he was to begin what should have been the pinnacle of his career, leading the prosecution of Noriega. Instead, Lehtinen defended himself from allegations that he had cut a deal with Albert to advance his wife’s political career. The Justice Department never found evidence that he had committed any wrongdoing, and Lehtinen later blamed his downfall, in going after his wife’s top political opponent, on his being “too aggressive a crime fighter.” His wife, Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, now chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Lehtinen would spend much of the next twenty years representing Indian gaming interests. His brush with the Great Corrupter had left him in the ash heap.
“You really didn’t see how powerful Albert was until you locked him up,” says Fisten. “From a jail out by the zoo, he turned the whole government in on itself.”
Although the RICO charges against Albert were dismissed, federal prosecutors indicted him for perjury—based on his grand jury testimony—and he remained in jail.
Albert’s judicial grace in the RICO case did not extend to his co-defendant Bobby Erra. In March 1992, Erra pleaded guilty to a RICO conspiracy charge predicated on narcotics trafficking, money laundering, extortion, and attempted homicide. He was ordered to forfeit some $88 million and agreed to serve eleven years in prison (of which he would serve seven). “We had roadblock after roadblock thrown at us,” says Ed Hinman. “But we got the arrogant asshole.”
“To Leaser I was a bad cop,” says Fisten. “But my work was good enough for Bobby Erra and his attorney Roy Black.”
Erra’s guilty plea boosted the investigators’ confidence in the Teriaca prosecution. The murder case drew from the same body of evidence—many of the same witnesses and wiretaps—that underpinned the RICO case. In addition, the OCS was working to indict Albert for the murder of Armando Mirabal in Los Angeles and to bring indictments of Albert, Ricky, and Erra in the murder of Steven Grabow in Colorado. “Albert had his prayers,” says Fisten. “We had ours.”
Enter the Cocaine Cowboy
Shortly after Erra pleaded guilty, Jon Roberts was captured after five years on the run from indictments related to his work for the Medellín cartel. Roberts was offered a reduced sentence in exchange for his cooperation against Colombian narco-traffickers. During a debriefing with federal agents, Roberts surprised them by offering information on the murders of Richard Schwartz and Gary Teriaca.
The federal agents handling Roberts had no connection with the OCS investigation and could not evaluate his claims, but—concerned that his claim to knowledge of those murders would open him to state murder charges and thus complicate his cooperation with them—they arranged for his attorney to contact Abe Leaser and negotiate state immunity in exchange for his cooperation. Leaser instructed Roberts’s attorney to send a proffer of evidence he was prepared to give.
In August 1992, Roberts’s attorney met him at a Sarasota detention facility, some two hundred miles from Miami. Roberts’s arrest had been kept secret. Neither he nor his attorney had had any contact with the OCS. But the proffer statement Roberts dictated almost perfectly mirrored evidence the OCS had already gathered about the Teriaca and Schwartz murders—though Roberts added significant new details, notably identifying Ricky as the shooter in the Schwartz murder.
After Hinman and Fisten met with him weeks later, Fisten concluded, “Roberts gave us Ricky in the Schwartz murder. The CIA could shove this one up their ass. We had their guy.”
There was one problem, though. By the time the OCS became aware of Roberts’s potential testimony, Leaser had already thrown out the Teriaca murder prosecution. His timing was odd. Leaser prepared a thirty-five-page memo recommending that the Teriaca case be dismissed and sent it to his boss, Janet Reno, two days before
“You really didn’t see how powerful Albert was until you locked him up,” says Fisten. “From a jail out by the zoo, he turned the whole government in on itself.”
Although the RICO charges against Albert were dismissed, federal prosecutors indicted him for perjury—based on his grand jury testimony—and he remained in jail.
Albert’s judicial grace in the RICO case did not extend to his co-defendant Bobby Erra. In March 1992, Erra pleaded guilty to a RICO conspiracy charge predicated on narcotics trafficking, money laundering, extortion, and attempted homicide. He was ordered to forfeit some $88 million and agreed to serve eleven years in prison (of which he would serve seven). “We had roadblock after roadblock thrown at us,” says Ed Hinman. “But we got the arrogant asshole.”
“To Leaser I was a bad cop,” says Fisten. “But my work was good enough for Bobby Erra and his attorney Roy Black.”
Erra’s guilty plea boosted the investigators’ confidence in the Teriaca prosecution. The murder case drew from the same body of evidence—many of the same witnesses and wiretaps—that underpinned the RICO case. In addition, the OCS was working to indict Albert for the murder of Armando Mirabal in Los Angeles and to bring indictments of Albert, Ricky, and Erra in the murder of Steven Grabow in Colorado. “Albert had his prayers,” says Fisten. “We had ours.”
Enter the Cocaine Cowboy
Shortly after Erra pleaded guilty, Jon Roberts was captured after five years on the run from indictments related to his work for the Medellín cartel. Roberts was offered a reduced sentence in exchange for his cooperation against Colombian narco-traffickers. During a debriefing with federal agents, Roberts surprised them by offering information on the murders of Richard Schwartz and Gary Teriaca.
The federal agents handling Roberts had no connection with the OCS investigation and could not evaluate his claims, but—concerned that his claim to knowledge of those murders would open him to state murder charges and thus complicate his cooperation with them—they arranged for his attorney to contact Abe Leaser and negotiate state immunity in exchange for his cooperation. Leaser instructed Roberts’s attorney to send a proffer of evidence he was prepared to give.
In August 1992, Roberts’s attorney met him at a Sarasota detention facility, some two hundred miles from Miami. Roberts’s arrest had been kept secret. Neither he nor his attorney had had any contact with the OCS. But the proffer statement Roberts dictated almost perfectly mirrored evidence the OCS had already gathered about the Teriaca and Schwartz murders—though Roberts added significant new details, notably identifying Ricky as the shooter in the Schwartz murder.
After Hinman and Fisten met with him weeks later, Fisten concluded, “Roberts gave us Ricky in the Schwartz murder. The CIA could shove this one up their ass. We had their guy.”
There was one problem, though. By the time the OCS became aware of Roberts’s potential testimony, Leaser had already thrown out the Teriaca murder prosecution. His timing was odd. Leaser prepared a thirty-five-page memo recommending that the Teriaca case be dismissed and sent it to his boss, Janet Reno, two days before
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