More on the George Gibney Arrest

by Irvin Muchnick

Not surprisingly, the American news media have been slow out of the blocks on the story of the long-sought extradition arrest in Florida of George Gibney, no longer the most notorious at-large sex criminal in sports history.

I’m happy to say that one newspaper asked me to write a long takeout on the U.S. side of this multi-decade saga, and I’ve done it and it should be published soon. But not even Gibney’s hometown Orlando Sentinel has weighed in yet, so far as I can tell.

Yesterday Fox 35 News in Orlando did have this report, 48 hours after the arrest: https://www.fox35orlando.com/video/1669142. It answers a basic question about what happened Tuesday on Breakwater Drive in Altamonte Springs, Florida.

By now we’re all steeped in the Gestapo-like atmospherics of America under Donald Trump. Their most ringing feature is Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in masks, swooping in on workplaces with Latinos or confronting a Palestinian rights advocate and Israeli genocide critic on the street, out of nowhere, to ziptie her and take her to some remote cell, in flagrant violation of the most basic habeas corpus principles.

Were any of these optics in evidence in the Gibney arrest? It was not an ICE / Department of Homeland Security operation but a more routine action by the U.S. Marshals Service of the Department of Justice. Nonetheless, the Orlando TV report makes clear, this was no polite knock on Gibney’s door; neighbors share that there were bullhorns and drawn rifles.

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Shortly, I’ll have more on my shot yesterday on Prime Time, the flagship public affairs program of Ireland’s RTE TV, and I’ll be rolling out additional notes and content flashbacks.