L.A. Politicians Urged Pardon of Cocaine Dealer

President Clinton released a convicted Los Angeles cocaine dealer from federal prison after influential congressmen and city leaders personally lobbied the White House and the Justice Department to secure his commutation, it was learned Sunday.

The concerted effort to free Carlos Vignali included a series of personal contacts between California Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) and the White House, and correspondence from former California Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca also wrote letters.

The letters, some written as early as 1996 and others sent last year, suggested that Vignali was wrongly convicted and that his case deserved a careful review by the White House.

Their view conflicted sharply with the position of federal law enforcement authorities, who insisted that Vignali deserved his 15-year prison sentence for his central role in a narcotics operation that stretched from Los Angeles to Minneapolis, delivering more than 800 pounds of cocaine.

Clinton commuted Vignali’s sentence, and he was freed from prison on Jan. 20 after serving six years. On his last day in office, Clinton issued 140 pardons and 36 commutations. Clinton spokesman Jake Siewert, asked about cases such as Vignali’s, said he did not remember any specific cases but added: “We tried to make a judgment on the merits.”

The Times reported Sunday that law enforcement authorities were indignant that the convicted cocaine dealer had been freed and suggested that he never would have been released without political intervention.

Vignali’s request for clemency went first to the Justice Department and then to the White House with a recommendation that has not been determined. Former President Clinton has not fully explained why he pardoned 140 individuals and commuted the sentences of 36 others on his last day in office. Vignali’s father, Horacio Vignali, is an affluent Los Angeles businessman with deep ties in the Latino community who became a major political contributor to top state and federal officeholders after his son was convicted and imprisoned in 1994.

Both Becerra and Villaraigosa are candidates for mayor of Los Angeles.

On Jan. 19, Clinton’s last night in office, Becerra said he phoned the White House and the Justice Department to find out if Vignali had a chance of being pardoned.

The call was only the most recent of a series of contacts with the White House that Becerra pursued to bring Vignali’s case before Clinton, Becerra acknowledged Sunday night.

Becerra conceded that the Vignalis were not his constituents but added that the father had been a major contributor and a friend of five years. However, the congressman denied that he was helping the son in return for the father’s political contributions. Vignali had donated at least $11,000 to Becerra’s political action committee over the last three years.

The congressman said he never investigated the accuracy of the father’s description of his son’s case. “They [the Vignali family] believed to the depths of their heart he was innocent,” Becerra said.

Becerra said Horacio Vignali had repeatedly asked him since 1996 to help him win his son’s release. But the congressman insisted his intervention was aimed only at finding out about the son’s case--not securing his freedom.

“I told him [Horacio Vignali] I thought it was a longshot to do this,” Becerra said. “I said I’d try to find out what it looked like.”

In a Nov. 21, 2000, letter to Clinton, Becerra said: “Mr. Vignali’s parents are dear friends of mine and solid, upstanding members of the Los Angeles community. They have made it their personal crusade to clear their son’s record and bring him home.

“They believe their son to be innocent and, in any case, feel strongly that he has paid his debt to society,” Becerra wrote.

Becerra then noted that a number of influential Los Angeles area leaders “have weighed in on behalf of Mr. Vignali.”

“I respectfully urge you to take a thoughtful look at this case. The Vignali family’s efforts deserve your careful consideration,” he concluded.

Starting in mid-December, Becerra said, he had a series of telephone conversations with Deputy White House Chief of Staff Maria Echaveste about Vignali’s case.

“I at one point raised it with her,” Becerra said. “When we got close to the closing of the [congressional] session, I asked, ‘Are you familiar with the request for commutation on this particular case?’ She said she didn’t know anything about it. I said, ‘Would you mind checking?’ ”

Becerra said Echaveste “got back to me within a week. She said there’s no word on any particular progress on the case.”

Echaveste said Sunday night that she recalled the phone conversation and that Becerra was only calling to check on the status of the case. “I simply referred the matter to the White House counsel’s office,” she said.

The Becerra effort was part of a concerted campaign to sway Clinton’s decision on a commutation that included letters from Mahony, Baca, former U.S. Rep. Esteban Torres and Villaraigosa. Becerra said that the letters were prompted by lobbying from the father--who told The Times last week that he asked no one to work on behalf of his son.

Torres wrote two letters on behalf of Vignali in 1996. The first was to Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and the warden at the Colorado federal prison where Carlos Vignali was incarcerated.

In the letter to Reno, Torres wrote, “I am asking that you carefully review Mr. Vignali’s case and give this matter your every consideration.” Torres told the warden of the Federal Correctional Institute in Florence, Colo., Joe W. Booker Jr., that Vignali should be housed closer to his family in Los Angeles.

Vignali eventually was transferred to a federal prison in southeastern Arizona, from which he was released in January.

In 1998, Torres wrote a third letter on Vignali’s behalf, this one to President Clinton. “I would appreciate your careful review and your immediate consideration of approval of his petition” for a commutation, Torres wrote.

Torres could not be reached for comment Sunday night.

A similar letter from Villaraigosa in May 1996 went to the U.S. pardon attorney’s office.

“I am convinced that he has been falsely linked to a drug ring . . . ,” he wrote. “In the interest of justice I urge you to give Mr. Vignali’s case prompt and thorough consideration.”

Villaraigosa was phoned repeatedly, but he, too, could not be found for comment Sunday night.

Mahony also wrote the pardon office in 1996. He noted that Torres, Villaraigosa, state Sen. Richard G. Polanco and L.A. City Councilman Richard Alatorre “had reviewed this case very carefully and each one has concluded that the facts in this case merit a full evaluation and review . . .

“I now wish to add my voice recommending that all of the process, the law and the facts in this case be reviewed fully to determine if justice has been achieved in the case of Mr. Carlos Vignali Jr.” the cardinal wrote. Calls to Mahony’s office went unanswered Sunday night.

Baca, then a county sheriff’s chief, wrote in 1996 to the U.S. probation office in Minnesota urging Vignali’s transfer to a penitentiary closer to Los Angeles.

Baca declined to comment, according to his spokesman.

According to a Times analysis of political contribution records, Horacio Vignali gave Polanco $26,000 and made donations worth $2,795 to Villaraigosa. The Times’ analysis found no contributions from Horacio Vignali to Torres.

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Times Staff Writers Joe Mozingo and Beth Shuster in Los Angeles contributed to this report.