enterprise.

Participants in the anti-tobacco enterprise are funded by several methods. Funding methods include tax exempt subsidies, direct payments through federal grants, and sharing in new tobacco tax revenues that are "justified", publicly advocated, and created by anti-tobacco activists' taxpayer supported efforts. I believe that a primary focus of the anti-tobacco enterprise is to produce new tax revenues to be levied on a specific "target group" of US citizens, and to justify long term, permanent, diversion of a portion of new tax revenues so promoted to their personal and institutional benefit.

I believe that the current cyanide product tampering scheme as disclosed in these documents is the extreme end result, and part and parcel of, a greater program of direct and intentional threats to the well being of a "target group" of US citizens. These threats to the physical safety and personal well-being of US citizens are a direct, proximate and predictable result of the US government adopting a policy in 1989 to use the experience and services of professional activists to decrease public tolerance for,

In 1991 the implementation of the US government intolerance policy was undertaken with the announcement of Project ASSIST, the American Stop Smoking Intervention Study. Project ASSIST was announced on October 4, 1991 by Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Louis P. Sullivan. During the press conference announcing Project ASSIST Dr. Sullivan negatively labeled cigarette smoking and those who smoke as "Public Enemy No. 1." As amply illustrated by the tobacco product cyanide tampering scheme which is the subject of this complaint, one cannot implement a policy of promoting intolerance of a defined "target group" without ultimately realizing violence against that "target group".

What is particularly dangerous and compelling about this threat is that it is promoted with the inferred credibility of government. Not only is the tobacco product cyanide tampering scheme an extreme extension of the US government intolerance policy, but those who promote the threat have also been publicly honored at the White House by the President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton. One can reasonably expect that persons who believe they enjoy the tacit support of government policy, and public support from the President of the United States, may carry out a threat of violence to achieve their personal goals.

The greater program of direct and intentional harassment includes the threat that one can be assaulted and/or battered by other means in addition to product tampering, be "investigated" by activist organizations that do not have lawful investigative powers, bear the burden of having the results of unlawful anti-tobacco "investigations" communicated to the public media, be publicly discredited, be stereotyped as "lower class", be negatively labeled as one who will injure his fellow citizens, be verbally abused and ostracized, lose custody of children, lose or fail to secure employment, be passed over for promotions, have family relationships intentionally disrupted, pay unfair taxes, and pay unwarranted (higher) insurance premiums.

Assault is defined by Black's Law, fifth edition, as, "Any willful attempt or threat to inflict injury upon the person of another, when coupled with an apparent present ability so to do, and any intentional display of force such as would give the victim reason to fear or expect immediate bodily harm."

Active promotion of a tested and proven method for successfully engaging in the crime of mass cyanide product tampering, which is intentionally directed toward a readily identifiable "target group" of people, and for which such promotion is clearly intended to influence public policy and/or the lawful behavior of target group members, fits within that definition, to my mind. To me, Mr. Banzhaf is saying "quit smoking, or this is what can happen to you." The fear for my personal safety that this engenders is greatly amplified by the knowledge that those who are directly responsible for communicating that threat are honored at the White House by the President of the United States. Clearly, Mr. Banzhaf conducts his affairs with the approval of the highest elected office in this nation, and clearly his behavior of threatening and intimidating members of an anti-tobacco target group is consistent with current US government written policy.

This US government policy of intentional and deliberate harassment of a target group who lawfully consume legal tobacco products, by individual act and in the aggregate as a pattern of conduct, constitutes a violation of the civil rights of members of that target group. US citizens do have the civil right to live free of assault by government sponsored and subsidized thugs. US Citizens do have the right to live free of the fear of lethal violence being directed against them by government sponsored activists. And US citizens do have the civil right to lawfully consume legal products.

I believe that any or all of the above, and other, threats to one's physical safety and personal well-being can be, and are, intentionally perpetrated against a "target group" of US citizens who engage in the lawful behavior of consuming legal tobacco products. These threats are routinely and consistently engaged in by participants in the anti-tobacco enterprise with the support of political figures, notably the President and Vice President of the United States: William Jefferson Clinton and Al Gore.

The intentional threats to the physical safety and personal well being of the "target group" of US Citizens who lawfully consume legal tobacco products are undertaken and perpetrated as a matter of US government policy. This policy of threatening US citizens was first set forth by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in its "standards" as published December 12, 1989. This official US government intolerance policy was confirmed and implemented in the content of federal proposals and contracts executed with states that participated in the Project ASSIST in 1990. This policy of threatening US Citizens was aggressively implemented by the American Cancer Society (ACS), starting in 1991, through its participation as national manager of the Project ASSIST anti-tobacco enterprise. This US Government policy of unwarranted harassment, intimidation, and threats was officially set forth in booklets prepared under federal contract for states that participated in Project ASSIST in 1993. The US government policy of, and program for, violating the civil rights of target group members is set forth in detail in annual action plans published by Project ASSIST states, starting in 1993.

The benefits to government and anti-tobacco enterprise participants, to be realized as a direct and proximate result of this intolerance policy of the US government, are currently set forth in detail in the proposed tobacco settlements, dated June 20, 1997 as of 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. Additional benefits to government and anti-tobacco enterprise participants are, and will be, realized through the promotion of new state taxes on tobacco products. Notable among these anti-tobacco state tax initiatives, are Proposition 99 in California, and Referendum 43 in Washington.

It is my contention that engaging in organized activities to violate the civil rights of target group members in order to achieve government taxation or policy objectives, and/or to realize significant personal economic and professional benefits, is a crime.

To my understanding, proof of specific criminal activity generally requires three elements: a motive for the crime, the means to perpetrate it, and the opportunity to engage in the criminal behavior complained of. The means of perpetrating the domestic terrorism crime of mass tobacco product cyanide tampering has been tested, proven, and set forth in writing by the author of "Gasp! A Novel of Revenge", Frank Freudberg. The opportunity to engage in tobacco product tampering is established by the fact that four cases of tobacco product tampering with explosive devices were reported by The Washington Post in May, 1997. The means to commit the domestic terrorism crime of tobacco product cyanide tampering are openly promoted by Action On Smoking and Health (ASH) and its Executive Director, John Banzhaf, Esq. In view of ASH's anti-tobacco agenda, seizing the opportunity to do so is legitimized by the ASH promotion.

Motivations for committing the domestic terrorism crime of cyanide tobacco product tampering, and for openly promoting the means whereby that crime can be successfully undertaken, are many, and complex. The most readily apparent motivation is the use of the implied threat of domestic terrorism to influence public policy.

The influence over public policy is accomplished in the matter at issue (promotion of a tested and proven plan for tobacco product cyanide tampering) through several means: the communication of a threat and confirmation of the fact that those who smoke can and will be legitimately harassed, the negative connotation created for the product that is the subject of the threat, and negatively labeling those persons who are the subject of the threat as people who are only worthy of such lethal treatment. These motivations are gratified, the benefits realized, and their negative influence is felt, even if the cyanide scheme is never carried out. Benefits do enure to those who promote the idea, regardless of whether the crime promoted is ever committed.

When the motivation of influencing public policy is acted upon by those who

It is influencing public policy in order to derive economic and/or professional benefits for themselves and their enterprise that Mr. Banzhaf and the Board of Directors of Action On Smoking And Health seek to accomplish, through aggressively promoting the availability of a tested and proven means for successful tobacco product cyanide tampering, among other forms of direct and ongoing harassment of lawful consumers of legal tobacco products.

The public policy which Mr. Banzhaf and the Action On Smoking And Health Board of Directors seek to influence is the legal status and taxation of tobacco products. These policy issues are ostensibly addressed in the tobacco settlement executed between the tobacco industry and attorneys general from several states on June 20, 1997. That tobacco settlement is currently before congress, and it will require new legislation by congress in order to produce a lawful basis for the legal provisions and remedies that are contained within the settlement.

Notable among the tobacco settlement's provisions (in the draft settlement as of 3:00 PM on the 20th of June) is the payment of funds by the tobacco industry. These payments are presently estimated to be $368 billion. According to public reports, such payments will result in an increase in price of the cost for tobacco products of about seventy-five cents ($0.75) per package. The tobacco settlements therefore become a new federal tax on tobacco products that is paid exclusively by those persons who are members of what the United States government has defined in writing as a "target group": persons who lawfully consume legal tobacco products, smokers.

The tobacco settlement also specifically defines the disbursement of large blocks of funds collected from this new tax on tobacco products. Included within the present tobacco settlement provisions are the direct payment of $225 million dollars to the Project ASSIST anti-tobacco enterprise each year, and the payment of $80 million per year for government funded smoking cessation programs. Considering that members of the Project ASSIST anti-tobacco enterprise are those who most commonly provide smoking cessation programs, this results in the Project ASSIST anti-tobacco enterprise directly lobbying for at least $305 million in annual income.

Project ASSIST lobbies for that annual income using, in whole or in part, taxpayer funds to support its activities. This $305 million in direct annual financial ben

Also notable about the tobacco settlement is the payment of legal fees to professional activist anti-tobacco lawyers. These fees are reported to be three percent (3%) of the total sums received from the settlement. At the original $300 billion settlement figure, legal fees to activist anti-tobacco lawyers were reported in the press to be $9 billion. At the revised, and latest, settlement figure of $368 billion, legal fees would exceed $11 billion. Should the congress enact legislation which would increase the tax on cigarettes to $1.50 per pack, as advocated by Senator Ted Kennedy and President Clinton, the legal fees would approach (if not exceed) $20 billion.

Mr. Banzhaf is an aggressive anti-tobacco activist lawyer. American Trial Lawyers' Association members are reported to have donated $2.2 million to President Clintons' reelection campaign in 1996. Prospective receipt of legal fees from the tobacco settlement by Mr. Banzhaf, and payment of a political debt to campaign contributors by President Clinton, are clear and present financial motivations for aggressive support of the anti-tobacco enterprise.

There are billions of dollars in legal fees at stake here, and receipt of those billions in legal fees is directly dependent upon congressional enactment of legislation for the tobacco settlement. Influencing members of congress to enact public policy consistent with the tobacco settlement, and with a negative view of tobacco products and those who consume them, therefore directly benefits members of the anti-tobacco enterprise who are also attorneys involved in the settlements in any way. To the extent of legal fees that are paid, the tobacco settlements therefore become a direct transfer of wealth from ordinary citizens to activist anti-tobacco lawyers, achieved not by merit or value but by the application of political influence.

In the case of John Banzhaf, Esq., political influence appears to be supplemented by threats to the physical safety and well being of "target group" members. The ability of anti-tobacco lawyers to influence public policy (political access and clout) are what make this transfer of wealth possible. Professional activist anti-tobacco is about taxpayer bucks and political clout. Always has been, is, and evermore shall be.

To my understanding, application of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statutes generally requires three requisite elements: predicate act(s), a pattern of conduct, and the existence of an enterprise.

Predicate Acts - in this case are violation of tobacco consumers civil rights. These violations include, but may not necessarily be limited to, the right to life, the right to liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and the right to not have one's property taken by force of government without due process of law and compensation.

Pattern of Conduct - is, among many other activities, the deliberate, clear and well documented decision by the United States Government, by and through its agencies of the National Cancer Institute and the US Department of Health and Human Services, to engage in an aggressive program to decrease public tolerance for, and to diminish public acceptance of, tobacco use. The pattern of conduct also includes, but is not limited to, the receipt of public funds by anti-tobacco activist individuals and organizations who also aggressively engage in the taxpayer funded efforts to influence public policy. The pattern of conduct includes, but is not necessarily limited to, attorneys who engage in anti-tobacco activities which will influence public policy in such a manner as to allow payments to them from taxpayer revenues.

Enterprise - is, in its broadest sense, all organizations and individuals who participate in anti-tobacco activities which employ in whole or part, or rely upon, violation of the civil rights of tobacco consumers to accomplish their purposes. These purposes could be for, but are not necessarily limited to, promoting questionable and/or false public health information regarding tobacco and/or tobacco consumers, to influence tobacco related public policy, to justify new taxation on tobacco products, or to lobby for tobacco control legislation. In the narrower matter of this complaint as filed with the FBI by Norman E. Kjono, the enterprise is generally defined as Action On Smoking And Health (ASH), its entire Board of Directors, its staff, and its Executive Director, John Banzhaf, Esq.

In view of the certainly lethal result should the scheme for cyanide tampering of tobacco products actually be undertaken, FBI action on the complaint of Norman E. Kjono is extremely urgent. Each day that promotion of the means to successfully undertake this cyanide product tampering scheme is carried on the Internet web site of ASH, each person in the United States who consumes tobacco products is being assaulted by John Banzhaf Esq. and Action on Smoking And Health. This ongoing assault upon the persons of those who lawfully consume legal tobacco products must end, and it must be terminated now. This can only be accomplished by aggressive investigation through the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and application of due process of law by the US Justice Department.

The escalating pattern of violence directed against the identifiable "target group" of those who smoke compels immediate and direct action by the FBI and Justice Department. We started out in 1989 with a written policy "standard" of NCI to promote

Current legislative and civil litigation events also compel immediate and aggressive action by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as action by the Justice Department. Legislative hearings and activities are currently in progress in congress with respect to the tobacco settlement. These legislative activities are reported to be undertaken with a view to their conclusion in early 1998. Absent action by the FBI and/or the Justice Department, the purposes of ASH, its Executive Director John Banzhaf, and other members of the anti-tobacco enterprise will have been accomplished by late 1998: they will have successfully influenced the deliberations of legislative bodies to their benefit without interference from law enforcement bodies and agencies.

The timing and urgency of addressing the issues raised in this complaint is also emphasized by the fact that Project ASSIST was authorized and funded starting in October 1991 as a seven year program. The funds originally committed to the ASSIST enterprise were $135 million. Project ASSIST will end September 30, 1998. There is, therefore, an obvious motivation, and a compelling economic necessity, for the activist anti-tobacco enterprise to "score" (produce new revenue streams) prior to September 30, 1998. I believe that this is the reason why the tobacco settlement was negotiated in in 1997. I believe that this is the reason why many politicians and anti-tobacco policy advocates characterize approval or ratification of the proposed tobacco settlement terms by congress to be of immediate importance.

These motivations and economic necessities are amplified by the fact that the terms of the tobacco settlement as defined on June 20, 1997 provide a major increase in the funding to the professional activist anti-tobacco enterprise, long term stability of funding for that enterprise, and expansion of funding opportunities to the enterprise's participants. These are illustrated by the fact that the tobacco settlement terms explicitly provide for $225 million per year funding to Project ASSIST (versus the previous amount of $15 million per year); the tobacco settlement terms will be locked in for the next twenty-five years (versus seven years for the original program); and that additional funding of $80 million per year is provided for smoking cessation programs.

The urgency of addressing this complaint, and the very real danger to members of the "target group" defined by the anti-tobacco enterprise, cannot be overemphasized. We are confronted with a tested and proven scheme for cyanide tampering of tobacco products that is openly promoted through a means of interstate commerce (Internet) by anti-tobacco enterprise participants who have millions of dollars at stake. Considering that this enterprise and its participants intentionally violate the civil rights of "target group" members, in order to achieve their personal and policy objectives, it is not unreasonable to believe that they could go the final step of perpetrating violence against persons who smoke in order to assure the success of their program.

As a published author, Norman E. Kjono has a deep respect for the rights of any US citizen to speak or write as they choose. This complaint does not address or restrict the right of Frank Freudberg to write as he chooses, nor does it limit the right of Barricade Books to publish works according to its editorial discretion. The works of Mr. Freudberg, and the nature of books published by Barricade, speak for themselves.

This complaint addresses the use of a published work that contains a tested and proven method of perpetrating a crime of mass violence in order to instill fear in members of a government defined target group, and to influence public policy or the deliberations of legislative bodies. When such heinous influence is applied in order to benefit those who promote the availability of a plan for mass domestic terrorism, it is the contention of complainant that a serious crime has been committed.

Beyond the fact of common sense public policy, the criminal behavior of John Banzhaf, Esq. and Smoking On Action And Health is extremely objectionable because it essentially says that there are no limits as to the extremity of behavior that professional anti-tobacco activists will be allowed to engage in. In effect, the US government policy of directed intolerance adopted by NCI in 1989, and implemented by ACS in 1991, has matured to a government supported effort to systematically terrorize lawful manufacturers and consumers of legal tobacco products in 1997. It is to the end of preventing and/or stopping systematic and intentional domestic terrorism by professional anti-tobacco activists who seek to influence public policy, to their economic and/or professional benefit, that this complaint is directed.

Norman E. Kjono is a US citizen small businessman and author who resides in Redmond Washington. Norman E. Kjono is not, nor has he ever been, employed by or professionally affiliated with any tobacco interest. Norman E. Kjono is not, nor has he ever been, supported by tobacco interests. Norman E. Kjono is not, as speciously and recklessly claimed by anti-tobacco enterprise participants, a "front for tobacco."

Even if Norman E. Kjono were employed by a tobacco company, he is still entitled to complain of a violation of his civil rights or assault upon his person, and to be concerned about the personal safety and well-being of himself and his minor son. Even if Norman E. Kjono were supported by tobacco company funds, the truth of his statements would still be independently verifiable by honest and open-minded people.

A US Citizen's civil rights are not contingent upon their chosen lawful employment, nor are their civil rights determined by the lawful products that they consume. Certainly the civil rights, physical safety, and personal well being of any US citizen are not contingent upon policy decisions by, nor do they require the approval of, professional anti-tobacco activists who intentionally disparage and demean members of a US Government defined target group to line their pockets with taxpayer dollars. Regardless of the legitimacy of the "science" promoted by anti-tobacco activists, there are no circumstances where intentionally violating the civil rights, and threatening the physical safety or well-being, of any group of citizens in order to achieve goverment revenue and regulatory objectives is justified.

No tobacco interest was aware of the contents of the FBI complaint prior to its filing, nor were such interests consulted for approval or advice concerning it. As this complaint may materially influence the approval or terms of the tobacco settlement enacted by congress, Norman E. Kjono considers his interests, and the interests of the tobacco consumer government defined "target group", to be adverse to the interests of tobacco companies.

Norman E. Kjono

Copyright © Norman E. Kjono 1997