Podcast appearances and mentions of Leon Wildes

In 1971, John Lennon performed publicly, for the first time in five years, at a rally decrying the injustice of Michigan police targeting a radical political activist for an elaborate undercover sting operation, resulting in a sentence of ten years in prison for passing two joints. The concert brought massive media attention, and John Sinclair soon after walked out of prison a free man, landing John Lennon on Richard Nixon's official enemies list. For the next three years, the President's "plumbers" harassed the former Beatle and his wife Yoko Ono, while the INS threatened him with deportation over an old hashish bust back in England. Meanwhile the FBI tapped his phones and sent agents to tail his every move. Lennon, Ono, and their legal team fought them every step, and along the way created a new legal precedent in immigration law that still stands as today's DREAM act. Read John Lennon vs. The USA (written by Lennon's immigration attorney Leon Wildes) for more info. Long live Nutopia! PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video versions of this podcast and private seshes, plus cool rewards like a signed book. And it truly helps us make the best show possible. EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 150+ episodes of Great Moments in Weed History, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday.

My remarks from the funeral of my beloved father. To see the whole ceremony click here: https://www.legacycelebrated.com/leon-wildes/ May we only know Simchas

In 1971, John Lennon performed publicly, for the first time in five years, at a rally decrying the injustice of Michigan police targeting a radical political activist for an elaborate undercover sting operation, resulting in a sentence of ten years in prison for passing two joints. The concert brought massive media attention, and John Sinclair soon after walked out of prison a free man, landing John Lennon on Richard Nixon's official enemies list.  For the next three years, the President's "plumbers" harassed the former Beatle and his wife Yoko Ono, while the INS threatened him with deportation over an old hashish bust back in England. Meanwhile the FBI tapped his phones and sent agents to tail his every move Lennon, Ono, and their legal team fought them every step, and along the way created a new legal precedent in immigration law that still stands as today's DREAM act. (At the time of this podcast, the Supreme Court had yet to rule on a case brought by the Trump administration challenging DACA and the DREAM Act). Read John Lennon vs. The USA (written by Lennon's immigration attorney Leon Wildes) for more info, and watch the documentary The U.S. vs John Lennon Also learn more about Dr. Lester Grinspoon (whose expert witness on the difference between "marijuana" and "hashish" helped save the day) in our Season 1 episode about Carl Sagan. Big thanks to Tweedle Farms for their support this season! Go to Tweedlefarms.com and use promo code greatmoments for a discount on CBD products shipped anywhere in the U.S. Long live Nutopia!

In this special episode, Alan Gurvey and Kerri Kasem celebrate Father's Day with three generations of the Wildes, a family rich in character and brilliant in law. Celebrity immigration attorney and the mayor of Englewood, New Jersey, Michael Wildes, shares the mic with his father the legendary Leon Wildes, who represented John Lennon in one of the most famous precedential immigration cases in U.S. history. Amy Wildes, Michael's wife and also an immigration attorney extraordinaire with Wildes & Weinberg Immigration Law Offices, will join in the banter, as will Michael and Amy's children, Raquel and Josh, who both just graduated from their parents' and grandfather's alma mater, the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, where Sir Paul McCartney gave Leon Wildes a shout out during his graduation address. Together the family will talk about their commitment to giving back in the community, why they became lawyers, and how the elders inspired the children's life choices, both professionally and personally. Don't miss this heartwarming and inspiring episode of Gurvey's Law on Father's Day.  Tune in on Sundays on KABC Talkradio and streaming live at kabc.com!

Book Review of John Lennon vs. The USA by Leon Wildes

Christian is joined by noted New York immigration attorney Leon Wildes, who tells the incredible story of this landmark case - John Lennon vs. The U.S.A. that set up a battle of wills between John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and President Richard Nixon. Although Wildes did not even know who John Lennon and Yoko Ono were when he was originally retained by them, he developed a close relationship with them both during the eventual five-year period while he represented them and thereafter.

Leon Wildes is the author of John Lennon vs The U.S.A.: The Inside Story of the Most Bitterly Contested and Influential Deportation Case in United States History (Ankerwycke 2016). Wildes is an immigration attorney and the founder partner of Wildes & Weinberg. As immigration issues dominate the discussion of President-Elect Donald Trump’s transition to power, Wildes takes us back to the dramatic deportation case of John Lennon. Part legal analysis, part legal history, John Lennon vs. The U.S.A. shows the way presidential politics played out in the case against Lennon. Wildes, Lennon’s lawyer in the case, retells the case for the first time in this interesting new book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leon Wildes is the author of John Lennon vs The U.S.A.: The Inside Story of the Most Bitterly Contested and Influential Deportation Case in United States History (Ankerwycke 2016). Wildes is an immigration attorney and the founder partner of Wildes & Weinberg. As immigration issues dominate the discussion of President-Elect Donald Trump’s transition to power, Wildes takes us back to the dramatic deportation case of John Lennon. Part legal analysis, part legal history, John Lennon vs. The U.S.A. shows the way presidential politics played out in the case against Lennon. Wildes, Lennon’s lawyer in the case, retells the case for the first time in this interesting new book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leon Wildes is the author of John Lennon vs The U.S.A.: The Inside Story of the Most Bitterly Contested and Influential Deportation Case in United States History (Ankerwycke 2016). Wildes is an immigration attorney and the founder partner of Wildes & Weinberg. As immigration issues dominate the discussion of President-Elect Donald Trump’s transition to power, Wildes takes us back to the dramatic deportation case of John Lennon. Part legal analysis, part legal history, John Lennon vs. The U.S.A. shows the way presidential politics played out in the case against Lennon. Wildes, Lennon’s lawyer in the case, retells the case for the first time in this interesting new book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leon Wildes is the author of John Lennon vs The U.S.A.: The Inside Story of the Most Bitterly Contested and Influential Deportation Case in United States History (Ankerwycke 2016). Wildes is an immigration attorney and the founder partner of Wildes & Weinberg. As immigration issues dominate the discussion of President-Elect Donald Trump’s transition to power, Wildes takes us back to the dramatic deportation case of John Lennon. Part legal analysis, part legal history, John Lennon vs. The U.S.A. shows the way presidential politics played out in the case against Lennon. Wildes, Lennon’s lawyer in the case, retells the case for the first time in this interesting new book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leon Wildes is the author of John Lennon vs The U.S.A.: The Inside Story of the Most Bitterly Contested and Influential Deportation Case in United States History (Ankerwycke 2016). Wildes is an immigration attorney and the founder partner of Wildes & Weinberg. As immigration issues dominate the discussion of President-Elect Donald Trump’s transition to power, Wildes takes us back to the dramatic deportation case of John Lennon. Part legal analysis, part legal history, John Lennon vs. The U.S.A. shows the way presidential politics played out in the case against Lennon. Wildes, Lennon’s lawyer in the case, retells the case for the first time in this interesting new book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leon Wildes is the author of John Lennon vs The U.S.A.: The Inside Story of the Most Bitterly Contested and Influential Deportation Case in United States History (Ankerwycke 2016). Wildes is an immigration attorney and the founder partner of Wildes & Weinberg. As immigration issues dominate the discussion of President-Elect Donald Trump’s transition to power, Wildes takes us back to the dramatic deportation case of John Lennon. Part legal analysis, part legal history, John Lennon vs. The U.S.A. shows the way presidential politics played out in the case against Lennon. Wildes, Lennon’s lawyer in the case, retells the case for the first time in this interesting new book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When immigration attorney Leon Wildes got a call from an old law school classmate in January 1972 about representing a musician and his wife who were facing deportation, their names didn’t ring a bell. Even after meeting with them privately at their New York City apartment, Wildes wasn’t entirely clear about who his potential clients were. He told his wife that he’d met with a Jack Lemon and Yoko Moto. “Wait a minute, Leon,” his wife Ruth said to him. “Do you mean John Lennon and Yoko Ono?” What Wildes didn’t know when accepting the Lennons’ case was that he and his clients were facing a five-year legal battle which would eventually expose corruption at the highest levels of the Nixon administration and change the U.S. immigration process forever. His account of that legal battle is told in John Lennon vs. the USA: The Inside Story of the Most Bitterly Contested and Influential Deportation Case in United States History. Leon Wildes and his son Michael (now a managing partner at the firm his father founded, Wildes & Weinberg) joined the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles to discuss the legacy of the case and the effect it’s had on the entire family.

When immigration attorney Leon Wildes got a call from an old law school classmate in January 1972 about representing a musician and his wife who were facing deportation, their names didn’t ring a bell. Even after meeting with them privately at their New York City apartment, Wildes wasn’t entirely clear about who his potential clients were. He told his wife that he’d met with a Jack Lemon and Yoko Moto. “Wait a minute, Leon,” his wife Ruth said to him. “Do you mean John Lennon and Yoko Ono?” What Wildes didn’t know when accepting the Lennons’ case was that he and his clients were facing a five-year legal battle which would eventually expose corruption at the highest levels of the Nixon administration and change the U.S. immigration process forever. His account of that legal battle is told in John Lennon vs. the USA: The Inside Story of the Most Bitterly Contested and Influential Deportation Case in United States History. Leon Wildes and his son Michael (now a managing partner at the firm his father founded, Wildes & Weinberg) joined the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles to discuss the legacy of the case and the effect it’s had on the entire family.

Leon Wlldes and Michael Wildes head one of the most preeminent law firms in the immigration and nationality fields, Wildes & Weinberg, PC. Father and son have defended many in immigration jeopardy: the famous and others in need of counsel.

*The Walrus and the Elephants: John Lennon's Years of Revolution, James A. Mitchell. In late 1971 John Lennon left London and pop stardom behind and moved to New York City, eager to join a youth movement rallying for social justice and an end to the Vietnam War. Lennon was embraced by radicals and revolutionaries, the hippies and Yippies at odds with the establishment. Settling in Greenwich Village, the former Beatle was soon on the front lines of the antiwar movement, championing causes and inspiring solidarity—and suspicion. Seen as a savior by a generation in need of cultural heroes, Lennon was just as passionately hounded by a government anxious to silence enemies within its borders.The Walrus and the Elephants is told by the unlikely cast of friends, among them the members of Elephant's Memory, who were some of the few who got to know the man behind the Beatle. Exclusive interviews include writer and feminist leader Gloria Steinem; Congressional Black Caucus cofounder Ron Dellums; "Chicago Seven" veteran Rennie Davis; immigration attorney Leon Wildes; and legendary poet-activist John Sinclair, whose imprisonment for marijuana—ten years for two joints—kicked off Lennon's American journey. It was a busy year of making music and controversial TV appearances, allies and enemies. It was a time of great change in America, one that saw the end of the movements of the sixties, the beginning of a new era. The Walrus and the Elephants is a look back at that time and at the John Lennon who joined the revolution, through the eyes of those who dreamed, rallied, and fought alongside him.  

Author James A. Mitchell tells the story that no one else can tell .. He has had many conversations with those who were part of it ! In late 1971 John Lennon left London and pop stardom behind and moved to New York City, eager to join a youth movement rallying for social justice and an end to the Vietnam War. Lennon was embraced by radicals and revolutionaries, the hippies and Yippies at odds with the establishment. Settling in Greenwich Village, the former Beatle was soon on the front lines of the antiwar movement, championing causes and inspiring solidarity—and suspicion. Seen as a savior by a generation in need of cultural heroes, Lennon was just as passionately hounded by a government anxious to silence enemies within its borders. The Walrus and the Elephants is told by the unlikely cast of friends, among them the members of Elephant's Memory, who were some of the few who got to know the man behind the Beatle. Exclusive interviews include writer and feminist leader Gloria Steinem; Congressional Black Caucus cofounder Ron Dellums; "Chicago Seven" veteran Rennie Davis; immigration attorney Leon Wildes; and legendary poet-activist John Sinclair, whose imprisonment for marijuana—ten years for two joints—kicked off Lennon's American journey.It was a busy year of making music and controversial TV appearances, allies and enemies. It was a time of great change in America, one that saw the end of the movements of the sixties, the beginning of a new era. The Walrus and the Elephants is a look back at that time and at the John Lennon who joined the revolution, through the eyes of those who dreamed, rallied, and fought alongside him.