Digital Extra: The Station Fire

03:14 PM EDT on Monday, October 4, 2004

The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE -- Federal prosecutors say they've found no evidence of corruption relating to the state's probe of a nightclub fire that killed 100 people, and will not launch a full scale investigation into the matter.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Providence had received a request by the father of a victim of the fire to investigate why the state had charged only three people in connection with the blaze.

David Kane, the father of 18-year-old Nicholas O'Neill who died in the February 2003 fire at The Station, claimed corruption and politics were the reasons town fire inspectors were never indicted.

In a Sept. 24 letter to Kane, the U.S. Attorney's Office said that a preliminary review showed, "no evidence of impropriety, nor any apparent grounds for further investigation at this time."

A state grand jury indicted the club's owners and the former tour manager for the band whose pyrotechnics sparked the fire. Each has pleaded innocent to 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter.

"We have not seen anything that would lead us to believe that the investigation performed by the Rhode Island State Police and the Attorney General's office was anything less than thorough, honest and professional," said U.S. Attorney Robert Corrente in the letter.

Kane acknowledged he had no evidence to back his claims. He said he's upset the federal office has dropped its review.

"If we learn of any information from any source which would justify further review or investigation, we will give that information the serious consideration it deserves," the letter said.

The attorney general's office maintained it conducted a comprehensive investigation driven by "facts, evidence and the law," said Mike Healey, a spokesman for the attorney general.