[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 67 (Thursday, May 25, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4415-S4416]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     SPECIAL AGENT JOHN J. TRUSLOW

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I would like at this time to pay my respects 
to FBI Special Agent John Joseph Truslow. John Truslow, an FBI agent 
stationed in Providence, was more than ``just an agent.'' He was a 
brave man, a Rhode Islander who cherished his home state and served its 
people with courage and distinction.
  John grew up in Central Falls, Rhode Island and attended the 
University of Rhode Island, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1972 and a 
master's degree in 1978. In 1980, he joined the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation in New York, where he was assigned for eleven years.
  In 1991, John Truslow transferred back home to Rhode Island, with his 
wife, Diane, and their two children, Catherine and David.
  During the next nine years with the Bureau, John Truslow 
distinguished himself by leading several federal probes that attacked 
corruption in our cities and towns.
  In 1996, when the North Cape barge ran aground at Moonstone Beach, 
spilling over 800,000 gallons of home heating oil into Narragansett Bay 
and killing millions of fish and wildlife, John Truslow was hard at 
work. Throughout that year and the next, he led a methodical 
investigation, which uncovered the corporate negligence that 
contributed to the disaster. Because of his work, a groundbreaking 
agreement was reached in which the owner of the North Cape agreed to 
pay $9.5 million in criminal damages. Today, despite one of the worst 
environmental accidents in Rhode Island's history, Narragansett Bay is 
recovering, due, large part, to the work of Mr. Truslow.
  Described by friends and co-workers as a man of substance and a man 
of honor, John continued to report to work each day, even after having 
been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in August 1999. In fact, on 
April 5, one day after his twentieth anniversary with the FBI and after 
months of being physically ravaged by cancer and the effects of 
chemotherapy, John testified before a federal grand jury to present 
evidence which lead to the indictment on bankruptcy fraud charges of a 
Rhode Island traffic court judge. Twelve days later, on April 17, he 
was in court for that indictment.

  John was a dedicated agent, working up until his final days. We are 
humbled by his courage, allegiance to duty and

[[Page S4416]]

his perseverance in the face of adversity. He served with honor and 
distinction, for the people of his home state of Rhode Island as well 
as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  Unfortunately, John lost his battle with cancer on May 5. To his 
family, I offer my sincerest condolences.
  I need not tell them that they can be proud of John; they already 
know that. But, I would like them to know what John's work meant to so 
many in our state. He made a difference in our criminal justice system 
and has left a lasting impression on friends, co-workers and colleagues 
in law enforcement.
  While he is gone, John's legacy of duty and courage lives on, and his 
record of service to his country and Rhode Island will not soon be 
forgotten.
  I ask unanimous consent that an article from the Providence Journal-
Bulletin on the life of Mr. Truslow be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

          [From the Providence Journal-Bulletin, May 14, 2000]

        Remembering a Man Who Had the Courage of His Convictions

                (By Mike Stanton; Journal Staff Writer)

       Despite the ravages of brain cancer, FBI agent John 
     Truslow, whose cases included the North Cape oil spill and 
     Operation Plunder Dome, worked up until the final days of his 
     life.
                                  ____

       When two dozen FBI agents prepared to raid Providence City 
     Hall last spring, a lanky, bespectacled agent named John 
     Truslow was put in charge.
       ``We specifically chose him because we wanted someone who 
     was low-key and decisive,'' recalls Daniel Knight, the head 
     agent in Providence.
       Later that afternoon, while top federal prosecutors and FBI 
     officials held a news conference to announce Operation 
     Plunder Dome, Truslow was back in his familiar post behind 
     the scenes, poring through the arcane documents and tedious 
     tax records that would help the government build criminal 
     cases against corrupt Providence officials.
       If John Truslow toiled in obscurity, his efforts were not 
     in vain. He worked on some of the most prominent criminal 
     cases in Rhode Island over the past decade from public 
     corruption in Johnston to criminal negligence in the 1996 
     North Cape oil spill to the ongoing corruption probe of the 
     administration of Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.
       Truslow kept working even after he was diagnosed with 
     terminal brain cancer last year.
       As the cancer ravaged his body and the chemotherapy failed 
     to arrest the disease's advance, Truslow would say that he 
     was ``on top of the world'' and keep showing up for work.
       Although his gait was unsteady and he was unable to drive, 
     Trusklow was still on the job in April, putting in a nine-
     hour day as a federal grand jury indicted retired Rhode 
     Island traffic-court judge John F. Lallo on fraud-related 
     charges after an 18-month investigation.
       On May 5, Truslow died, with his wife of nearly 22 years, 
     Dianne, and their daughter Catherine and son David nearby. He 
     was 50.
       ``John would never, ever give up,'' says his friend and 
     colleague, Special Agent W. Dennis Aiken. ``He wasn't given a 
     lot of time by the doctors, but he had things that he wanted 
     to finish. He met every goal he set.''
       That sense of purpose was evident at Truslow's wake last 
     Monday, a celebration of his life that drew an overflow crowd 
     of friends, family and colleagues from throughout the 
     Northeast.
       Patting his friend's hand, Aiken talked about Truslow's 
     love of his family and his job, and vowed that his work would 
     continue:
       ``There's still a lot of people we need to put in jail.''
       EVEN AT 6-FOOT-5, John J. Truslow was a man who, with his 
     crumpled raincoat and mild personality, ``could easily fade 
     into the background,'' says friend and federal prosecutor Ira 
     Belkin.
       ``He was all substance, no show,'' says Belkin. ``No task 
     was too small or too big. If I had 10 John Truslows, there 
     would be no crime in Rhode Island.''
       Truslow grew up in Central Falls, one of four children. His 
     father worked for a local gas company; his mother worked in a 
     mill.
       As a student at the University of Rhode Island in the early 
     1970s, Truslow met a high-ranking FBI official the father of 
     a classmate and ``became fascinated with the bureau,'' 
     recalls his wife, Dianne L. Truslow.
       The FBI official told him that there were two paths to 
     becoming an agent accounting or law school. Truslow chose 
     accounting.
       He joined the bureau in 1980, in New York, and within a few 
     years began specializing in white-collar crime. In 1991, he 
     transferred to Rhode Island, moving to East Greenwich.
       Before long, Truslow was leading a federal corruption probe 
     of the Town of Johnston, involving bribes by developers to 
     town officials.
       One official was charged with demanding a $10,000 bribe, 
     which he described as ``coffee money.'' Ultimately, eight 
     people were convicted. Long-time Johnston Mayor Ralph aRusso, 
     who wasn't charged, was voted out of office.
       ``The people in Johnston Town Hall hated to see him,'' 
     recalls Dianne Truslow. ``He knew their records better than 
     they did.''
       Other Johnstonians cheered him on. One was Rosie Cioe, 
     proprietor of the downtown Providence deli Amenities, where 
     Truslow would stop in every morning for a cranberry muffin.
       ``John kept my hopes up that Johnston would turn itself 
     around,'' she recalls. ``I'd say, `You're doing a hell of a 
     job, John. Keep going.' He'd just smile.''
       Peter DiBiase, a Providence criminal-defense lawyer who 
     represented people investigated by Truslow, calls him ``a 
     worthy adversary and an honorable man.''
       ``He played hard and he played fairly,'' recalls DiBiase. 
     ``He's the most diligent FBI agent I ever met.''
       ON JAN. 19, 1996, the tug Scandia caught fire in a storm 
     and ran aground at Moonstone Beach with the barge North Cape, 
     causing the worse oil spill in Rhode Island history.
       Truslow led a team of state and federal investigators in 
     piecing together hundreds of boxes of ship records and 
     interviewing crew members who had concealed problems with the 
     boats.
       The result was a groundbreaking 1997 agreement in which the 
     boat owner, Eklo Marine Corp., agreed to pay $9.5 million in 
     damages.
       ``Some agents are good with paper and some are good with 
     people there aren't many agents like John who are good with 
     both,'' says Belkin.
       Truslow had a patient, methodical style of interviewing 
     that broke down many a target into confessing criminal 
     wrongdoing, associates say. In one fraud case, Belkin 
     recalls, a suspect being questioned by Truslow raised his 
     hand and, to the dismay of his lawyer, said, ``Guilty.''
       Last Aug. 11, while delivering subpoenas to Newport, 
     Truslow suffered a seizure and blacked out, crashing his car 
     into a tree in Middletown. He came to in an ambulance.
       Hospital tests found seven tumors in his brain and three 
     more in his lungs. Following 10 days of radiation treatment, 
     doctors at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston found 
     that the tumors had grown. Last October, they estimated that 
     he had six months to live.
       ``We were beside ourselves,'' recalls Dianne Truslow. ``We 
     sat there and wept.''
       Agents continued to drive Truslow to Boston for treatment. 
     His hair fell out, his body grew gaunt, and he suffered 
     painful side effects from the chemotherapy. Still, he kept 
     working. His job helped distract him from the cancer, and the 
     cancer drove him to push hard to finish cases.
       Truslow worked on a Plunder Dome case involving lawyer and 
     long-time State House insider Angelo ``Jerry'' Mosca Jr. In 
     January, Mosca pleaded guilty to delivering $25,000 in bribes 
     to city tax officials; one of the bribes involves allegations 
     that $10,000 was intended for an unidentified high-ranking 
     city executive.
       Truslow also sat at the table with a federal prosecutor in 
     March, when Providence tax collector Anthony E. Annarino 
     pleaded guilty to taking bribes in another Plunder Dome case.
       Truslow's wife says that he set milestones to keep himself 
     going: his 50th birthday in November, which was marked by a 
     surprise party attended by about 75 FBI agents and other 
     friends; Christmas, his children's birthdays, his 20th 
     anniversary with the FBI.
       On April 5, the day after marking his 20th anniversary, 
     Truslow was back before a federal grand jury, presenting 
     evidence that led to the indictment of former Rhode Island 
     traffic-court judge John Lallo on bankruptcy fraud charges.
       In the preceding months, Truslow had continued to build the 
     case, interviewing witnesses at Foxwoods casino in 
     Connecticut, where Lallo had piled up gambling debts.
       On April 17, Truslow appeared in court for Lallo's 
     arraignment. One week later, on April 24, he came to work for 
     the last time. After a few hours, however, it became apparent 
     that he had taken a turn for the worse: he struggled to speak 
     in complete sentences, and had to be taken home.
       He died nearly two weeks later. On Thursday, Truslow's wife 
     and children, following his wishes, scattered his ashes from 
     an airplane over a favorite spot overlooking Narragansett 
     Bay.
       Dianne Truslow recalls her husband's pride back on April 4, 
     when he was honored for his 20 years of service in the FBI. 
     Barry W. Mawn, the head of the FBI's Boston office, hailed 
     Truslow as ``a profile in courage.''
       As the 200 people there wept openly, a sobbing Truslow 
     thanked them.
       ``I don't know how much longer I have,'' said Truslow, 
     ``but I will continue to work every day and do my best.''

                          ____________________