Rose Accuser Admits Giving Information to Feds on Tax Evasion

One of Pete Rose’s chief accusers in baseball’s gambling probe said today that he has given federal investigators testimony directly linking the Cincinnati manager to a conspiracy to evade income taxes.

Paul G. Janszen, his voice cracking at times and tears welling in his eyes during a news conference, repeated many of the allegations against Rose, who is accused of betting on his own team.

For the first time, Janszen acknowledged providing FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents information that could subject Rose to an indictment for allegedly conspiring to defraud the U.S. government.

Meanwhile, in Columbus, Ohio, legal maneuvering continued as baseball’s lawyers asked a federal judge to compel Rose lawyer Roger J. Makley to answer questions regarding Rose’s legal defense.

Janszen, who claims to have run Rose’s bets to bookmakers:

- Said he saw documents indicating that Rose bet on baseball throughout the 1988 season.

- Denied he prompted baseball’s investigation, saying he was contacted by the commissioner’s office after someone else gave information.

- Repeated that Rose never, to Janszen’s knowledge, became involved in cocaine deals, despite allegedly asking how much he could make on them.

- Repeated that Reds pitcher John Franco knew about Rose’s debts with a Staten Island bookmaker nicknamed Val.

- Said other Reds players, whom he would not identify, knew of Rose’s alleged gambling before charges became public.

- Said Rose lawyer Rueven J. Katz knew of the alleged gambling problems as early as March, 1988.

Janszen served four months in a halfway house after pleading guilty to falsifying his 1985 federal income tax return and failing to report income from steroid sales.

“I don’t know if he’ll ever understand it, but in a weird way, I feel I’m helping him,” Janszen said. “If I have one regret, that regret is that I was not man enough to walk up to Pete Rose . . . to say to him: ‘That’s it. No more.’ ”

‘Not Gonna Get Me’

Janszen said that each time he brought up the dangers to Rose, the Reds manager said: “They’re not gonna get me. They can’t get me. I have good attorneys.”

Rose has said that when he learned Janszen was involved in drug-dealing, he stopped associating with him. Janszen denied that, saying: “Pete Rose knew that from the beginning.”

Janszen, who began cooperating with the government in March, 1988, and with baseball this February, claimed Rose’s alleged gambling was well known in the Reds clubhouse.

“There’s a lot of players who probably knew, and I knew of some that had direct knowledge of what was going on,” he said. “It’s kind of difficult for them to step forward, don’t you think, to take Paul Janszen’s side against the Reds.”