99 REPORTEDLY FRAMED BY FORMER L.A. COPS

LOS ANGELES -- Significantly broadening the scope of the Rampart
Division corruption scandal, Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks
has disclosed that 99 people are believed to have been framed by
disgraced ex-officer-turned-informant Rafael Perez and his former partners.

Parks, in his most detailed update on the scandal since it broke in
September, also called upon District Attorney Gil Garcetti to move
forward as quickly as possible to dismiss cases "en masse" instead of
prolonging the investigation and delaying "the obvious." He said at
least three wrongly convicted people remain behind bars. Others have
either served their time, have been paroled or placed on probation,
officials said.

LAPD investigators have traveled across the country and to Guatemala
and El Salvador in efforts to corroborate Perez's admissions and
allegations, Parks said. So far, detectives have found and interviewed
52 apparent victims.

"The department feels that the criminal cases involving these 52
defendants have been severely tainted and cannot be salvaged," Parks
said Wednesday night at the LAPD's downtown headquarters. "I believe
at this time it is in the best interest of the city to dispose of
these charges . . . en masse vs. a case-by-case process."

Parks also publicly pressed Garcetti's office to file criminal charges
against two current officers and one former LAPD officer linked to the
Rampart corruption.

District attorney's officials say that such charges are premature and
that further investigation is needed.

Immediately after the chief's news conference, district attorney
officials held their own news conference, reaffirming their commitment
to aggressively investigate the corruption, free anyone wrongly
convicted, and prosecute officers who abused their authority.

Victoria Pipkin, a spokeswoman for Garcetti, said prosecutors may seek
to overturn yet another batch of convictions as soon as next week.

So far, 23 cases have been thrown out as a result of the
investigation. Those cases are among the ones Parks identified.