Informants Named Vignali's Father

Horacio Vignali gained national attention last year as the dedicated father who successfully enlisted Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, former U.S. Atty. Alejandro Mayorkas and a host of elected officials in a longshot bid to win the early release of his son. Clinton eventually freed Carlos Vignali, who had served six years of a 15-year sentence for dealing kilos of cocaine.

A congressional inquiry into pardons and commutations granted by Clinton on his last day in office turned up confidential federal law enforcement reports containing unproven allegations that the elder Vignali also was in the cocaine business. One informant told the federal Drug Enforcement Administration that Vignali was his son's supplier.

The allegations, drawn from raw investigative files and based largely on statements by informants, have never been strong enough to yield a criminal charge against Horacio Vignali.

Yet the report raises pointed questions about whether local law enforcement leaders should have checked Vignali's background before describing him to the White House as a man of the highest integrity.

In the drug trial of his son, Carlos, prosecutors said the defendant showed no interest in making a deal for a lesser prison term by revealing who supplied him with the cocaine and instead went to trial despite strong evidence against him.

Todd Jones, the former U.S. attorney in Minneapolis, where the young Vignali was prosecuted, said investigators and prosecutors suspected "he did not want to snitch on his dad" or someone else very close to him.

"That's just logic," Jones said. "We knew it [the drug conspiracy] did not end with this 21-year-old kid, so obviously there was someone close to him that he was extremely loyal to and that he was willing to go to prison for, for a long time."

While emphasizing the unproven nature of the allegations in DEA files, the House Committee on Government Reform nonetheless cited them this month in a report critical of Southern California politicians and the two law enforcement leaders who helped Vignali persuade Clinton.

The committee said Baca and Mayorkas would have had access to law enforcement files and should have checked them.