[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 179 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 179

               Concerning the case of Joseph Occhipinti.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 10, 1993

Mr. Traficant submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
               Concerning the case of Joseph Occhipinti.

Whereas Joseph Occhipinti, during his 16 years as a Federal agent with the 
        Immigration and Naturalization Service, risked his life in pursuit of 
        his duties on a regular basis and in so doing became the most highly 
        decorated Federal agent in United States history, earning 78 
        commendations and three Attorney General awards for valor and merit;
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti entered Federal law enforcement in 1972 as a United 
        States Customs Service agent, and, after five years of investigating 
        drug trafficking and organized crime, compiled the highest arrest record 
        in the history of the United States Customs Service;
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti, upon transferring from the United States Customs 
        Service to the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1976, began 
        investigating a crime syndicate organized by criminal conspirators from 
        the Dominican Republic that operated in New York and provided 
        counterfeit green cards for illegal aliens as well as established an 
        illegal drug distribution and retailing network that recruited and 
        trained children as young as 12 years old to act as drug dealers, 
        couriers, smugglers, and crackhouse managers for the Columbian drug 
        cartels;
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti's investigative work, much of which was conducted 
        undercover and at great personal risk, exposed a conspiracy to 
        distribute more than 1,000 counterfeit green cards, led to the arrest 
        and conviction of document counterfeiters, resulted in the seizure of 62 
        pounds of cocaine from the Dulce Llaverias drug cartel, caused the 
        arrest and conviction of over 40 organized crime figures, and resulted 
        in his being named Immigration and Naturalization Service Chief of the 
        New York Area Anti-Smuggling Unit;
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti developed ``Project Intercept,'' a multi-agency anti-
        drug task force that included personnel from the Immigration and 
        Naturalization Service, Drug Enforcement Agency, Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, State Department, and the 
        District Attorney's office, that was put together to detain illegal and 
        documented aliens involved in drug-related courier activity that 
        resulted in 75 arrests, prosecutions and convictions;
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti, after being ordered by his superiors to abandon 
        ``Project Intercept,'' exposed and gained indictments and convictions of 
        private vendors working under contract with the Immigration and 
        Naturalization Service to handle the return of illegal aliens to their 
        nations of origin who, through widespread corruption, extortion and 
        smuggling, for a price released deportees and allowed them to stay 
        illegally in the United States;
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti, in 1988, was asked by the New York City Police 
        Department's Chief of Detectives to launch an investigation of the 
        murder of New York City Police Officer Michael Buczek by feuding drug 
        gangs, an investigation that led to the initiation of ``Project Bodega'' 
        by Joseph Occhipinti, which ultimately led to the positive 
        identification of the murderer of Officer Buczek;
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti, through ``Project Bodega,'' again headed a team of 
        law enforcement personnel from Federal and local law enforcement 
        agencies to identify a distribution network for counterfeit green cards, 
        illegal telephone blue boxes which allow users to make illegal 
        international telephone calls, illegal firearms, illegal drugs, gambling 
        material, fencing of stolen U.S. Treasury checks, and laundering of drug 
        cartel money through corner grocery stores called ``bodegas'' operated 
        throughout the Washington Heights section of Manhattan by natives of the 
        Dominican Republic;
Whereas ``Project Bodega'' resulted in the arrest of 62 illegal aliens and 39 
        other individuals engaged in illegal activity;
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti, through ``Project Bodega,'' uncovered evidence of a 
        former Federal prosecutor on the payroll of a known Dominican drug lord 
        who allegedly used his former position and contacts as a Federal 
        prosecutor to corrupt other Federal prosecutors, and, as a result of 
        this information, Joseph Occhipinti initiated ``Project Esquire'' to 
        fully investigate the allegations of corruption of Federal prosecutors 
        in the New York City area;
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti was ordered by his superiors to terminate ``Project 
        Esquire'' and shortly thereafter found himself accused of civil rights 
        violations by the Federation of Dominican Merchants and Industrialists 
        which claimed that Joseph Occhipinti failed to secure consensual search 
        permission in the course of ``Project Bodega'' investigations, an 
        allegation that forced the highly successful ``Project Bodega'' to be 
        terminated;
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti was indicted in Federal court for allegedly conducting 
        12 illegal searches during ``Project Bodega'';
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti's lawyers produced 55 audio tapes that supplied 
        evidence that the witnesses who testified against him were in fact 
        engaged in criminal activities and that the allegations lodged against 
        Joseph Occhipinti were part of a deliberate conspiracy by the Federation 
        of Dominican Merchants and Industrialists to shut down ``Project 
        Bodega'';
Whereas the 55 audio tapes produced by Joseph Occhipinti's lawyers were seized 
        by the court and barred from admission into evidence during Joseph 
        Occhipinti's trial;
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti's defense attorney, during Mr. Occhipinti's trial, was 
        under heavy medication for a nervous breakdown and exhibited overt 
        suicidal tendencies, unsuccessfully petitioned the court to allow Mr. 
        Occhipinti to obtain new counsel;
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti, having been denied competent counsel and the 
        opportunity to introduce evidence critical to his defense, was 
        subsequently convicted of civil rights violations stemming from 
        ``Project Bodega'' and was sentenced to 37 months in prison;
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti's trial and conviction have been the subject of 
        independent investigations by local and Federal elected officials, and 
        local media, which have uncovered evidence that key witnesses that 
        testified against Mr. Occhipinti were in fact engaged in criminal 
        activities, perjured themselves during Mr. Occhipinti's trial, and that 
        two of the witnesses were paid $20,000 by the Federation of Dominican 
        Merchants and Industrialists to perjure their testimony;
Whereas Joseph Occhipinti had, on his own behalf, an affidavit filed by former 
        El Diario newspaper editor Manuel De Dios which stated that numerous 
        members of the Federation of Dominican Merchants and Industrialists 
        supplied fraudulent complaints and provided perjured testimony against 
        Mr. Occhipinti out of fear that Dominican drug lords would kill them and 
        their families, and, shortly after providing this affidavit to Staten 
        Island, New York Borough President Guy Molinari, Manuel De Dios was 
        murdered;
Whereas the conviction of Joseph Occhipinti has sent a chilling message to all 
        law enforcement officers across the country that organized crime is 
        still powerful enough to silence, ruin and retaliate against a zealous, 
        courageous and effective law enforcement agent; and
Whereas as long as the many unresolved questions surrounding Joseph Occhipinti's 
        case remain unanswered, his case will continue to be perceived by 
        America's law enforcement community as an example of the untouchable 
        power of organized crime and drug traffickers in the United States: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the United States Attorney General appoint a special 
        prosecutor to investigate all allegations of a drug cartel 
        inspired conspiracy against Joseph Occhipinti, and to determine 
        whether or not Joseph Occhipinti's conviction was justified, 
        whether or not there was perjured testimony, organized crime 
        coercion of witnesses, and possible prosecutorial misconduct; 
        and
            (2) if the aforementioned investigation finds that Joseph 
        Occhipinti was unjustly convicted and was in fact the victim of 
        a drug cartel inspired conspiracy, then the President of the 
        United States should grant Joseph Occhipinti a full and 
        complete pardon, and restore Joseph Occhipinti to his position 
        within the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

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