Pubdate: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Copyright: 2000 Houston Chronicle Contact: Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260 Fax: (713) 220-3575 Website: http://www.chron.com/ Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html Author: Jo Ann Zuniga OFFICERS SUBPOENAED IN DRUG CASE House Wants Police And Dea Agents To Testify On Rap-A-Lot Investigation The U.S. House Committee on Government Reform subpoenaed three Houston police officers and five Drug Enforcement Administration agents to testify in Washington, D.C., on a local drug investigation, officials confirmed Tuesday. The eight subpoenas request the law enforcement officers to appear before the committee Dec. 6 to discuss an investigation of Rap-A-Lot recording company founder and President James A. Prince and his associates, said House Committee spokesman Sean Spicer. "This should help us get to the bottom of the problem," Spicer said. "When you have a major drug investigation suddenly close down and someone claims political pressure, it's worth looking into." A multiagency task force of investigators secured more than 20 convictions on associates of Prince on charges ranging from drug trafficking to police corruption before the joint Houston Police-DEA probe was allegedly shut down in September 1999. Prince, 36, was never charged and convicted in the investigation. But he complained to U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who in turn informed Attorney General Janet Reno, that he and his associates have been targeted because of profiling, police racism and jealousy over his rise to riches from his Fifth Ward neighborhood. The subpoenas request HPD officers Bill Stephens, Larry Allen and Ralph Chaison, all of the narcotics division, to appear before the House Committee, Spicer said. The police officers spoke last month to House Committee representatives who traveled to Houston to discuss whether the the HPD was curtailed from the investigation by DEA, police spokesman John Leggio confirmed. The DEA agents subpoenaed include the DEA administrator, Donnie Marshall of Washington, D.C., Houston's special agent-in-charge Ernest Howard and agent Jack Schumacher, who headed the investigation before being transferred to another position. Howard, Schumacher's immediate supervisor, previously denied ever stopping the investigation because of political pressure. However, recently released e-mail by Howard discussed stopping the investigation and referred to Vice President Al Gore, who made a campaign stop last March in Houston that included a church where Prince is a financially contributing member. Howard previously denied the case had been sidetracked. But Schumacher's attorney, Michael Hinton, thinks otherwise. "There's no question that this investigation was shut down," Hinton said. "The question is why and how it was shut down. "The officers and agents who were in the field doing the work are anxious to testify. I can only hope the Justice Department does not interfere and instead cooperates," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens