One of Niagara Falls' most enduring mysteries surrounded the brutal 1969 murder of flamboyant local attorney Jimmy LiBrize. While law enforcement officials have considered the case closed since the 2006 death from natural causes of John Karcz, a disgruntled former LiBrize client named as the prime suspect in the slaying, many questions remain concerning the attorney's dealings, clientele and other activities.
In the last decade of his life, the so-called "Swinging '60s," LiBrize became known for his adventuresome sexual exploits, experimentation with drugs and prodigious partying that made him a familiar figure in the swank joints and low dives the city was then famous for.
Living the high life would eventually cost him his marriage and the high-powered law firm he ran from a suite high above the city in the United Office Building, and by the time of his horrific murder he was conducting business out of a Niagara Street storefront and living in some furnished rooms in back.
Last week, a Florida man, Michael Britt, arrived in town asking questions about LiBrize, his gruesome killing, and his role in Britt's own apparently illegal 1963 adoption. His inquiries led him to the offices of the Niagara Falls Reporter, which has from time to time published articles concerning the LiBrize case. A big man with reddish hair, Britt had more questions than we had answers.
Britt is a man without an identity. Recently, in need of a passport so that he and his wife, Justine, could go on a cruise, he discovered that his birth certificate, that most crucial piece of identification most of us take for granted, is a fake, and not even a very good one.
Since then, he has been trying to piece together the story of how he came to be in this world, a mystery story that features Jimmy LiBrize -- Britt's great uncle -- as a central character. The following interview was taped shortly before Britt returned to his Florida home last Friday.
Q. What have you been able to find out? Are you making any headway?
A. Jimmy LiBrize was my grandfather Jack Britt's brother, and my father, Jack Edward Britt, was Jimmy's nephew. In 1963, Jack, my father, and his wife, Florence, were living in Lewiston and Jimmy called them. He asked if they would be interested in adopting a child from a young unwed mother. Over the years I heard she was in her late teens, 17 or 19, nobody seemed sure.
On the 21st of December, at 7 a.m., Jimmy called and told Florence, "You have a son. You can pick him up now." My parents always told me that I was born at DeGraff Memorial in Tonawanda, but when I asked down there they said I couldn't have been born in Tonawanda, because the birth certificate said Niagara Falls. Florence told me Jimmy had them sign a notarized piece of paper. It was folded over so they couldn't really see what it was, and he said, "Sign here." Then he told them to go back out to the car and about a half-hour later they brought me out.
It all just leaves a lot of questions. I don't want to uproot anybody's life, but I can't help but wonder. Do I have brothers out there?
Q. Do you know any more about your biological mother or father?
A. Jimmy knew the girl, knew she was in trouble. He knew that Jack and Florence wanted a baby, as she couldn't carry a baby to term. Over the years Florence said she'd notice that Jack had been sending checks, three, four, five hundred dollars to Jimmy, and she just assumed that was going to help the girl.
My mother used to be very resistant to talk about it, but I guess as time goes by she's opened up a little bit more. She told me that Jimmy said the girl looked very much like Florence, red hair, blue eyes, same size, everything. He arranged for her to give me to Jack, his nephew, and in exchange Jack would help her out financially. I guess she didn't have anywhere to go, her parents were mad at her, kicked her out of the house like that. As near as I can ascertain, my biological father went into the service at about that time. Jack told me that was the last he knew of him. He went to Vietnam in 1963 or 1964 and that was the last anyone knew of him. Irene Larson was the name Jack gave me, and Florence confirmed that, saying that the girl's name was Irene.
Q. When did you find out you were adopted?
A. I went for years and years. I found out by accident when I was 14 because Jack and Florence had a bad relationship, they were always breaking up, but I was 14 and I was working at an auction house and he showed up one night. He'd been threatening her, this was after their divorce, and I told him, look, just get the hell away from me. Leave me alone, I don't want to have anything to do with you. So when I went home she was crying. I asked her what was the matter and she said, "I can't tell you, I can't tell you."
I didn't know anything about anything and just out of the blue I said, what is it, am I adopted? It was just the craziest thing I could think of. And she went to screaming. She said, "He told you." I said told me what? And she said that I was adopted.
And it didn't change my feelings for her. And I look back and I can understand why a young woman would keep it from a kid the way she did. And I tried to tell myself all these years that it really didn't matter. I've got a family. I've got 10 kids, my 11th grandchild is about to be born and my 12th is on the way. I've got a good life. And I don't want to stir up anybody's past. But I just want to know.
Q. How did you find out that your birth certificated had been faked?
A. My wife and I are union laborers, we travel and work the nuclear power plants. We came up here because I wanted to get a copy of my original birth certificate. You can see there are some problems with that one. That's a copy of the one I've had all my life, the original has the notary stamp on it, you can see the number, 564, which means I should have been the 564th baby born in 1963. But they told me at the courthouse by that date, December 21, they were already in the 2,500's, and that number 564 would have been born in March.
You can see that the form was revised in March 1966. I was born on December 21, 1963, and it says it was filed six days later, on December 27. The witness on the signature was on Feb. 23, 1965, and you can see it was signed by Clara Palermo. Now that's a year before this form was even used by the state.
I've called the health department in Albany, and they told me that this birth certificate does not exist. My original birth certificate is nothing but an original fake. Why would Clara Palermo notarize a fake birth certificate? Over at City Hall they said they couldn't believe Clara would do something like that.
I knew about Jimmy all my life. Uncle Jimmy. And after I found out more of the circumstances, Florence told me a little bit more about the circumstances. I wasn't even sure there were any illegalities to it, it was basically a family thing.
The more I look into this, the more questions come up. We're just beginning to scratch the surface on this.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | May 6 2008 |