FBI raids follow bugging at city hall
PHILADELPHIA -- A day after a listening device was found inside Mayor John Street's office, FBI agents yesterday conducted a series of raids across Philadelphia, including a search of a finance firm with a no-bid city contract to collect back taxes.
The sudden activity came as a number of well-placed sources confirmed that the FBI had placed the listening device in Street's City Hall office.
Street insisted again yesterday that he remained puzzled about the device found Tuesday and whether or not he was the subject of an investigation. But Richard Manieri, spokesman for US Attorney Patrick Meehan, said he shouldn't be, referring to the possibility of an investigation.
"We have stated very clearly to Mayor Street and his attorney the mayor's status in this matter," Manieri said yesterday in a brief statement. He would not elaborate. Attempts to reach Street for comment last night were unsuccessful.
The bugging, according to people familiar with it, was part of a wide-ranging federal investigation into corruption in city contracts and other matters. Those same sources confirmed that a number of raids conducted by the FBI were connected to the investigation.
One of the FBI raids focused on Keystone Information & Financial Services, a Mount Airy business that was awarded a contract in 2002 that netted $60,600 from the city for collection of taxes.
The FBI also searched the Cheltenham home of an executive of the business, Imam Shamsud-din Ali, according to a law enforcement official.
"We served a few search warrants today," said FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi. "They are sealed."
Those familiar with the investigation would not say whether Street himself was a subject of the inquiry or whether the probe focused on other officials in the administration.
Those familiar with the inquiry said it focused in part on contracts at Philadelphia International Airport. The mayor's brother, T. Milton Street, who has ties to a firm doing airport business, said he thought the probe was related to the airport.
For Street, the discovery of the bug during a routine sweep loomed as the biggest crisis of his mayoralty.
Street, appearing at times determined and a touch bewildered yesterday, faced questions all day about the electronic device and its significance. Street, as he had Tuesday after the bug was found, said he doubted he was under investigation.
Street, Governor Ed Rendell, and a host of other prominent politicians called yesterday for the FBI to tell the public whether Street or other administration officials are under investigation. The FBI and federal prosecutors, both in Philadelphia and Washington, refused to do that. While sources confirmed that the FBI had taken the extraordinary step of bugging the office of the mayor of the nation's fifth-largest city, much about the federal raids yesterday remained unclear.
Agents raided the Germantown Avenue offices of Keystone Information & Financial Services before 10 a.m. They left with cartons of material, authorities said.
The chief executive of the firm, Marcelino Guerrero, contributed $9,000 to Street's mayoral campaigns between 1997 and 1999.
The vice president of the firm, Ali, is the founder and religious leader of the Philadelphia Masjid, one of the largest and most influential black mosques in the Philadelphia area.
FBI agents searched Ali's home in Cheltenham Township yesterday, sources said. Ali, reached by phone, declined comment.
