Pasadena Police Chief Finds No CIA-Contras Link to Crack

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.