Suit, Article Show Latino Split in FBI on Bias Issue

In the aftermath of a bitter discrimination suit and a controversial magazine article that have rekindled morale problems, some Latino agents in the FBI’s Los Angeles office have publicly split over whether there really is any racial bias against them.

The latest flare-up in a periodic dispute among FBI agents in Los Angeles over the last six years was touched off by an article in the October issue of California Magazine titled, “Busting the FBI.”

Published just before a federal court ruling in El Paso that upheld Latino claims of racial discrimination in promotional opportunities, the article was viewed by many non-Latino agents as an attack on the bureau by Latinos involved in the discrimination suit.

While two key figures in the Latino lawsuit defended themselves and expressed disappointment with the magazine story, two other Latino agents said last week that they were so angered by the article that they decided to speak in defense of the FBI’s treatment of Latinos.

Unusual Signals

The public split, while involving only a few of the two dozen Latino agents in Los Angeles, was unusual because of the reluctance of most FBI agents to openly criticize fellow agents. It also reflected a more widespread dispute among Latino agents inside the FBI.

“I didn’t join the lawsuit because I have never been discriminated against,” said Bill Elwell, a 12-year veteran of the bureau. “I had no problem with the lawsuit, but I’m talking now because of the article.

“It was self-serving,” Elwell said. “Nobody likes to see their dirty laundry laid out that way. It made a lot of agents angry. They are very upset. I’m afraid that the public now perceives all Hispanic agents as being unhappy, and that’s just not the case.”

Eusebio (Sonny) Benavidez, an agent for 18 years who now is assigned to recruitment duties, also said he had no quarrel with the class-action discrimination lawsuit, which was joined by 17 of 23 Latino agents in Los Angeles. He was angered, however, that Latino agents participated in a story described by the magazine as “a hilarious but disturbing look” at FBI operations in Los Angeles.

“When that article came out, things really got stirred up,” Benavidez said. “It created a definite morale problem. I’ve finally reached the point where I’m fed up. There’s another side to the story. The public has a right to know that not all Hispanic agents view the FBI as a bigoted organization.”

Reports of Bungling

The two Los Angeles Latino agents most prominently featured in the California Magazine piece, Paul Magallanes and Rudy Valadez, said they were disappointed that the article went beyond Latino grievances to a list of allegedly bungled FBI investigations.

While Valadez declined any other comment on grounds that he hopes to “put behind me any frictions” resulting from his earlier role in the discrimination case, Magallanes charged that the FBI has unfairly used the article as a vehicle for retaliating against him and others involved in the lawsuit.

Magallanes referred specifically to an Oct. 7 meeting of all agents called by the special agent in charge of the Los Angeles office, Larry Lawler, after the article appeared. In that meeting, Lawler disclosed that the article was being sent to the FBI’s office of professional responsibility for a determination of whether agents involved had violated bureau policies.

The meeting, cited last week by lawyers in the Latino lawsuit as an act of retaliation, was intended as a morale booster after reports of widespread anger in the office, Lawler said. But Magallanes said the morale problem has been distorted.

“I don’t think that’s true. They made a mountain out of a molehill,” Magallanes said. “I think Lawler was being pressured and he missed a golden opportunity to say that a federal judge had ruled and that he personally would not tolerate any acts of discrimination.

“People named in the article were humiliated and embarrassed at that meeting,” Magallanes said. “We were not asked to make any comments. He got himself involved in something he shouldn’t have been involved in. Now, as I understand it, our attorneys will use it and Mr. Lawler may have to testify.”

Magallanes, a 20-year FBI veteran now working the narcotics squad, said Latino agents involved in the lawsuit are doing their best to put the discrimination case behind them. He said he and other leading figures in the court action have no complaints about fellow agents, only with FBI management.

“Our struggle is not with the average agent, whether Hispanic or non-Hispanic,” Magallanes said. “The only thing I will say about Elwell and Benavidez is that they have been discriminated against as Hispanics. They know it, I know it and other agents know it.

“I will not apologize for what I saw in the article because it was true,” Magallanes added. “Hispanic agents do more work than non-Hispanics. That’s happened throughout my career.”

Magallanes said one complaint of Hispanic agents is that they are regularly called on to monitor Spanish-language wiretaps in Colombian and Mexican drug cases at the expense of their own investigations. Wiretap assignments are generally viewed as among the most tedious jobs that FBI agents do, despite their importance in narcotics prosecutions.

“I’ve had wiretaps all over the country, two to three months at a time,” Magallanes said. “We also go out with Anglo agents whenever they have someone who is Spanish-speaking to talk to. Nobody is working our cases for us while we’re doing that. We come back and the subjects are gone and the case is stale.”

While on different sides of the latest dispute involving Latinos in the Los Angeles office, both Magallanes and Lawler said they believe that the initial reaction to the California magazine article is fading.

“The article definitely did some polarization,” Lawler said. “But when the polarization is 473 agents to 2, that’s something I can live with.”

Lawler, who took over the Los Angeles office in July, said he decided to call his Oct. 7 meeting after top aides told him there had been a serious effect on office morale.

“There was absolutely no intent of retaliation,” he said. “I perceived that the article was having a negative effect throughout the office. I gave a talk designed to emphasize the good things that we have done, and my only purpose was to address agent concerns.”

Frictions between Latinos and non-Latinos in the Los Angeles office began in 1982 with a feud between the former head of the office, Richard T. Bretzing, and his top assistant, Bernardo (Matt) Perez, now an FBI official in El Paso.

It was Perez who began the legal fight that led to the successful class-action case this year on behalf of 311 of the FBI’s 425 Latino agents. In his absence from Los Angeles, the Latino agents most actively involved in the litigation have been Magallanes and Valadez.

Several FBI sources on both sides of the dispute predicted last week that emotions will continue to flare at times until the Latino case is ultimately disposed of by a federal judge in El Paso.

While ruling that Latinos have been the victims of discrimination in promotional opportunities, U.S. District Judge Lucius D. Bunton has not yet decided on any punitive or corrective measures involving the FBI. Nor has the FBI revealed if it will appeal his judgment, a possible legal move that could keep the issue unresolved for more than a year.