Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 29, 1990 TAG: 9006290326
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Toward the end of the tape, which was made with hidden cameras at the Vista Hotel here on Jan. 18, undercover drug agents burst into the room and, amid much shouting, arrest Barry. The mayor learns that his companion, Rasheeda Moore, is secretly working for the police.
"I got tricked!" Barry cries out. "I'll be damned. Got set up."
"I want to read you your rights," one of the arresting officers tells him.
The tape proved riveting to audiences inside and outside the courtroom in Washington. Throughout the day, the tape, which was made available to the news media as soon it was entered into evidence, was played and replayed on local television stations.
And everywhere, from department stores to barbershops, crowds gathered in front of television sets to debate whether their city's mayor, who is facing 14 drug and perjury charges, had been entrapped by the police, as he contends, or whether he accepted the drugs without any prompting.
On the videotape, which runs for almost 90 minutes, Barry and Moore banter for the better part of half an hour about whether to use any drugs.
They reminisce about their past drug use - Moore testified on Wednesday that there were more than 100 such incidents.
"So what to you want to do?" Moore asks several times, without using direct questions about drugs.
The mayor, unaware that she is secretly working with the police and is prepared to supply him with drugs, says he wants to have sex.
Moore fends him off after he makes several advances. Barry then asks about a woman, identified as Wanda, who was briefly in the hotel room at the time he arrived.
"Your friend mess around?" he asks.
"She toots more than she'll do anything else," Moore replies, using the drug term for snorting powdered cocaine.
"Don't have anything," Barry says. "What about you?"
Moore indicates that Wanda, who is actually an undercover agent, probably could obtain some drugs.
A few minutes later, Wanda calls the room. Moore answers.
"Tell her to come up," the mayor interjects.
Then Wanda and Moore go into the bathroom to talk; Moore emerges and tells Barry that she can supply crack.
"I don't smoke no more, honey," the mayor says.
He and Moore talk about the possibility of getting some powdered cocaine. In the meantime, Wanda leaves the room, taking the crack with her.
"Go get some! Go get it!" the mayor tells Moore.
Moore leaves, calling out, "Wanda!"
Wanda returns and there is some discussion about money. The mayor is seen reaching into his pants pocket and handing something to Moore. As Wanda leaves again, Barry asks Moore, "You got a pipe?"
"Yeah," Moore replies, laughing and producing a pipe.
"How does this work?" the mayor asks.
"What?" Moore responds.
"I don't know how this works," Barry says. "I've never done it before."
"That's what we used to do all the time," Moore counters. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm new," the mayor says. "We never done that before. Give me a break."
The two of them are then seen filling the pipe with some crack. Much of the time on the tape they are lounging on the bed but at this point they are standing at a table.
Moore offers to get the mayor a lighter. But he tells her to smoke first. They then argue:
Barry: "You do it."
Moore: "No, I'm not doing nothing."
Barry: "No. No. Nope. Nope. Nope."
Finally, the mayor says, "If you don't do it, I'm not going to do it."
Moore says she does not want to smoke because it makes her "just too nervous, too hyper." Then she says she will smoke.
But she does not. She puts the pipe on the table and walks away.
The mayor picks up the pipe, raises it to his mouth and lights it. He takes a long drag and holds the smoke.
Then he repeats the process.
Moore moves back into the camera's view. "You don't want to take another one?" she asks.
"No, you're crazy," the mayor replies. "Let's go downstairs and meet your friend."
There is a loud noise.
"Police!" a voice cries out.
Then the screen is filled with shadowy figures running in. Some of the agents grab the mayor. Others take away Moore.
"FBI! FBI! You're under arrest!" one of the agents can be heard telling Barry. "You're under arrest for possession and use of illegal narcotics. Face the wall! Face the wall! Spread your legs."
"I didn't have anything," the mayor says. "I didn't do anything."
The agents then search Barry and bring in medical technicians to examine him. He insists he is physically all right.
by CNB