Jailbreak Probe Aimed at Possible Wrongdoing

The investigation into the jailbreak of a Colombian snared in a nationwide drug bust is focusing on “compromised” jail procedures, including possible bribery, officials said Wednesday.

Tony Ricevuto, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration supervisor, said William Londono apparently is the only escapee among 240 people arrested during the two-year “Operation Pisces,” which Attorney Gen. Edwin Meese III called the most successful drug probe ever undertaken.

Londono, 23, was transferred to the County Jail’s inmate reception and release area on Aug. 25. He apparently disappeared then, but guards did not determine that he had escaped until Monday, six days later.

“We’re not pleased,” Ricevuto said. “It appears that there’s some kind of procedural problem in the system.

“It looks like it’s an internal problem, a compromise. But was it a personnel problem? Some kind of payoff? We just don’t know right now. But I know that’s what they’re looking at.”

Release Procedures Involved

Sheriff Sherman Block released a statement saying, “It’s obvious to us that in some fashion inmate Londono has compromised our central jail release mechanism.” No additional details concerning the sheriff’s investigation were available Wednesday, said Deputy Sam Jones, a sheriff’s spokesman.

Sheriff’s officials could not say why Londono was taken to the crowded release area, which processes an average of nearly 16,000 prisoners a month.

A number of safeguards have been established to prevent an inmate from passing out of the jail release area, they said.

Ricevuto noted that the integrity of local authorities, “particularly of the narcotics officers of the Los Angeles police and the Sheriff’s Department,” has traditionally been exemplary.

Operation Pisces was a federally organized undercover investigation lasting about two years. However, almost all the prosecutions have been in state courts, said Curtis A. Hazell, the Los Angeles deputy district attorney handling the case.

At the time Operation Pisces was revealed, Meese said it was “the largest and must successful undercover investigation in federal drug enforcement history.”

Hazell also clarified the spelling of Londono’s name Wednesday, saying sheriff’s officials had misspelled it as Landano when the Colombian was booked.

Cocaine Trafficking Charged

Londono, who was being held on $3 million bail, faced cocaine trafficking and money laundering charges and was regarded as an important drug figure within his own network.

Operation Pisces was aimed at infiltrating cocaine-trafficking networks controlled by Colombian drug lords Pablo Escobar and Favio Ochoa, Ricevuto said. But he added that Londono is “far from being anywhere near the top-of-the-line people.”

Londono was one of 16 people arrested April 11 by authorities in Los Angeles and Anaheim for allegedly participating in a cocaine smuggling and money-laundering ring in the Los Angeles

Authorities confiscated 103 kilograms of cocaine and $500,000 in cash at the time of Londono’s arrest, Ricevuto said. Prosecutors also had videotape evidence showing Londono dealing with Horacio Marco, an undercover Los Angeles policeman whose personal safety has become a subject of concern since Londono’s escape was discovered.

Marco has been provided police protection, but officials were more concerned about his safety during the undercover operation itself, said Cmdr. William Booth, a police spokesman.

“Obviously, we have no intention of putting him back under cover,” Booth said.

As for the investigation concerning Londono’s escape, Booth said, “We have every confidence that the Sheriff’s Department in their own investigation will use every investigative technique to determine how he did escape.”