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ESPN.com news services
The FBI is investigating several threatening and racist letters that have been sent this year to black NFL players, including one prominent Miami Dolphins player who received a letter in September, reports The Palm Beach Post.
According to a memo distributed to NFL players last week by the league's security department, and obtained by the newspaper on Wednesday, every piece of the hate mail comes from the same person, and postmarks show the correspondence was sent from Erie, Pa., Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio.
"There have been 11 or 12 letters directed to prominent individuals throughout the United States over the past two years," special agent Robert Hawk of the Cleveland office of the FBI told The Post on Wednesday. "These letters contained veiled threats. There were overtures of violence."
At least six letters over the past year have been sent to players, their teams, their cheerleaders -- and in one instance, the Great Adventure Amu*****t Park in Jackson, NJ, where a player was to appear for a publicized event -- according to the memo.
Hawk told the Post that the author of the hate mail seems to have sent similar letters to black entertainers as well.
A memo to the Dolphin players, received by the newspaper, also stated that "the threats of violence have escalated with each letter."
"We do not have any suspects," Hawk told the paper. "But we are currently conducting lab analysis to find the source. If we find this person we will refer him for prosecution, because obviously what has been done is illegal."
Stu Weinstein, the Dolphins security investigator, did not name the team's well-known player who had received a letter. But he did tell the Post that the player was alarmed.
After working with the Dolphins for 19 years, Weinstein told the Post that he's witnessed everything from "death threats to extortion to women writing letters to claim that players have fathered children with them." But he told the newspaper that these letters have been his greatest concern since the heightened security surrounding professional football following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"It was a threatening letter," Weinstein told the Post. "It said, 'African-Americans shouldn't be allowed to play professional sports and shouldn't be allowed to make the money that football players make and entertainers make.' Mostly it was about the danger of racial mixing in our society."
The Dolphins' memo states that the letters and envelopes under analysis are typed and that the sender usually identifies him- or herself as "All Whites (or Caucasians), Angry white women."
NFL security officials would not comment, but league spokesman Greg Aiello told the Post, "I think the memo speaks for itself."
On Wednesday, several Dolphins players also voiced concern.
"It's scary because you never know what you're opening now," safety Arturo Freeman told the newspaper. "The NFL is saying, 'Be careful.' In any entertainment industry, there is going to be jealousy and hate that people stir up. You just try to be aware and pray."
Said defensive tackle Larry Chester to the paper: "You would think that by now we'd be well past the hatred for individuals for their race or culture or anything. I didn't say I wanted to be born black. Ultimately, whatever color I am, or whatever religion, or whatever culture, I'm still a man."
The league itself has asked those who receive such letters to handle them with care, keep others from touching them, place them in a larger envelope and turn the correspondence in to their own team's security investigators.
"I think these people are hoping that with the notoriety of NFL players, their message will get out," safety Shawn Wooden told the Post.
"It's sad to see that in this day and age. But if it's one person or a couple of people doing this, it's something you have to live with. These people are looking for a response. And we're big enough to say that this type of letter doesn't deserve a response."
ESPN.com news services
The FBI is investigating several threatening and racist letters that have been sent this year to black NFL players, including one prominent Miami Dolphins player who received a letter in September, reports The Palm Beach Post.
According to a memo distributed to NFL players last week by the league's security department, and obtained by the newspaper on Wednesday, every piece of the hate mail comes from the same person, and postmarks show the correspondence was sent from Erie, Pa., Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio.
"There have been 11 or 12 letters directed to prominent individuals throughout the United States over the past two years," special agent Robert Hawk of the Cleveland office of the FBI told The Post on Wednesday. "These letters contained veiled threats. There were overtures of violence."
At least six letters over the past year have been sent to players, their teams, their cheerleaders -- and in one instance, the Great Adventure Amu*****t Park in Jackson, NJ, where a player was to appear for a publicized event -- according to the memo.
Hawk told the Post that the author of the hate mail seems to have sent similar letters to black entertainers as well.
A memo to the Dolphin players, received by the newspaper, also stated that "the threats of violence have escalated with each letter."
"We do not have any suspects," Hawk told the paper. "But we are currently conducting lab analysis to find the source. If we find this person we will refer him for prosecution, because obviously what has been done is illegal."
Stu Weinstein, the Dolphins security investigator, did not name the team's well-known player who had received a letter. But he did tell the Post that the player was alarmed.
After working with the Dolphins for 19 years, Weinstein told the Post that he's witnessed everything from "death threats to extortion to women writing letters to claim that players have fathered children with them." But he told the newspaper that these letters have been his greatest concern since the heightened security surrounding professional football following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"It was a threatening letter," Weinstein told the Post. "It said, 'African-Americans shouldn't be allowed to play professional sports and shouldn't be allowed to make the money that football players make and entertainers make.' Mostly it was about the danger of racial mixing in our society."
The Dolphins' memo states that the letters and envelopes under analysis are typed and that the sender usually identifies him- or herself as "All Whites (or Caucasians), Angry white women."
NFL security officials would not comment, but league spokesman Greg Aiello told the Post, "I think the memo speaks for itself."
On Wednesday, several Dolphins players also voiced concern.
"It's scary because you never know what you're opening now," safety Arturo Freeman told the newspaper. "The NFL is saying, 'Be careful.' In any entertainment industry, there is going to be jealousy and hate that people stir up. You just try to be aware and pray."
Said defensive tackle Larry Chester to the paper: "You would think that by now we'd be well past the hatred for individuals for their race or culture or anything. I didn't say I wanted to be born black. Ultimately, whatever color I am, or whatever religion, or whatever culture, I'm still a man."
The league itself has asked those who receive such letters to handle them with care, keep others from touching them, place them in a larger envelope and turn the correspondence in to their own team's security investigators.
"I think these people are hoping that with the notoriety of NFL players, their message will get out," safety Shawn Wooden told the Post.
"It's sad to see that in this day and age. But if it's one person or a couple of people doing this, it's something you have to live with. These people are looking for a response. And we're big enough to say that this type of letter doesn't deserve a response."
