Post by Scumhunter on Sept 2, 2014 9:17:41 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: hunt4theswindler.com)
The man I'm profiling today as a cold case fugitive might in technicality be a missing person. However, I am putting him in the cold case section since AMW profiled him as if he were a fugitive. Now that I've thoroughly confused anyone who may not be familiar with this case, I will explain below.
First here is AMW radio description:"In Nazi death camps, Lucian Kozminski turned his back on his fellow Jews. and became a vicious enforcer for the Germans. Then in the 1980's he victimized holocaust survivors again, this time with a cruel scam. He offered to help people get money from Germany to re-pay them for their suffering. Then, he stole that money. Kozminski was busted and a judge ordered him to re-pay what he ripped off. But he never did because he died. 10 years later, his victims thought they were seeing things when they ran into Kozminski in Los Angeles. But it was no ghost. Investigators think he faked his death so he could disappear. If we can find him, we might be able to get his victims back some of their money."
The following is a description of how Kozminski was believed to have faked his death from a New York Times article:
"An official death certificate issued in Los Angeles County says Kozminski died Jan. 19, 1993, succumbing at age 76 to pneumonia after being admitted to Century City Hospital with stomach pains.
But was it really him?
Take a closer look, as a former federal prosecutor and two of the Holocaust survivors Kozminski cheated have, and you will find only more questions.
The Social Security number listed as Kozminski's on the death certificate isn't his. It belonged to Claire Cosmisky, a 58-year-old Alzheimer's patient who was treated at the same hospital and died of lung cancer six days before Kozminski's reported death. The document also falsely ages Kozminski by a good 10 years and lists his profession as banking, which it never was. The certificate says he lived in Los Angeles most of his life; in fact, he entered the United States--lying about his criminal past--in 1968.
The man who died seven years ago, the man whose remains were released to Heritage Mortuary for cremation, was a strapping 6-footer, hospital records show. Other documents, including booking photographs from his 1982 federal fraud indictment, reveal that the real Kozminski was 5 feet, 4 inches tall. Nowhere in the records about the body is any mention of Kozminski's most convincing identifying mark--No. 11790 branded on his left forearm at Auschwitz, one of the Nazis' most notorious concentration camps.
As for Kozminski's final residence, the address on the death certificate leads to Mail Boxes and Things, a postal drop in West Hollywood. Kozminski's son rented a box there two months before the reported death, paying with a check. It bounced."
According to the article, it was also very easy to fake a death in L.A. County back in 1993 because the deceased are often attended by private physicians and quickly buried or cremated.
Thoughts? First, this case is of particular interest to me, since I don't like talking about myself too much on this forum I am half-Jewish (or my ancestors were from the Ukraine for any of those annoying people who say technically you can't be half-Jewish since it's a religion and not a nationality.) And religion-wise, I consider myself Jewish, but not practicing. I never liked revealing that about myself on here since I don't want people thinking that's the reason I care so much about Yaser Said and/or don't care about Semion Mogilevich being on the top 10 list. I care about Said because he killed his own daughters, and I think Mogilevich being on the top 10 is a waste since it doesn't seem he can be extradited as dangerous as he may be.
Getting back on topic, I actually got to speak to Mark Kalmansohn, the prosecuting attorney in this case who appeared on the AMW profile of Kozminski back in 2004 and wrote a book on his attempts to get the Holocaust survivors their money back for a side project somewhat unrelated to this site. He confirmed Kozminski is still missing (as of this posting date 9/2/2014).
I believe Kozminski would be in his late 90's, around 96 today if still alive but in my opinion it is never too late.
I believe he may still be in California or the United States somewhere. And because he faked his death before, despite nearing a hundred years old, we can never assume again thathe passed away for real.
And usually I put a contact number to call for tips in this case, but I'm not sure because of the oldness of this case. So my advice for anyone with any information would be to get in touch in Kalmansohn (he didn't tell me to say that, but I'm sure he doesn't mind getting tips on him since he's trying to find him as well), or calling the LAPD's Crime Stoppers number (1-800-222-TIPS).
It's never too late. Let's get these victims who already suffered enough their money back.
www.hunt4theswindler.com/book.html
articles.latimes.com/2000/aug/20/local/me-7661
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