Digital Extra: The Station Fire

The father of a fire victim had asked for a federal probe.

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, October 5, 2004

BY TRACY BRETON
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- U.S. Attorney Robert C. Corrente has informed the father of a victim of The Station nightclub fire that there are no grounds for a federal investigation into the fire or the scope of a state criminal investigation.

David Kane, the father of 18-year-old fire victim Nicholas O'Neill, has asserted -- although he has presented no evidence to back up his suspicions -- that corruption must have played a role in the fire inspectors' failure to properly inspect the West Warwick nightclub and Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch's failure to secure an indictment against the inspectors. Kane has announced that he plans to run against Lynch in 2006.

On Sept. 1, in response to inquiries by Kane, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gerard B. Sullivan advised him that his concerns would be reviewed by FBI Special Agent Dennis Aiken of the FBI but that unless Kane presented concrete evidence of corruption, there was no foundation on which to open a formal investigation.

"You are aware that under state law, no crime exists, by statute or common law, for negligent homicide," Sullivan said in his letter to Kane.

On Sept. 24, Corrente advised Kane by letter that there would be no formal investigation by federal authorities.

"While we take seriously any evidence of corruption or improper influence, our decisions to investigate and prosecute must always be based on evidence, rather than unfounded suspicion," Corrente said in the letter. "To date, 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."

One hundred people died and more than 200 people were injured in the Feb. 20, 2003, fire at The Station -- the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history.

The owners of the club, Michael and Jeffrey Derderian, and Daniel Biechele, the former tour manager of the rock band Great White, each face 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the fire. All have pleaded not guilty. The fire started after Biechele set off fireworks that ignited highly flammable foam used as soundproofing on the walls of the wood-frame nightclub. At least 440 people were inside.