DEA AGAIN SLAMMED IN RAP-A-LOT CASE

Congressman: Agency Is Stonewalling Probe

Charges of impropriety again have been levied against the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration for its alleged mishandling of a drug
investigation of Houston-based Rap-A-Lot Records.

U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., sent a letter Wednesday to the Justice
Department, criticizing the DEA for refusing to cooperate with a
congressional probe into the agency's handling of the investigation.

Several members of the House Government Reform Committee, headed by Burton,
have suggested the DEA may have curtailed its investigation of Rap-A-Lot
because of political pressure from the Justice Department.

Ernest Howard, head of the local DEA office, has denied dismantling the
investigation, despite recently revealed e-mail correspondence suggesting
otherwise.

In his letter to the Justice Department, Burton accuses the DEA of
attempting to cover up its alleged dissolution of the investigation.

"We are left with a choice: We either believe Mr. Howard's explanation that
`It's over and we are closing our case against (Rap-A-Lot founder James
Prince)' and the testimony of five Houston police officers who told us that
Mr. Howard informed them that politics played a role in the investigation,"
wrote Burton. "Or we believe the tortured, after-the-fact explanations that
(DEA officials) are now offering when (they) say the case was never closed."

Burton also said in the letter that the DEA attempted to stonewall
congressional investigators who were in Houston on Monday to interview
Houston Police Department officers associated with the case. Houston police
officers, who had prearranged interviews with committee members, were
unnecessarily delayed by the DEA, Burton said.

The Justice Department has maintained that it would cooperate fully with
the congressional investigation. In a written statement released Friday,
the DEA said it would continue to turn over all documents requested by the
committee.

"If any individual in the DEA is found to have allowed political pressure
to interfere with a legitimate law enforcement investigation, he or she
will be held accountable," according to the statement.

Justice Department officials could not be reached Wednesday for comment on
Burton's allegations.

The 12-year investigation has resulted in the seizure of drugs in Houston,
Beaumont and Oklahoma City and in 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.

The controversy surrounding the case began when U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters,
D-Calif. -- an outspoken critic of racial profiling by law enforcement --
sought the assistance of Attorney General Janet Reno in August 1999 on
behalf of Prince, who said he feared for his life and those of his
associates because of alleged racist police harassment and the use of
excessive force.

The e-mail correspondence from Howard, in which he suggested the
investigation be halted because of political pressure, became the focus of
the congressional probe because it was written days after Vice President Al
Gore made a campaign stop in Houston on March 12 at Brookhollow Baptist
Church, which has financial ties to Prince.

A Gore spokesman has denied that the vice president has any involvement in
the matter.

Burton insinuated in his letter that the Department of Justice is
deliberately delaying interviews with the DEA until after the presidential
election -- a charge the Justice Department has denied.