Inside the DOJ's Z Squad

A Fousesquawk exclusive

Deep inside the bowels of the Justice Department's massive headquarters building in Washington, a flurry of new activity is taking place. Walls have been torn down and new office space, cubicles, and file rooms have been put in place-just in the past few days since the George Zimmerman verdict. Enormous security apparatus has been installed with state-of-the-art locks, screening and other measures designed to keep out those without proper clearances. This is the working space of the newly-established "Z-Squad", whose single mission it is to gather enough evidence to indict George Zimmerman on  federal civil rights charges. Perhaps, the most significant feature is the tip line-an e-mail address for tipsters to send in information proving beyond all reasonable doubt that George Zimmerman is a ....

RACIST.

Posing as a Huffington Post reporter, I was able to gain access into this giant labyrinth and interview one of their low-level workers (I am omitting his name for security purposes, but I will call him Oliver.)

Oliver's main function along with a hundred others like him is to monitor the e-mail solicitations that come in with tips. These men and women work 24-7 in three shifts. Oliver works the graveyard shift, which for you University of California Santa Cruz History of Consciousness and Community Studies majors, is midnight-8 am.

So it was that I recently arrived at DOJ HQ in  the early hours of the morning and showed my phony Huffpo credentials to the security guard on duty. After signing me in and giving me a badge, he called Oliver to let him know I had arrived. About 15 minutes later, Oliver arrived. He was a short, dumpy-looking guy of about 30 wearing a short-sleeve white shirt with three pens in the pocket.

After shaking hands, I was escorted by Oliver down a flight of stairs and through two locked doors to the Z room, where he and the rest of the squad worked. We found an empty cubicle, where I asked Oliver about the work he and the rest of the unit were doing.

"Our job is simple," said Oliver. "In order to bring federal charges against Zimmerman, we have to show that he targeted Trayvon Martin because of racial animus. Unfortunately, those boob prosecutors in Florida were unable to do that. Even Angela Corey made that bonehead statement in her press conference that the case had nothing to do with race. That's why we created this e-mail address and put it up for the public. We need to go back throughout Zimmerman's life and accumulate all the evidence we can that he is a racist."

"I see," I replied, writing furiously in my notebook with the phony Huffpo logo. "Are you getting any solid leads?"

"We get all kinds," said Oliver. "Here," he added opening up his computer screen and clicking his in-box. "Here are a few."

"Dear J. Eric Hoolder,

I lived next door to the Zimmerman family when I was a kid. As you know, his mother is from Peru. I once heard her use the word, 'negro' when she was talking in Spanish. Since I don't speak Spanish, I don't know in what context, but I do know that is considered a racially insensitive word today."

-Anonymous

PS: Maybe your deputy, Clyde Perez, knows what it means. Hope this helps.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lieber Herr Holder, (Dear Mr Holder)

Georg Zimmerman ist ein Jude. (George Zimmerman is a Jew)

Heil Hitler!

-Anonymous
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


"To whom it may concern,

I am living across from the house where Zimmerman is staying. He is acting most suspiciously. He keeps his shades drawn at night."
-Anonymous
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So what do you do with all these leads?" I asked.

"We print them out, copy them, initial them, and put them in evidence bags. Then they go into the file room over there," pointing to a massive iron door to the right. Oliver began to say something else but shut up just as a 40-ish man in a suit walked by.

"NSA," Oliver whispered.

"You mean they're involved too?"

Oliver lit a cigarette. "Pal, this is the biggest enforcement-intelligence operation in the world right now. I can even state that the entire enforcement apparatus of the federal government is dedicated to bringing this one man to justice. It's bigger than Dillinger."

"You don't say," I replied.

At this point, Oliver's body language told me he needed to get back to his in-box. I rose to leave.

"I'll show you out," he said. "If you get lost, you'll be roaming these halls for days."

Back at the guard booth, I turned in my badge and thanked Oliver for his time.

"Will you let me know if you get anything big on Zimmerman?"

"Oh, you'll know", Oliver replied. "Holder will be holding a news conference as soon as we get that smoking gun (no pun intended)".

"Thanks."

Dawn was breaking in Washington as I walked up the sidewalk and I stopped to buy the Washington Post. The front page was full of stories about Zimmerman. Skipping to the back page, I caught this story buried on page 19:

"Chicago murders top 7 over weekend."