CASE FAILS TO BUILD CONFIDENCE IN HOMELAND SECURITY GRAND PLAN

Ricardo Veluz isn't a blip on the vast homeland security radar screen, just
a suspected small-time drug trafficker with an intriguing circle of friends
on both sides of the law.

But when I hear about the great necessity of increasing homeland security
from the mouths of President Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI
Director Robert Mueller, the tale of lowly Ricardo Veluz leaps to mind.

While the president spices the creation of a new Cabinet position with
alarmist rhetoric, and Ashcroft hands out new rules of investigative
engagement that have the Founding Fathers turning back flips in the Great
Beyond, Veluz is a flea on an elephant.

He's no international terrorist, thank goodness, just a player in the Robert
Marshall federal drug case that threatens to implode on prosecutors and the
local FBI office. Veluz, 49, was an associate of Marshall in a suspected
drug deal. Facing a sizable stretch in the penitentiary, Veluz quietly cut a
deal in return for his cooperation against Marshall, who according to an FBI
affidavit is suspected of everything from drug dealing to the 1972 bombing
of former FBI agent William Coulthard. The veracity of Veluz's affidavit is
the subject of intense debate.

Forget for a moment the government used one drug dealer to catch another
drug suspect. The use of confidential informants and undercover snitches is
a volatile but routine practice.

But it never helps when a cooperating witness continues to commit felonies
while under the care of the FBI and Organized Crime Strike Force.

It sort of makes the good guys look like knuckleheads who are having trouble
nailing a relatively unsophisticated drug case involving an amount of
narcotics, a kilo of cocaine, that typically would be handled by local cops.

But such is the case with Ricardo Veluz, official friend of the G. He
pleaded guilty in December in one case, then he was indicted anew on Jan. 8
in a separate drug case.

After gaining a rapid release following his arrest and cooperation on the
first drug distribution charges, Veluz is alleged to have neglected to turn
over a new leaf. No epiphany. No change of heart.

Just the same old Vegas wiseguy life of drug dealing, a life so predictable
he bumped right into Metro undercover narcotics cops. As a courtesy, Metro
contacted the FBI, which took their naughty boy down for a second time.

Today, Ricardo Veluz faces more drug charges. The government, meanwhile, is
faced with a decision: After embracing him, can prosecutors afford to
continue to use him? Conversely, can they admit they might have made a
mistake and dump him?

It's one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't deals.

Meanwhile, Marshall is set to go to trial this month on drug charges before
U.S. District Judge Lloyd George. Marshall, a 68-year-old con, is one banana
peel from spending the rest of his life in prison. But it's become clear the
underlying motive behind pursuing him on two-for-a-nickel drug charges is to
attempt to persuade him to cooperate in the FBI's ancient investigation into
the Coulthard murder.

If Marshall was involved, or possesses firsthand knowledge of the players
responsible, he could prove a valuable witness -- if only to clear up a
brutal murder that has haunted a family and the community for three decades.
If he can't or won't help, this case becomes a terribly costly exercise that
promises comically small returns and the potential for belly laughs at the
government's expense.

Which brings us back to puny Ricardo Veluz and the lack of confidence in the
FBI his double dealing is sure to inspire. It's not as if the bureau were
without blemishes in its handling of snitches -- not with James "Whitey"
Bulger, the FBI's coddled Boston mobster, still on the lam.

If the feds can't keep track of Ricardo Veluz and covered up for decades for
Bulger and his murderous minions, how much faith should common citizens put
in the FBI's ability to track international terrorists in the name of
homeland security?

The polite answer is, not very much.

Homeland security begins in their own back yard.