Copyright 1997 Times Mirror Company 
                               Los Angeles Times
 
                  February 12, 1997, Wednesday,  Home Edition
SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 5; Metro Desk 

LENGTH: 299 words 

HEADLINE: SAN GABRIEL VALLEY; 
PASADENA POLICE CHIEF FINDS NO CIA-CONTRAS LINK TO CRACK 

BODY: 

   Pasadena Police Chief Barney Melekian said an extensive police
investigation and review of cases has found no evidence to connect
the CIA or Nicaraguan Contras to the sale of crack cocaine in
Pasadena during the last two decades. 

   Melekian told the Pasadena City Council late Monday that police
detectives and special investigations unit officers concluded after
reviewing dozens of case files that the city's primary source of
crack cocaine was a drug kingpin who purchased his supplies from
Colombian drug cartels. 

   The Pasadena Police Department launched an investigation in
September at the request of the City Council after a series of
articles in the San Jose Mercury News suggested CIA-supported
Contra guerrillas were responsible for the explosion of crack
cocaine sales in Los Angeles during the 1980s. 

   But an initial investigation by the U.S. attorney general's
office, as well as investigations by The Times, the New York Times
and Washington Post, have disputed the Mercury News' conclusions. 

   Melekian said that most of Pasadena's crack hit the street via
"Ray Ray" Browning, who is in Leavenworth federal prison. 

   In the late 1970s, Browning was linked to one Bay Area drug
dealer identified by the Mercury News as being involved in the
alleged Contra scheme, but there was no evidence that he purchased
drugs from him, Melekian said. 

   Council members, in contrast to the debate in the wake of the
Mercury News series, offered virtually no comments Monday after the
police chief's report. 

   Michael Rupert of the Crack the CIA Coalition said he and others
in the organization were continuing to gather extensive evidence to
support the CIA-crack connection. Rupert said the organization is
planning a protest Feb. 22 in downtown Los Angeles over the
allegations. 

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