ATTORNEY BLASTS DEA AGENT'S TRANSFER

Congresswoman's Intervention `Smells'

The intervention of a California congresswoman in a Houston drug
investigation "smells to high heaven," according to a lawyer representing
the federal drug agent pulled off the case.

But the target of the investigation, local rap promoter James A. Prince of
Rap-A-Lot Records, said he asked for U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters' help last
year after being harassed with "Gestapo-type tactics" during a 12-year
investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and Houston Police
Department.

The investigation has resulted in drug seizures in Houston, Beaumont and
Oklahoma City and more than 20 convictions against several of Prince's
associates -- including a Houston police officer recently sentenced to
prison. Prince, however, has not been charged.

Jack Schumacher, the Houston-based DEA agent who took over the
investigation in 1998, was transferred out of drug enforcement in March,
according to his lawyer, Michael J. Hinton.

Schumacher's transfer came two days after Vice President Al Gore made a
campaign visit to a Houston church, with financial ties to Prince, that was
scrutinized during the investigation. Schumacher now works a desk job as a
federal liaison to the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

"I'm so mad that a California congresswoman can come into our state, write
to U.S. Attorney Janet Reno and get an internal-affairs investigation going
in Washington, D.C., instead of Houston," Hinton said.

Schumacher requested Hinton's assistance after the Office of Professional
Responsibility began investigating Prince's claim that he feared for his
life because Schumacher had killed six suspects in the line of duty. Hinton
said results of the OPR investigation should be released soon.

In a statement Wednesday, Prince said, "I am thankful for Congresswoman
Waters, who did not turn her back on me when I felt agent Schumacher was
setting me up to be murdered."

Hinton said that investigations into the six shootings attributed to
Schumacher have shown them to be justified and that Prince's request to
remove Schumacher came after the investigation began resulting in arrests.

Waters, a Democrat, denied Monday that she asked that the DEA case be
halted. Waters' office has said she would respond to inquiries later in
writing.

Prince said he supports the war on drugs "with my money and my time,"
including building a drug-rehabilitation center in northeast Houston that
hires former users.

Prince ended his statement with: "I know that God is for me and no evil can
stand against me. This includes rogue officers in the DEA, FBI, HPD, IRS
and all other criminals."

Hinton, however, questioned Prince's anti-drug credentials. "I have a hard
time understanding how someone can say they have an anti-drug stance and
then support rap music that threatens people, naming names, sings about
ruining careers and justifying killing someone," he said.

He referred to Rap-A-Lot Records' latest release, a CD that names
Schumacher, another DEA agent and an informant and threatens to ruin
agents' careers and to kill anyone who gives information to police.

The CD, Last of a Dying Breed, by Brad "Scarface" Jordan, claims DEA agents
probing "the Rap-A-Lot mafia" were trying to set up Prince and his associates.