[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 44 (Wednesday, April 20, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
           KEY DOCUMENTS PROVE INNOCENCE OF JOSEPH OCCHIPINTI

                                 ______


                      HON. JAMES A. TRAFICANT, JR.

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 20, 1994

  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, as part of my continuing efforts to bring 
to light all the facts in the case of former Immigration and 
Naturalization Service agent Joseph Occhipinti, I submit into the 
Record a sworn affidavit made out by one Angel Nunez:

     The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

       United States, Plaintiff, versus Joseph Occhipinti, 
     Defendant.


                     declaration of angel nunez esq

       I, Angel Nunez, declare as follows:
       1. I am attorney Duly admitted to the State of Pennsylvania 
     Bar Association and am a member of the Philadelphia Bar 
     Association, I reside in the state of New York at 240 Nagle 
     Avenue, Apartment 14G, New York, New York 10034.
       2. In the Fall of 1992, I met with several FBI agents 
     including Steve Jarret and Lionel Barron who told me they 
     were investigating the Joseph Occhipinti case and Dominican 
     Organized crime.
       3. I fully cooperated with the investigation giving the 
     agents information about potential witnesses I had learned 
     about and with my clients consent I provided them with full 
     access to all written documents in my possession.
       4. It was expected that a full investigation of the 
     allegations pro and against Mr. Occhipinti would have taken 
     place, however, the manner in which the investigation was 
     conducted led me to not only complain to the FBI but also to 
     question the sincerity and impartiality of the investigation.
       5. I provided agent Jarret with the names of Mr. Peter 
     Navarro, a respected Dominican Airlines executive, who 
     complained to me that after cooperating fully with the 
     investigation and being told that his testimony would be kept 
     confidential, his name was given to persons implicated in the 
     frame-up as being their accuser.
       6. I complained to Jarret's partner bitterly about the 
     implications of placing Mr. Navarro's life in jeopardy by 
     having given out his name in this manner and that I felt it 
     was an appalling investigative technique to have given Mr. 
     Navarro's name to Pel Custillo, a convicted felon and member 
     of the Federation of Dominican Businessmen and Industrialist.
       7. A second source of information was a Dominican woman 
     named Victoria Lopez, who provided an affidavit which told of 
     her listening to a conversation where Mr. Liberato was 
     overheard saying that he was going to ``set up'' this Federal 
     Agent who had raided his establishment. Ms. Lopez asked for 
     her affidavit to remain confidential and she became very 
     afraid because the FBI went to her residence showing their 
     ID's and asking for her. Her fear is understandable since 
     people in her building were known to her to be drug dealers 
     and she was afraid that they might think she was complaining 
     about their activities. I do not know Ms. Lopez personally 
     but from all appearances she was willing to cooperate with 
     law enforcement the one time we met. I remember a phone 
     conversation in which she even volunteered to go to the FBI 
     office in Queens to prevent her from being seen with strange 
     persons in her neighborhood. The above mentioned episode must 
     have had such a frightening impact on her, that the last time 
     she called me was in a panic, wishing to tell me that she did 
     not want to have anything to do with this matter since it was 
     placing her at personal risk and she had children to think 
     about.
       8. My name was also used in questioning witnesses and the 
     situation became so tense in February of 1993, that I 
     prepared an affidavit explaining this problem, after being 
     told to ``watch my back'' by a New York police detective who 
     was being dissuaded from continuing his investigation into 
     matters pertaining to the Occhipinti case.
       9. On January 14, 1992, I executed an affidavit which was 
     provided to the FBI, setting forth the names of more than 
     fifty witnesses who had information pertinent to the Mr. 
     Occhipinti's allegations of a conspiracy against him. In 
     addition I also set out facts tending to show prosecutorial 
     misconduct which prevented a fair trial. These allegations of 
     first hand personal experiences should have been 
     investigated. As far as I know, none of these charges or 
     witnesses were ever interviewed by the FBI. The reason for 
     this belief lies in the fact that all the letters citing the 
     results of the FBI investigation, do not mention the 
     allegations made in my affidavit.
       10. All of the described acts showed bias and irregularity 
     in the manner of conducting the investigation. I realized 
     that all the information that was provided to the FBI was 
     being used to undermine Mr. Occhipinti's case. In fact it 
     soon became clear that the ones being investigated were the 
     proponents of Mr. Occhipinti's innocence.
       11. It is hoped that the FBI will look into these facts and 
     take corrective actions which will insure an unbiased and 
     properly conducted investigation. I declare under penalty of 
     perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

                          ____________________