Drugs, Dominicans & Dems: Part Two

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As First Published in the August, 1999 issue
The Dominicans, The CIA, Pennsylvania, New York and Al Gore

'Sparky'
A Case Study in Heroism and Perseverance when CIA Documents Surface and CIA Intentions Reveal an Intelligence Community, a White House, an Economy and a Nation Out of Control

by

Michael C. Ruppert

According to a "law enforcement sensitive" 1997 DEA report entitled "The Dominican Threat - A Strategic Assessment of Dominican Drug Trafficking," Dominican Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) are responsible for as much as one-third of all the cocaine entering the Continental United States. In the same report, DEA estimates total annual U.S. cocaine consumption at close to 500 metric tons (1,100,000 lbs.). The same report also states that, "The only reason the Dominicans do not dominate the U.S. heroin market as well is that South American production is unable to meet U.S. demand." The Dominicans are buying less expensive [than Asian] Colombian heroin and totally control heroin distribution throughout the northeast. Piecing together various sections of the report prepared by DEA's National Drug Intelligence Center, it is safe to estimate that Dominicans control 20-25% of all cocaine and heroin revenues inside the U.S. The smuggling is centered around New York City, Philadelphia and, to a lesser extent, Boston. In reports released this summer the CIA indicated that the size of Colombia's coca crops increased by 28% in 1998 making Colombia by far the world's largest drug producing nation. DoJ sources report that opium poppy cultivation is also increasing rapidly. [See article "Hail Colombia" in this issue].

In June, FTW documented how approximately two hundred and fifty billion dollars a year in drug money is laundered inside the U.S. It is therefore safe to assume that DTOs launder, conservatively, $30 billion a year through the United States. [Figures are not available on Dominican control of marijuana sales in the northeast but credible estimates range as high as fifty per cent].  Using a standard cash multiplier of six, this means that approximately $180 billion in cash transactions take place each year as a result of Dominican drug trafficking in the northeast.  How many jobs does $180 billion represent? Remember that in the summer of 1998 The Russian Federation begged for only $18 billion to save its entire national economy.

Eighty per cent of all U.S. Presidential campaign donations come from New York, California, Texas and Florida. Those same four states are also where the vast majority of drugs are imported and drug monies laundered in this country. The Bush family governs Texas and Florida. Hillary Clinton is going all out to become a Senator from New York.

Last month we brought you the story of former INS agent Joe Occhipinti, a dedicated and incorruptible investigator who, in 1989, took on the seemingly invincible Dominican drug lords of New York and ran up against a meat grinder fueled by the CIA, the Democratic political machine, the Colombian cartels and a mysterious banking firm called Sea Crest Trading. Joe's investigations led directly into the heart of the Dominican power base in New York City. That base in New York is the center of Dominican financial power in the United States and that power, through the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) [The PRD is alternately referred to in source documents as the DRP] is governed by major drug traffickers closely tied to the CIA and the American Democratic Party.  What started off in 1989 as a hugely successful operation aimed at breaking the grip of Dominican traffickers wound up with Joe Occhipinti imprisoned in 1991, the sole target of manufactured civil rights charges which did not involve dishonesty, violence or wrongful imprisonment of anyone other than Joe. Investigative efforts by and for Occhipinti led directly to the Central Intelligence Agency. Pardoned in 1993 by outgoing President George Bush Occhipinti has struggled for years to clear his name - with only limited success. The rocky and painful ground traveled by Occhipinti six years earlier was unknown to another dedicated and aggressive narc in Pennsylvania named "Sparky".

"Sparky"

I guess I would jokingly call him the ringleader. His name is John R. McLaughlin. He is 44 years old. In 1977 he became a Pennsylvania Highway Patrolman and quickly distinguished himself as an investigator. In 1992, because of his tenacious investigative style, leadership and ability to produce results, he joined the staff of the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office (OAG/BNI) as a narcotics investigator. Joe, whose nickname is "Sparky", has been, and remarkably still is, what we in LAPD would have called a "hard charger." He is one of those guys (like I used to be) who would always work the overtime if it came to taking a bad guy off the street, who, when others would say, "Come on man, you've earned the paycheck, take it easy," would say - "No, I think there's just one more thing I gotta do first." "Sparky" is one of those cops who, if we had ten thousand of them in the right places, would actually put an end to serious organized crime and when the last bad guy was arrested, turn in his badge and gun, walk away from a job he loved and look for another career. That is the kind of thing honorable men do. That is what "Sparky" McLaughlin is.

On October 20, 1995 John McLaughlin and his team of investigators knew that the Dominican drug gangs were dominant in and around Philadelphia where they were concentrating their enforcement efforts. He certainly knew that Dominicans controlled the flow of heroin and cocaine onto Philadelphia streets. Being a guy who always liked to go to the top, "Sparky" had a habit of digging when tantalizing leads came his way.  So, on October 20, 1995, when he and his crew, which came to include fellow investigators Charles Micewski, Dennis J. McKeefery and Edward Eggles, interrogated Dominican national drug suspects and found campaign literature leading to the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) and the presidential campaign of Jose Francisco Pena-Gomez, they were intrigued. By October 23, 1995 an IG Regional Director had gotten involved and an Intelligence Analyst for the State made a call to the CIA to discuss what they had found. Apparently the CIA was interested.

According to records and affidavits filed as part of a 1998 civil suit filed by "Sparky" and his colleagues against employees of the CIA, the State Department and the State of Pennsylvania, CIA Agent David Lawrence was interested enough to travel to the BNI offices that day to discuss the case and find out what information "Sparky" had turned up. Hindsight being 20/20 I'll bet "Sparky" now rues the day that first contact with CIA was ever made.

While the bureaucrats, or the "suits", as they are known, did what they do, "Sparky" and Co. did what they do. Sparky quickly developed informants inside the (PRD) and by November 13, 1995 had learned that if the PRD candidate, Jose Francisco Pena-Gomez, won the upcoming presidential election in May, 1996 that "narcotics would flow much easier into the U.S." from Dominican and PRD sources. On December 7^th (another bad omen for "Sparky" & Co.) the CIA contacted BNI intelligence analysts and advised that the CIA station in the Dominican Republic was very interested and that the CIA would send a field representative to BNI's office on Dec. 11^th. CIA Agent Victoria Naylor advised BNI that she would henceforth only talk over a secure phone.

On December 11^th 1995 Naylor visited BNI and opened up a liaison on the case with McLaughlin's superiors. Meanwhile, McLaughlin Company were digging deeper into the leadership of the PRD and starting to make large seizures of heroin, cocaine and cash. McLaughlin, now working with regional DEA officials, penetrated the PRD leadership leading to Worcester, Massachusetts and back into the heart of Dominican power in the New York City area. By January 17^th of 1996, just five months before the Dominican Presidential election and ten and a half months before the U.S. presidential election, McLaughlin's investigation was attracting notice in many quarters.

On January 17, 1996 the CIA advised BNI that it was sending an official from the Caribbean desk to brief BNI on the Dominican Revolutionary Party. The CIA did a background check on everyone who would attend. The CIA also provided a confidential memorandum for the CIA Chief of Station Larry Leightly, which read in part that Pena and the PRD were widely seen as the U.S. Embassy's candidates of choice in the 1994 elections. Over time it was revealed by the CIA, through various memoranda and conversations that Pena, even though he was both an avowed Marxist and a major drug trafficker, enjoyed the support of both Bill Clinton's State Department and Bill Clinton's Central Intelligence Agency. The Leightly memo also explained that Assistant Secretary of State Alex Watson was "in Santo Domingo on 11 December 1994 and had a lengthy meeting with Pena." Although Pena-Gomez has a long history of Marxist and anti-American activism "Pena-Gomez and the [PRD] are considered main stream in the political spectrum. He and his ideology pose no specific problems for U.S. foreign policy."

Meanwhile, back on the streets, "Sparky" was still doing police work. He was cultivating two undercover informants, one of whom was able to report on activities at the highest levels of the PRD. By January 23, "Sparky's" informants were relaying information that the mainstream candidate favored by the Clinton White House was demanding huge cash payoffs, condoning and supporting drug smuggling but warning party members not to get caught with drugs before the election. Party leaders also relayed a promise that if Pena-Gomez won the election he would "greatly facilitate the flow of drugs into the US" and the flow of money into PRD pockets.

By March 25, "Sparky's" main informant had worked his way into the national PRD leadership in New York City, the same turf where Joe Occhipinti had been bludgeoned six years earlier. From just one informant McLaughlin had been able to document a single stream (out of many streams) of drug money into Pena's coffers totaling more than $2 million. Federal investiagtions were raging everywhere and even the Treasury Department's FINCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) was tracking the dollar volume of drug money involved.

OOPS!

On March 27, 1996 CIA Agent Dave Lawrence came to BNI and met directly with "Sparky" McLaughlin and his regional director, John Sunderhauf. According to court documents filed in McGlaughlin's civil suit "CIA Agent Lawrence stated that he wanted the memo that he gave this agency on January 31, 1996 back as BNI shouldn't have received it. CIA Agent Lawrence went on to state that he wanted the identification of the C/I [Confidential Informant] and what province he came from in the Dominican Republic, CIA Agent Lawrence was adamant about getting this information and he was agitated when BNI personnel refused his

 request. Agts. McGlaughlin and Micewski feared for the life of the informant and his family if this information was revealed because if the informant disappeared there would be no problem for the Clinton Administration.

"CIA Agent Victoria Naylor had come to BNI between January 31^st and March 27^th with a third Memo from Larry Leightley that confirmed all of BNI's findings but BNI was not permitted to retain a copy. Unlike the other two memos this memo was extremely difficult to read as all the sentences ran together without punctuation, which was done on purpose as this was a highly classified document for "EYES ONLY."

That same day the plans of BNI and DEA agents to surveil Francisco Pena-Gomez personally as he arrived in New York City were thwarted by the fact that he arrived with an unexpected heavy bodyguard of NYPD detectives which made any surveillance impossible. McLaughlin and his DEA allies were told that Pena had received several sudden death threats. He was now going to be driven around on his cash pick-ups by NYPD!

Over the course of many issues FTW has documented how the CIA routinely infiltrates local police departments. FTW has written extensively about retired NYPD Detective Al Carone, who was a lifelong friend of both CIA Director Bill Casey and Mafia figures like Pauley Castellano and Vito Genovese. Carone served as a cocaine bagman during the Contra years for both George Bush and Oliver North. Later, on the night of Pena's arrival, an attempt to insert two undercover agents offering $250,000 in cash on behalf of cartel connected dealers into a PRD party meeting for Pena was mysteriously rebuffed.  That did not stop Pena, however, from collecting more than a half million dollars in drug money from other PRD leaders. The worm had begun to turn on the progress of "Sparky" McGlaughlin's once in a lifetime investigation.

From God's Eye

It is not surprising that every PRD official present that night had a DEA NADDIS (Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Information System) number. NADDIS numbers are issued to drug trafficking and money laundering suspects when open investigations are started by DEA or the FBI.

To depart from FTW's usual methodical, chronological, painstaking case building, we will now flash forward to Coogan's Pub in the Dominican-controlled Washington Heights section of New York in September 1996. This would be two months after Pena-Gomez was narrowly defeated in run-off Dominican elections and had already announced his intentions to run again. It was less than two months before the 1996 U.S. Presidential election. It was just weeks after the Gary Webb stories broke in the San Jose Mercury News. It was also just weeks after former Assistant Secretary of Housing, Catherine Austin Fitts, then a HUD consultant revealed maps of defaulted HUD mortgages in various cities, including Los Angeles that showed a dramatic connection between CIA protected drug trafficking and patterns of ethnic cleansing. On a night in September, 1996, if you had zoomed in on a close up, from God's eye, into Coogan's Pub in Washington Heights, you would have seen PRD leaders Simon A. Diaz, PRD Executive Commission Vice President (NADDIS #3164850 - Money Launderer) and Pablo Espinal, PRD Executive Commission and Zone President (NADDIS #1289859 File # ZL-79-0017 - Money Launderer) hold a fund raiser for Vice President Al Gore who was only too happy to attend in person. Many of those attending that night had been present back in March for Pena's fundraiser. Several of them had convictions for sales of pounds of cocaine, weapons violations and the laundering of millions of dollars in drug money. FTW did not have the resources to check Federal Election Commission records to determine how much money Gore raised but several sources have indicated that it was probably several hundred thousand dollars at least.

OK readers, ask yourself one question: Is it possible that Vice President Al Gore's Secret Service detail did not know that most of the people in Coogan's Pub had NADDIS numbers and many had a history of violence? Is it possible the FBI did not know? Is it possible that DEA wouldn't tell the Secret Service? For the record, it is mandatory for the Secret Service to run background checks on everyone arranging a function with the President or the Vice President or any member of their families. They search just about every database there is.

Systematic, Ugly and Mean

Less than two weeks after "Sparky" McLaughlin and crew refused to turn over the name of the confidential informant who was rapidly pulling the covers off the PRD and the Clinton White House, "Sparky's" life and the lives of his partners began to unravel - big time!  A whole book could be written on the systematic, ugly and mean things that were done to compel submission and, as the CIA so loves to do, make an object lesson for others. First, all of McLaughlin's pending cases in state and local court were either thrown out or declared nolle prosse (not prosecutable) by the Philadelphia DA. News stories began appearing in print and in TV indicating that McLaughlin's unit was under investigation for massive corruption and linked to an ongoing major corruption probe of the Philadelphia PD's 39^th Precinct. Attorney General staffers were caught using office fax machines to send the planted news stories to media outlets outside of the region in attempts to fan the flames of gossip and innuendo. Superiors, including an Assistant Attorney General, ordered McLaughlin and crew, to not defend themselves in the press. McLaughlin's home phone number and home address were leaked to the press. An internal affairs investigation was started over an inconsequential grammatical error in a search warrant affidavit written by McLaughlin. DEA agents in Pennsylvania and New York were told that they could no longer cooperate with "Sparky" or his team. The Philadelphia DA released all of McLaughlin's arrestees and attorneys were encouraged to file appeals on all of McLaughlin's prior convictions.

On top of all this every piece of paper, every phone call, every venture outside BNI offices in a police vehicle has been scrutinized. Even "Sparky's" restroom breaks are monitored. New supervisors have come into BNI and openly derided him as being crooked and/or stupid. One of them appeared to have been promoted and assigned with the sole purpose of "getting" McLaughlin. On one occasion "Sparky" was deliberately held till the last minute then forced to leave the building at a run on a corridor that was slick and freshly washed. "Sparky" went down and hurt his back. Implications have regularly been made that "Sparky" and crew are guilty of perjury and theft. Still the orders come to "Sparky" to remain silent and not defend. Even now he and his attorney, former Pennsylvania Congressman Don Bailey, are under a gag order and not allowed to talk about their lawsuit or the multitude of pending administrative and civil proceedings coming from both sides.

The FBI came to BNI and took most of the folders connected to "Sparky's" cases. The psychological message was clear, - "We're looking for another comma out of place so that we can file federal charges." Eventually, according to "Sparky's" confidential informant, who is as loyal to "Sparky" as "Sparky" is to him, lawyers with political connections were coming to PRD meetings and instructing PRD members to accuse McLaughlin and Co. of money skimming.

How bad did it get? Well, Pennsylvania has its own particular style. The political pressure got so bad, and the state Democrats were so threatened that Democratic State Senator Vince Fuomo urged a convicted drug dealer to seek vengeance against McLaughlin, (for what is unclear because he was never officially charged with anything).  From the open Senate floor in May 1996 Fuomo screamed, "I say sue them [McLaughlin's team]. Hammer them to death! That's the only time they're going to get the message… Bankrupt them, take their houses from them. They deserve that kind of treatment…"

As I read the more than seventy pages of McLaughlin's diary, filed as a part of his suit, I was literally amazed that the BNI and the Philly DA, at the CIA's direction, pulled every two bit, mean-spirited, third grade, nasty trick conceivable to break and punish John McLaughlin for his integrity. And, as I read it, they also did the one and only thing that would really hurt a guy like "Sparky" - they took him off the street. They forbade him and his partners from assisting on search warrants and even from leaving the building when fellow officers were in danger close-by and requesting assistance. That is the one way to really hurt a street cop. Not only have they done everything possible to break this crew, they have done everything to provoke them. Some of the crew have retired, some have filed for disability, but not one has ever been prosecuted for any criminal offense after years of investigations and ruthless torment. Not one has ever been disciplined for anything more serious than a manufactured "rules" violation. Even though "Sparky's" team has been ordered to "count paper clips," "Sparky" has fought back by the book and he has shown up for work every day. They haven't broken him and if anyone deserves the nickname, he does.

A Momentary Respite then…

An examination of the trials of "Sparky" and Co. shows very little respite over the course of four years. As "Sparky" has fought back the pressure has stayed on - with one notable exception. Between the time of the appearance of the Gary Webb stories in the San Jose Mercury News (August 1996) and the 1996 Presidential election in November, interest was shown by various Washington interests including the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter and the legendary Jack Blum, former chief investigator for the Kerry hearings into CIA-Contra drugs. In spite of efforts to stall and delay on the part of Pennsylvania officials, McLaughlin was allowed to present evidence to SSCI in closed session in 1997. [Coincidentally - McLaughlin was interviewed by the same two investigators, Al Cumming and Melvin Dubee, who were sent to interview me after my confrontation with DCI John Deutch on November 15, 1996 in Los Angeles]. This attention from the "other side of the aisle" eventually forced an admission out of Pennsylvania AG officials that there was absolutely no evidence at that time that "Sparky" and Co. had committed any crime whatsoever. Then, after the 1996 election had safely passed the heat picked up again. John McLaughlin now drives a 300 mile round trip, every day, to keep going to work at a new assignment, "counting paper clips" far away from his home. In the words of an official spokesman who requested anonymity for fear of being accused of breaking the gag order,  "Not one of these men ever did anything wrong. Period. To this day, not one single person, on either side of the law or either side of the aisle has produced one single piece of evidence of any criminal or administrative misconduct on the part of John McLuaghlin or the other plaintiffs in this case. This was all about retaliation and ruthless suppression of evidence showing corruption at the highest levels of the American government."

There are two stories here. One is the really naked story of how drug money has corrupted the Democratic Party machine the same way it has corrupted the Republican Party machines in other states and nationally. The other story is of the incredible courage and tenacity of a man who has literally taken everything that was thrown at him and is still standing. Without digressing into my own twenty years against the system let me just say that I stand in awe of John McLuaghlin. Barring major changes in the national environment (which I consider imminent) John's civil suit will likely be settled sometime after January 2001, when William Jefferson Clinton is safely out of office. "Sparky" and Co. will receive a nice settlement and a nice pension because the defendants will know that if the case ever gets before a jury no amount of money would rise to the severity of the wrongs committed. The cynicism of the system, as I have found it to operate, is such that it routinely steals the best years out of good people's lives and callously figures that if they survive a little money will make them go away quietly. "Sparky" McLaughlin and his partners deserve better than that and America needs to prove that it is worthy of them.

"Whatever happened to Pena-Gomez?" you ask. He died (suddenly) of pancreatic cancer last year. Know what FTW thinks? We think that Bill Clinton played rope a dope with a drug dealer, taking his money and making many promises and then using the CIA to make sure that the PRD lost the election. That, according to those like his former bodyguard L.D. Brown, is classic Clinton style; promising jobs to many, taking their money and then hanging them out to dry. After all, Bill Clinton has other drug interests to protect.

A Closing Pitch from The New York Times

I thank the New York Times for writing the closing section to this article on May 10, 1998.

''The narcotics traffickers don't like to have all their eggs in one basket,'' a senior Dominican Government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. ''And so they donate to all the parties. But the biggest problem is in the P.R.D. We don't like to say that publicly, however, because then people think we are acting from political motives.''

          In the United States, Federal drug agents and local law enforcement officials have also been looking closely at the party's branches and leaders throughout the Northeastern United States. The drug enforcement agency's documents identify the party's New England headquarters in Worcester, Mass., as a major drug distribution center. They say that local party officials in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, some of whom have previous drug convictions, are also involved in such activities.

          Even if the drug traffickers' candidates are defeated, the rings will offer no respite, warned Mr. Velez, the Colombian businessman who is in custody here. The Colombian cartels, having established an enormously lucrative foothold in the Dominican Republic, will stop at nothing to expand it, he said, even if that means ''killing judges, lawyers, cops and reporters,'' as well as ordinary citizens who stand in their way.

          ''In whatever country they establish themselves,'' Mr. Velez said, ''the cartels get involved in politics and the economy, buying up properties and infiltrating all aspects of public and private activity. That's what's coming here, and this country isn't prepared and doesn't know how to stand up to it.

         " - It's going to be a catastrophe.''

FTW wonders what country Mr. Velez is worrying about. If the United States goes to war in Colombia it will be to weaken the power of the cartels, just like in 1989 when we invaded Panama. Only the stakes will be higher.

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