CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — An FBI agent who worked with informant Vincent Ricci testified they met for several years after Ricci was arrested.
But Special Agent Robert Callen said he ended the informant relationship with Ricci immediately after his 1995 arrest on state cocaine trafficking charges, even though he did not put it in writing until more than a year later.
``When an informant is arrested, he is no longer operational,'' Callen said in Middlesex Superior Court. ``I informed him of that a week or two after his arrest. My mistake, I didn't close Mr. Ricci out until a year later.''
However, Callen said he got information from Ricci on the location of an intended victim of a murder plot, and met with Ricci ``about six times'' in the years following Ricci's arrest.
Ricci, 51, of Medford, was arrested in 1995 after state police raided his home and found a kilogram of cocaine, more than a dozen guns and nearly $100,000 in cash. He claims the FBI set him up in the drug business.
Judge Hiller Zobel denied a motion by Ricci's attorney, Paul Haley, to dismiss the charges, saying the FBI agents clearly did not give Ricci permission to commit crimes, the Boston Herald reported.
Last week, Special Agent James DeStefano confirmed Ricci worked as an informant from late 1992 until December 1996, but said the agency never asked Ricci to sell cocaine, and turned Ricci down when he suggested it.