Latin Kings Charges Tossed; Judge Blames Law Enforcers

TAMPA - Racketeering and conspiracy charges against most of the purported members of the Latin Kings street gang were thrown out today by a circuit judge who had harsh words for law enforcement's conduct in the investigation.

Although defense attorneys argued prosecutorial misconduct, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Daniel Sleet said he saw no evidence that the state attorney's office advocated, directed or concealed any
misconduct.

Instead, Sleet turned his ire toward law enforcement.

"This court finds that law enforcement's conduct, by and through [the confidential informant], was so outrageous toward those defendants ... as to violate the Florida Due Process Clause," Sleet wrote. "Dismissal is an extreme sanction; however an extreme sanction is warranted to punish extreme conduct."

Several pages of Sleet's 42-page order pointed to problems with Luis "Danny" Agosto, a confidential informant hired by the FBI and Tampa Police Department to help round up Latin Kings members.

Lyann Goudie, a defense attorney for one of the defendants in the case, wrote the 114-page request to drop charges. Today she congratulated Sleet for his tough decision to throw out charges against 23 of the defendants.

"Most of these defendants should not have been charged at all," she said. "That offended all of us."

More than 50 people were arrested in the investigation. Many of the defendants had family members post bail bonds for large sums of money. Others have been jailed since their arrest on Aug. 20, 2006.

Three months before the bust, a handful of the defendants were called to a meeting to address an old dispute between Latin Kings members. At that meeting, prosecutors allege, six of the defendants beat another Latin Kings member.

Sleet ruled that it was not clear that Agosto acted alone to arrange that meeting. Conspiracy and racketeering charges, therefore, remain against those six defendants, including some of the purported gang leaders.

Three other defendants still face charges including being a felon in possession of a firearm, bringing marijuana into a jail, possessing marijuana, possessing drug paraphernalia and trafficking stolen property. One remains charged with attempted murder.

Goudie's client, Samuel Alvarado, faces one of the firearms charges. Goudie also is co-counsel in defending Michael Lugo, who is still charged with racketeering and conspiracy.

Goudie said she respects the judge for taking extreme care in reading the voluminous documents associated with the case, including 11,000 pages of investigative documents and thousands of recorded phone calls.

"He really listened and found the conduct of the confidential informant to be as egregious as we did," she said.

Still, Goudie said, she had hoped he would have gone further - throwing out even more of the charges.
She said she looks forward to trial, where she will use much of the information about the confidential informant to discredit him to the jury.

An Informant Recruited

In December 2005, Agosto was in jail, charged with armed burglary and grand theft of a motor vehicle. Agosto had a long record with multiple felony convictions and he was worried about a long prison sentence, according to court testimony and Sleet's written order.

Tampa police and the FBI investigators asked him to help look into possible drug and gun activity within the Tampa Latin Kings gang. In exchange, they dropped the burglary charge and gave Agosto 10 years' probation for the theft charge.

He also was given a rent-free apartment, a cell phone, $2,400 a month for living expenses and the promise of a $100,000 bonus upon conviction of Latin King members.

The Tampa division of the Latin Kings gang, however, had been dormant since August 2005, according to Sleet's order. Therefore, Sleet wrote, Agosto was "employed" by law enforcement to get the gang back together. Agosto started to hold meetings of gang members with required attendance.

On Aug. 20, 2006, Agosto gathered 39 purported members of the Latin Kings at a Tampa meeting hall. All were threatened with beatings if they did not attend.

Six law enforcement agencies raided the meeting and all were arrested. Other arrests followed.

Goudie said law enforcement is prohibited from "manufacturing" a crime. When Agosto, acting as an arm of law enforcement, forced people to gather, he formed a gang and created the conspiracy, Goudie said.

In an analogy, Goudie said police cannot manufacture crack cocaine, sell it on the street then arrest people for buying crack.

"The Tampa Latin Kings became the crack," she said.

Sleet wrote that law enforcement and confidential informants can "cajole" suspects into committing crimes. They cannot use egregious and unlawful conduct.

Agosto, Sleet wrote, presided over physical beatings of Latin Kings members, then threatened all the defendants with physical beatings if they did not come to the Aug. 20, 2006, meeting.

"A court should not allow this illegal and impermissible conduct to snare criminal suspects," Sleet wrote. "Would these defendants have shown up at the meeting absent [Agosto's] actual and implied threats? This court is confident they would not have."

Discredited Witness

Late last year, Goudie filed a 114-page request for Sleet to throw out the charges against all the defendants. Over several days of hearing, spread out over several months, Goudie argued that Agosto was not credible as a witness.

Sleet detailed many problems with Agosto's background and testimony.

"A little over a month after he was employed by law enforcement, [Agosto] ventured back into his previous life of crime," Sleet wrote.

Recorded phone conversations show that Agosto began discussing plans to steal motorcycles. The calls were made on his government-issued cell phone, which Sleet called "brazen."

He is thought to have stolen three motorcycles, Sleet wrote.

The FBI agents involved in the case found out about the motorcycles, believed Agosto's story that he felt pressured to steal them, and added charges of motorcycle theft to another defendant, not to Agosto, Sleet wrote.

The evidence that Agosto was voluntarily involved is "overwhelming," Sleet wrote.

Agosto also had planned to meet with another Latin Kings defendant regarding drug trafficking, although the meeting did not occur, Sleet wrote. Agosto did not tell the FBI or police that he was planning the meeting.

Sleet wrote that he was "greatly troubled" about recorded threats Agosto made to his girlfriend while he was working as an informant.

He told her he was going to "beat her so bad that her brain will seep from her ears," Sleet wrote, also pointing out that Agosto told her he didn't care that the phone call was being recorded.

Tampa police and FBI investigators told Agosto to stop contacting the girlfriend, but he continued to threaten her by calling her at work and threatening her new boyfriend, Sleet wrote.

Sleet described Agosto as "an out of control convicted felon abusing his role as an informant."

Rather than severing ties with Agosot, Sleet wrote, law enforcement "excused" his crimes and paid his monthly expenses.

Sleet wrote that state prosecutors have 15 days to appeal his ruling. Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi said they will be asking Sleet for a rehearing in this matter.