JUDGE GUTS LATIN KINGS CASE, SCOLDS POLICE, FBI

TAMPA - A man with felony convictions stole motorcycles, conspired to
traffic in drugs and made violent threats against his girlfriend - all
while he was paid thousands of dollars a month as a confidential
informant for the FBI and Tampa Police Department, according to a
judge's ruling released Monday.

Calling into question law enforcement tactics and Luis "Danny"
Agosto's credibility, Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Daniel Sleet
threw out racketeering and conspiracy charges against 23 defendants in
the investigation of a suspected Tampa faction of the Latin Kings
street gang.

Although defense attorneys argued prosecutorial misconduct, Sleet said
he saw no evidence that the state attorney's office advocated,
directed or concealed any wrongdoing.

Instead, Sleet used his 42-page written order to turn his ire toward
law enforcement and the crimes of the 30-year-old informant.

"Rather than terminating their relationship with him, law enforcement
excused these crimes and continued to employ his services and paid his
monthly expenses," Sleet wrote. "Dismissal is an extreme sanction;
however an extreme sanction is warranted to punish extreme conduct."

Lyann Goudie, a defense attorney for one of the defendants, wrote the
114-page document requesting that Sleet drop the charges. On Monday
she congratulated Sleet for his tough decision.

"Most of these defendants should not have been charged at all," she
said.

More than 50 people were arrested in the investigation. Many
defendants had family members post bail bonds for large sums of money.
Others have been jailed since their arrest 1 1/2 years ago.

Prosecutors said they will ask Sleet for a rehearing. The defendants
will remain on bail or jailed.

Most of the defendants were arrested at a mandatory meeting of the
Latin Kings in Tampa, set up by Agosto for Aug. 20, 2006. Agosto
threatened beatings for anyone who did not show, authorities said.

At the meeting, 39 purported Latin Kings members were arrested. More
arrests followed.

Sleet ruled Monday that law enforcement authorities allowed Agosto to
go too far when he forced the defendants to show up at the meeting.
Charges were thrown out for those arrested solely for showing up to
that meeting.

Despite the breadth of Sleet's order, it did not exonerate all the
defendants.

Three months before the bust, a handful of the defendants were called
to another meeting to address an old dispute among some Latin Kings
members. At that meeting, prosecutors allege, six of the defendants
beat another Latin Kings member.

Sleet ruled that it was not clear that Agosto acted alone to arrange
that meeting. Conspiracy and racketeering charges, therefore, remain
against the six defendants who attended that meeting, including
Michael Lugo, whom authorities have called the local gang's leader.

Three other defendants still face charges including being a felon in
possession of a firearm, drug charges and trafficking in stolen
property. One remains charged with attempted murder.

Since the arrests, some of the defendants entered plea deals with
prosecutors and accepted probation. A few of those violated probation
on various charges and are now serving prison time.

Charges Shaky, Law Expert Says

Charles Rose, a criminal law professor at Stetson University College
of Law, said he does not remember an instance locally in which a judge
threw out charges against so many defendants at the same time.

Still, he said, issues surrounding confidential informants are not
new. Attempts to get information from someone inside a criminal
organization often means relying on someone of questionable
background, Rose said.

After reading Goudie's request and Sleet's order, Rose said the
charges seemed shaky.

To prove a racketeering charge, he said, prosecutors have to show that
the defendant agreed to join an organization that commits illegal
acts. To prove conspiracy, prosecutors have to show that the defendant
planned with someone else to commit a crime and made an "overt act"
toward that crime.

In Sleet's ruling, he questioned whether the defendants were forced to
attend the Aug. 20, 2006, meeting.

"Would these defendants have shown up at the meeting absent Agosto's
actual and implied threats?" Sleet wrote. "This court is confident
they would not have."

Informant Promised A Bonus

In December 2005, Agosto was in jail, charged with armed burglary and
grand theft of a motor vehicle. Agosto had a long record with multiple
felony convictions and was worried about a long prison sentence,
according to court testimony and Sleet's written order.

Tampa police and the FBI asked him to help look into possible drug and
gun activity within the Tampa Latin Kings. In exchange, they dropped
the burglary charge and gave Agosto 10 years' probation for the theft
charge.

He also was given a rent-free apartment, a cell phone, $2,400 a month
for living expenses and the promise of a $100,000 bonus upon
conviction of Latin Kings members.

The Tampa division of the Latin Kings, however, had been dormant since
August 2005, Sleet's order said. Therefore, Sleet wrote, Agosto was
"employed" by law enforcement to get the gang together. Agosto started
to hold meetings with required attendance. At the final meeting, all
were arrested.

Goudie said law enforcement is prohibited from "manufacturing" a
crime. When Agosto forced people to gather, he formed a gang and
created the conspiracy, she said.

In an analogy, Goudie said police cannot manufacture crack cocaine,
sell it on the street then arrest people for buying it.

"The Tampa Latin Kings became the crack," she said.

Sleet wrote that law enforcement and confidential informants can
"cajole" suspects into committing crimes. They cannot use egregious
and unlawful conduct.

Agosto, Sleet wrote, presided over beatings of Latin Kings members
then threatened all the defendants with beatings if they did not come
to the meeting. He also threatened to hunt down and beat family
members of those who did not attend.

"A court should not allow this illegal and impermissible conduct to
snare criminal suspects," Sleet wrote.

Witness Called 'Brazen' Felon

In more than 51 hours of court hearings, spread out over several
months, Goudie argued that Agosto was not credible. Sleet detailed
many problems with Agosto's background and testimony.

"A little over a month after he was employed by law enforcement,
Agosto ventured back into his previous life of crime," Sleet wrote.

Sleet listed these criminal actions by Agosto:

Agosto is thought to have stolen three motorcycles. He discussed
the theft plans on his government-issued cell phone, monitored by the
FBI, which Sleet called "brazen."

Agosto planned to meet with a Latin Kings defendant regarding drug
trafficking, although the meeting did not occur.

In a call to his girlfriend, Agosto said he was going to "beat her
so bad that her brain will seep from her ears," which Sleet wrote was
"greatly troubling."

Sleet described Agosto as "an out-of-control convicted felon abusing
his role as an informant." Rather than severing ties with Agosto and
arresting him, Sleet wrote, law enforcement "excused" his crimes and
paid his monthly expenses.

Laura McElroy, a spokeswoman for the Tampa Police Department, said she
could not comment while the state attorney is seeking a new hearing. A
message left for an FBI spokesman was not returned.