COUNCIL DIRECTS LAPD TO AID PROBE : U.S. INVESTIGATION TARGETS ALLEGATIONS CLAIMING CIA-DRUG LINK.Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer Alarmed by allegations that drugs sold in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. may have financed the CIA-backed Contra army in Nicaragua, the City Council voted Tuesday to direct the LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. to cooperate in a federal probe of the charges. The council directed Police Chief Willie L. Williams Willie L. Williams (born 1 October, 1943) was chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) from 1992 to 1997, taking over after chief Daryl Gates' resignation following the 1992 Los Angeles riots. and Police Commission Inspector General Katherine Mader to report to the council in two weeks on what information it might have to help a Justice Department probe of the allegations. Councilwoman Ruth Galanter Ruth Galanter was a city councilwoman from Los Angeles. She served as President Pro-Tempore and President of the city council. said that because the allegations involve drugs sold in Los Angeles, it is in the Los Angeles Police Department's interest to get to the bottom of the charges. ``The LAPD has been having to pick up the pieces,'' Galanter said. The allegations were made in a series of recent articles by the San Jose Mercury News The San Jose Mercury News is the major daily newspaper in San Jose, California and Silicon Valley. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group. Its headquarters and printing plant are located in North San Jose next to the Nimitz Freeway (Interstate 880). , which reported evidence that drug dealers provided the CIA-backed Contra army with profits from cocaine sold in African-American communities in Los Angeles. ``It's a very great concern to the African-American community,'' said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas Mark Ridley-Thomas (born 1954) is currently a California State Senate where he chairs the Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee]]. He represents the 26th district which includes the communities of Vermont Knolls, Jefferson Park, Leimert Park, Hancock Park, Korean , who authored the motion calling for the LAPD to assist the federal probe. Galanter and other council members said they are concerned that the CIA CIA: see Central Intelligence Agency. (1) (Confidentiality Integrity Authentication) The three important concerns with regards to information security. Encryption is used to provide confidentiality (privacy, secrecy). may have known about the drug trafficking and looked the other way. ``We want to know whether the CIA was really doing this,'' Galanter said, adding the LAPD has intelligence units that may have heard about CIA ties to drug dealing. Sheriff Sherman Block said Monday that his department had heard through informants of a possible link between the Contras and a major drug ring, but he said there was no evidence that the CIA was involved. Ridley-Thomas called for the LAPD to look at whether it had a role in investigating drug deals benefiting the Contras, including a review of information gained by ``any specialized LAPD units that may have had any particular responsibilities in this regard . . .'' |
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