No More Angels

 I used to believe in angels. I don't anymore. And now I have proof of their non-existence.

Elizabeth Weinstein died a few weeks ago. Her name may not ring a bell....She tried to get it out there, though. Along with a fight for justice. A fight that too many women everywhere are losing.  

Lizzy(Elizabeth) was introduced to me by another warrior for justice, the late Catherine Kassenoff. You might not recognize her name either. If you don't know who she is, count yourself lucky. Because that would most likely mean you are unaware of the corruption and abuse in the Westchester County New York court system. And you probably were not married to a sociopath.

Catherine, Lizzy and I lost custody of our respective children to our respective abusers. The system is broken. A law guardian who had an affair with the chief judge, a diagnosed sociopath being given a gun permit (even as restraining orders were recorded against him), children being used as weapons by abusive fathers. And may I note here for the record, this abuse is not gender specific. In many cases, the women may be the abusers manipulating the children and the courts. But here I am to discuss Catherine, Lizzy and me.

You won't hear about Lizzy's death on the news, though Blaise Gomez initially reported it for a local Westchester network. Suspicious, murder? But hey- we have the justice system to figure that out and disclose it, right?

I haven't heard a word about what lead to the place of total despair where Lizzy, a loving mother, was once arrested for merely trying to tell her alienated children that she loved them. I have not heard comments from her powerful attorney ex husband. And the teenage children who lost their mother - the silence is deafening.

If there were such a thing as angels, let me tell you with no uncertainty, that when Catherine passed away after a decade of fighting for her children and battling cancer, she would have protected Lizzy. She would not have let another of us lose. Catherine was fierce and unafraid to expose all that needed reform in our broken family courts. When I was first diagnosed with cancer three years ago, Catherine messaged me that the corrupt court ordered forensic psychologist, Abrams, prepared us for our cancer battles. Abrams was assigned to all of us. Dr. Marc Abrams was also assigned to Mary Kennedy.

As the courts would have it, abusers could be diagnosed by a forensic psychologist, and then be given custody of our world's greatest asset - our children. After diagnosing my husband as a narcissistic sociopath with anti social personality disorder, Marc Abrams believed every instance of my domestic violence - but decided that teens could live with whoever they wanted to. Needless to say, it did not matter if said teens feared the abusive parent or were being manipulated and brainwashed.

Nope. I don't believe in angels anymore. If they existed, Lizzy would have been safe. She would have been made whole by having her children in her life again....and so would I. There would be laws to educate judges. Rules for abusers in courts with their victims. Court reform. Where are those angels?

When you do a google search for Elizabeth Weinstein, you come up with statements that make her look like she was unstable. Well, ripping your children out of your life will do that to you. It's called emotional. And suffering. She was also arrested.

Why do I say "also" ? Because I know this method of operation all too well. Since Lizzy's death was reported, I have been having flashbacks of my own experiences. Surviving abuse will do that to you.

Toward the end of my abusive marriage, almost at the 20 year mark, I started to speak up and tell some people of the violence I endured. This was even before I made it to a domestic violence shelter. I began to have enough. Bruised and battered, I went to my neighbor's house for safety one evening. Just so you know, never ask a woman "why did you stay"....because that was the beginning of the end. As soon as my husband's secret was out (I later found out that most people suspected the abuse), everything escalated.

It was time for my two sons to get ready for sleep away camp, Camp Wayne for Boys. They needed some special camp clothing to be ordered. Not having access to our marital accounts, I had to ask my husband for a check - to be sent to "Wolf" uniform company with the camp clothing my sons wanted. My husband told me to get a bank check for the order. He handed me five $100 bills. I thought it was unusual, but it was my only option - and God forbid you question the master.

I waited on line in the Westchester County bank for a few minutes. Finally, it was my turn at the counter. I handed the teller the cash and asked for a bank check.

BAM!

Within seconds, an alarm went off- screeching. Metal bars came down from the ceiling with a swift clang. I was caged. I had no idea what was going on as the police officers swept in, guns raised and aimed at me! I was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car. I couldn't find my handbag, I didn't even know what was happening. I remember the maroon vinyl of the police car, the lack of handles in the rear seat I was literally thrown into. And no one read me my rights. It was not like Law and Order.

I must have been crying - I was terrified. I kept asking what happened, but the two officers in the front of the car did not answer me. I must have continued to cry....as they led me into the police station jail. I still had my handcuffs on.

As I was told to stand against a dirty grey wall with measurements on it, my photo was taken. Turn. Another photo snapped. My handcuffs removed for fingerprinting.

Finally, the officer fingerprinting me told me why I was arrested. For passing of counterfeit bills. I told them I was unaware of it - that I never do that, that it was a mistake. I asked to call someone - and stupid me, called my husband. When he answered the phone, I was a wreck. And I still hear his evil laugh in my mind. I told him what happened and he said, "I know." He also told me that he'd be leaving me there for a while until I learned. I asked him, "Learn what?" and the line went dead. He set me up. Owning Foodirect in the South Bronx Hunts Point Market, his business was mostly cash. And his associates were not the most upstanding of citizens.

I did finally decide that it was more dangerous to stay with him than to leave. He progressed into brainwashing my sons against me. And more of every other type of abuse he could muster up. I filed for divorce, he protested it, I had trials....divorce, custody, finances.

Since he initially protested the divorce, threatening my death as well as loss of my children who were teens, my divorce was denied - even with over 200 pages of documented hospital records exhibiting the abuse. He got to the judge. And on the day the initial divorce decree was denied (I obtained a divorce almost a decade later after going through more years of court and appeals- on the grounds of cruel and inhuman punishment), I remember driving home from Princeton, NJ, to West Orange when my lawyer called me with the news.

He said my divorce was denied. JHO Scancarelli (who has since died and now resides in hell) denied my divorce, even through excruciating testimony of domestic violence and several key witnesses to the abuse. I laughed as attorney Joel Bender repeated his news. What kind of joke was this? But it was true. 

Shaking as I drove, I was approximately 20 minutes from home when I received another phone call. This time it was the West Orange police station. The officer identified himself on the call and told me I had a choice....I could either turn myself in or they would come to my West Orange home and arrest me for transport to the South Bronx in New York.

Yes, this sounds like an incredible nightmare. My nightmares always happened when I was awake.

I told him I had no idea what he was talking about. He then explained the warrant that was out for my arrest because my husband feared for his life!

If you know me, you know this was absurd abuse of the system again. If you know Robert Levine, you know he was capable of this and so much more.

I arrived home to find the police car waiting for me in the driveway. I was transported to the South Bronx. This time, again no one read me my rights - but at least I wasn't handcuffed. I was not as shocked as I was the first time Robert orchestrated my arrest. That's who he is....in fact, he told me during my divorce, that if I showed up at either of my sons' high school graduations, I would be arrested. He said he had a North Castle police officer in his pocket to do it.

Have you ever been to the South Bronx? You don't want to go there. The officer driving me to the precinct in Hunts Point told me that they had jurisdiction over me because Robert Levine contacted the South Bronx precinct near where his Foodirect headquarters were located. Another move that was to be expected. Why have me jailed in Westchester or NJ when he could manipulate it so I'm in the worst place in NY?  

So, I was taken to this filthy precinct that looked nothing like what you see on television. In reality it was so much worse. The officer there told me to sit as he filled out paper work. Since I pretty much knew the drill from my first orchestrated arrest, I waited thinking I was going to be fingerprinted and photographed again. Not this time, though. I was merely placed in a filthy jail cell.

The officer kept telling me to sit down. I was pacing. And the metal bench along the cell's wall was disgusting. I would not sit down. Not for the three hours that they held me there in that cell. I was able to make a phonecall and a friend came to get me with a lawyer.

There was a hearing the next day. My lawyer was brilliant. He presented one piece of evidence to the judge and that case was dismissed. What was so powerful as to end this dead in it's tracks?

Something the lawyer had seen on my phone. A direct message my husband had sent me. It read, "LOL." My attorney addressed the court with one question - what kind of man is fearful for his life and sends the person a message of LOL?

The court was able to see the big picture. An abuser who could no longer use his fists was using every other means possible to continue the abuse. My children were used, jail, finances stripped from me, emotional turmoil and threats continued.

How does my God let this kind of thing happen? Why are battered mothers losing custody, and continuously trying to survive unending abuse?

Why is my ex husband still walking this earth, when the world would be so much better without him? And why are my sons following in his footsteps? 

So I don't believe in angels anymore. I guess maybe I really stopped believing years ago.