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To: Sarkie who wrote (2040)	8/26/2001 4:40:04 PM
From: mr.mark	Respond to of 12669

"I'm not stupid,'' he was quoted as having said in the agents' notes on the meeting." Report: Roger Clinton Lobbied on Behalf of Gambinos Sunday August 26 2:05 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) Roger Clinton, former President Bill Clinton's half-brother who is under investigation for possible influence peddling in connection with presidential pardons, sought the early release of a crime family member jailed for heroin trafficking, The New York Times said on Sunday. Clinton, who acknowledged to federal agents that he received a watch, plane tickets and expense money for his efforts on behalf of Rosario Gambino before the U.S. Parole Commission, assured Gambino's son, Tommy, that his father was a ''lock'' for a pardon by the president before he left office, the Times said, citing someone close to Tommy Gambino. But while Clinton issued pardons and commutations for 177 people, many of which remain controversial, those recommended by Roger Clinton were not among them. Gambino, whose name was included on a list sent by the White House to the Justice Department in late January for possible clemency, is serving a 45-year sentence for his role in a heroin smuggling ring. In an article based on interviews with federal officials and documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Clinton is depicted as ``a tireless, if inept, advocate whose persistent pleas annoyed and worried parole commission officials.'' In a case separate from the Gambino effort, a felon told prosecutors that he had paid Clinton $225,000 to lobby for a pardon and complained that Clinton did little or nothing in return, the Times reported. FINANCIAL REWARD SUGGESTED In a September 1999 meeting with FBI agents at his Redondo Beach, California home, Clinton said Tommy Gambino had told him ''we will take care of you'' if he won release for Rosario Gambino, a distant relative of the late crime boss Carlo Gambino. Clinton said he understood that comment to mean he would be financially rewarded, the report said. "I'm not stupid," he was quoted as having said in the agents' notes on the meeting. Roger Clinton is the subject of congressional and federal investigations into influence peddling and other possible illegalities in connection with last-minute pardons granted by his brother shortly before he left office in January. According to the Times, Roger Clinton visited the parole commission's Chevy Chase, Maryland headquarters at least four times on Gambino's behalf. He tried to exploit his ties to an Arkansas parole commissioner, he invoked his brother's authority and he even produced listings from a Sicilian telephone book as evidence that Gambino is a common name and thus, not every Gambino was associated with the crime family. In January 1999 the FBI attempted a sting operation against Clinton. The parole commission's chief of staff met him in a conference room equipped with an FBI listening device and asked him open-ended questions such as ``What do you want me to do?'' But officials said the conversations led to no improprieties, and the Times said there was no record of any further lobbying by Clinton on Gambino's behalf. In the meeting with the FBI, Clinton said he had received plane tickets and expense money from Tommy Gambino, and said Gambino offered to loan him money for a house, the paper reported. dailynews.yahoo.com