News America [A division of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp] was led by Paul V. Carlucci, who, according to Forbes, used to show the sales staff the scene in “The Untouchables” in which Al Capone beats a man to death with a baseball bat. Mr. Emmel testified that Mr. Carlucci was clear about the guiding corporate philosophy.

According to Mr. Emmel’s testimony, Mr. Carlucci said that if there were employees uncomfortable with the company’s philosophy — “bed-wetting liberals in particular was the description he used” Mr. Emmel testified — then he could arrange to have those employees “outplaced from the company.”

This isn’t really the meat of the story, but it was the only bite-sized morsel I could break off to share.  That said, it is highly evocative of the actions detailed within.

Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) called on the House and Senate to investigate whether journalists working for Rupert Murdoch’s News International (NI), owned by News Corp., have hacked into the voicemail of Americans.   

Despite claims by NI executives that the phone hacking scandal enveloping Murdoch and his media empire was confined to the now-defunct News of the World, new evidence shows other Murdoch papers used the same tactics.  Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was repeatedly targeted for more than a decade by other Murdoch publications. 

Further, a former New York City police officer claims he was offered money by News of the World journalists to retrieve the phone records of 9/11 victims and their families.

“It is becoming increasingly clear this scandal was not perpetrated by a few rogue reporters, but was systematically orchestrated at the highest levels of News Corp.,” said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan.  “If Mr. Murdoch’s employees can be so brazen as to target the British prime minister, then it is not unreasonable to believe they also might hack into the voicemails of American politicians and citizens.”

NI executives repeatedly have claimed only a few “rogue” reporters at News of the World were involved in the hacking.  In 2007, Les Hinton, one of Mr. Murdoch’s closest advisors and now the chief executive officer of Dow Jones, which publishes the Wall Street Journal, testified – it now appears untruthfully – before a parliamentary committee that the hacking was limited to a single reporter.  Fox News and the New York Post are also owned by News Corp.

“Given the ever-increasing number of Murdoch publications involved, combined with the allegation that News Corp. journalists sought access to the voicemails of 9/11 victims and their families, America cannot leave this investigation entirely to the British. Congress should immediately initiate its own inquiry,” said Ms. Sloan.  “Politicians in Washington may not be able to agree on much these days, but at the very least they should be able to agree that efforts to hack the phones of those killed in the worst terrorist attack in American history merits thorough public hearings.” 

Alongside the enormous direct influence of his media properties, Murdoch doles out political contributions. Prior to the 2010 Republican landslide Murdoch gave $1m of News Corp cash to the Republican Governors Association, the group that helped push far-right candidates to executive office around the US, notably Scott Walker, who provoked massive labor protests in Wisconsin, and former Fox commentator John Kasich in Ohio.

Don’t look for anything explosive from News Corp’s internal investigation either. Board members Joel Klein and Viet Dinh, both US power attorneys, are taking active roles managing the crisis. Dinh was assistant attorney-general under George W Bush and a principal author of the Patriot Act, the law that, among other things, prompted an unprecedented expansion of government eavesdropping. According to recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Dinh and other directors lined up on 3 July to sell off stock options, with Dinh netting about $25,000 as the Dowler scandal broke (he did better than the stockholders he represents, selling at just over $18 a share; now it’s trading at $15.96).

Klein, a former justice department attorney and chancellor of the New York City school system, joined the board recently to focus on its digital learning business. The New York Daily News reports that a business News Corp acquired just after Klein joined the board is now facing scrutiny, since it deals with schoolchildren’s personal data. New York state awarded Wireless Generation a no-bid, $27m contract. Now parents are questioning whether News Corp should have such access.

Perhaps the greatest threat to Murdoch will come from grassroots organisations. The activist group Color of Change has already mounted a protest outside Murdoch’s New York Central Park apartment. The group was co-founded by Van Jones, who was appointed by Obama as his gre