SOME CHARGES DROPPED IN TRAFFICKING TRIAL

Prosecutors Look To Avoid Inquiry On Alleged Informants

Federal prosecutors have agreed to drop some of the charges against a
man accused of trafficking marijuana, to avoid court hearings into
allegations of government misconduct involving two alleged
informants. Arlindo Dossantos said that after his arrest on federal
drug charges in 1999, two suspected FBI informants paid for his
lawyer, pressured him to cooperate in a federal probe into
corruption in the New Bedford Police Department, and threatened to
hurt his family if he did not help them smuggle marijuana into Massachusetts.

In affidavits filed in court, Dossantos said the alleged informants
took credit for getting the 1999 charges dropped, but also warned him
that he would be indicted if he did not cooperate with them.
Dossantos said that he refused and was indicted in July 2001 on new
charges, which included drug deals orchestrated by the alleged informants.

Just as a hearing was set to begin in federal court in Boston on
Tuesday, prosecutors said they planned to avoid a judge's inquiry by
dropping some charges against Dossantos, 36, of North Dartmouth and
his codefendant, David Breault, 42, of Acushnet, for alleged drug
dealing that occurred after the initial arrest in August 1999.

In a motion filed yesterday, Assistant US Attorney William F. Bloomer
said the government was dropping two of the charges against Dossantos
and Breault "in the interest of justice."

US District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock said it was not necessary to
explore assertions that corrupt informants initiated the crimes that
occurred after the summer of 1999 if those crimes are no longer part
of the case. Three counts remain in the indictment brought against
him in 2001, including a charge that Dossantos ran a criminal
enterprise between 1991 and 1998. Samantha Martin, a spokeswoman for
US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, said federal prosecutors will not
discuss the allegations. They have stated in court, she said, that no
government misconduct occurred.

If the hearing had gone forward, the government may have been forced
to disclose whether the two men accused of manipulating the
defendants on behalf of the government, David Collins and John "J.
D." Dana, both of Florida, were informants.

Collins, a Providence native who works as a bail bondsman in Florida,
refused to comment on the allegations at the courthouse Tuesday. Dana
could not be reached for comment.

But Collins's Boston lawyer, Anthony Cardinale, said his client is
"absolutely not" an informant.

"It's easy to make claims of government misconduct and hope you can
get lucky," said Cardinale, declaring the allegations were a "last
gasp" by Dossantos. Dossantos's Boston lawyer, Robert Goldstein,
would not comment on the case. But, Boston lawyer Peter Krupp, who
represents Breault, said the defense was prepared to prove government
misconduct.

In a series of affidavits filed in court, Dossantos contends that
after his arrest on federal drug charges in August 1999, his previous
lawyer, John McBride, arranged for him to meet with a federal
prosecutor and agents who were investigating allegations of
corruption in the New Bedford Police Department. Dossantos said he
refused to meet with agents again because he feared someone had
leaked that he was cooperating.

In early August 1999, Dossantos alleges, Dana introduced him to
Collins, who told him to fire McBride and fronted him the money to
hire Boston lawyer Richard Ivker.

Dossantos said that Collins and Dana were FBI informants who
infiltrated his defense and that Ivker told him he had "direct
orders" from Collins to make Dossantos resume meeting with federal agents.

In a brief telephone interview, Ivker denied Dossantos's assertions,
saying, "I represented him appropriately, and all of his other
allegations were nonsense." Ivker, who is appealing last year's order
by a state Supreme Judicial Court justice that suspended his license
to practice law for two years because of his conduct in two other
cases, would not comment on whether he knows Collins. Dossantos said
in his affidavits that Collins and Dana threatened him and his family
if he did not repay them $125,000 for the lawyer's fees and if he did
not give them out-of-state drug contacts so they he could smuggle
marijuana into Massachusetts.

Joseph Pavone, who is awaiting trial on charges that he was part of a
crew of gangsters that robbed drug dealers and killed a Medford
teenager, also has filed an affidavit in the case. Pavone says he
accompanied Dana when he threatened Dossantos.