◆ SpookStack

29 We ‘Al i ¢ E TA P Continued from Page 1 the FBI- opefated out of its building at llth and Bridger Streets it had two gaeording studies and a capability for 200 wiretaps le FBI now occupies quarters in the new Federal “Building at Bridger . Street and Las Vegas Boulevard South, along with 400 telephone wiretap circuits, Whereas the 1965 wiretapping violated Nevada law, and the FBI agents, had they been caught, could have gone to jail, the 1969 version of this - - electronic invasion is being done with some semblance of legality. Under provisions of the Omnibus Crime Bill of 1968, wiretapping can be - done under an order signed by a Federal judge. Orders apparently are’ being prepared in Los . Angeles, couriered to Las Vegas by Mike DeFeo, a member of the Rackets Division of the Justice. a Department, and executed by the FBI, Orders Good 30 Days The administrative orders must be signed by a Federal judge in the district. In this case, the entire state of Nevada is a single Federal judicial district in which three judges are empowered to sign such orders, The Court order totapa telephone -or bug aroomis goodfor 30days. It can be renewed "for an indefinite number of 30-day periods providing the investigators can show that some progress is being made in their case, But, after the electronic © eavesdropping is completed, the investigators must notify the ‘‘bugee’’ within 90 days that they have been listening. There has not been too much. conversation by or about those. who. have been so notified, but they presumably include many promi- - nent local persons and public officials, District Attorney Bugged One of them who has not been notifiedis District Attorney George Franklin, who told NEVADA REPORTER, ‘‘I called in an expert and found the ~ “++ private phone in my office was tapped. The tap goes outside the courthouse. They are tapping .all- public officials for information,’’ Franklin said that a tap on his telephone line is - * Megal in that the Crime Control Bill allows bugging only-in the evéne that a person is suspected of . committing a crime. Franklin assumes that wire- . _ tapping of public officials for ‘‘information” is. “," illegal, and if such is the case, felony charges - will be filed and prosecuted. Franklin is also of the opinion that the eaves- - dropping is beifig carried out without the knowledge - or coaperation of the Central Telephone Co., which - ‘a few years back had to defend ‘itself; along with .- FBI agents, in a multi-million dollar law suit for. - .. + iegally invading the privacy. of a number of . °, local gamblers, _ Phone Company Innocent? ‘On a prior murder case,” Franklin said, ‘‘thée . telephone company refused to accept a legal court ~ ’ damages against the FBI agents and the telephone ‘erder authorizing a wiretap to trap a suspected ‘ murderer, They said they would rather be in ". contempt of court than ‘to risk any. more’ civil ‘ litigation for “invasion of privacy.’ v. Franklin said he has no objection, £0 any wire- tapping providing the provisions: of the Federal “law are followed — and he’s nottoo concerned ‘about . the tap on his private line. He has had no complaints _ front local persons about their lines being bugged, _ probably because “they” are’ lawyers, bankers, ebusinessmen and. ‘public officials who wotld bé the’ last in the world to suspect it.’ How did Franklin, get suspicious of his telephone? . numerous tap town, including taps on all of the telephones in they ‘ederalcourthouse, so [though I’d better have my line checked,’’ Franklin said. Another employee of the Federal building said his boss in Washington told him a few months ago that the “bugs were back on,’” “There is no excuse for any wiretapping in Las Vegas,’’ Franklin said. ‘‘There is no way in the world to involve Hughes, Kerkorian or Del Webb <in organized crime, They’d do much better to do “The or I got was that there were their wiretapping in Chicago, New York, Phila. delphia or Los .Angeles than in Las Vegas.” : Legality Questioned The’ question ‘of wiretapping legality will be “debated for years, The United States Supreme Court has already ruled that evidence obtained through the use of listening devicés is not admissible in court, Can Congress, through last year’ s legis- lation, legalize an act which the courts sayis wrong? - Many persons in the legal profession say ‘‘NO,’”” Some say that only an amendment to the U, S, Con- ° stitution can bring the investigative fruits of a wiretap or bug into the court of law as evidence, The answer to this perplexity could well be decided on the trial level by Nevada’s Roger D. Foley or Bruce Thompson, the two U, S, District Judges assigned to this-state.. The. final decisions, of course, must come from the U. S, Supreme Court, . and the courts are usually three..to four years behind the issues, A Botched Job Installation of the exotic circuits and listening devices by the FBI wasn’t without its lighter side. The Feds.weren’t satisfied with the, job the Central . Telephone Co, ‘provided. So, the FBI tore up the concrete flooring to get at the telephone cable, in ‘order ro replace it with a job by their own elec- tronics experts. The job was botched, short cir- cuited, and every telephone in the building was out of service for a few hours, This in itself is _interesting in that the telephone company forbids _any ‘‘do-it-yourself”’ If you get caught, they’ll cut, off your services. * DeFeo, the attorney ' who is drawing up the wire- - tap court ‘orders, is no stranger to Nevada. He works _in the Los Angeles ‘office of the Department of ’ Justice and was a key figure on the prosecution ~~ -and conviction of Maurice Friedman and T. Warner Richardson, ‘both former Vegas gamblers, in the -- Friar’s Club gin rummy cheating case, DeFeoalso spent a number of years in the Las Vegas office - . of the U, S, Attorney, and it was during the tenure -that Levinson was indicted for ‘skimming,’ Levinson retaliated with the bugging suit against the FBI, ‘and for a while,.it looked like a’ standoff. When Levinson dropped his civil action for ‘company, the government dropped its tax evasion charges against him; and Levinson bowed out of tampering with its equipment. . ’ Nevada gambling. No ‘one would admitthat a ‘‘deal” -: _had ‘been made,.but the facts defy any other expla- nation, The result is that business discussions and- déals ‘are still béing made, in moving cars and on street corners, Las Vegas continues to live up to its reputation as the” ‘“‘most bugged city in .. the’ nation.”