WASHINGTON — President Clinton released a convicted Los Angeles cocaine dealer from federal prison after influential congressmen and city leaders personally lobbied the White House and the Justice Department to secure his commutation, it was learned Sunday.
The concerted effort to free Carlos Vignali included a series of personal contacts between California Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) and the White House, and correspondence from former California Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca also wrote letters.
The letters, some written as early as 1996 and others sent last year, suggested that Vignali was wrongly convicted and that his case deserved a careful review by the White House.
Their view conflicted sharply with the position of federal law enforcement authorities, who insisted that Vignali deserved his 15-year prison sentence for his central role in a narcotics operation that stretched from Los Angeles to Minneapolis, delivering more than 800 pounds of cocaine.
Clinton commuted Vignali's sentence, and he was freed from prison on Jan. 20 after serving six years. On his last day in office, Clinton issued 140 pardons and 36 commutations. Clinton spokesman Jake Siewert, asked about cases such as Vignali's, said he did not remember any specific cases but added: "We tried to make a judgment on the merits."
The Times reported Sunday that law enforcement authorities were indignant that the convicted cocaine dealer had been freed and suggested that he never would have been released without political intervention.
Vignali's request for clemency went first to the Justice Department and then to the White House with a recommendation that has not been determined. Former President Clinton has not fully explained why he pardoned 140 individuals and commuted the sentences of 36 others on his last day in office. Vignali's father, Horacio Vignali, is an affluent Los Angeles businessman with deep ties in the Latino community who became a major political contributor to top state and federal officeholders after his son was convicted and imprisoned in 1994.
Both Becerra and Villaraigosa are candidates for mayor of Los Angeles.
On Jan. 19, Clinton's last night in office, Becerra said he phoned the White House and the Justice Department to find out if Vignali had a chance of being pardoned.
