| http://chblue.com/Article.asp?ID=1935
Cops want to know more about Condit's ties to Hells Angels Saturday, July 07, 2001 By Timothy J. Burger and Helen Kennedy New York Daily News Investigators searching for missing intern Chandra Levy are probing Rep. Gary Condit’s ties to the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. Condit, who rides a Harley when he is home in his northern California district, has close ties to members of the gang, said sources close to the Levy family investigation. “These are bad guys to be involved with,” said one investigator. Condit’s former longtime aide, Vince Flammini, taught the congressman to ride and introduced him to Hells Angels’ leaders, investigators said. Flammini, 62, has told reporters Condit could be emotionally harsh but “he would never hurt a fly.” Anne Marie Smith, 39, a flight attendant who says she had a 10-month affair with Condit that ended in May, said she remembers the congressman once telling her he was going to attend an upcoming Hells Angels party. “He told me he had to keep it secret from his brother because it was a birthday party for a cop killer,” Smith told the Daily News. Condit’s brother, Burl, is a sergeant with the Modesto police. Meanwhile, The Daily News has learned that on April 29, Levy left a message on her aunt’s machine saying, “I have big news.” “She didn’t sound downtrodden. She sounded like she had something exciting to tell,” said a source close to the family. Investigators working for the Levy family believe it’s a major clue and are looking at the possibility she could have been killed to silence her about something she had learned. “The big news might be what got her killed. Maybe she found out something,” said the source close to the Levy family. Investigators are also considering the possibility that Levy, 24, could have been pregnant, though no testing kit was found in her apartment. Condit, 53, told police he last spoke to Levy April 29. She vanished May 1. In other developments: The Levy family private investigators have located a security tape showing Levy buying juice and chatting cheerily with a clerk at a 7-Eleven in Arlington, Va., on April 29. Investigators are interested because Levy, who does not have a car, was far from home. Condit’s wife, Carolyn, was interviewed by the FBI in Northern Virginia. She was accompanied by her husband’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell. Police had been trying to schedule an interview with Carolyn Condit for more than a week to ask about her visit to Washington in late April. She was with her husband when Levy was calling him repeatedly as she prepared to leave town. Cops wanted to know if she had any contact with Levy and if she could verify her husband’s whereabouts. It was unclear why the interview took place in Washington and not in California. Condit’s lawyer released a statement explaining Condit couldn’t make his hometown Fourth of July parade because he was flying to Washington with his wife for the interview. He also blasted press “efforts to dissect and mischaracterize his and his family’s private lives” and said Condit would maintain his media silence. “Unlike some, Congressman Condit remains singularly focused on what is and remains the central mission at this time—locating Chandra Levy,” the statement said. “The media risks losing its focus with what has been a recent and seemingly unbounded effort to expose highly personal and private Condit family matters.” Washington Police Chief Charles Ramsey told reporters Thursday that suicide is close to being discounted. “As time goes on, the possibility of suicide becomes more and more remote, because you would find the remains,” Ramsey said. “You can’t kill yourself and then bury yourself.” Ramsey repeatedly stressed that Condit is not a suspect and only one of a hundred people interviewed. He became irritated when reporters asked if allegations that Condit urged his flight attendant mistress to lie to the FBI would give cops probable cause to search his apartment. “That’s a heckuva leap. I’m not trying to find a flight attendant. I’m trying to find Chandra Levy,” he said. “We’re not the sex police.” |
