PROVIDENCE -- A radio talk-show host whose son died in The Station nightclub fire is campaigning for a federal investigation of the way Rhode Island authorities and Attorney General Patrick Lynch handled the state's probe of the fire.
The state's investigation led to the indictment of three individuals on 600 charges of involuntary manslaughter.
David Kane, a WHJJ talk-show host, said yesterday he has contacted the United States Attorney, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy's office in hopes of initiating a federal fire probe.
But Acting U.S. Attorney Craig N. Moore, in a statement issued yesterday, said he does not believe there is any reason to involve federal agents in such an investigation.
"Based on the available information given to them, the FBI has determined that there is no factual basis for a federal inquiry," said Moore. "I've discussed the matter with the FBI and do not believe there is any factual basis for such an investigation."
Kane is the father of Nicholas O'Neill, an 18-year-old musician who died in the Feb. 20 fire at the West Warwick club.
"What we need is someone from outside Rhode Island to investigate the investigation," Kane said. "We need someone to find out what is really going on here."
Nightclub owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian and Daniel Biechele, the Great White band tour manager who set off the indoor fireworks that ignited the fire, were the only people accused in the criminal indictments.
Kane said he is upset that code inspectors from the Town of West Warwick were not indicted and said that the town's potential criminal liability should get a closer look by federal investigators.
Kane criticized Lynch for allowing Jack Russell, leader of the Great White band, to make statements to state prosecutors that could not be used against him in court.
Citing reporting by The Providence Journal, Kane said he is angered by the newspaper's accounts of how West Warwick town inspectors missed the presence of highly flammable foam glued to the interior walls of The Station nightclub in violation of the state fire code.
Kane also said Lynch's office should have done a more thorough investigation into why the nightclub's capacity had been raised over the years until it allowed 404 patrons. "It is not just about missing the foam, there is a capacity issue too," Kane said.
Assistant Attorney General William J. Ferland said four so-called "free-talk" letters were issued in The Station investigation, which allowed witnesses to speak freely without fear their statements could be used against them. Ferland said the letters did not limit prosecution, and he noted that Biechele was given such a letter and was later indicted by a statewide grand jury. (The others who were allowed free-talk letters were Russell, drummer Eric Powers and bass player Dave Felice, who played with Great White that evening.)
No one was granted statutory immunity in The Station investigation, said Ferland. A free-talk letter is a prosecutor's tool, Ferland said, to obtain frank, candid accounts from witnesses.
The issue of criminal liability of inspectors was probed thoroughly, Ferland said. Rhode Island law, he said, sets a very high threshold, meaning that state prosecutors would have to prove, for example, that West Warwick inspectors intentionally ignored the flammable foam.
"I don't want to be percieved as a grief-stricken father, hey my kid's dead and I want someone to pay," Kane said. He acknowledeged that he is party to a civil suit seeking monetary damages for the loss of his son.
"I'm just looking for answers, as are a lot of other people," Kane said.
