By Mark Anderson
The Ellen Mariani Legal Defense Fund has surpassed its goal of raising $11K by November 1. This helps the well-known 9-11 widow carry on the fight to find out exactly what happened to her husband Louis Neil Mariani—a passenger aboard one of the ill-fated commercial airline flights involved in the horrific events of 9-1-01. She also wants to settle his estate in New Hampshire probate court.
This fund-raising milestone enables Mrs. Mariani’s attorney of five years, Bruce Leichty, to present a petition on this matter to the U.S. Supreme Court—the expected course of action. Like all of Mrs. Mariani’s court experiences so far, it will be an uphill battle, according to Vincent Gillespie, the defense fund’s secretary-treasurer.
Gillespie informed this writer that, as of October 30 at 12:45 p.m. EDT, the fund had reached $12,931. Its founders have pledged that all monies will go to Mrs. Mariani and her attorney.
“I am seeing donations come from all around the world . . . . It’s kind of a ‘ball-park’ [estimate], but maybe a third [of the donations] have come from European nations—the Netherlands, Switzerland, a good number from the U.K., Canada, Austria. . . A lot of the bigger ones are coming from other countries. It’s nice to see, because we’re all in this together” with a “shared goal to solve this crime,” Gillespie stated. The other two-thirds came from U.S. sources.
On the prior weekend, when AMERICAN FREE PRESS posted an online story to promptly report the donation deadline, the fund stood at a little less than half of the October 30 amount. The only other major web sites with news of the fund-raising effort were those of Architects & Engineers for 9-11 Truth, which played a major role in generating the initial funds; and the defense fund’s website.
Mrs. Mariani, who declined to accept the 9-11 “hush money” that the federal government doled out to a number of survivors of victims, was the first person to sue airlines and airports for a 9-11 death—legal action which took place in Chicago federal court in early 2002. Moreover, she was one of the earliest family members to publicly express doubts about the official 9-11 story. “None of the remains of her husband . . . booked as a passenger on United Air Lines Flight 175, were ever returned to her,” a defense fund news release adds.
Mark Anderson is AFP’s roving editor. Listen to Mark’s weekly radio show and email him at [email protected].
