Morrisroe tries to stop father's prison transfer Wednesday 11 June 1997 Neal Hall Vancouver Sun

Tami Morrisroe frantically made tearful phone calls Tuesday to the head of the RCMP in Canada and two federal cabinet ministers in an attempt to stop a proposed involuntary transfer of her father to another prison. "I'm totally sick about the whole thing," said Morrisroe, breaking into tears. "They've given him an ultimatum that he has to be transferred by next Monday. Somebody's got to do something." Morrisroe, 26, is in the witness protection program after she allegedly infiltrated a Vancouver criminal organization to try to find out if her father, Sid Morrisroe, was framed for the 1983 murder of Penthouse nightclub owner Joe Philliponi. After she went public with her story in April, her father was transferred for his own safety from the minimum-security Ferndale institution in Mission to an undisclosed maximum-security prison in B.C. Morrisroe said her father's health is fragile and he can't take being moved around. She also claims the criminal organization she worked for has links to the Cali cocaine cartel in Colombia and that cartel members would pose a threat to her father in many Canadian prisons. "He wants to go back to Ferndale, but regional headquarters said no," she said. "Their preference is to move him out of province, but that would be like signing his death warrant." Mary Lou Siemens of the Pacific region office of the Correctional Service of Canada refused to comment Tuesday on Morrisroe's claim. "We can't confirm what is happening with any inmate,\" she said. Morrisroe said she has called the offices of Solicitor General Herb Gray, Justice Minister Allan Rock and RCMP Commissioner Phil Murray. But so far, no one has been able to offer a solution. "I literally begged for someone to stop him being transferred," she said. "I don't know how much more of this I can take. If anything ever happened to him, I would never forgive myself. I did what I did to prove my dad's innocence. What did my dad do to deserve this?" Morrisroe sent a letter Monday to the RCMP commissioner asking that he intervene and accept her father into the witness protection program for his own safety. She also submitted a new application to Rock and Gray asking for her father to be granted clemency so he can enter the program. Morrisroe, her common-law husband, their two children and Morrisroe's brother are in the witness protection program. They are living under new identities somewhere in North America. Morrisroe has alleged she gathered intimate details about eight contract killings, including the murder of five people at an Abbotsford farmhouse last September. "I thought I was doing the right thing, but my whole family's life is ruined," she said. "I can't even see my dad anymore." While working as an undercover police agent, Morrisroe married Sal Ciancio, whom she claims told her he had killed two dozen people. Ken Young, the lawyer acting for Ciancio, 34, has denied the allegations are true. He noted his client has only been charged with six weapons offences -- not murder -- and was released on bail last week.

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