GAMEZ: WE WANT DOCUMENTS FROM THE FEDS' OWN INTERNAL INVESTIGATIONS

By Juan Montoya

Following the complaint filed against FBI investigators by local counsel for Austin attorney Mark Rosenthal – a principal in the Abel Limas racketeering and corruption case – that at least one FBI agent had intimidated witnesses to get them to testify against their client, his attorneys say they are also contemplating requesting documents relating to internal investigations of federal personnel.

Rosenthal’s attorneys, Ernesto Gamez, of Brownsville, and George Muñoz, of Washington. D.C., complained about the FBI agent to Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Wynne.

Their client has pleaded not guilty to a 13-count indictment that a federal grand jury in Brownsville returned against him in August. The indictment alleges his participation in a network of racketeering activity which prosecutors describe as the manipulation of the federal and state court system.

The lengthy indictment charges Rosenthal with racketeering conspiracy, tampering with a witness and aiding and abetting, tampering with a proceeding, extortion and fraud.

Gamez, however, says that the defense is contemplating a request to demand of the local U.S. Attorney documentation of internal investigations into local FBI and other federal agents and prosecutors. He said that type of request has never been done in the past, but that given the alleged misconduct of the FBI agent in their complaint, the defense has a right to know whether such behavior by other federal agents has occurred in the past and what the results of internal investigations might yield."It's never been done in the past that I know of," he said. "We are thinking about requesting that information."

But, if anyone is suited to intiate such a strategy, it is probably Muñoz, who is well-versed in the intricacies of the federal agencies. Muñoz was appointed by President Bill Clinton and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Assistant Secretary and Chief Financial Officer of the U.S. Treasury Department (1993-1997) and oversaw the Treasury's budget, financial statements and management policies.

The kicker is that he worked closely with the Treasury Bureaus including, the IRS, Customs, OCC, OTS, FMS, ATF, and the Secret Service.
Local sources indicate that the local office of the FBI has undergone a thorough reorganization (if not a cleanup) in the past few months. They say that longtime FBI agents have been moved to other locations and that a thorough housecleaning has taken place here.

"Longtime FBI agent and public information officer Jorge Cisneros was moved out of McAllen for not apparent reason," one said. "And locally, an agent named Miles (Hutchinson?) apparently is no longer here. Is there some sort of shuffle going on or was there a shakeup for some unknown reason?"

Defense attorneys say that if the shakeup of local federal prosecutors or agents is a result of some disciplinary reason, they have a right to know if any misconduct may have been related to investigation in their cases. As in the Gamez-Muñoz complaint related to the charges against Rosenthal, if any violations were committed by the federal investigators, it could mean that evidence in the cases against their clients might be compromised.

"What Gamez and Muñoz are doing might affect other cases in the Southern District, or for that matter the Western District as well," said a local attorney. "If the results of internal investigations on the feds indicates that some misconduct occurred, they have the right to act on behalf of their cleints and challenge the allegations in the indictments."