People don’t come to the Tree House to read the same story they can get from the Lame Stream Media, they come here to understand what is the back story that’s not being told. Zimmerman trial witness Rachel Jeantel was on CNN last night for an interview:

But the back story is who’s her handler?…. it’s one of the original players from the origin of the Scheme Team fraud, Rod Vereen:

“She really doesn’t want to be here,” Jeantel’s lawyer, Rod Vereen, said before she took the stand.

It showed. At one point, the key prosecution witness blurted out, “That’s retarded, sir.” That came after defense attorney Don West claimed Martin attacked Zimmerman. (link)

Who is Rod Vereen? We know him well, we wrote about him over a year ago. The associations highlighted explain how Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s dad, was put into contact with Benjamin Crump, the proverbial head of the “scheme team”, and along the way the cast of characters is quite interesting.

As well as one seeking political office in Miami-Dade.

Mr. Trayvon Martin was not the only person creating a well, shall we say, “colorful“, on-line and in-real-life social style. Indeed, the new age social media platform(s), in all their unintended varieties, provide an odd connectivity to even the most embarrassingly public of profiles. Especially when running for political office 😉

Here is an odd story of association that stems from within this Reuters article:

[…] [Bill] Lee, the police chief, would contend under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law that police could not arrest Zimmerman without evidence to contradict his story. [Tracy]Martin turned to Patricia Jones, his sister-in-law. An attorney herself, she knew whom to call: Benjamin Crump, the state’s best-known civil rights attorney, based in Tallahassee. Crump and law partner Daryl Parks had previously gained renown representing the family of a black teenager who died in a boot-camp-style youth detention center in 2006, winning the boy’s family $7.2 million in damages from the state of Florida and Bay County. […] During a break in the hearing, Crump noticed messages from Tyrone Williams, another attorney he knows, and Jones. They urgently asked for his help. Soon Jones put him in touch with Tracy Martin. (article)

We know Daryl Parks, well sorta, and we know Benjamin Crump quite well. But who would Tyrone Williams be, and what about Patricia Jones, how did/do they connect?

The background here is well, apparently a little “colorful“, humorous a bit, and perhaps “salty” in the, well, social scene and trail.

Tyrone W. Williams shows up as on a list of endorsements for Daryl Parks bid to become President-Elect of the National Bar Association.

The Parks Endorsement List includes names such as:

His law partner Benjamin Crump , naturally expected.

, naturally expected.



State Senator Chris Smith (Broward/Palm Beach) who we outlined is the protegé’ from Broward NAACP President and Trayvon funeral director Richard Kurtz.

(Broward/Palm Beach) who we outlined is the protegé’ from Broward NAACP President and Trayvon funeral director Richard Kurtz.



Greg Francis , Past President Paul C. Perkins Bar Association (Orlando) who is also the decision maker lawyer behind the Pigford Lawsuit Settlement, also the guy who hired Ryan Julison for Pigford PR, and most importantly Francis is a Partner with John Morgan, in the firm Morgan and Morgan. John Morgan is a massive Obama campaign donor, and supporter.

, Past President Paul C. Perkins Bar Association (Orlando) who is also the decision maker lawyer behind the Pigford Lawsuit Settlement, also the guy who hired Ryan Julison for Pigford PR, and most importantly Francis is a Partner with John Morgan, in the firm Morgan and Morgan. John Morgan is a massive Obama campaign donor, and supporter.



There are a whole bunch of more lawerly people on the endorsement list…….

….. And a guy named Roderick D. Vereen, whose name rang familiar from prior association research. More on that in juuuuuuuust a moment.

The guy who reached out to Benjamin Crump was Tyrone Williams. Tyrone W Williams is an attorney and was, perhaps still is, the General Counsel for the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) in Miami-Dade, and is highlighted in this article discussing internal conflict between the PBA and Miami State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle:

YAHOO – The increasingly sour conflict between Police Benevolent Association President John Rivera and State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle is spilling into court just months before her fall reelection bid. His 6,500-member Dade County PBA has sued Rundle, demanding she hand over records that back up claims she made about prosecuting and convicting hundreds of public employees — including crooked cops. Rundle reported in the February SAO Review that the state attorney’s office prosecuted 294 police officers, corrections officers and public officials during the previous six years, leading to 140 criminal convictions in the past two years. Rivera, a county police sergeant, said he and his colleagues were so shocked by the statistics that they filed a public records request under Florida law with Rundle’s office to confirm the numbers. When her office did not respond to their March 29 request, the association sued in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Wednesday to force the turnover of the records. […] Rivera talked with PBA general counsel Tyrone Williams, a former state prosecutor, about suing Rundle’s office because they both thought she was inflating her crime-fighting statistics on public corruption for political gain at the expense of law enforcement officers. “You give people the impression that all these guys are dirty and all these guys are bad,” Williams said. Williams said he filed the suit because he wants to get a better handle on the number of reported prosecutions and convictions of police officers. He first grew frustrated with Rundle’s office after he received a response May 8 to his initial public records request. “A document detailing this statistic does not exist,” Alvera Pritchard, an administrative records custodian, wrote to Williams. “The data was gathered manually for the article [by Rundle], through a compilation of several sources. The result represents an aggregate total of different figures.” Williams followed up his records request with several more. “They are in good faith,” he said. “There is no intent on our part to embarrass her.” (article)

So Tyrone Williams, the guy who called Benjamin Crump to represent Tracy Martin was, and maybe is, the legal counsel for the Miami-Dade PBA. Now, Tyrone Williams and Roderick D Vereen are pretty good pals it appears, and they have been for quite a while. They are quite social together in the Miami-Dade Social scene as outlined in this 2005 article:

Black professionals meet at District – Upwardly mobile young blacks are carving out a niche for themselves in Miami-Dade’s business world. […] This indoor-outdoor restaurant/bar was full of life, and it was the happening place for the evening. This is where all the upwardly mobile young professionals have chosen to go every other Wednesday night. I could see why. These young black folks were listening to Brazilian music, drinking the latest drinks, passing out business cards and getting to know one another. For more than a minute, I saw Miami’s future. It was bright, smart, articulate and educated. The folks in attendance ranged from successful young attorneys like Rod Vereen, Tyrone Williams and Regine Monestine to nonprofit executives like Lisa Joseph of the Overtown Youth Center. (more)

Tyrone Williams’s great pal Rod Vereen ran for congress in 2010 and lost to Fredrica Wilson.

But he’s not done running for public office. He has re-entered the political scene this year with a campaign for Miami-Dade State Attorney.

And who do you think he’s facing off against?

Yep, remember that Miami-Dade Attorney General that Tyrone Williams was suing as counsel for the PBA? BINGO!

Katherine Ferandez Rundle has been in office since 1993 when she replaced Janet Reno as Miami-Dade Attorney General and she has won all her elections since 1996, including an unopposed election in 2008.

So apparently Rod Vereen is facing quite a challenge to unseat a popular Attorney General and take office. But he has some high-profile friends to support him , including a recent visit from Jesse Jackson on the anniversary of the Los Angeles Rodney King Riots April 29th, which Vereen highlights on his Facebook Campaign page.

MIAMI HERALD – The Rev. Jesse Jackson preached Sunday afternoon in Miami-Dade County about the importance of teaching young people the importance of voting, the continued battle against racism and the controversial shooting of Trayvon Martin.

Inside the 93rd Street Community Baptist Church in West Little River, to about 200 people in the pews, the civil rights leader opened his remarks with, “Long live the spirit of Trayvon Martin.”

It was a bit late in the afternoon for a Sunday service, but that didn’t stop the congregants from singing and praising the Lord.

Most came dressed in their Sunday best. It wasn’t hot, but fans were passed out to them, bearing bright red words that declared, “Be a responsible voter!”

Jackson, 70, spoke of key points in black history. He pointed out that Sunday was the 20th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots — days of violence that followed the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers involved in the beating of Rodney King.

King was black. The police officers and the jury that acquitted them were not.

Now, Jackson pointed out, the country grapples with another question: What happened in the shooting death of Trayvon? The Miami Gardens 17-year-old was fatally shot Feb. 26 in Sanford, near Orlando, by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer. Trayvon was unarmed. (read more)

So the circle, yet again, completes around politics.

Benjamin Crump was contacted by Tyrone Williams a Miami Lawyer who endorses Daryl Parks and is best friends with Rod Vereen who is running for Attorney General in Miami against the defendant of Williams former lawsuit filed on behalf of the PBA. Whew, GOT IT…. I think.

But Mr. Williams and Mr. Vereen might want to clean up a few embarrassing loose internet threads from their exploits as, well, *ahem* to be discrete, quite social, before the Team of Mrs. Rundle showcase their:

2011 “Tricked Or Treated…… A Sexy Halloween Party”

A night of fun, sensuality and alter egos. COSTUME ONLY!!!! A Public Event · By Tyrone W. Williams and Roderick D. Vereen

The other person Tracy Martin reached out to was Patricia A Jones who Tracy describes as his sister-in-law according to this Reuters article:

Patricia A Jones, age 47, aka Patricia A Taylor, aka Patricia A Vereen:

Patricia A Vereen married to Harris V Vereen Jr. on January 4th 1989.

July 29th, 2000 – Sun Sentinel: Police Identify Suspects Shot By Officer – The two men wounded Thursday by a Miami-Dade police officer were driving a car owned by the mother of a teenager they had just robbed outside a Walgreens in Carol City.

They were among four crime suspects, none of them armed, who were shot by police in the county in three unrelated incidents Wednesday and Thursday.

A day after the Carol City shootings, police identified the suspects and the officer, 10-year veteran Terrence White, 31, who has been temporarily placed on administrative leave.

“This is our normal procedure, as much for the officer’s sake as for an investigation,” said Miami-Dade Detective Nelda Fonticella. “It’s a pretty traumatic event for the officer who fires a weapon.”

It was not immediately known if White had ever been involved in any other shootings, but his personnel file shows several reprimands, counseling, and a couple days suspension for such departmental infractions as falsely reporting in sick and not answering his pager.

The robbery suspects shot by White were identified as Harris V. Vereen, 34, of 3961 NW 191st St., and Rudolph Silas, of 18410 NW 43rd Court. Fonticella gave Silas’ age as 34, but Jackson Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Lorraine Nelson said his chart lists him as 25.

By late Friday, police still would not say which of the men was driving the car. Nor would homicide investigators say how many shots White fired or how many hit the men. Silas was listed as critical in the hospital’s trauma intensive care unit Friday after several hours of surgery the day before. Vereen, who was recovering in a regular hospital room, was in good condition after initially being listed as critical and then serious.

According to Fonticella, Vereen and Silas had left the Walgreens parking lot at 18300 NW 37th Ave. and were stuck in traffic after grabbing a 16-year-old’s purse and keys to her mother’s 1994 Acura Integra shortly after 9 a.m.

White, who was also waiting in the traffic line, got out of his squad car and walked up to the men after several frantically waving bystanders pointed to them, Fonticella said.

As the officer, who was on routine patrol in the area, approached the car from behind, the driver threw it in reverse and tried to run down the officer, Fonticella said.

White fired several shots, jumped back in his car, and gave chase as the suspects turned the corner and sped west on 183rd Street after first ramming a black Hyundai to clear an escape path.

The wounded suspects cut across an Amoco station at 47th Avenue and were going north when they crashed into a wall at 184th Street, police said. One was captured at that spot, the other at 187th Street and 42nd Place, where he collapsed after a foot chase. (article)

The Patricia Jones described by Tracy Martin as his sister-in-law was married to Harris Vereen, the brother of Rod Vereen who is the best friend of Tyrone Williams.

She is also a friend of Tracy Martin and connected through the various civic groups they participate in. Tracy Martin as District Grandmaster for the International Free and Modern Masons, and Patricia Jones as Chairman of Trustees for the order of Eastern Star.

Tracy Martin:

Patricia Jones

Although I am unsure how that makes Patricia Jones the “sister-in-law” of Tracy Martin, one thing is certain: Patricia Jones reached out her ex-brother-in law, Roderick “Rod” Vereen to contact his friend Tyrone Williams the former state prosecutor and PBA counsel.

It was on her behalf that Tyrone Williams reached out to his friend, Benjamin Crump from Parks and Crump esq. Patricia Jones was married to Rod Vereen’s brother. The brother, Harris Vereen, who was arrested and shot by the police in the 2000 article above.

Rod Vereen now 50 is running for Miami-Dade District Attorney, and Harris Vereen now 47, brothers, are listed as living with their mother, Florence Vereen, 74, at the same address on North 191st, Opa Locka (Miami Gardens) Florida.

So knowing the brother-in-law tie to Rod Vereen, it is not surprising that Patricia Jones is highly supportive of Roderick Vereen’s run for office, as she indicates on the Facebook page of Seminole Masonic Lodge #291 which is intently supporting their brother.

Patricia Jones highlights this article:

MiamiHerald – For the first time in eight years, longtime Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle has an election opponent. This time it’s Miami criminal defense attorney Roderick Vereen, who on Monday filed to run for the seat of the county’s top prosecutor. Like Fernández Rundle, Vereen is a Democrat. If no independent or Republican candidates file by Friday’s qualifying deadline, the two would square off for the seat outright during the Aug. 14 primary. “I want to be a professional prosecutor who will make fighting crime my number one priority,’’ Vereen said Monday night trough a spokesman. “That’s why I’m running. That is what is lacking. I want to be a prosecutor, not a politician.” (more)

Apparently Katherine Rundle would have been the Prosecuting District Attorney against Patricia Jones’s husband, Harris, at the time of his arrest. Harris’s brother, Roderick, is now seeking the position held by the prosecutor of his brother.

*man, someone could write a book….

Also, by association, the Seminole Chapter of the Organization of Eastern Star #10, where Sister Patricia Jones is Chairman of Trustees, is aligned with Seminole Masonic Lodge #291 where Rod Vereen is a Brother.

And that is how they all tie together.

Brother Tracy Martin called Sister Patricia Jones, she in turn called her ex-brother-in-law, Roderick Vereen. Rod Vereen contacted his pal Tyrone Williams, and together Williams and Jones were put in touch with Benjamin Crump as the article outlines.

During Rod Vereen’s failed 2010 congressional race we discover the following Salon.Com article – Ben Vereen the actor, and Roderick Vereen, are cousins.

Born 17 years later (than Ben) , Roderick carved out quite a resume for himself as a lawyer advocating on behalf of various minorities and underprivileged.

Rod Vereen went up against the Bush Administration in his defense of Stanley Grant Phanor “Brother Sunni”, during the “Liberty City 7” terrorist trials.

[Wiki] The charges centered around the group’s belief that they were being offered money by someone in Yemen to help their mission in Liberty City provided they supported the Al Qeada jihad. The FBI agents represented themselves as representatives of al-Qaeda (but who were actually undercover FBI agents), and persuaded Batiste to provide plans for a stated intention to destroy the Sears Tower in Chicago, the FBI field office in Miami, and other targets. Around March 16, 2006, along with Patrick Abraham, Stanley Phanor, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Augustin, Lyglenson Lemorin, and Rotschild Augustine, Batiste met with the “Al Qaeda representative,” swore an oath of loyalty to Al Qaeda and discussed plans to bomb the FBI building in five cities.

Tried three times with two attempts ending in mistrials. Eventually the cases resulted in 5 guilty verdicts, including Vereen’s client Stanley Phanor convicted of two counts of providing material support for terrorism.

After Losing the 2010 congressional race to Frederica Wilson, Rod Vereen outlined a part of his ideology in a speech given to a local church where he delivered the keynote address:

[…] Although I am a democrat, I changed party affiliation to that of a non-party affiliation, referred to as an independent, when it was time to qualify. In the beginning, there were 13 of us vying for the Congressional seat. At that time, I was not satisfied with either political party, Democrat or Republican.

I am not one of those voters that vote party line simply for the sake of the party. Reverend Al Sharpton once said that we (referring to African Americans) are about the party that is about us.

Historically, Blacks used to be mainly Republicans until the Republican Party stopped being about Blacks. We must also be mindful the Ku Klux Klan started in the Democratic Party. Born as a pro-slavery political party under Thomas Jefferson, the Democratic Party maintained a pro-slavery-anti black American stance through the 19th century. After the Civil War, the Democratic Party gave birth and nurtured the first Ku Klux Klan and supported Jim Crow laws and customs. And while history is history, over the years, the Democratic Party, including Thomas Jefferson, changed its and his position on slavery and the treatment of the “Negro.” Ergo, the shift by Blacks to the Democratic Party.

So here’s the 64,000 dollar question. Does social action work? And if it does, what kind of social action do we need today? For starters, yes, social action works but only if it is organized social action. Attorney H.T Smith proved that when he organized a boycott in Miami because the City of Miami Beach snubbed Nelson Mandela. When the City realized that it was going to lose millions of dollars it met the demands of the folks in charge of the boycott and as a result the Royal Palm Hotel, the first black-owned hotel on South Beach, owned by Don Peebles, became a reality. So, we have proof that it works.

The social action needed today is what is termed “Instrumental action” (also known as value relation, goal instrumental ones): actions which are planned and taken after evaluating the goal in relation to other goals, and after thorough consideration of various means (and consequences) to achieve it. The boycott was organized with a goal in mind. Cause the city to lose money and your demand will be met. There’s no better time to make demands then when hard times exist. We are in an economic recession. Miami-Dade County relies on tourism in a major way, yet we don’t use the economic recession to our benefit. Blacks are still spending more than any other race of people on the average, yet the services our community get is far less than that of our counterparts. Recently there was an issue regarding the lack of street lights in certain areas of Liberty City. Yet, there was no social action. (more)

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