Ex-CIA Man's Libyan Arms-Dealing Case Thrown Out

Reuters via Yahoo ^ | 10/30/03 | C. Bryson Hull

[KC Burke]

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday threw out the 1983 conviction of former CIA (news - web sites) operative Edwin Wilson for selling tons of explosives to Libya, finding that prosecutors knowingly used false testimony and hid evidence that supported his defense.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes' opinion, written on Monday but made public on Tuesday, vacates Wilson's conviction for selling 20 tons of C-4 plastic explosives to the Libyan government of Col. Muammar Gaddafi (news - web sites).

Wilson has been in prison since 1982, serving 52 years for three convictions including the arm sales to Libya. His lawyer thinks the 75-year-old prisoner could now be released if the government doesn't appeal the decision, which was scathing in its condemnation of prosecutorial methods.

Wilson, who ran front companies for the CIA and later parlayed his expertise into a lucrative arms-trading career, argued at his Houston trial that he had been freelancing for the CIA since his 1971 retirement.

Judge Hughes found that U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites) prosecutors knew that and nonetheless introduced a false affidavit from a top CIA official saying the agency had not asked Wilson "to perform or provide any services, directly or indirectly."

"With their knowledge of the nature of Wilson's work for the CIA, they deliberately deceived the court," Hughes wrote of the prosecutors.

Wilson's appeal produced CIA records of at least 40 occasions where he worked for the agency. None showed that the CIA asked him to sell C-4 explosives to Libya, but several showed the agency knew he worked there and asked for his help finding information.

Buying body armor for Iranian security forces, trading weapons or explosives for Soviet military equipment, and securing an anti-tank weapon for an agency operation were just a few of the things Wilson did for the CIA.

"Wilson was not running a Burger King for employees; he was dealing in arms and information for the CIA -- the stuff of both espionage and his convictions," the judge wrote.

Hughes called the false affidavit from the top CIA official -- the number three man at the time, Charles Briggs -- "nothing but a lie" and noted that the re-reading of it in court convinced the lone juror holding out against conviction to change her mind.

The conviction, then the biggest arms-dealing case in U.S. history, was one of three that federal prosecutors secured against Wilson after his 1982 arrest, leading to 52 years in combined prison sentences.

Wilson was the subject of two books and countless news articles describing his arms-dealing exploits in the 1970s and 1980s, much to the CIA's embarrassment.

He turned his CIA cover as a rich businessman into a reality, building a $23 million fortune, a string of handsome properties and an arms-dealing career that later proved his undoing.

LONG WAIT

Hughes' ruling comes more than three years after Wilson's court-appointed lawyer, David Adler of Houston, filed the appeal with records culled from Wilson's initial Freedom of Information Act requests.

Adler, a former CIA case officer who served in Africa, pored over at least 300,000 classified records stored in a Washington, D.C., vault.

"It is an enormous relief to finally be vindicated after so many years of being called a liar by so many officials in the Justice Department," Wilson said in a statement through Adler.

Adler said the "government's conduct in Wilson's case is nothing short of appalling and frightening. I hope the Justice Department holds someone accountable."

The Justice Department said it had not decided whether to appeal.

Based on sentencing laws in effect at the time of his conviction, Wilson believes he is eligible for release from prison and would be owed the $145,000 fine he paid.

[John Beresford Tipton]

US Bankruptcy Judge Bason.

[Squantos]

LMAO....Yer like a snappin turtle KC......ya don't let go till it thunders.......:o)

Great old link......Thanks and Stay Safe !

[archy]

Wilson has been in a cell FOREVER! I wonder what other shoes will drop? Wasn't Terpil found in an oil drum?

Still alive in Cuba, variously reported as *under detention* or under arrest, depending on the source and translation. You may be thinking of the Chicago Mob/Outfit's *Hollywood Ambassador* John Roselli, found in an oil drum after having been garrotted and possibly shot; his legs had been hacksawed off to allow him to fit in the drum and there was evidence it had been done while he was still alive. A .22 pistol traced to Miami and modified with a CIA type silencer had been used previously in the Chicago hit of retired Outfit boss Sam Giancana, and Roselli had been subpoenaed to testify as to his role as a go-between in the CIA's attempts to have former Outfit assets in Cuba kill Fidel Castro; he conveniently *disappeared* before he could so testify to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Just a coincidence, I'm sure.

A couple of years back, when the international court case against the Libyans accused of the Lockerbie Pan Am 747 bombing were about to begin their court proceedings, the British very much wanted to question Terpil about his having supplied the Libyans certain explosive detonator circuitry and his training them in their use. The Brit inquiry was reported in an Issue of U.S. News and World Report, approximately a full-page article.

The British have no sense of humour about Wilson and Terpil's activities on behalf of first Idi Amin, then Manuel Noriega, particularly in the aftermath of Various claims were made that the weapon used was supplied by Wilson; certainly some weapons supplied by him were found in the facility. A New York Times report claimed a British-built Sterling submachinegun was used, at the time a standard issue weapon to Libyan army and police units, though that seems less likely. The shooting was seen live on British BBC-TV.

More on Frank Terpil and his partner/boss Ed Wilson *here*

[archy]

There may have been misconduct, but Wilson was still guilty as hell. Selling tons of C-4 to Qadaffi in those days was no joke, and it still isn't.

Particularly considering who else was involved as one of Khadaffi's American agents.

[Travis McGee]

What a pair!

[aristeides]

Bankruptcy Judge Bason. Only case I'm aware of where a federal bankruptcy judge was not reappointed to a new term. The curious can look at his decision in In re INSLAW, 83 B.R. 89 (Bankr. D.C. 1988). By the way, when the D.C. Circuit reversed Bason's decision (which had been affirmed at the district court level), they did so for technical legal reasons that had nothing to do with judging the merits of the case. If anything, the D.C. Circuit judges used language that implied that Bason had gotten the facts right, with respect to Justice Department misconduct. In re INSLAW, 932 F.2d 1467 (D.C. Cir. 1991).

[archy]

What a pair!

Someday I'll tell you the story about the day I met Jimmy.

Sometimes, I'm not at all a nice person.

-archy-/-

[aristeides]

Selling tons of C-4 to Qadaffi in those days was no joke, and it still isn't.

But the issue is whether it was sanctioned by the CIA, at some level.

[maestro]

Just in time for Nov.22 archieves.........Can't wait to see the movie!

'Advised and Consented'

LOL

Nothing like a Burke,....thanks for posting.

:-)

[archy]

Selling tons of C-4 to Qadaffi in those days was no joke, and it still isn't.

But the issue is whether it was sanctioned by the CIA, at some level.

As well as the nuke Wilson was trying to peddle to the Libyans.

A fake, just to scam them? A real one that they'd have had to complete with replacement of the US Permissive Action Link mechanism? Something the intel community cooked up for deliver that could then have gone off *by accident* in proximity to Khadaffi? Could have been any of the above, or something else....

-archy-/-

[piasa]

Yipes! Is that who I think it is and is there a peanut stuck between his teeth?

[archy]

Yipes! Is that who I think it is and is there a peanut stuck between his teeth?

I believe Jimmy has the peanut stuck in his mouth, while his brother Billy has one stuck in his ear.

As for why he stuck a peanut in his ear, he is alleged to have replied, *I'm sorry, I can't hear a word you're saying. I have a peanut in my ear.*

-archy-/-