Digital Extra: The Station Fire

01:22 PM EDT on Thursday, September 9, 2004

The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE -- The FBI will review allegations made by the father of a Station nightclub fire victim that corruption and politics are the reason West Warwick fire inspectors were not indicted in the case.

David Kane, the father of 18-year-old Nicholas O'Neill, who died in the Feb. 20, 2003, fire at The Station, and a candidate for state attorney general, acknowledges, however, that he does not have any evidence to back up his claims of political motivations and corruption.

The fire killed 100 people and injured nearly 200 people attending a concert by heavy metal rock band Great White. A state grand jury has indicted club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian and the tour manager for the band whose pyrotechnics sparked the fire, Daniel Biechele. Each faces 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter - two counts for each death.

Kane contends West Warwick fire inspectors - who failed to note the existence of highly flammable foam on the walls of the nightclub or other violations in inspections before the fire - should also have been indicted.

Foam was placed on the walls at the club to muffle the sounds from bands that played at the club.

"I want to know who was it that interfered with them doing their job," he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gerard Sullivan, chief of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Rhode Island, told Kane in a letter dated Sept. 1 that FBI Special Agent Dennis Aiken will review Kane's allegations. Sullivan stressed that no formal investigation has been launched.

U.S. attorney spokesman Thomas Connell said the office receives thousands of requests, and decides which should be reviewed. He said Kane's request was forwarded for review "out of respect for the families who lost loved ones" and the fire's impact on Rhode Island.

Aiken was the chief investigator of the FBI's probe into corruption at Providence City Hall that led to the conviction of former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.

Kane also said he wants to know whether the inspectors were called before the state grand jury, and what they said if they testified. Kane said he'll run as an independent for state attorney general in 2006, based on his frustration that more people were not indicted.

State Attorney General Patrick Lynch, a Democrat, had just taken office when the fire took place. He had no comment on Kane's allegations or the FBI review, according to Lynch spokesman Michael Healey, who said the attorney general will seek re-election.