Former DoJ Attorney Protected Cali Cocaine Cartel
C Basher 1
Lawyers, agents protected Cali drug
barons, prosecutors say
05/28/97 09:20:30 PM
By David Lyons
Knight-Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
MIAMI -- When a former lieutenant in the Cali drug cartel greeted
lawyers in a South Dade federal prison, he wore a wire and spouted
words from scripted answers prepared by a government agent, the
smuggler testified Wednesday.
In his heyday as a top cartel operative, Pedro S. Isern helped import
22 tons of the drug through South Florida ports from Guatemala, using
legitimate vegetable companies as fronts.
Arrested three years ago while breakfasting in a Caracas hotel, U.S.
agents regarded him as a prime witness against defense lawyers they
believed were illegally shielding cartel higher-ups from prosecution.
Two of those attorneys -- Michael Abbell [former lawyer with the
Department of Justice] of Washington, D.C., and William Moran
of Dade -- are on trial with four accused smugglers in Miami
federal court, branded by prosecutors as ``cartel members.''
In the second week of trial, prosecutors are slowly laying out their case
that lawyers played key roles in protecting Cali chieftains Miguel and
Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela from prosecution and prison. Both men --
named at the top of a 200-page indictment in Miami -- are now in
Colombian jails.
From the witness box Wednesday, Isern testified that he participated in
what amounted to a sting operation against lawyers representing Miguel
Rodriguez. The technique -- defense lawyers call it entrapment -- has
come under heavy fire from members of the defense bar who argue
that government agents are overtly trying to limit the effectiveness of
criminal defense lawyers.
``Many times before going to the meetings, they told me what I was
supposed to say,'' Isern told defense attorney Howard Srebnick, who
represents Abbell, during cross examination.
During questioning by Martin Weinberg, a co-counsel for Moran, Isern
spoke of how he ``rehearsed'' his jailhouse conversations with U.S.
Customs agent Edward Kacerosky.
``I went through a rehearsal,'' Isern testified. ``I learned by heart what
I
was supposed to say to these people.''
Isern said Kacerosky instructed Isern to have his wife call Cali and
inform Miguel Rodriguez that her imprisoned husband was doing the
right thing and keeping quiet, but needed help.
Soon, Boca Raton attorney Donald Ferguson and Francisco Laguna,
who had been sent to Miami by Abbell to open a satellite law office,
appeared at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where Isern was
being held.
Government lawyers William Pearson and Ed Ryan contend that
neither lawyer had been personally summoned by Isern to defend him
against cocaine trafficking charges.
Instead, prosecutors contend that the lawyers were sent to scope out
what Isern had to say, keep him from cooperating and report back to
Rodriguez in Cali.
U.S. lawyers were employed, the government says, after agents started
to break up cocaine trafficking cells in Florida and Texas that had
played a role in importing 250 tons of the drug into the U.S. since the
1980s.
Much of the cocaine passed through South Florida seaports in
shipments of concrete fence posts, lumber and frozen vegetables.
The cartel used bullets, bribes and lawyers to stay in business
and avoid the prosecution of its highest-level operatives, prosecutors
contend. Ferguson ultimately pleaded guilty in July 1995 to conspiracy
to obstruct justice, and to a money laundering count involving his receipt
of $75,000 in illicit funds. He has not been sentenced. Laguna has also
pleaded guilty. Both men are likely to testify against Abbell and Moran.
Two other South Florida lawyers, Robert Moore and Joel Rosenthal,
have also pleaded guilty and are likely to testify.
The government claims that the visits by Ferguson and Laguna were
part of a greater pattern in which captured Cali smugglers would be
silenced by hush money and/or death threats conveyed by at least a
half-dozen lawyers retained by the cartel.
Wednesday, Isern testified that Miguel Rodriguez once summoned him
to Cali, and asked him to inspect U.S. court documents that the cartel
chief had accumulated at his home.
``The whole idea was for me to study the documents and tell him the
failure of the organization that led to the arrests,'' Isern testified.
``They
wanted to make sure we didn't make the same mistakes again.''
Despite Rodirguez's efforts, the government says it turned the tables by
gaining the cooperation of captured cartel managers such as Isern.
At one point, Isern testified Wednesday that he earned between $2.5
million and $3 million fronting for the cartel as the manager of
companies based in South Florida.
But these days, Isern testified, he is broke.
He said he at one time had more than $1 million in cash in a Southwest
Dade warehouse. When he sent one of his sons to retrieve it, it had
disappeared.