US black activist Reverend Al Sharpton is threatening to sue a cable TV network for showing footage a 1983 FBI tape of him discussing a drugs deal.

The 47-year old black activist, who hopes to run for the 2004 Democratic party presidential nomination, was shown on the HBO network being offered thousands of dollars for handling cocaine.

They tried to sting me, and I end up being the bee

Rev Al Sharpton

The footage was part of a programme about a mafia figure, Michael Franzese, shown on Tuesday night on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.

Mr Sharpton was not charged as a result of the FBI investigation.

At a news conference in New York on Tuesday he said: "They intentionally and maliciously distorted something that ended in an abrupt 'No.'

"They tried to sting me, and I end up being the bee," he told reporters.

Plans to sue

Earlier, Mr Sharpton claimed the tape had been handed to the TV network by law enforcement officials to harm his 2004 challenge.

Sharpton has had many run-ins with the law

"It's a cheap smear campaign, but I think it will end up generating sympathy for what I have been fighting for all these years against government abuses".

His lawyer Michael Hardy said his client intended to file a lawsuit against HBO for $500 million damages for portraying him in a negative light.

Based in the Harlem district of New York, Mr Sharpton is a founder of a civil rights organisation called National Action Network.

Fiery record

He became famous in the United States after defending teenager Tawana Brawley, who claimed she was raped by a gang of white men in 1987.

Sharpton came to prominence in the 80s

A grand jury found the story was a hoax and Mr Sharpton was ordered to pay a fine of $65,000 for slander.

In 2001, he spent several months in jail after protesting at US Navy bombing exercises in Puerto Rico.

Earlier in July, he joined pop star Michael Jackson to protest what they said was exploitation of black performers by record companies

He made two unsuccessful bids for the US Senate in 1992 and 1994, and ran for New York mayor in 1997 but lost.

A spokesman for the HBO network said they stood by their reporting.