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McNicholas Associates, Inc.
Licensed Private Investigators

Andy Thibault, former managing partner of Murzin-Thibault Investigative Group, is now affiliated with McNicholas Associates, Inc. The firm's president is John McNicholas, a former NYPD Major Case Detective.

McNicholas Associates, 1187 Broad St., Bridgeport, offers a full range of investigative and litigation services. John McNicholas can be reached at johnymack@msn.com or 203-858-8471.

SERVICES INCLUDE:
* Capital mitigation investigations
* Instant criminal records checks
* Quick witness location
* Detailed statements
* Quality scene photographs
* Subpoena service
* Bail bonds
* Marital
* Undercover operations
* Civil rights
* Wrongful death


JOHN M. McNICHOLAS

John M. McNicholas is a Professional Legal Investigator with over twenty five years investigative experience.

In 1990, John retired from the Special Investigations Division of the Detective Bureau of the New York City Police Department. His assignments included more than ten years of investigating major commercial losses in the trucking and garment industry and the infiltration of organized crime into those industries. John was an assigned case officer for a successful racketeering prosecution in that industry.

John has extensive experience as a Confidential Investigator for the New York City Department of Investigations Squad. John monitored and reviewed public corruption issues, campaign financing issues and the placement of undercover operatives in New York City Agencies. John was the lead field investigator in the investigation of campaign finance allegations against the Koch Campaign in 1986.

John has extensive trial preparation with the New York County District Attorney's Office Rackets Bureau and the United States Attorneys Office for the Southern District. Additionally, John was the investigative case officer in a multi-million dollar international insurance fraud that was jointly defended by Lloyd's of London Counsel and Underwriters and counsel in the United States. His more than two weeks of testimony in the High Court of London was instrumental in the successful fraud prosecution and ultimate denial of the claim by the underwriters.

On his retirement from the New York City Police Department, John established an internal investigative program for the New York State Wholesale Marketers Association. As Director, John managed and supervised investigations into price fixing, rebating and tax stamp fraud as related to the distribution of Cigars, Cigarettes and Candy in the State of New York.

In 1993, John was named Senior Investigator for Decision Strategies International; a New York City based international investigative firm specializing in litigation support for legal and corporate community. He was later named Vice President and License for the Stamford, Connecticut office of Decision Strategies. In that position, John supervised investigations relating to fraud, arson, corporate due diligence, employee dishonesty, contract fraud and civil trial preparations.

Since 1996, John began a private practice as a licensed private investigator in New York and Bridgeport, Connecticut specializing in trial preparation and investigations relating to civil and criminal matters in Superior and Federal Courts. John has also conducted complex investigations and internal reviews relating to internal theft, insurance claims and contract fraud, police excessive force, the laws of arrest, search &seizure and wrongful conviction.

John is a member of the American Society of Industrial Security, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the Connecticut Association of Licensed Private Investigators and a number of other professional and fraternal organizations.


ANDY THIBAULT

Andy Thibault, author of Law & Justice in Everyday Life, is a columnist for Law Tribune Newspapers, mentor in the MFA writing program at Western Connecticut State University and adjunct professor at the University of Hartford. He is the author of the History of the Connecticut State Police and business books including The 12-Minute MBA for Lawyers. He is editor of APS Publications (www.apsreview.com), the publishing arm of the Association of Productivity Specialists.

As chief investigator for the Washington, D.C. public interest law firm Judicial Watch, Thibault brought in from the cold two girlfriends of the late U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown as the firm probed cash for trade mission placements and other corruption in that agency.

Thibault also manages a non-profit foundation that awards $1,000 prizes annually to young poets and writers in Connecticut. The IMPAC-Connecticut State University Young Writers Trust (www.ctyoungwriters.org) has given $118,000 to teen-age poets and writers since 1998. He is also a licensed professional boxing judge.

He has been an editor at such publications as The Hartford Courant, The Stamford Advocate, The Commercial Record, Norwich Bulletin, Register Citizen and The Times Leader of Wilkes Barre, Pa. His profiles of subjects including poets and prosecutors, as well as essays on the arts, have appeared in Connecticut Magazine and Northeast Magazine. His work has also appeared on “Page Six” of The New York Post. He is a former commissioner and hearing officer for the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, an agency charged with opening access to government records; a former vice chairman of the Litchfield Board of Education and a former board member of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. He has also served as vice president of the Litchfield-Morris Rotary.

Thibault’s work as an investigative reporter and feature writer has earned numerous state and national awards. A judge from the Society of Professional Journalists writing competition said this about Thibault’s probe of the cover-up of a hit-and-run death in a Connecticut city: “The writer explores whether New London’s former mayor benefited from a widespread cover-up for the 1973 hit-and-run death of a college student. Witty, compelling -- the writer has a knack for speaking in conversational tone, all the while quietly weaving in crucial facts to support his arguments that more people should be outraged by the shoddy circumstances surrounding the 1973 investigation.”

He co-authored and edited a series on the court system’s handling of a juvenile sexual assault case in 1982 and 1983 that led to changes in Connecticut law regarding the status of juveniles in adult court. The series won first place prizes from the National Newspaper Association for investigative reporting, the New England Press Association for community service and the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists for in-depth reporting. Twice since 1999 Thibault’s notes and sources were sought by a lawyer who subpoenaed him to federal court. He refused to give up the sources and notes, and the court and the lawyer eventually left him alone. His legal expenses were subsidized by friends, colleagues, pro bono assistance from attorneys Phil Russell, Roy Ward and Norm Pattis and the Society of Professional Journalists Legal Defense Fund.

Connecticut’s state court judges, in reaction to a satirical column Thibault wrote about the prospects for the notorious basketball judge Bobby Knight to gain appointment to the bench (Cool Justice 10-2-00), cancelled their subscriptions to The Connecticut Law Tribune en masse. (Judge Takes Issue with Law Tribune) [Both articles on line @ www.andythibault.com]

“In terms of what we buy and distribute in the judicial branch, we have a choice, and right now we’re not buying the Law Tribune,” said the Connecticut Chief Court Administrator, Robert Leuba. “There are some attitudes being used editorially which are not helpful to improving communications among the legal community … ” Law Tribune Publisher and Editor Vincent Valvo said the cancellations -- valued at $16,000 in annual revenue – didn’t put a significant dent in his paper's circulation or finances. But, he allowed, “We are not happy that the judiciary as a branch of government has decided to boycott us.”

In September 2004, the Hartford Courant and The Connecticut Law Tribune reported that the FBI seized notes, cameras, a journalist’s phone book containing sources and other materials from investigators working with the Murzin-Thibault Investigative Group. Lawyers chastised the government for taking the materials, noting the Fourth Amendment prohibits such seizures.

Thibault is a member of the National Conference of Editorial Writers, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Connecticut Library Association and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. He also serves on the advisory board of the Connecticut Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress. His current writing projects include books about prosecutorial misconduct, political corruption and the murder of a black youth by a white policeman in Connecticut, as well as a series of short stories about the adventures of a private eye.
                                                                                                             

ANDY THIBAULT
P.O. Box 1415
Litchfield, CT 06759
tntcomm82@cs.com 
 www.andythibault.com
*Phone: 860-567-8492
*Fax: 860-567-9119
*Cell: 860-690-0211

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