Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 6

PAGE 6 PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1996 Shot in the arm for embattled narcs ast night, anti-drug activists from all over the city rallied at 3rd and Indiana to support state Bureau of Narcotics Investiga Kimmins shouted over the heartfelt applause, "LET'S HEAR IT FOR LYNNE ABRAHAM!" He heard it, loud and clear. Earlier in the day, Michael Lutz, assistant director of the city's BNI unit, greeted the first good news he's heard in weeks with both relief and anxiety. unsubstantiated rumor. "It is unprecedented that they would, in effect, shut down our entire operation and tear down our credibility," Lutz said angrily, "yet we've never been officially notified that we're under investigation, no files have been removed, no officer has been questioned. "I'm very happy for the people we serve," he said.

"But does this mean that Philadelphia police officers will come back and work with us again? "I hope so. They were a big factor in our successes. We need them with us again." For now, Lutz will have to be content with the DA's renewed support. Informed of the DA's decision, a police spokesperson Did they shut down the entire police department because of the rogue cops in the 39th District? No. Did they shut down the FBI when they found an ex-narcotics agent stealing drugs out of the evidence room? No.

Did they shut down the DA's office when its accountant was caught stealing drug-forfeiture money? No. So what is going on here?" 3' JtjL and Indiana last night seconded that emotion. They've missed the BNI agents terribly. Rich Montgomery from Veterans Against Drugs in Frankford said, "For years, they were always there when we needed them. We trust them implicitly.

We have complete faith in them." Jim Harrity from Veterans Against Drugs in Southwest Philadelphia added, "Ever since the BNI agents were taken off the streets, the drug pushers have been laughing." David Hardy Jr. of Temple University Against Drugs said, "Every neighborhood we've gone to, every night we've needed them, they've been there for us. The way they've been treated lately is appalling. We need them out here now." Ellen Maenner of Kensington Interrupting Drug Sales said, "There's been rumors about BNI officers not waiting for warrants. Baloney.

In my neighborhood, they sit outside a drug house and wait for the warrants to arrive. So why were they taken away from us? Hey, drug money talks." Somebody said, hey, Ellen, wasn't it the drug lawyers who started the unsubstantiated accusations about BNI agents? Maenner nodded. Nobody disagreed. tion (BNI) officers who have been demoralized for weeks by a mysterious FBI "integrity" probe. No charges, no evidence of wrongdoing.

Yet there have been persistent media references to a "scandal" at BNI and unsubstantiated comparisons to the rogue cops in the 39th Police District. Worst of all, the district attorney's office stopped prosecuting BNI drug cases and city police officers stopped working drug busts with BNI agents. Recently, state Attorney General Thomas Corbett replaced the regional director of the city's BNI unit and reassigned several of the unit's 25 agents. Last night at 3rd and Indiana, gathered between the pool hall with no name and the bar with "In Memory of Bone" spray-painted on its front door, the anti-drug activists got some dramatic good news. C.B.

Kimmins, the legendary hardhat from Mantua Against Drugs, told the crowd that Arnold Gordon, first assistant to DA Lynne Abraham, revealed yesterday that, "As a result of changes made in the structure of BNI, we have agreed to accept BNI cases again." said, "At this time, the police department is not considering restarting the relationship with BNI." Lutz said he didn't understand why the 5V2-year-old BNI team that has confiscated an estimated $70 million worth of narcotics from the streets of Philadelphia including 929 pounds of cocaine, 8,300 pounds of marijuana and 33 pounds of heroin had been rendered powerless these past several weeks by broad-brush, Lutz crossed himself, brought his big career-cop hands together as if praying and said, "The bad guys are out there in the streets, not in the law enforcement agencies. Our agents, everything they're about comes down to integrity. And to have that stripped from them, without a reason, is demoralizing. We've been maligned. We've been hurt.

It's relentless. It's unfair." The anti-drug activists gathered at 3rd iS ft f- 1 I "Sttfe, Htomme framm Jail fi SI lfifilS)lfo 3ITB Kin greet Stanfa trial figure by Kitty Caparella ZZ "w1 on probation and set a hearing for a probation violation for Sept. 5. Lucibello's attorney, F. Em-mett Fitzpatrick, told the judge that the reason for carrying the gun that both Lucibello and his son received death threats was "totally removed" with the convictions of members of the John Stanfa crime family.

Lucibello was then freed, after 10 more hours of city criminal justice system red tape. At 8:10 p.m., he called home. No answer. He called his mother's. No answer.

"Here, I'm free and where are you?" he asked the answering machine. So he walked back into the lobby of the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center, and there 10 members of his close-knit family exploded into cheers and tears. The 6-foot-2 disabled ironworker picked up Susan, his petite wife, and held her airborne while they kissed each other a dozen times. Then he bent over to hug his sobbing mother, who had prayed the rosary every day since his arrest, and his sister, Barbara, and other relatives. Twenty minutes later, he was in his home on Sydenham Street near Bigler in South Philadelphia, the first time since 1994.

YONG KIMDAILY NEWS Gaeton Lucibello gets a smooch from his wife, Susan, at his welcome-home party last night Daily News Staff Writer His mother, Eleanor Lucibello, had prepared the tomato sauce, with meatballs, pork and beef. His son, Eric, had bought him a three-foot Italian hoagie with extra tomatoes, the way he likes. His nephew, Jason, had picked up his Nexus shampoo, and his niece, Kim, had bought him three cans of shoe wax. After 20 months in prison, everything was ready for yesterday's homecoming for Gaeton Lucibello, 43, the only defendant to be acquitted on May 15 in the federal murder racketeering trial of five defendants. Lucibello was accused of being on both sides of the 1993 mob war.

In fact, crime boss John Stanfa had threatened to kill him, to cut out his tongue and to send it to his wife. But Lucibello testified in his own defense that he wasn't on either side, and that he had armed himself after the FBI warned him his life was in danger. After his acquittal, Lucibello was placed on special probation to await a federal weapons trial on Aug. 19. However, a state detainer kept him in prison until yesterday-when Common Pleas Judge A.

John Suite placed him bV charges, he ain't seen nothin' yet. On a mirror was posted a document he signed on June 20, 1995: an agreement between him and his wife, Susan, and her three girlfriends, whom he calls "the pains in the a-." The four women, all alibi witnesses during the trial, dreamed up a contract for how they could torture him once he was freed. Here's what he faces: an 8 p.m. curfew, 10 p.m. bedtime and "you should be ready and willing for Susan if she so pleases and doing the laundry "This feels strange to be back in the house," said Lucibello.

Streamers hung from the lights, the mirrors and pictures on the wall. "Welcome Home" signs adorned the walls, including a handmade one from his nephew Nicky that read: "Welcome Home, Uncle Guy." And the telephone never stopped ringing, while relatives and friends dropped by to welcome him home. If Gaeton Lucibello thinks the past 20 months in prison were bad before he was acquitted of Tacketeerings and conspiracy and giving Susan's slacks the "razor thin" creases, the same as his own. A $40-a-week allowance "no ifs, ands or buts." Only smoking brand name cigarettes on weekends. As for the "wild sex" part, well that's another story.

Under his signature, Lucibello wrote: "I guess I'll be paying for a long time." Last night, his wife relented, however, and said she'd allow him to be "King for a Day." His sister, Joanne, tried to put a goldpaperxrown on bis bead, but "he jeftised.it. Jy, r.trri f.r.f ru-v is 1).