Feb 02 2007
US ADMITS MISCONDUCT IN MOB SLAYING CASE
Says prosecutor was disciplined
An internal Justice Department investigation concluded that a federal prosecutor in Boston “engaged in professional misconduct and exercised poor judgment” while prosecuting a federal racketeering case against the hierarchy of the New England Mafia during the early 1990s, according to a letter filed in federal court yesterday.
In response to a critical letter from the judge who presided over the high-profile case, a Justice Department official wrote back that “disciplinary action” had been taken against Assistant US Attorney Jeffrey Auerhahn because of his misconduct in prosecuting Mafia capo Vincent Ferrara and mob associate Pasquale Barone .
Chief US District Judge Mark L. Wolf had found three years ago that Auerhahn had withheld evidence in a 1985 gangland slaying.
Yet the internal probe remains shrouded in secrecy as federal authorities, citing employee privacy rights, refused yesterday to detail their findings or disclose what disciplinary action had been taken against Auerhahn, a longtime prosecutor who currently handles counterterrorism cases.
In a Jan. 23 letter to Wolf , Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis wrote that the Justice Department was “preparing a more detailed response” to an earlier letter from Wolf.
Auerhahn did not return calls from the Globe yesterday seeking comment.
Samantha Martin , a spokeswoman for US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, citing Department of Justice regulations protecting employees’ privacy, said, “We are prohibited from commenting on any internal personnel matters beyond what is available in the public record.”
Boston lawyer Bernard Grossberg , who represented Barone in the criminal case, said that the government has an obligation to reveal what punishment it meted out to Auerhahn, so that the public can assess whether it was appropriate.
“How are they going to give Patsy Barone back the 10 years he served on a clearly unconstitutional conviction?” Grossberg asked. “Did they find [Auerhahn's] conduct was deliberate? In order for there to be some closure, if at all, you have to know what the disciplinary action was.”
Barone pleaded guilty to manslaughter in state court for the 1985 North End slaying of his friend Vincent “Jimmy” Limoli and was sentenced to five years. But the government’s allegation that the slaying was carried out at the behest of the Mafia — and Ferrara, in particular — led to Barone’s 1993 federal conviction of murder in aid of racketeering. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Just as Ferrara and four reputed mobsters, including New England Mafia boss Raymond “Junior” Patriarca, were ready to go to trial on federal racketeering charges in 1992, they agreed to plead guilty to various charges under deals that spared them even longer sentences. As part of his plea, Ferrara admitted that he had ordered Limoli’s slaying, yet he later insisted he was innocent of that charge. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
In 2003 Wolf found that Auerhahn had improperly and possibly illegally withheld key evidence from defense lawyers by failing to disclose that a witness had recanted his claim that Ferrara ordered Limoli’s murder. The judge concluded that the convictions were tainted and cut the sentences of both men, leading to Barone’s release in 2003 and Ferrara’s release two years later.
A federal appeals court affirmed Wolf’s findings last year, calling Auerhahn’s conduct “outrageous.”
In a highly critical letter to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales in December, Wolf said he had been assured by Sullivan in 2003 that the Justice Department would investigate Auerhahn’s alleged misconduct and yet had heard nothing of the outcome of the probe.
“The apparent inaction of the Department of Justice regarding Mr. Auerhahn has generated considerable concern about the administration of justice in the District of Massachusetts,” Wolf wrote.
In his response, Margolis wrote, “The attorney general shares your interest in the fair and impartial administration of justice, and in maintaining the tradition of integrity at the Department of Justice.”
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff | February 2, 2007 The New York Times Company http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/02/02/us_admits_misconduct_in_mob_slaying_case?mode=PF
