RAP FIGURE ALLEGES HARASSMENT BY DEA

Some Agents Say Lawmaker Halted Inquiry

A Houston rap promoter lashed out at federal drug investigators Wednesday,
contending that they have unfairly targeted him and his company during more
than a decade of criminal inquiries.

The promoter, James A. Prince, attacked by name the Drug Enforcement
Administration agent who has led the case against him, alleging that he and
other agents and Houston police had employed racial profiling,
"Gestapo-type methods" and "criminal tactics" in their investigation.

"Over at least a 12-year period, law enforcement officials have
investigated me and subpoenaed my financial records on at least two
occasions. After such extensive review, they have found nothing
inappropriate and can only produce innuendo and propaganda," Mr. Prince
said in a two-page statement issued Wednesday afternoon.

The statement, issued by his record label, Rap-A-Lot Records, comes two
days after The Dallas Morning News reported that Mr. Prince had enlisted
the aid of a Democratic congresswoman to complain to Attorney General Janet
Reno in August 1999 about the drug investigation.

Although top DEA officials dispute it, investigators directly involved in
the inquiry say they were ordered to stop a two-year task-force
investigation of Mr. Prince and his associates in September 1999 after U.S.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif, appealed to the attorney general.

Internal DEA documents obtained by The News support the investigators'
accounts. The documents detail how agents were ordered to quit pursuing a
case that had obtained multiple drug seizures in Houston, Beaumont and
Oklahoma City and federal and sate convictions of more than 20 people
a=80=93 including a Houston police officer and several of Mr. Prince's
employees and associates.

Jack Schumacher, the Houston DEA agent who led the investigation, was then
transferred out of enforcement work to a desk job in March.

Agent Schumacher's transfer came two days after a presidential campaign
visit by Vice President Al Gore to a Houston church whose financial ties to
Mr. Prince had been scrutinized during the DEA investigation. Agent
Schumacher, who declined to be interviewed Wednesday, said last week that
he had been told that his involuntary transfer was "very, very political."

Ms. Waters said Monday that she had not asked that the DEA case be halted
and was concerned that her letter had been made public. She added that she
would answer questions about her interactions with Mr. Prince only in writing.

She would not comment on why she asked DEA investigators to interview Mr.
Prince in September 1999 in her Washington congressional office, or why she
had her husband, Sidney Williams, and several outside lawyers attend the
interview.

"I'm trying to find out how this story got started," she said. " I am going
to answer everything in writing."

In his statement about the case, Mr. Prince praised Ms. Waters' work on his
behalf and condemned Agent Schumacher, noting that he has previously killed
six suspects in the line of duty.

"I firmly believe we have a man in Agent Schumacher who has no respect for
the rights of individuals and also feels he is above the laws of the
constitution of the United States of America," Mr. Prince said. "Once
again, 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."

Authorities and Mr. Schumacher's attorney say that each of his fatal
shootings was justified, including five when he was a Houston police
officer and a videotaped 1994 shooting that occurred in which a drug dealer
was killed after forcing a DEA informant to his knees and raising a pistol
to execute him.

DEA officials in Houston declined to comment on the matter Wednesday,
referring questions to the agency's headquarters in Washington. An agency
spokesman there said "the allegation that an agent would set somebody up to
be murdered is ridiculous." The spokesman, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, declined to comment further.

The agency's Houston division head, Agent Ernest L. Howard, last week said
that Mr. Prince's allegations of racism and brutality were unfounded. Agent
Howard noted that he and many of the agents who worked on the case are
black, and he added that he personally selected Agent Schumacher to lead
the Rap-a-Lot inquiry.

Mr. Schumacher's attorney, Michael J. Hinton of Houston, said Wednesday
that Mr. Prince's characterization of his client was "outrageous,
ridiculous, and a slam to the law enforcement community and a dedicated
officer who has saved many lives."

"All of these shootings were investigated by Houston police internal
affairs and homicide, the civil rights division of Harris County's district
attorney office, and local grand juries. In each instance, each shooting
was ruled fully justified," said Mr. Hinton, a former Harris county
prosecutor and chief of the district attorney's organized-crime division.

"This is not about Jack Schumacher. This is about a congresswoman from
another state who intervened at the highest levels of the Clinton
administration and effectively shut down a major crack cocaine
investigation in this city," he said. "Mr. Prince has once again used his
influence, his money and the race card to try to stave off a legitimate
criminal investigation. There is something terribly wrong here."

In his statement, Mr. Prince contended that the DEA investigation targeting
him and his associates was harassment.

"If this is not another investigation motivated by racial profiling, then
what kind of investigation is it? Many companies have former employees who
were involved in illegal activities. Should their actions condemn the
entire company?" he said.

He added that he hated "drugs that harm people," and said he had hired
ex-drug dealers who were willing to turn their lives around. He said he
also is committed to helping his community with a fortune he said he earned
through years of hard work.

"I ask people to use their common sense. I have more money than I can spend
in my lifetime, so I have no motivation to be affiliated with drugs," he
said. "The facts, which law enforcement agencies well know, are that I pay
millions of dollars in taxes each year and have contributed millions to
numerous community and charitable organizations.

"I am living right, and I have no fear of extreme elements or of any
investigation," his statement said. "I know that God is for me and no evil
can stand against me; this includes rogue officers of the DEA, FBI, HPD,
IRS and all other criminals."

The spokesman who issued the statement Wednesday said that Mr. Prince was
traveling and unavailable for further comment. His statement made no
mention of his record label's latest release, a CD that names Mr.
Schumacher, another DEA agent and a confidential DEA informant and
threatens to "ruin" agents' careers and kill anyone who gives information
to police.

The CD, Last of a Dying Breed, by top Rap-A-Lot artist Brad "Scarface"
Jordan, complains that the DEA agents investigating "the Rap-A-Lot mafia"
were trying to set up Mr. Prince and his associates. The album was released
this week by the record label.

U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford, whose Beaumont-based Eastern District of Texas
handled several of the drug prosecutions arising from the Rap-A-Lot
inquiry, said there was no mistaking the message in the songs.

"The lyrics clearly appear to threaten anyone who would cooperate," he said
Wednesday. "That's outrageous, and it's hard for me to believe that people
will sell CDs that have lyrics that threaten to kill cooperators in drug
investigations. I know they have First Amendment rights, but there's no
justification or excuse for that."