US TARGETS TOBACCO "DRUG RINGS" USING ASH DOCUMENTS [09/06]

A Justice Department criminal investigation of the tobacco industry is moving into a newer and harder-hitting phase as the agency begins targeting cigarette makers by using tactics usually reserved for "drug rings" -- SEE ARTICLE BELOW.

Some of the information upon which the Justice Department is basing its investigation was supplied by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) -- SEE PREVIOUS POSTING ON THIS TOPIC.

Indeed, now that a formal criminal investigation has been announced, and subpoenas has been issued to Philip Morris officials (those to other companies will be served shortly), ASH is finally free to respond to some of the persons who have submitted information about tobacco industry wrongdoing in response to ASH's tobacco felony justice project.

As a part of this project, ASH is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of current or former tobacco industry executives for cigarette related felonies.

Persons with such information are invited to submit it to ASH on an anonymous basis by including a code name and a 9-digit number selected at random and known only to the submitter of the information.

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGES ARE FOR THE PERSONS IDENTIFIED BY THEIR CODE NAMES WHO HAVE SUBMITTED INFORMATION TO ASH. OTHER READERS MAY SKIP DIRECTLY DOWN TO THE WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE ABOUT THE CHANGE IN TACTICS IN THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATION.

To the following persons known by their code names, your information has been submitted to the appropriate authorities. Please check this web site from time to time for further information: BIGRED, BITEBACK, DENNNIStheMENACE, NONESUCH, SICKOFIT, SUNSHINE, TOBACCOWIDOW, XSLAVE.

To the following persons known by their code names, please call ASH at your earliest convenience. Be sure to call from a secluded pay phone, and either pay for the initial call with coins or by using a pre-paid or telephone credit card. When the phone is answered, immediately state your code name AND your 9- digit number, and then the phone number of another secluded pay phone within five minutes travel of where you calling from. An ASH attorney will then call you back at the second pay phone within ten minutes: ADMAN, BANGBANG, MONEYDAME, XYZ123.

The follow excerpts are from an article in the WASHINGTON POST of September 8, 1996.

It is entitled U.S. WIDENS TOBACCO INVESTIGATION.

A narrow probe of possible perjury charges against several tobacco executives for 1994 congressional testimony has been expanded into a far-reaching Justice Department investigation into whether industry officials have systematically made false or misleading statements to Congress and government agencies about the addictive nature of tobacco and about industry practices.

Officials said that as part of the investigation, the FBI and the Justice Department have used police tactics employed to break open drug rings, pressuring current and former mid-level employees of at least one tobacco company to turn over information about their corporate bosses.

In recent weeks, according to industry and government officials, FBI agents have knocked on doors of perhaps a dozen Richmond-area Philip Morris Cos. employees during the dinner hour. The agents flashed their badges and genially asked a few questions of the tobacco giant's workers. Then, the agents handed each employee a subpoena to testify before a Washington grand jury -- under threat of perjury charges if they stray from the truth. The government has also demanded documents directly from the company.

Earlier testimony and documents provided by the corporations to the FDA and Congress are being compared to internal memoranda to see if there are any conflicts. Authorities also hope to discover if pertinent information has been withheld. The investigation focuses not only on Philip Morris but also on other major tobacco companies, including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., federal officials said.

Now the cigarette companies face a new challenge, from a Justice Department that has decided to use some of its most formidable tools against the industry.

A senior law enforcement official noted that federal investigators are initially targeting mid-level managers because they are "people in the know who are not necessarily responsible for the decisions. You let these people who are less culpable tell the story and see where all this leads."

The official described this approach as similar to routine tactics used in dismantling drug rings: arrest and pressure street-level or mid-level dealers to learn more about the trafficking network's leadership.

The potential infraction involves a federal law that prohibits making oral or written false statements to government agencies. The law, which also allows prosecution for withholding information, provides for a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for each false statement.

Law enforcement officials would not reveal what documents are under review, but examples of potential contradictions are numerous. For example, in 1994 congressional testimony, a number of tobacco executives stated under oath that they "believed" nicotine was not addictive. But documents have surfaced, some of them decades old, that appear to suggest that company executives had information that nicotine was addictive.

Legal experts say the statute prohibiting fraud and false statements to government agencies is broader and easier to prosecute than perjury charges, because a person charged with perjury could allege that he said what he believed to be true. For example, corporate executives said at congressional hearings that they "believed" nicotine was not addictive.

Jack King, spokesman for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said that the fraud provision being considered by the Justice Department is an unusual choice because prosecutors rarely use it as the linchpin of an investigation. "Usually it's used as a tool" to encourage cooperation, King said. "They use it to scare people -- and it works."

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