DRUG CASE INQUIRY REVAMPED

FBI, DEA to pool efforts in task force

Facing blistering congressional complaints about possible political
interference in a major drug case, the Justice Department on Thursday
announced that a joint DEA-FBI task force will take up a troubled
federal investigation of a prominent Houston rap entrepreneur.

The announcement came after House Government Reform Committee Chairman
Dan Burton complained that the Drug Enforcement Administration and the
Justice Department appeared to be stonewalling his committee's
investigation of the drug probe.

Assistant Attorney General Robert Rabin told Mr. Burton about the
formation of the task force in a two-page letter in which he also
disclosed that the Justice Department has asked its inspector general
to investigate "disturbing" allegations that the DEA's case against
James A. Prince and Rap-A-Lot records was "politicized."

But some familiar with the case in Washington and Houston said the
announcement appeared aimed at silencing local and federal drug
investigators in Houston who won more than 20 convictions on charges
ranging from drug trafficking to police corruption before the joint
Houston police-DEA probe was sidetracked in September 1999.

Mr. Rabin told Mr. Burton, R-Indiana, that DEA Administrator Donnie
Marshall had decided to "reassign" the investigation within the next
week to a new team of DEA agents and supervisors outside the Houston
DEA division.

He said the decision, and the addition of FBI agents to the new task
force, was designed "to ensure confidence in the criminal
investigation" and "enhance this investigative effort."

"What a slap in the face to dedicated, professional officers who know
this case, who know the bad guys and the informants and have devoted
years of work, only to see politicians ruin it," said Michael J.
Hinton, a Houston lawyer representing the DEA agent who led the case,
Jack Schumacher.

"It will take forever for a new team to catch up; meanwhile, anyone
committing crimes will know they have a free pass, courtesy of
politicians in Washington," said Mr. Hinton, former chief of the
Harris County district attorney's organized crime division. "This
stinks of cover-up."

Mr. Prince, 36, has never been charged, and he has long denied any
involvement in criminal activity. He has contended for years that he
has been unfairly targeted by "rogue" officers because he is black,
wealthy and rose from a Houston ghetto to music industry prominence.

He has not responded to repeated requests for interviews.

The Justice Department's announcement came after Mr. Burton fired off
an angry letter to Janet Reno on Thursday, complaining that her
department was denying congressional investigators access to DEA
officials and had even ordered DEA's administrator not to return Mr.
Burton's phone calls.

Mr. Rabin told the committee chairman Thursday that the Justice
Department stood by its decision to bar congressional interviews with
DEA officials.

Kevin Binger, committee staff director, said that was "unacceptable,"
particularly in light of the Justice Department's previous willingness
to permit congressional briefings on the Rap-A-Lot probe and other
ongoing criminal cases.

"We're glad that they're finally taking this matter seriously, but
it's unacceptable for them to tell us that we can't interview people,"
Mr. Binger said.

House investigators began skirmishing with Justice officials last
week, after the DEA turned over March e-mails in which DEA's Houston
chief told superiors in Washington that escalating political pressure
was forcing him to close the Rap-A-Lot probe and transfer Mr.
Schumacher, the lead agent, to a desk job.

The e-mails drew intense congressional interest because they were sent
to top DEA officials within two days after Vice President Al Gore made
a campaign stop at a Houston church whose financial ties to Mr. Prince
were examined during the DEA investigation.

Mr. Burton told Ms. Reno on Thursday that he was particularly
disturbed about the March e-mails from Houston DEA chief Ernest Howard
because Mr. Howard had assured the committee investigators in July
that "there was still an ongoing, vigorous investigation."

He noted that five Houston police officers involved in DEA's Rap-A-Lot
probe told committee investigators on Monday that they were told in
September 1999 by the Houston DEA chief that "politics" had forced the
federal agency to suspend what had been a highly successful criminal
investigation.

"The committee is now confronted with a serious question: Did Mr.
Howard tell us the truth?" Mr. Burton wrote. "More important, was an
active investigation of major drug dealer curtailed in any way? If so,
this would border on obstruction of justice."

The Dallas Morning News reported in early October that internal DEA
records and accounts from narcotics investigators indicated that DEA's
case was suspended in September 1999 after Congresswoman Maxine
Waters, D-Calif., complained on Mr. Prince's behalf to Ms. Reno.

The DEA began a yearlong internal investigation after Ms. Waters
complained that Mr. Prince was a victim of DEA harassment, brutality
and racial profiling.

DEA's lead agents on the case, Mr. Schumacher and his partner Chad
Scott, were notified by the agency last month that there was no
evidence to support Mr. Prince's allegations.