FBI to Review '81 Vice Probe

Allegations of unlawful killings involving one or more Portland cops more than two decades ago have prompted Portland Police Chief Rosie Sizer and Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk to bring in the FBI.

The allegations, which were aired by a prominent local criminal defense lawyer and described by Portland Tribune columnist Phil Stanford, caused the two local officials to ask the FBI to review a 1981 probe of assorted felonies by several then-members of a special unit of the Portland Police Bureau.

Stanford’s columns described allegations that longtime Portland lawyer Des Connall has brought to Schrunk, including that a former informant for that special unit named Jack Rowlands has said he can lead the police to a body he helped dispose of on behalf of a Portland police officer.

Other information Connall has relayed to Schrunk concerns Earl Son, a former Multnomah County homicide detective turned criminal defense investigator for Connall.

In December 1981, Son died of a gunshot wound shortly after reportedly telling people he had determined that one or more Portland police officers were involved in at least two murders. His death was ruled a suicide.

Sizer and Schrunk made the decision to go to the FBI after meeting last week to discuss the allegations, which Connall – a former Multnomah County DA – had relayed along with supporting documents in face-to-face meetings with Schrunk.

The news release did not mention the allegations of killings and a body; rather, it said the review would focus on a 1981 probe of the bureau’s drug and vice unit, called the Special Investigation Division.

The probe was overseen by Schrunk, newly elected to his position, and conducted by detectives of the bureau.

According to a news release put out by the bureau, “While there does not appear to be any reason to believe the original investigation covered up or ignored criminal behavior, the new allegations could leave in doubt the Police Bureau and District Attorney’s Office commitment to integrity.”

The 1981 probe, which grew out of a civil suit filed by Connall, confirmed allegations that police officers had used fabricated information to obtain search warrants, improperly pocketed public funds and planted evidence in order to get convictions.

As a result of the investigation, 59 tainted convictions were overturned, and 35 pending cases were dismissed.

Only one member of the unit, Scott Deppe, who recently had resigned, was prosecuted at the time, for drug trafficking. Several other officers resigned and were granted immunity from prosecution in return for divulging which criminal cases were tainted by their crimes.

The 1981 investigation did not consider the allegations of killings and the alleged new evidence being offered by Connall.

However, FBI spokeswoman Beth Ann Steele indicated that the FBI’s review would not be restricted by the scope of Schrunk and Sizer’s request. Rather, she said, agents conducting the review would look at any new evidence available.

“They’re going to look at all the current information,” she said. “Anybody who wants to provide information to the FBI, they are willing to talk to.”

Steele stressed that the review is preliminary and intended to determine whether a full investigation is warranted.

This is not the first time such allegations have been made. In September 1981, Rowlands, then a client of Connall’s, wrote a letter that claimed knowledge of law enforcement officers’ involvement in killings.

The letter, which made no claim that Rowlands could locate a body, surfaced in newspapers at the time.

In November 1981, an informant of the SID unit, Larry Mastne, publicly linked Deppe to the murder of a drug dealer. However, Deppe denied any connection to the man or his death.

In an interview last Wednesday, before Friday’s news release, Schrunk discussed the new allegations.

“You have to evaluate all the information, see what it shows, whether it has investigative potential,” he said. “I’ve not talked to Rowlands. The investigation is not particularly timely. And then the question is: What is the source? Can you get to the first source of the information? … I suppose the question is we’ve got to find out everything that was done.”

The Big Jim Elkins Mob and the police and fire unions ran city hall for a long, and maybe they or their successors still do. I feel for DA Schrunk, who might be a pretty clean guy, or not, but his Mayor Father came to office the old fashioned way: put there by the police and fire unions....Say.....Ain't that the same today? Potter, keeper of the pensions....

When you got police "disabled" making outdoor movies for tv, and someone who has been on disability since the early '70s still drawing his money, you know the place stinks.

You have to wonder what contractors with the city slide dough under the table, how the tow truck and cab outfits pay to keep their slice of life free from cop hassles. Portland has been a fire union run deal with mob help since before WWII...things have not changed. "whazit2ya"

Portland cops. Killer cops. Cop killers. Whatever. I heard many years ago that Portland had a bunch of dirty cops who were turning a few bucks as hit men for the local mob. Some people think a new spinoff from the original Big Jim Elkins Mob still runs the city of Portland. A local best selling book was written by Phil Stanford, who very wisely moved to Florida.

Al Winter, former Portland mob boss who moved on to Las Vegas to open the Sahara Casino; Bill Langley, the Multnomah County district attorney who was caught on tape planning to divvy up payoffs with Seattle mobsters * * * Even a young Bobby Kennedy figures in the story when, in 1957, he gathered up Portland?s most notorious characters and brought them back to Washington, D.C., to appear live on television in front of the Senate Rackets committee.

Organized crime right here in Bridge City? Surely you jest. LOL, LOL !

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