Informants Named Vignali's Father

"The fallaciousness of the [congressional] report is that this information is so easy to get," Baca said.

Baca: 'The Whole Thing Stinks'

The sheriff said responsibility lies with the Clinton administration.

"It's disgusting that the White House doesn't do due diligence and it's disgusting that the Congress wants to blame the sheriff of Los Angeles County for what the president did," Baca said. "The whole thing stinks. Vignali stinks. The White House stinks, this report stinks."

The sheriff said he also did not know of the unproven allegations against Torres, whom he described to the committee as "a legitimate businessman."

Public records show that Torres, 45, dropped out of high school in Los Angeles to begin working on his father's fruit truck route and family-owned store. He later expanded that into a supermarket chain and won community accolades, including a plaque from the Los Angeles City Council, in part for giving free rides to low-income patrons.

Police files portray him less flatteringly.

Los Angeles and Whittier police department reports obtained by The Times from the late 1980s cited, respectively, a narcotics detective's and an informant's account that Torres was suspected of shipping cocaine.

Another informant, arrested with a truckload of cocaine, gave the FBI a tour of what he described as sites related to the ring. He pointed out a warehouse owned by Torres, as well as Vignali's downtown car business, according to the FBI reports, saying it was a storage facility for cars owned by ringleaders.

In spring 1993, two other informants were questioned by the DEA, according to law enforcement reports. One of these informants told the DEA he believed Torres trafficked in 100-plus kilo lots of cocaine.

Still another informant, who was arrested for running drugs, told the DEA he had bought hundreds of kilos of cocaine from Vignali's son and that Horacio Vignali was the source of his son's supply, according to an DEA report.

The same informant later told the DEA that Torres supplied Vignali's son and claimed that neither Torres nor the elder Vignali handled the drugs themselves.

Within a month of Carlos Vignali's indictment in Minnesota in December 1993, public records show, Horacio Vignali transferred ownership of a San Fernando Valley condominium that he had purchased from the informant's mother back to her.

Public files in Los Angeles County show Horacio Vignali has no criminal record.