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funds se-arrange the snd murder of Cesar vez.’ The canceled check for $500, dated Oct. 4, 1971, was issued special vestiga' in Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms: Enforcement Division. Mr. Shears said that nearly three years ago he was without arrests and convictions for vio-| Hations of narcotics lews. He said that he worked with the sheriff's department over a Peries of time and, because of is Bureau, with whose agents he subsequently worked. e The sheriff's office confirmed at Mr. Shears had done work| for it and said that his informa- ition had proved reliable. in| ment. division, Melvin Warner,! Firearms Enforcement || ision and decided to contact’ it with the information about the assassination plot that time he had not had any, dealings with the division, he said. ‘Mr. Shears said thta eh made contact with the division, told; what he knew and then, real-| ‘izing that his identity as an. ‘informer.would become known, demanded enough money to re- locate outside the state. He |jsaid that Mr, Vizzard and Rich- lard Cook, another- special in- ivestigator for the division, agreed to try to get him $0,- (000 and that @ contract was, drawn up. Next, Mr. Shears said that ‘said that he sew a man, whom he identified as the son of al farmer in the valley, arrive about 4 P.M. with a brown pa- per bag that he assumed con-| tained the $30,000. Mr. Shears said that alittle later the contact man came out, of the house and told him, “The money is here,” but added “The decision to i ‘ing that decision, Mr. Shears) Said that he did not know. ‘the area chief of the enforce- ‘was brought in from San Fran-; ciscg He said that Mr. Warner) He said that on another oc-)| casion, involving the burning lof the amusement slide, the same payoff man delivered the!) 1 ar ped when d ved ro] when expresset sition, Instead, he said, he. Mr. Shears said that in late: 1970, while he was workin; the state agency, h would have earned him $500 from the state. As the relationship between the two developed, the contact! man offered Mr. Shears a way, 0 earn money, the informer| said. He asked Mr. Shears if he! ‘would burn an amusement slide| to permit the owner to collect! insurance. Mr. Shears said that] be declined the job but that the, plide was later destroyed by] In the early spring, he said, the contact man offered him *$5,000 to some records) agreed to try to get an agent: in touch with the contact man who had broached the assassi- nation idea. He said that the .z agent was Lester Robinson and that he was successful in get- ting him in touch with the con- tact man. . ‘Hit’ Man Selected Meanwhile, Mr. Sears said,} he received from the contact man detailed diagrams of Mr. Chavez's office and was told) that the killing would be done by a 36-year-old “hit” man, who was wanted for murder by; Kern and Ventura Counties. him the hit man would himself be shot the murder, Mr. Shears said. lot was then held up, he said, because the persqns ordering the killirig insisted that certain files be stolen be- fore the assassination took place. ‘Mr. Shears said this aroused) ithe interest of the Federal in- vestigatots, who ul the records belonged to Mr. vez and that it was his ‘Stfices that were to be burned. ‘Steal certain records from the union's files and then make 2 “hit” on Mr, vez—that i Sasassinate hi & “And I thought, whoa, God,’ int. | Mr} Shears said, that he hed about the Alcohol, Tobs ‘Speci it the Chavez files might! tain “tax information on: these farmers.” Another delay occurred, he said, when the prospective hit man was picked up on the mur-' der charges aiready pending! against him. This: man is till t However, the contact man told’: slide, whom he descril ‘Joan shark, was the man to! ‘whom the files to be stolen from Mr. Chavez's office were to be delivered. 1 Questioned by Police + Mr. Shears said that ier ithe agents supplied him with a. ysmall radio device that enabled them to eavesdrop on his con- versations with the contact jman when they discussed the assassination plot. That, he, said, enabled the agents to know that he was on the level. The alleged assassination plot hit its final snag when the amusement slide operator as) picked up and questioned by the Fresno police about the; burning of the slide. Mr. Shears said that informa-! tion that he had given the Kern ‘County Sheriff's Department ad been passed to the Fresno ¢ and that, in question “the slide operator, they aropped money to pay for the job. He'}} ‘the names of Mr. Shears, the rot tact man and several He said that the tor then became suspicious and called the payoff man, when they visited the contact man. \The two decided that there was ‘an informer in their midst and that Mr. Shears was the sus- spect, he said. Mr. Shears said that he was successful in covering himseli Dut that Mr, Vizzard and an other agent, Bill Bertolani, be came worried and u move to get the contact mar off the streets. He said that they got an other agent, Mr. Robinsor ito purchase 1,000 amphetamin (pinks from the contact man an: “then arrest him. The Kem County Sheriff's Department assisted in the ar made in August, © charges of sale and possessio of dangerous drugs. The she: iff's office said that $6,700 we taken from the contact man home as evidence and th: left there because it was n needed as evidence. The ca the because two men had been ested—on unrelated charge He sai dthat the agents U told him that he was not go to get the $10,000 that | been promised. Rather, he that Mr. Vizzard passed w wo him that he was goingt ‘be paid only , Officials ‘of the farm ur reed with Mr. Shears in Weving that all th t lan assassination attempt. ‘They ssid that in re months there have been at ber of arson attempts agi ‘various union offices, others have been riddled _ bullet holes, and that at two attempts were mad: records in the wu offices. Y