Roberts’s proffer arrived. “We could never say why Leaser timed things the way he did,” says Fisten. “But it looked funny. Why dump a prosecution before you find out what a new witness has to say?”
Prosecutorial memos in Dade County were veiled under a priestly sort of secrecy, intended to shield decisions from political interference. A by-product of this secrecy was that Leaser had considerable leeway in interpreting the facts of the OCS case in the memo he sent to Reno. In it, Fisten’s name appears eleven times, the only investigator named more than once. Leaser—echoing Albert’s defense strategy—makes him a centerpiece of the case and its alleged flaws. He warns that one must take care to distinguish between “facts in the Fisten materials” and “actual facts.” Throughout the memo he attributes evidence to Fisten that other investigators collected. When I shared the memo with McGruff, he said, “It’s like reading about a different case than the one I worked on. The facts are off. He focuses on details that are irrelevant. It’s strange.”
At points, the memo is absurd. In his analysis of the recording in which Albert and his cohort seem to speak about killing “that guy who lived at Bal Harbour,” Leaser suggests that they might have been talking about a “bear hug.” Or if they had been referring to a murder in Bal Harbour, who’s to say it was Teriaca’s? As Leaser explains, “many people live or lived in Bal Harbour, which also has numerous hotels.”
Leaser offers what might be one of the oddest closing arguments a prosecutor has ever advanced: “Fred Schwartz, who represents San Pedro, has forwarded a polygraph examination of his client showing his lack of involvement or knowledge of this incident.” A Los Angeles criminal defense attorney with whom I shared the memo said, “It could be the law is different in Florida. But in California if a prosecutor cited exculpatory results of a defense-administered lie detector test as reason to dismiss a case, we would generally call that insane.”
But the Zipper Man had the last word. The Teriaca murder case was dead.
Leaser still stands by the memo and rejects any suggestion that he was unduly influenced by Albert. Fisten says, “The tapes we had of Albert talking about bribes were not proof that Leaser was corrupt. But on the tapes the words are the words. And the actions Leaser took are consistent with the words.”
Exit the Detective
After Fisten and Hinman interviewed Jon Roberts, they made a request to the CIA to reinterview Ricky about the Schwartz murder. The CIA, Hinman says, informed them that he was “unavailable.” Fisten says, “We believed they kept him out of the country because they were afraid we would arrest him.” (Fisten also points out that had the CIA provided evidence, such as Ricky’s major case prints, it may well have cleared him from crimes in which he was a suspect.)
Fisten’s drive to build a new case, targeting the same suspects from the failed Teriaca murder case, struck some as dangerously quixotic. “When they called him Detective Fiction, they were right,” says McGruff. “His work was honest, but he oversold what was possible.”
After the Teriaca prosecution was dropped, the tide shifted against the OCS. In 1993, President Clinton chose Janet Reno as U.S. attorney general. Although Reno didn’t take her most loyal acolyte, Abe Leaser, with her to Washington, his relationship with her increased his sway within the Dade County state attorney’s office. Leaser says that before her departure, “I spoke to Ms. Reno, and we worked out something with the chief of the MDPD that this guy [Fisten] would be taken out of investigative work.” Leaser also wrote a memo to the Los Angeles prosecutors who were building a case against Albert for the Mirabal murder, and warned them of his concerns about evidence the OCS had gathered. The prosecutors backed off the case, as did prosecutors in
Prosecutorial memos in Dade County were veiled under a priestly sort of secrecy, intended to shield decisions from political interference. A by-product of this secrecy was that Leaser had considerable leeway in interpreting the facts of the OCS case in the memo he sent to Reno. In it, Fisten’s name appears eleven times, the only investigator named more than once. Leaser—echoing Albert’s defense strategy—makes him a centerpiece of the case and its alleged flaws. He warns that one must take care to distinguish between “facts in the Fisten materials” and “actual facts.” Throughout the memo he attributes evidence to Fisten that other investigators collected. When I shared the memo with McGruff, he said, “It’s like reading about a different case than the one I worked on. The facts are off. He focuses on details that are irrelevant. It’s strange.”
At points, the memo is absurd. In his analysis of the recording in which Albert and his cohort seem to speak about killing “that guy who lived at Bal Harbour,” Leaser suggests that they might have been talking about a “bear hug.” Or if they had been referring to a murder in Bal Harbour, who’s to say it was Teriaca’s? As Leaser explains, “many people live or lived in Bal Harbour, which also has numerous hotels.”
Leaser offers what might be one of the oddest closing arguments a prosecutor has ever advanced: “Fred Schwartz, who represents San Pedro, has forwarded a polygraph examination of his client showing his lack of involvement or knowledge of this incident.” A Los Angeles criminal defense attorney with whom I shared the memo said, “It could be the law is different in Florida. But in California if a prosecutor cited exculpatory results of a defense-administered lie detector test as reason to dismiss a case, we would generally call that insane.”
But the Zipper Man had the last word. The Teriaca murder case was dead.
Leaser still stands by the memo and rejects any suggestion that he was unduly influenced by Albert. Fisten says, “The tapes we had of Albert talking about bribes were not proof that Leaser was corrupt. But on the tapes the words are the words. And the actions Leaser took are consistent with the words.”
Exit the Detective
After Fisten and Hinman interviewed Jon Roberts, they made a request to the CIA to reinterview Ricky about the Schwartz murder. The CIA, Hinman says, informed them that he was “unavailable.” Fisten says, “We believed they kept him out of the country because they were afraid we would arrest him.” (Fisten also points out that had the CIA provided evidence, such as Ricky’s major case prints, it may well have cleared him from crimes in which he was a suspect.)
Fisten’s drive to build a new case, targeting the same suspects from the failed Teriaca murder case, struck some as dangerously quixotic. “When they called him Detective Fiction, they were right,” says McGruff. “His work was honest, but he oversold what was possible.”
After the Teriaca prosecution was dropped, the tide shifted against the OCS. In 1993, President Clinton chose Janet Reno as U.S. attorney general. Although Reno didn’t take her most loyal acolyte, Abe Leaser, with her to Washington, his relationship with her increased his sway within the Dade County state attorney’s office. Leaser says that before her departure, “I spoke to Ms. Reno, and we worked out something with the chief of the MDPD that this guy [Fisten] would be taken out of investigative work.” Leaser also wrote a memo to the Los Angeles prosecutors who were building a case against Albert for the Mirabal murder, and warned them of his concerns about evidence the OCS had gathered. The prosecutors backed off the case, as did prosecutors in
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