A 19-YEAR-OLD F.B.I. VIDEOTAPE KEEPS PULLING SHARPTON BACK TO THE PAST

The Rev. Al Sharpton once said he was created with no reverse in his
transmission, but if so, he has shown he can brake suddenly and make U-turns.

In the latest test of his adroitness, Mr. Sharpton has been responding to a
secretly recorded 1983 F.B.I. videotape, included in an HBO report this
week, that depicts him mostly listening but sometimes responding without
commitment to an undercover agent masquerading as a Latin American drug
lord offering to sell him kilos of cocaine.

Yesterday, Mr. Sharpton, 46, announced at State Supreme Court in Manhattan
that he had filed a $1 billion lawsuit against HBO and its parent company,
AOL Time Warner, contending that he had been smeared by "dirty tricks"
intended to derail his campaign for the presidency. Also named as
defendants were the HBO show, "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel;" the
reporter, Bernard Goldberg; and Michael Franzese, a former Colombo family
Mafia captain who became a government informant.

"They may think they have given me a stumbling block," Mr. Sharpton said on
the courthouse steps, entering the building and then returning. "They will
see it turned into a steppingstone."

He contended that the segment of three and a half minutes shown nationally
Tuesday night distorted the encounter and omitted material, including a
second tape, that made it clear he would have nothing to do with drugs.

He also questioned why the 19-year-old tape, written about in the 1980's,
had now reappeared. "For whom and for what?" he demanded.

A spokesman for HBO, Ray Stallone, called the lawsuit "so silly that it is
unworthy of comment."

He called the tape "an integral part of the story we presented" and said
Mr. Sharpton's response was included in its report. As for his statement
that there was a second and exculpatory videotape, Mr. Stallone said, "We
indicated to him that we would welcome the chance to see it."

It was hardly the first time that the tape and others have made trouble for
Mr. Sharpton. Just 10 years ago this summer, the Senate Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations, looking into reports of corruption in
boxing, played audio and videotapes growing out of a 1980 F.B.I.
investigation called Crown Royal.

On one of the tapes, presented by a former F.B.I. agent, Joseph A.
Spinelli, who was then the New York State inspector general under Gov.
Mario Cuomo, Mr. Sharpton is shown meeting with the undercover agent - a
supposed drug kingpin named Victor Quintana - and a reputed mobster, Danny
Pagano, discussing ways of approaching the boxing promoter Don King to
arrange bouts and launder money.

On the tape, Mr. Sharpton tells the agent that he would get a "fair deal"
from Mr. King because of Mr. Pagano's underworld connections.

At the same Senate hearing, Mr. Franzese, who had been caught in an F.B.I.
sting and ended up cooperating with the government, testified that he had
used Mr. Sharpton to get close to Mr. King and he added: "I knew Sharpton
and was aware that he was associated with people in the Genovese family, in
particular with family soldier Danny Pagano."

Mr. Franzese also testified that Mr. Sharpton had arranged a meeting with
him on Jan. 12, 1983, in Mr. King's Manhattan office where Mr. Franzese
reported that his efforts had been blessed by mob bosses in Cleveland.

At the time, Mr. Sharpton denied that he consorted with mobsters, saying he
knew nothing of the backgrounds of those he met with. He said he had not
been charged with any crime and called allegations from people like Mr.
Franzese "fabrications."

Over the years, Mr. Spinelli has often cited Mr. Sharpton's involvement in
his boxing investigation and in 1991, as inspector general, wrote an
article in Sports Illustrated recounting it in detail. He said the F.B.I.
case was dropped after a Korean boxer died in a title bout and the bureau
feared that it was too risky for the F.B.I. to appear to be involved in
promoting fights.

Mr. Spinelli, who now works at the accounting firm KPMG, did not return
calls yesterday.

The existence of the other 1983 videotape showing Mr. Sharpton listening to
the undercover agent offering cocaine and saying at one point "I hear you"
was disclosed in articles in Newsday several years later. Law enforcement
officials later told The New York Times that while Mr. Sharpton could not
be prosecuted for what he said on the tape, they had bluffed him shortly
after the tape was made into believing that he faced charges and so
persuaded him to become a federal informant. They said he provided
information about meetings held in the basement of Danny Pagano's father,
Joseph, also reputed to be a mobster, information that led to the planting
of a court-authorized listening device there. Joseph Pagano died before any
charges were filed.

At the time of the Newsday article, Mr. Sharpton denied as "ludicrous" any
statement that he had become an F.B.I. informant, but said that he had
tapped his own phone to gather information on neighborhood drug dealers.

Andrew J. Maloney, who was serving as the United States attorney in
Brooklyn, recalled yesterday that after that episode, Mr. Sharpton, facing
state charges of tax evasion - he was acquitted - had visited Mr. Maloney's
office to offer to provide certain information that Mr. Maloney yesterday
declined to detail.

Newsday reported Mr. Sharpton's offer at the time. Mr. Sharpton said it
concerned efforts to curb crack trafficking. Prosecutors, however,
disagreed and said the information involved activities of an unidentified
black leader.

At the time, The Times asked Mr. Sharpton whether he would instruct Mr.
Maloney to disclose his conversations with the office. Mr. Sharpton said he
would. Then he sent a note voiding his authorization.