FBI agent admits investigators missed key elements in Edwards case

Natalie Gott

Thursday, March 16, 2000 | 4:28 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Key elements of an investigation into former Gov. Edwin Edwards were missed because FBI agents turned off recording devices in Edwards' office and home even as Edwards and others spoke about issues in the case, the lead agent in the investigation testified Thursday.

FBI agent Geoffrey Santini also said that FBI agents could have missed other information because they did not have permission to wiretap one of Edwards' home telephone lines or his cellular telephone, or Stephen Edwards' home and cellular telephones.

Edwards, his son Stephen, and five others have been on trial since Jan. 10, accused of carrying out a series of schemes to manipulate the way riverboat casino licenses are awarded.

Santini has been testifying since Tuesday in the part of the trial that accuses Edwards of extorting $400,000 from former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. DeBartolo, who was seeking a riverboat casino license, will be a witness in the case.

Santini noted that when FBI agents first installed the wiretaps in Edwards home in October 1996, they did not know DeBartolo was involved in the alleged deals. Agents learned of his alleged connection on the sixth call they recorded. Santini did not elaborate.

Defense attorneys got their first crack at Santini on Thursday.

Stephen Edwards' attorney, Jim Cole, reviewed several tapes, pointing out instances where the tape recording was stopped in the middle of the conversation. Santini said agents were not supposed to record any conversations that did not seem to be related to the investigation.

However, in a tape made on March 10, 1997, an agent turned off the recorder even as Edwin and Stephen Edwards talked about writing a contract to get one percent of a riverboat casino's gross gaming revenue. No specific riverboat is named in the conversation.

Santini noted that he would not have stopped the tape.

"Once we finish, I'll explain to you why I lose my hair in these cases," Santini told Cole.

In a recorded conversation minutes later, Edwards told his son he planned to fly to San Francisco in two days, hoping to reach a deal. Prosecutors said that during the San Francisco trip, DeBartolo handed Edwards a suitcase filled with $400,000 in cash.

Coled pointed out another conversation in which the recording device malfunctioned and an hour's worth tape was missed on March 14.

"You can't tell the jury that we have all the context that we need to draw conclusions from these tapes?" Cole asked Santini.

Santini said jurors would decide whether there was enough information in the records to make the conclusions the FBI did.

Cole also played a few tapes in which Stephen Edwards' is giving advice to Walt Evans, an attorney for Hollywood/DeBartolo casino, one day after the casino was granted a license in March 1997.

Stephen Edwards is heard saying he would contact the state attorney general's office for more information.

Cole apparently played the tape to counter prosecutors' claims that Stephen Edwards was trying to get lucrative contracts with the Hollywood/DeBartolo riverboat without doing much work.

Prosecutors say Stephen Edwards submitted a retainer agreement to DeBartolo calling for Stephen Edwards to receive $50,000 a month for five years. DeBartolo never agreed to it.