Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FBI's probe in Phila- Report reveals scope of wiretaps

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 05 May 2004 01:36:46 -0400

Report reveals scope of wiretaps

The FBI's probe in Phila. uncovered more than 5,000 of what the U.S. 
considers to be incriminating discussions.

By Jacqueline Soteropoulos and Emilie Lounsberry
Inquirer Staff Writers

The FBI secretly recorded what a federal report described as more than
5,000 
"incriminating intercepts" during two years of wiretapping and bugging
in an 
investigation into alleged corruption in Philadelphia.

An "incriminating intercept" is defined as a discussion that could
result in 
prosecution.

The numbers come from a newly released federal wiretap report that
provides 
an unusual glimpse into the potentially damaging evidence gathered from 
court-authorized electronic surveillance that centered mostly on lawyer
Ronald A. 
White and Imam Shamsud-din Ali, the two key figures in the inquiry.

The report, along with documents sent to people whose conversations were 
intercepted, show that wiretaps and bugs that started on Ali's home
phone and 
later led to taps on phones of a City Council aide and a deputy in Mayor
Street's 
office produced 2,994 such incriminating intercepts.

Taps that started on White's office phone and led elsewhere resulted in
an 
additional 2,233 "incriminating intercepts," according to the report,
which 
listed racketeering as the offense under investigation.

The annual report, released Friday by the Administrative Office of U.S. 
Courts, suggests that the investigation has relied on what may be the
most 
extensive use of electronic surveillance in the nation.

The report, which covers nationwide wiretaps concluded in 2003, is based
on 
information filed by judges and prosecutors.

The Ali-related electronic surveillance, dating to June 2001, picked up 
conversations among 855 people, with the FBI listening to 36,668
conversations - an 
average of 94 a day, according to the report.

The report shows that the Ali surveillance was kept in place for the
longest 
time among any of the 578 bugs and taps authorized by federal judges 
nationwide. The number of "incriminating intercepts" also was
substantial, though some 
investigations tallied even greater numbers.

No charges have been filed in the Philadelphia inquiry, and federal 
prosecutors and the FBI have repeatedly declined to comment on any
aspect of the 
investigation.

The big question in political and legal circles these days is what,
exactly, 
was picked up during more than two years of tapping.

Some defense lawyers who have heard portions of tapes or had them
summarized 
say they have found them less than damning.

The report does not identify the investigations by name, but it is clear
from 
reading the document, along with the wiretap notices, that the Ali and
White 
wiretaps are among the 10 approved by federal judges in Philadelphia and 
listed in the 2003 report.

The inquiry became public last October with the discovery of a bug in
Mayor 
Street's City Hall office, though prosecutors later disclosed that no 
conversations were recorded during the two weeks it was in place.

Philadelphia police found the hidden device in the ceiling during what
they 
said was a routine sweep for electronic recording devices.

Since then, the inquiry has reached into many corners of city government
as 
the FBI and the IRS have traced the flow of money that drives city
business and 
examined a range of contracts involving demolition, insurance, bonds,
debt 
collection and work done by "disadvantaged" subcontractors.

Along the way, federal prosecutors were required to notify people whose 
conversations were intercepted.

One notification described the electronic surveillance that began when a 
federal judge, on June 13, 2001, authorized a wiretap at the home of Ali
and his 
wife in Cheltenham Township. In July, the same judge permitted a new tap
on 
Ali's cell phone.

In February 2002, the electronic surveillance of Ali's home ended, but
the 
judge allowed the FBI to tap the cell phone of Steven A. Vaughn, who is
an aide 
to City Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, and the office phone of John 
Christmas, a deputy chief of staff to Street. The judge also allowed the
FBI to place a 
bug at Ali's business, Keystone Information and Financial Services.

That investigation had its origins in a 2000 FBI probe of an alleged 
multimillion-dollar cocaine-distribution network in North Philadelphia.

But the inquiry turned into a corruption investigation as the FBI later
heard 
Ali talk with city officials and politicians about work he hoped to
obtain.

The document lists the offense in the Ali-related surveillance as
narcotics. 
According to the report, the surveillance cost $235,956, mostly for the 
investigative staffing needed to monitor the intercepts.

According to another notification to those picked up on taps, the judge,
on 
Jan. 29, 2003, approved a wiretap at White's Center City law office and
on his 
cell phone.

In June, the judge allowed the FBI to add a tap on the office phone of 
then-City Treasurer Corey Kemp. In July, agents were allowed to place a
bug in 
White's office.

And in September, they won approval to place a bug in the mayor's
office, as 
well as tap the mobile phone of James Tyrrell, an official at
Philadelphia 
International Airport.

In all, FBI agents listened in on conversations involving White for a
240-day 
period, monitoring verbal exchanges involving 281 people.

Out of those 26,391 conversations, federal authorities deemed 2,233
exchanges 
as incriminating.

The cost was $43,000, including paying for the staff who monitored the 
recording devices.

The nationwide wiretap report includes tallies only for investigations
that 
have either led to charges or are no longer secret.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/8567712.htm?1c

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