Suspect in arson charged in FBI sting

Lamont Lewis, a suspect in one of the most brutal acts of witness intimidation in the recent history of the city, was ordered held without bail yesterday on unrelated drug and murder-for-hire charges.

The order, from U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas J. Rueter, came after Lewis' defense attorney, Joseph Santaguida, did not contest a prosecution motion seeking no bail.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David E. Troyer had argued in a six-page motion filed earlier in the day that Lewis should be denied bail because he was both a risk of flight and a danger to the community.

Without arguments, yesterday's probable-cause hearing for Lewis lasted less than two minutes.

Lewis, 30, is charged with selling crack cocaine to a cooperating government witness and with agreeing to carry out a murder for the witness in exchange for cash.

The deals and discussions were picked up on audiotape and, in at least one case, videotape.

The murder plot was part of an FBI sting operation tied to what law enforcement sources say is a broader effort to pressure Lewis to tell what they believe he knows about a North Philadelphia arson in which six people, including four children, were killed.

The FBI has listed Lewis as a "person of interest" in the arson, in which the home of another federal witness, Eugene "Twin" Coleman, was targeted.

Coleman's mother, a female cousin, and four children ages 15 months to 15 years died in the fire, which occurred in the early morning of Oct. 9, 2004.

Investigators have said they believe the arson was ordered by jailed drug kingpin Kaboni Savage because Coleman had agreed to testify against him.

Among other things, investigators point to secretly recorded conversations from an electronic listening device placed in Savage's prison cell in which he mocked Coleman and joked about pouring "barbecue sauce" over the bodies of the victims.

"You're hurting my kids sending me to jail, man," Savage, a onetime professional boxer, said to a jail mate while discussing how to deal with witnesses who cooperate with police.

"Your kids, your mom, nobody's getting a pass, man. They're going to pay, man."

Both Coleman, an admitted hit man and drug dealer, and and Lewis were associates of Savage's. Savage spoke to Lewis on the phone the day before the arson, according to taped prison phone conversations.

Coleman ultimately testified in a federal drug case in which Savage was convicted and sentenced to 30 years.

Lewis, whose criminal record includes 12 arrests and five convictions, could face life in prison if convicted of all counts in the current case.

Authorities allege that between May 22 and last Thursday, Lewis completed four drug deals with the cooperating witness, collecting a total of $17,000 for about a pound of crack cocaine.

The cash was supplied by the FBI to the cooperating witness, who wore a body wire for most of the meetings with Lewis. At least one meeting was also videotaped by a camera hidden in the witness' car.

Authorities allege that in other taped conversations Lewis agreed to carry out a contract killing for $2,500. Prosecutors said the cooperating witness claimed that he had a drug customer in New Jersey who had begun talking to the police and that he wanted him killed.

Lewis allegedly said, "You know, that ain't a problem. . . . Once you find out it's a 'rat,' there ain't no more talk about it."

At another meeting, the cooperating witness said he wanted the target "iced" and Lewis allegedly replied that he was the "iceman."

Lewis and a codefendant were arrested last Thursday after completing a drug deal with the cooperating witness. At the time of his arrest, authorities said, Lewis had some of the $5,400 in recorded "buy" money that the FBI had supplied the witness for the purchase of 170 grams of crack from Lewis earlier that day.

Lewis and Robert Merritt Jr., another reputed Savage associate, have been identified as key suspects in the arson investigation. Merritt was sentenced to 16 years in prison last year on a gun-possession charge.

The stiff sentence, like the pending case against Lewis, was viewed as an attempt to pressure Merritt into providing information about the arson.