Deadly Hands

Thanks to the many Kungfu-Qigong readers who read Deadly Hand in the Nov/Dec issue and wrote their thoughts and comments.

Please pardon the long post, but some readers have asked for more information.

the wOnderland club

Law enforcement agents in the United States and 13 other countries August 31-September 2, 1998 raided the property of nearly 200 people suspected of membership in a child pornography ring on the Internet. Over 100 people worldwide were arrested on suspicion of belonging to the ring known as the Wonderland Club. Interpol estimated that as many as 25,000 people were involved worldwide in the production and distribution of images and live child-sex shows related to the Wonderland Club network, Wondernet. U.S. Customs Service officials reported that investigators found a database of more than 100,000 sexually explicit photographs of children, including graphic acts with adults and children as young as 18 months.

The Wonderland Club took its name from Lewis Carroll, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, who had a fetish for photographing slightly clad little girls. Wonderland members shared the codes to the Wondernet. Production facilities in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia, transmitted live child-sex shows over the Web. Club members sent sex act directions to the producers via Wondernet chat rooms. The assignment described in Deadly Hands was part of the worldwide surveillance of producers and distributors of these static and live Wondernet shows.

The coordinated arrests were planned for September 1-2 (Tuesday-Wednesday). Law enforcement professionals across the globe exercised patience while waiting for the worldwide arrest dates. “We could have adopted the attitude [that] we would just deal with the people in this country, and we could have done it very quickly. It would have all been done and dusted a lot sooner than it was,” said Detective Superintendent (Ret.) John Stewardson of the British National Crime Squad. “But… every one of these images represents a disaster to a family somewhere and we decided that we would go forward by getting as many countries as we could on board with us so that we could maximize on our evidence.”

Waiting was not easy for many. One undercover officer in Great Britain related the ordeal of witnessing a suspect interact with children: “The heckles on the back of our neck all stood up on end and we were all concerned as to what our next cause of action should be.” The officers knew that the arrest must coincide with the worldwide sting to ensure that the hundreds of members of the Wonderland Club would not be alerted early.

On Sunday, August 30, 1998, the abduction of a little girl led to a volatile hostage situation and the events detailed in Deadly Hands. Although of great importance to those involved, it was a small footnote in the chronicle of horrors uncovered in the global Wonderland Club raids.

Interpol officials charged that Wonderland and its Wondernet operated one of the world’s largest, most sophisticated child pornography rings. To trace members, investigators used wiretaps, surveillance equipment and on-line transmission records. The U.S. Customs Service worked with USNCB-Interpol, British National Crime Squad, FBI CAC coordinators and local authorities to retrieve computers from suspects in 22 U.S. states. Raids occurred in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Virginia. Other countries that conducted raids on September 1-2: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

Further Reading:
Corbin, Jane “the wOnderland club” Panorama, BBC-1, 11-02-2001.
Shannon, Elaine “Crime: Main Street Monsters” Time, 09-14-1998, p. 59.
Washington Transcript Service “Raymond Kelly Commissioner Holds News Conference on Child Pornography on the Internet,” 09-02-1998.
Wyatt, Sarah “Worldwide investigation uncovers child pornography ring,” Associated Press, 09-02-1998.

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The global problem of trafficking in human beings and child pornography is not going away. This week police in 19 countries arrested members of an international child porn ring. Read about it:

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl...asp?reg=EUROPE

http://europe.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/eur...world.arrests/

As part of the global internet community, we can help. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) operates a CyberTipline at http://www.cybertipline.com that provides an online form to report child pornography and sexual exploitation of children. Read the FBI brochure, Investigating Crimes against Children, at: http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/cac/invest.htm

Jason Putman's research on Dr. Bannon

The Jason Putman's article and Dr. Bannon's posting leave me with much to ponder.

I simply wish to thank the courageous souls who risk their lives everyday (and in many ways...) to protect the innocent and unfortunate.

Also, thanks to KFMag for not being afraid to broach such a difficult subject.

The author has replied on the Jason Putman thread on the main forum.