For Immediate Release                                                 Contact: Mark Corallo / Beth Frigola

February 27, 2002                                                                              (202) 225-5074

Committee to Review Justice Department Documents

                            DOJ to provide access to Boston Mob/FBI

 

Washington, DC – Chairman Dan Burton (R-IN) today made the following statement after the Justice Department and the Committee reached an agreement for the Committee to review documents related to FBI misconduct in organized crime investigations in Boston:

 “I want to thank the Attorney General and the White House for working with us as we have been trying to uncover the corruption that existed in the Boston FBI for four decades and do our part to right a tragic wrong. 

“Today, the Justice Department agreed to provide the Committee with access to subpoenaed documents over which the President had originally claimed executive privilege.

 “Joe Salvati spent over 30 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.  FBI agents including the then-Director J. Edgar Hoover knew he was innocent, but they let him stay behind bars in order to protect mob assassins, informants and rogue FBI agents.  

“My Committee has been investigating this tragic case for over a year.  We’ve finally reached an agreement with the Justice Department to see the documents we need to see to move forward with this investigation.

 “It is my hope that in the future, we will be able to find similar common ground so that we can work together to get the information Congress needs to carry out our oversight of the Executive Branch.”

 The Committee had been seeking several deliberative documents regarding the Boston FBI’s controversial handling of mob informants.  In December, the President asserted executive privilege over a number of documents that were relevant to the Committee’s subpoena.  Since then, the Committee held a number of hearings and continued to negotiate with the Justice Department. 

 

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