FELON'S FIREARMS CONVICTION IS OVERTURNED

A Federal Appeals Court Rules That Agents Had No Basis To Search The
Apartment Of Robert A. Vigeant In May 1997.

Robert A. Vigeant, a convicted felon with reputed ties to organized crime,
may soon be a free man after serving just 13 months of a 19-year sentence in
federal prison.

The federal appeals court in Boston tossed out Vigeant's conviction last
month for possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony.

In a strongly worded ruling, the court chastened the government for
obtaining a warrant to search Vigeant's house in Narragansett without
probable cause.

The court says that the warrant was based on "foundationless conclusions."

"The government argues in its brief -- with information obtained after the
search in question -- that Vigeant is a bad person," wrote the court. "Be
that as it may, even unsavory persons have constitutional rights."

Vigeant, whom a federal prosecutor once described as an "rmed career
criminal," is the son of Providence City Councilor Josephine Joan DiRuzzo.

She was thrilled with the ruling.

"The decision speaks for itself," said DiRuzzo. "I think it shows that no
one is above the law. This has been long and hard on everybody. The family
has suffered and my son has suffered."

The case against Vigeant, 37, dates to May 12, 1997, when federal agents
broke down his door with a battering ram, handcuffed the half-naked suspect
and searched his house, at 24 Newport Lane, Narragansett.

Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue
Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms had obtained a search
warrant as part of a probe into a drug and money-laundering ring accused of
bringing $700,000 worth of marijuana from Texas to Rhode Island in 1995.

Vigeant was not charged with being part of that ring, but the authorities
had seized a phone directory belonging to a major player in the drug ring
that contained Vigeant's name and references to "Bobby V" and "B.V."

Also seized from Vigeant's home -- a .22-caliber five-shot revolver.

Under federal law, Vigeant, who had three violent felony convictions, was
facing a lengthy prison sentence for having the weapon in his possession.

Among those past charges was a 1991 conviction for attempting to extort
$5,000 from a Providence man. Arrested with Vigeant was Ronnie Coppola, a
mob loanshark and bookmaker, who was the victim of a gangland slaying in
April 1994.

In January 1998, a federal jury convicted Vigeant on the weapons charge.

Four months later, U.S. District Court Judge Mary M. Lisi sentenced him to
235 months in prison -- 19 years, 7 months.

Vigeant appealed his conviction.

On May 14, the appeals court overturned Vigeant's conviction.

The court, in its ruling, said that the government's confidential informant
recanted "substantial portions" of what the informant had told DEA Agent
Robert Botelho, who drafted the search warrant affidavit.

The court also ruled that there was insufficient evidence that Vigeant was
involved in drug trafficking or money laundering, as had been alleged in the
affidavit.

Botelho was not available for comment. But a spokeswoman for the DEA in
Boston, agent Pamela Mersky-Hay, said that the agency felt that Judge Lisi
rendered an appropriate decision when she approved the agent's request for a
search warrant.

Tom Connell, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Margaret E. Curran, said that his
office is reviewing several options on how to proceed in the Vigeant case.
He said that Curran, like the DEA spokeswoman, feels that Lisi made a
"well-reasoned decision" on the probable cause for the warrant to search
Vigeant's house.

It's unclear when Vigeant may be released from prison.

As of yesterday, Vigeant remained at the federal penitentiary in Lewisburg,
Pa., according to Donald J. Blackburn, chief federal probation officer for
Rhode Island.

Blackburn, who was not aware of the appeals court ruling, said that Vigeant
was scheduled to complete his prison sentence in June 2014.