A TROUBLING PIONEER

It's not the kind of "first" that would be fondly remembered.

Daniel Mitrione, an FBI agent in the bureau's South Florida offices from
the mid-1970s to early 1985, was the first FBI agent ever charged with
joining a Colombia-to-U.S. drug-smuggling ring -- a ring he was duty bound
to try to shut down.

His penalty was mild.

He agreed to testify against other smugglers. In return, he served three
years in a monastery for wayward priests -- federal authorities knew his
life would be worthless in prison.

He also turned over almost $1 million in illegally gained assets, a modest
amount compared to the amount of drugs brought in by dealers that included
a number of men from the Pittsburgh area.

Indicted in the same drug conspiracy were the ring's Florida leader, Hilmer
Sandini, several South American drug smugglers, and some of the largest
drug dealers Western Pennsylvania has ever known, including Eugene Gesuale.

Vincent Ciraollo of Deerfield Beach, Fla., was a minor target by
comparison. He served six years on drug charges stemming from the
conspiracy indictments and insists he was innocent of the crime. One of the
government's key contentions at Ciraollo's trial was that he'd planted a
bomb under Sandini's car to keep him from testifying.

Ciraollo insisted he not only hadn't planted the bomb on the car, but he'd
actually disarmed it after noticing wires dangling from the car -- saving
Sandini's life.

Further, during pre-trial motions when Mitrione was exposed as an
undercover agent, Ciraollo heard that Mitrione had planted the bomb. He had
good reason: Sandini would be the key witness detailing Mitrione's betrayal
of the FBI.

But no mention of that fact was allowed at Ciraollo's trial. Prosecutors
argued the allegation was nothing more than a rumor.

After his conviction, Ciraollo requested files on the FBI's investigation
through a Freedom of Information Act request. It was more than five years
before he got an answer, well after he'd been released from prison.

Included was an FBI Criminal Investigative Division Informative Note
written two days before Ciraollo and the others were indicted.

It stated the FBI in South Florida had extensive information indicating
Mitrione had placed the bomb on Sandini's car and characterized his actions
as an attempted homicide.

No one turned that letter over to Ciraollo's defense lawyers, as court
rules require. Instead, prosecutors tried to pin the bombing on Ciraollo.

The reason the information wasn't given to Ciraollo, said Leon Rodriguez,
an assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, was
that the memo about the letter was never sent to the Pittsburgh office. He
said it was cabled from Miami to FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., and
was never made available to prosecutors in Pittsburgh.

Mitrione was never charged in the attempted homicide.

Checked-by: Richard Lake