Pubdate: Fri, 14 Oct 2005
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2005 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Shelley Murphy,  Globe Staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

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.
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