Philly Mayor Staff Got Tip About Bug

Philly Mayor Staff Got Tip About Bug

Saturday September 4, 2004 1:46 AM


By DAVID B. CARUSO

Associated Press Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Two aides to Mayor John F. Street said his staff was tipped off last fall about an FBI bug that had been placed in his office, contradicting earlier statements by the city's top police official and mayoral advisers who said they knew nothing about the listening device before it was found.

Installed in mid-September as part of an anti-corruption probe, the bug was found Oct. 7 by police who had been ordered to sweep the mayoral suite by Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson.

In the days after the discovery, Johnson said repeatedly that the sweep was routine. Top aides to Street said that they had no knowledge of the listening device until it was found.

Two mayoral aides questioned by federal prosecutors, however, have confirmed that the administration was tipped off about the bug - although they will not say by whom.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4472785,00.html

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