Is the federal probe into Tampa courthouse corruption alive or dead?

That's the hot question now that some lawyers and law enforcement officials are talking about a meeting that supposedly occurred recently between a top prosecutor, the local FBI chief and Hillsborough County's chief judge.

By some accounts, the meeting hasn't happened. The three officials who supposedly attended — Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob O'Neill, Special Agent In Charge Carl Whitehead and Hillsborough Chief Judge Manuel Menendez — aren't talking.

But other law enforcement officials adamantly maintain that it did. One high-ranking state law enforcement official says not only did the meeting transpire, but also as a result the corruption probe has been halted and agents have been reassigned.

U.S. Attorney Paul Perez is mum, too. He has muzzled his staff against testifying or commenting on cases that could cause blowback for him. Perez recently lost a shot at becoming a federal judge because, according to members of his own staff, his office seethes with turmoil.

Clearly, something is boiling. Since officials won't comment, the best place to find out may be Four Green Fields, the Hyde Park bar whose partners include O'Neill and Irish Republican Army cheerleader Colin Breen. Last Friday, the corruption probe was a hot topic among lawyers, a judge and an FBI agent — and included discussion of questions I'd left only hours before on the confidential voicemail of U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Steve Cole.

At stake is confidence in the ethically challenged Hillsborough judicial system and the highly politicized federal prosecutor's office. Chief Judge Menendez is known to be concerned that reports of an ongoing probe could tarnish the reputations of even good jurists. "Menendez was livid that no one would say the investigation only involved judges who had left the bench," one law enforcement official told the Planet. "He was angry the probe would hurt the re-election chances of judges."

A confab with Whitehead was critical, the law enforcement official said, because last December the FBI chief had said the probe was still alive. Also, according to two law enforcement sources, it included current as well as former courthouse figures. (All of the sources who spoke to the Planet did so on condition of anonymity — all stated they fear retaliation by the U.S. Attorney's Office.)

The man of mystery in what's going on is O'Neill, who heads the U.S. Attorney's criminal division. Federal documents obtained by the Planet indicate that at least one other prosecutor feels O'Neill is running interference for lawyers representing corruption probe targets. (There are two versions of the current story: In one version, O'Neill attended the meeting between Menendez and Whitehead; others, including an FBI agent, say he didn't.)

For years, O'Neill has enjoyed a good reputation. "I always considered him a straight-up guy," said one senior agent. But considerable internal friction at the U.S. Attorney's Office has generated criticism of the prosecutor.

"There's concern that Bob O'Neill crushes far too many investigations for political purposes," said one senior federal law enforcement employee.

Those allegations are echoed in a Jan. 16 federal whistleblower's complaint filed by another assistant U.S. Attorney, Jeffrey Del Fuoco. The complaint, which the Planet obtained from a third-party source, was made to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency that hears internal disputes about the government.

Del Fuoco had previously complained to the Justice Department that O'Neill was interfering in public corruption cases and had possibly violated federal laws and rules by partly owning Four Green Fields, which has held fundraisers for the radical Irish political party Sinn Fein. That group is affiliated with the terrorist Irish Republican Army, according to the U.S. State Department. The Irish terrorism connection was first disclosed by the Planet.

In his whistleblower complaint, Del Fuoco argues that he has been demoted from the criminal to civil division and humiliated publicly by O'Neill. Moreover, rather than looking at the possibility that the U.S. Attorney's Office has been compromised on corruption cases, Del Fuoco says his bosses have aided, at least by inaction, the bad guys.

Del Fuoco, in his complaint, stated that he "had uncovered possible violations of Federal Law by Mr. O'Neill," and that he had referred his findings to internal affairs investigators at the Department of Justice.

Del Fuoco had gained corruption-busting fame by winning guilty pleas from three Plant City police officers and six Manatee County deputies. His whistleblower's statement alleges that "evidence clearly shows that defense lawyers defending the [Plant City] department and its corrupt officers and political leadership were attempting to put pressure on [O'Neill] … to get me to 'back off' of my investigation."

When Del Fuoco took the matter to U.S. Attorney Paul Perez, he states that, instead of receiving help, he was "wrongfully terminated" as a corruption prosecutor. No action was taken against O'Neill.

"Later, when I discovered that a sheriff's office [Manatee] that I had successfully prosecuted had been 'stalking' me and my family, I reported this to the management, who again did nothing and attempted to assist the corrupt department and its sheriff," Del Fuoco stated.

Del Fuoco also was dragged into the case of Hillsborough Circuit Judge Greg Holder, who has been accused of plagiarizing a document needed to obtain a promotion in the Air Force Reserve. The document was anonymously slipped under Del Fuoco's door in early 2002, a time when Holder, who has a reputation for squeaky-clean honesty, was working with federal, state and local agents on the courthouse probe. Presumably, whoever provided the document hoped Del Fuoco would act on it, thereby discrediting Holder's finger pointing at corrupt judges, lawyers and courthouse employees.

However, Del Fuoco took no action on the document for almost a year. Then, when Holder filed a complaint with the Justice Department about what he claimed was the U.S. Attorney's Office's undermining of the courthouse corruption probe, the allegedly plagiarized paper was taken by Del Fuoco's supervisor, Jeff Downing, and sent to the Air Force.

The Air Force at first stripped Holder of his duties as a military judge, and then reinstated him. However, the state's Judicial Qualifications Commission — which in the past has engaged in political hatchet jobs — has scheduled a hearing in June.

Former Weekly Planet editor and frequent contributor John Sugg can be reached at 404-614-1241 or at john.sugg@cln.com.

This article appears in Apr 1-7, 2004.