Continued from WORMSCAN.& byter@mcimail.com @@@ 960120, Philadelphia, PA, Reuters. Police Officer Louis Maiier Date: Sun Jan 21, 1996 12:38 am CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: Philly Cop Sentenced Posted by Bob Witanek 1/20/96 Officer Gets 5 Years PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 19 (Reuters) - One of six police officers who pleaded guilty in a corruption investigation was sentenced today to 5 years in prison, an unusually long term that the judge said was intended to serve as a deterrent. "Criminal conduct such as you will not be tolerated and will be dealt with severely," Judge Harvey Bartle of Federal District Court said sentencing the officer, Louis Maiier. He had pleaded guilty to conspiracy in violating the civil rights of defendants by framing them on drug charges. Federal guidelines call for a sentence of 24 to 30 months. 5 other officers pleaded guilty to similar charges and are awaiting sentencing. As a result of the inquiry, 60 criminal cases have been dismissed or overturned. ========== COMMENT: While the NYT reported that the sentence was stiff, I have to chuckle. These cops knowingly fabricated evidence that could have sent suspects away for decades. A fitting sentence for such criminal acts committed by cops would be, IMHO, at least 2 years for every one year sentencing potential of the framing victim. Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org 960126, Philadelphia, PA, Philadelphia Inquirer. Former Date: Sat Jan 27, 1996 12:31 pm CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: Philly's Dirty Thirty-9th - Saga Continues From: Bob Witanek Subject: Philly's Dirty Thirty-9th - Saga Continues Posted dadoner@chesco.com Fri Jan 26 22:33:46 1996 From: Ronnie Dadone Subject: more on the Dirty Thirty-9th Date: Sat, 27 Jan 96 02:04:36 -0800 From: Ronnie Dadone To: dadoner@chesco.com Subject: Philadelphia Inquirer: City & Region http://www.phillynews.com/inq/city/COPS26.htm > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer] City & Region > > Friday, January 26, 1996 > > 5 officers' sentencing off again > The reason for this 3d postponement: The probe may touch even more > 39th District officers. > > By Joseph A. Slobodzian > INQUIRER STAFF WRITER > > The sentencing of five former Philadelphia police officers in the > 39th District corruption probe has been postponed a third time, and > a defense lawyer yesterday said the reason was that the > investigation was expanding. > > Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Carr Jr. confirmed that U.S. > District Judge Robert S. Gawthrop 3d had postponed Monday's > sentencing of former officers Thomas DeGovanni, Thomas Ryan and > James Ryan. > > Attorneys for the two other former officers, John Baird and Steven > Brown, said they, too, expect the judge to postpone their clients' > sentencing, which is set for Tuesday. > > All five officers pleaded guilty to framing drug defendants and > lying on police reports in a series of cases between 1988 and 1991. > > Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Goldstein, who is prosecuting the case > with Carr, said he could not comment on the reason for the > postponement. > > A. Charles Peruto Jr., the attorney for Brown, said the postponement > was necessary because James Ryan's continuing cooperation had caused > prosecutors to begin looking at other police officers. > > ``My client helped lead them to Ryan, and James then turned them > onto something big,'' Peruto said. ``And Brown is now entitled to > some benefit for that.'' > > Other than ``more officers,'' Peruto declined to say into what area > the probe was expanding. > > Lawyers for James Ryan and Thomas Ryan, who are not related, could > be reached for comment, but Peruto's remarks were echoed in the > statements of two other defense attorneys. > > ``There is still ongoing cooperation that has not borne fruit, as > they say,'' said Elizabeth K. Ainslie, the attorney for Baird, whom > prosecutors have called the mastermind of the group of corrupt > officers who preyed on suspected drug dealers in the North > Philadelphia district. > > The officers arrested or searched more than 40 individuals between > 1988 and 1991, stealing more than $100,000 in cash and property. > > Baird was the first target of the federal probe, and it was his > reluctant decision to become an informant that led to last > February's indictment of the five officers. > > The fluid nature of the continuing investigation was further > suggested by a memo filed Monday by Gerald Stein, attorney for > DeGovanni. Stein also said DeGovanni's cooperation had helped lead > prosecutors to James Ryan, and that it would be unfair for the judge > to sentence the former police sergeant without knowing the results > of Ryan's -- and, by extension, DeGovanni's -- cooperation. > > All three defense attorneys contacted said their requests for > postponement had nothing to do with the five-year prison term meted > out last Friday by U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle 3d to former > 39th District officer Louis J. Maier 3d. > > Sources, however, said at least some of the five were shocked by the > severity of that sentence. Maier was charged separately after the > original five were indicted last year. > > Bartle's sentence was twice as long as that recommended for Maier > under federal sentencing guidelines. One reason was that federal > prosecutors said the decorated veteran officer had breached his > agreement to cooperate fully in the ongoing corruption probe. > > Moreover, Maier's sentence came despite Assistant U.S. Attorney > Carr's comments that Maier was among the least culpable of the six > officers charged thus far. > > Yesterday Maier's attorney, L. Felipe Restrepo, appealed the > sentence to the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Date: Sun Mar 17, 1996 9:08 pm CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: Philly Dirty Thirty-9th. - More Releases Posted: Ronnie Dadone http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Mar/16/front_page/COPS16.htm > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page One > > Saturday, March 16, 1996 > > More falsely convicted to be released > In the 39th District mess, the tainted cases have reached 110. > > [Image] By Mark Fazlollah > INQUIRER STAFF WRITER > > Now it's 110, and counting. > > The biggest, most expensive police scandal in Philadelphia history > has reached a new benchmark for notoriety. Eleven more > drug-conviction cases are about to be overturned, bringing the total > to 110 as the massive review of damage done by corrupt cops > continues. > The church-going grandmother who was framed and sent to prison for > three years, the restaurant manager who was put away for two years, > and the 18-year-old nursing student who was snatched from her > relatives' house by police and falsely arrested. > > These were some of the 110. > The 11 new cases include two defendants who are on probation for > their 39th District drug convictions. Another has finished his > two-year prison term and is on parole. > > William Davol, a spokesman for District Attorney Lynne Abraham, said > yesterday the 11 convictions would be overturned as soon as a judge > approved the prosecutors' motions for reversing the cases. > > When five former 39th District officers were indicted on Feb. 28, > 1995, on federal corruption charges, Abraham said that any case that > was tainted by their involvement would be reversed. > > All five have pleaded guilty, as has one other 39th District officer > indicted later in the year. > > A year into the review of the officers' arrests, defense attorneys > continue to send Abraham stacks of cases for reconsideration. In > all, the six corrupt 39th District officers made about 1,400 arrests > between 1988 and 1995. > > Among the cases overturned so far is the drug conviction of Betty > Patterson, the grandmother who was arrested in July 1989. Former > 39th District Officers Thomas Ryan, John Baird and Steven Brown told > prosecutors that she was framed. > > Baird, now in a federal prison, said the only reason Patterson was > arrested was to gather evidence against her three sons for a murder > case that the District Attorney's Office later lost. > > Baird said he believed Ryan or Brown planted the drugs that were > used to send Patterson to prison for three years. > > And the 110 cases includes Andre Bonaparte, who walked out of jail > Aug. 8 after his conviction was reversed. And George Porchea, a > restaurant manager who was released from prison July 24. > > And there was Denise Patterson (not related to Betty Patterson), who > was arrested in November 1988 by Baird. She was then an 18- year-old > nursing student who just happened to be at her relatives' house > caring for her sick mother when the police burst in and decided that > she was a drug dealer. > > The case review has become a legal nightmare for the city. As cases > are reversed because of corrupt officers, lawsuits pile up. > Betty Patterson has sued for $20 million. Denise Patterson and > Bonaparte have also sued, and Porchea has told the city he is ready > to sue. > > Public Defender Bradley S. Bridge said he was disappointed by the > pace of the dismissals. > > Though Bridge's office and prosecutors have agreed on dropping the > 11 cases -- and 43 other convictions that the District Attorney's > Office last month said should be overturned -- it is unclear when > they can be officially reversed. > > Last year, Common Pleas Court Judge Legrome D. Davis was assigned to > handle all 39th District cases. He handled most of the 56 > convictions that have been overturned. > > Recently, Davis moved off the 39th District beat because of > scheduling changes. Another judge was supposed to be assigned to the > cases. > > That has not happened yet, though prosecutors and defense attorneys > said the glitch probably would be resolved quickly. Court officials > did not respond to requests for comment yesterday. > > Bridge said none of the 11 defendants, nor anyone from the 43 other > cases, is currently in jail because of 39th District arrests. But he > said the courts should quickly overturn the convictions. > > ``Everyone is in agreement about getting this done,'' Bridge said. > ``We just can't find anyone to do it.'' Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org To subscribe, send this message: subscribe pol-abuse To this address: majordom@igc.apc.org Date: Wed Mar 20, 1996 11:36 pm CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: Dirty 39th. - 60 More Tossed Convictions Posted: Ronnie Dadone http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Mar/20/city/COPS20.htm > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer] City & Region > > Wednesday, March 20, 1996 > > 60 more drug convictions are to be reversed today > The arrests involved corrupt police officers. 56 convictions have > been thrown out already. > > By Mark Fazlollah > INQUIRER STAFF WRITER > > A court today will throw out 60 tainted drug convictions in which > corrupt 39th District officers were involved in the arrests -- more > than doubling the number of cases overturned in the ever- widening > probe. > > Already, 56 convictions have been tossed out because of the > involvement of six former 39th District officers who have pleaded > guilty to federal corruption charges. > > That will bring to 116 the number of cases reversed in the year- old > scandal. That number is certain to grow. > > ``It just keeps going. There's no end to it,'' said William Davol, > spokesman for District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham. > > Davol said 54 cases had been scheduled to be overturned by Common > Pleas Court Judge Legrome D. Davis today, but six more were added > earlier this week. > > And, as more officers are indicted, more cases will need to be > overturned. > > Last fall, for example, Mayor Rendell confirmed that a police- FBI > investigation has expanded into the elite Highway Patrol unit. Law > enforcement officials have said several patrol officers stole drugs > from pushers and resold them to other pushers. > > ``It's incredible the damage that has been done to the system,'' > Davol said. > > Lawyers who have specialized in police corruption cases say there > has never been an investigation as deep into police wrongdoing as > the current effort. > > ``The feds have been very successful in spreading'' the > investigation to include other officers, including members of the > Highway Patrol, said L. George Parry, a private attorney who once > headed the now-defunct police corruption unit of the District > Attorney's Office. > > ``I've never heard of 60 separate cases being overturned,'' said > Parry, who was a federal strike force prosecutor in Buffalo before > then-District Attorney Edward G. Rendell lured him to Philadelphia > in 1978 to head the police corruption unit. Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org To subscribe, send this message: subscribe pol-abuse To this address: majordomo@igc.apc.org Date: Thu Apr 04, 1996 11:18 pm CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: 4 More Philly Cops to be Charged From: Bob Witanek From dadoner@chesco.com Thu Apr 4 08:58:13 1996 Return-Path: dadoner@chesco.com Received: from carriage.chesco.com (carriage.chesco.com [205.164.157.2]) by igc3.igc.apc.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id IAA10175 for ; Thu, 4 Apr 1996 08:58:09 -0800 (PST) Received: from pm1x2.chesco.com (pm1x27.chesco.com [205.164.157.56]) by carriage.chesco.com (8.6.12/8.6.9) with SMTP id LAA26835 for ; Thu, 4 Apr 1996 11:52:04 -0500 Message-Id: <199604041652.LAA26835@carriage.chesco.com> Date: Thu, 04 Apr 96 12:59:12 -0800 From: Ronnie Dadone X-Mailer: Mozilla 1.22 (Windows; I; 16bit) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: bwitanek@igc.apc.org Subject: Philadelphia Inquirer: Page One Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Status: RO http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/04/front_page/COP04.htm > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page One > > Thursday, April 4, 1996 > > 4 more Phila. officers face federal charges > > By Joseph A. Slobodzian > and Mark Fazlollah > INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS > > Guns drawn, they ordered about 100 people to their knees and rifled > through their pockets, taking all their money. > > Once the money was bagged, about $28,000, the thieves began to > party, drinking the beer, eating the food. > > This remarkably brazen heist was the work of four Philadelphia > police officers, law enforcement officials said yesterday in > announcing another indictment in the city's police corruption > scandal. > > The new charges stem from a Feb. 19, 1994, police raid on a > cockfight in the basement of a North Philadelphia store -- a raid to > cover what prosecutors called an armed robbery by the four officers, > not an attempt to stop the illegal gambling on fighting roosters. > > A total of 10 officers have now been charged in the federal probe of > police corruption that began last year with the arrest of five > officers from the 39th District in North Philadelphia. > > Yesterday's indictment expanded the probe into the adjacent 25th > District as well as the department's vaunted Highway Patrol, an > elite spit-and-polish unit long considered beyond reproach. > > The two officers from the 25th District are Julio C. Aponte, 42, an > 11-year veteran of the force, and Edward A. Greene, 38, a > third-generation police officer who was a city prison guard before > joining the force in 1980. Indicted with them were Highway Patrol > officers Lester F. Johnson, 35, a 14-year veteran, and John P. > O'Hanlon, 32, a 10-year veteran. > > It was a Saturday night cockfight in the basement of a store in the > 3200 block of North Fifth Street. Booze was flowing. There was a vat > filled with beer and bottles of rum. > > Soon after the fights started, the four officers barged in, weapons > drawn. > > In an interview last night, store owner Ramon Nu nez, 48, said the > officers yelled: ``Everyone freeze. Police.'' > > The officers ordered everyone to get on the floor. Nu nez said > Greene and O'Hanlon then went to each man and reached into his > pockets searching for money. > > The two then piled the money in the center of the ring, Nu nez said. > One of the men was ordered to pack it in a large bag that had been > used for carrying roosters. > > ``When the bag was filled with money, it was two feet high,'' Nu nez > said. ``And this wasn't loose bills. Almost everyone had the money > bundled up with rubber bands. They didn't leave one cent. They took > everything.'' > > Nu nez thinks as much as $75,000 was taken that night. > > Hours later, at the 25th District station, Nu nez said he asked > Aponte about the money. > > ``He said they were counting it,'' Nu nez said. ``But they never > brought it back.'' > > The four officers were charged in a 21-count indictment with federal > robbery and attempted robbery, use of a firearm in a crime of > violence, and conspiracy to violate civil rights. > > All four entered pleas of not guilty yesterday before U.S. > Magistrate Judge Peter B. Scuderi. > > Attorneys for Johnson and Greene told Scuderi that they intended to > strongly contest the charges. > > ``You can bet on it,'' said Johnson's attorney, Jack McMahon. > > The lawyer added that his client had made about 150 arrests since he > joined the Highway Patrol in 1985 and had received ``30 to 40 > commendations and merit awards from the police commissioner and the > mayor.'' > > Police Commissioner Richard Neal said Aponte retired from the force > several weeks ago; the three others were suspended yesterday with > intent to dismiss in 30 days. > > Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Carr Jr. said each man faces a > likely prison term of 14 years without parole if convicted on all > charges because of the mandatory jail terms that accompany firearms > convictions. > > Yesterday's indictment was the long-expected sequel to the Feb. 28, > 1995, indictment of the five 39th District officers. > > All five pleaded guilty and are to be sentenced April 15. A sixth > officer was later charged, pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to > five years in prison. > > The ongoing federal probe has become a public dissection of the > city's criminal justice system. The admissions by the officers > indicted a year ago that they created bogus search and arrest > warrants so they could shake down suspected drug dealers has > resulted in the dismissal of charges against 116 people arrested by > the officers. > > Thirteen federal civil rights suits have been filed against the city > and the convicted 39th District officers, and more filings are > expected. > > Bradley S. Bridge, a lawyer coordinating the review of the corrupt > officers' cases for the Public Defender's Office, said he would > review all arrests made by Officers Aponte, Greene, O'Hanlon and > Johnson. > > ``The corruption of these police officers has mortgaged our > future,'' Bridge said. ``The indictments today are a down payment, > albeit small, toward the redemption of our future. In the months to > come, there will be more mortgage payments in the form of more > indictments.'' > > All four officers charged yesterday were ordered released by Scuderi > after their attorneys assured him that they would post personal and > family properties to secure bail of $100,000 to $150,000. > > The judge denied a motion by prosecutors to have Aponte held without > bail for allegedly trying to persuade a witness to lie to federal > investigators in another case. > > Prosecutor Carr said Aponte was secretly recorded Jan. 19 by Damian > Padilla, a suspect with Aponte and two other men in a 1991 attempted > home burglary in Port Richmond, telling Padilla not to cooperate > with the FBI. In a transcript of the conversation made available > yesterday, Aponte tells the informant to tell the FBI that the two > had not seen each other for 1-1/2 years. > > ``Now they're going to ask you if you talked to me,'' Aponte is > quoted as saying in the transcript. ``If you say yes, you talked to > me . . . you sunked me, then you buried me.'' > > Although Scuderi said he did not believe the audiotape warranted > Aponte's pretrial detention, he raised Aponte's bail to $150,000 and > warned him not to contact any witnesses. > > All four officers have checkered histories. Johnson is a defendant > in a federal civil rights suit that also names five officers who > have pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges. > > In the last two years, the city has paid a total of at least $85,000 > to settle federal lawsuits against O'Hanlon, Aponte and Greene. > > The indictment -- announced at a news conference attended by U.S. > Attorney Michael R. Stiles, District Attorney Lynne Abraham, Neal > and Bob C. Reutter, head of the Philadelphia office of the FBI -- > alleges that the four officers signed a police property receipt > putting the amount at $2,404, and kept the rest for themselves. > > To make their raid seem legal, the indictment alleges, the four also > arrested five people from the cockfight, including store owner Nu > nez, for cruelty to animals and conspiracy. The indictment also > alleges that the officers later sabotaged their testimony against > the five -- who had been complaining about the theft of the money -- > to ensure that the charges against them were dismissed. > > Nu nez's attorney, Harry Rubin, said Nu nez had told the FBI about > how police stole the money and then ate the victims' refreshments. > ``It was like a party,'' Rubin said. > > Federal officials were tight-lipped yesterday about the status of > the federal probe and how many more current of former officers might > be indicted. They also took pains to put the corruption probe into > perspective, noting that most Philadelphia police officers are > honest ``and deserve the public's respect.'' > > ``In my view this does not mean that the Philadelphia Police > Department has more corruption than other police departments,'' said > Stiles. ``It does mean that we are more determined to do something > about it.'' > > That view was also taken by Mayor Rendell, who told reporters: ``We > ought to get a grip on reality.'' > > ``There's always a problem, if it was one officer that committed a > corrupt act,'' Rendell said. ``But so far, in years of > investigation, we have a very small number of police, all acting on > their own, all doing things that are not part of a pattern.'' > > Neal said he remains ``prepared to go wherever the investigation > takes us'' and said the probe ``should send a very clear message to > anyone who would have any thoughts in terms of engaging in any form > of corruption that we're committed to come after them, we're > committed to identify them. We will fire them and they will be > arrested.'' > > District Attorney Abraham also said she wanted the probe to continue > and urged ``as many police officers as possible who do deserve and > earn the right to wear those badges and uniforms with honor'' to > report any police corruption they discover. > > Four weeks after the raid, the five men arrested in the search > appeared at a hearing before Municipal Court Judge Michael J. > Conroy. > > Three of the arresting officers testified -- Aponte, Greene and > O'Hanlon. > > O'Hanlon was questioned the most extensively about money that he and > his partner -- Johnson -- had seized. He said 40 to 50 men attending > the cockfight were searched, but no money was taken from anyone. > > Question: How much money was confiscated? > > O'Hanlon: ``There was $2,400, $2,404 I believe is the exact > number.'' > > Question: From where was this money confiscated? > > O'Hanlon: ``Inside the ring. . . . Off to the side in the ring. Just > a big pile of money.'' > > All that was a lie, federal prosecutors now say. > > [Image] > Inquirer staff writers Richard Jones and Vanessa Williams > contributed to this article. Date: Tue Apr 09, 1996 2:15 am CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: Venting 'Bout Bad Cops From: Bob Witanek Posted nattyreb@ix.netcom.com Sat Apr 6 09:01:33 1996 From: nattyreb@ix.netcom.com (Marpessa Kupendua) A RARE AND COURAGEOUS BREED - A BLACK MAINSTREAM JOURNALIST WHO DARES TO SPEAK THE TRUTH FROM HIS HEART! THERE'S HOPE FOR US YET! --------------------------------------------------------------------- YES, LET US VENT ABOUT BAD COPS - by Elmer Smith, Columnist - The Philadelphia Daily News 4/5/96 You may be pleased to know that our cops are no more corrupt than cops elsewhere. No? Well try this one: There are no more bad cops than bad lawyers, bad bankers or bad reporters. That one doesn't do much for you? Didn't do it for me either. But the federal prosecutor probing Philadelphia police corruption and the mayor of this typically corrupt town seemed to think these revelations would be quite a load off your mind. And maybe they will be, if you're into turning your dark clouds inside out in search of silver linings. After all, cops are reading Miranda warnings to each other in every big city in America. I guess it's good to know that ours are no worse then theirs. So maybe this is just a timing thing with me. But on a day when four cops get busted, this time for pulling a stickup at a cockfight, I'm not trying to hear that armed robbery by people we armed is just one of those things. "In my personal view," said U.S. Attorney Michael Stiles "the men and women of the Philadelphia Police Department are certainly no more corrupt than... any other police department." The mayor took it a step further. "So, let's get a grip and understand that there are bad policemen, bad bankers, bad politicians and maybe bad reporters," Rendell said. Hey, get a grip on this, guys: When cops crash through someone's door with guns drawn, rob 21 people of $28,000 and sit around drinking beer while their victims lie face down on the floor, I'm not trying to understand. I think I do understand what the mayor and Stiles are trying to do. They just don't want us to panic. They want to let us know that we can stop worrying because they're on this. And since both of them have better-than-average track records for fighting police corruption, it seems fair to say that their official response is a lot less casual than their public shrug. But I don't want to be calmed down when I'm paying people who may beat me up, lock me up and now, stick me up with the gun I bought them. So I reserve the right to be outraged. Because, even though I know they're doing it from Dubuque to Dallas, this is a sore spot that never gets numb for me. Wednesday's indictment bowl raises to 10 the number of Philly cops busted in Mike Stiles' federal probe. The other six were into robbing drug dealers, planting drugs on innocent people and keeping a stash of illegal drugs for fun and profit. Which brings to mind the old joke about Philadelphia being a town where a kid can play cops and robbers alone. But I ain't laughing. And I ain't buying that tired old refrain about how cops get corrupted by all the corruption they see around them. That's an excuse, and a sorry one at that. If 950 cops of 1,000 can go from rookies to retirees without sticking up a craps game or collecting on both ends from the local hooker, the others have a problem more basic than workplace atmosphere. Sure, some of us do have trouble keeping our hands off other people's money. But it's the job of the police to help us. Instead, we've got this greedy monitory out here helping themselves. There's no excuse for it. It is outrageous. And *that* is what I want to hear from my mayor and federal prosecutor. Instead I'm hearing how police are under such pressure, it's no wonder they stray off the reservation every once in a while. Which is what we're hearing from California this week in the aftermath of the beating of two disarmed Mexican Americans who were caught smuggling illegal aliens across the border. This week's episode of roadside justice features some nifty stick work by the Riverside County sheriff's department. It follows a familiar script: Police signal a driver to stop. The driver continues, picking up speed until he is leading the police cruiser on a high-speed chase over the highway or through city streets. Finally, after a long chase, he overtakes the fleeing motorist. What follows is a scene that has been repeated so often it's not just predictable; it's almost inevitable. The scene is in continuous showing this week because a TV crew in a helicopter chronicled the chase and the beating on their overhead cameras. They should have pulled over. But they sped off. Cops hate that. It's what made half a dozen L.A. cops form a circle and whip Rodney King like a runaway slave. That's what pissed off a cop in an unmarked car who dragged a woman from her car, jumped on her back, and bludgeoned her on a South Carolina highway a few months ago. We saw that one replayed on a TV news magazine segment last month after the irate trooper was caught on camera by his own police cruiser as he administered roadside justice to this woman. In California, where most American trends have their roots, this tendency is called high-speed pursuit syndrome. For once, I wish someone would call it what it is, beating the hell out of people. And stop trying to cool us off about it. Don't hose me down. Let me burn. ============================== Submitted by: Sis. Marpessa http://www.webcom.com/nattyreb Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 21:46:59 -0700 From: mregen@ix.netcom.com (Marnie Regen ) To: DRCTalk@drcnet.org Subject: corrupt cops chronology Message-ID: <199604110446.VAA08528@dfw-ix2.ix.netcom.com> The Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday, April 4, 1996 Some major events of corruption probe By Richard Jones and Mark Fazlollah INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS Yesterday's indictment of four Philadelphia police officers was the latest blow to a department already reeling from 13 months of scandal. Here is a chronology of key events in the corruption probe: Feb. 28, 1995 -- A federal grand jury indicts five former officers in the 39th District in North Philadelphia -- John Baird, 40; Thomas DeGovanni, 44; Steven Brown, 48; James Ryan, 39; and Thomas Ryan, 38. They are charged with planting drugs on suspects, stealing more than $100,000 in cash and property, and falsifying police reports. They and a sixth former officer, Louis J. Maier 3d, later plead guilty. March 15, 1995 -- Joe Morris, 53, in prison for a 1988 drug conviction, is freed at the request of the District Attorney's Office. His is the first of more than 100 convictions overturned by the courts because of misconduct by the six former officers. April 7, 1995 -- Two former 19th District officers -- Derrick Mayes, 31, and Kevin Daniels, 33 -- are convicted of stealing cash, planting drugs and making false arrests of young men in West Philadelphia. Each is sentenced to five to 10 years. June 8, 1995 -- A former 35th District officer, Sgt. Gene Lomazoff, 39, is convicted of stopping motorists for minor infractions, then shaking them down for cash. He is sentenced to seven to 22 years. July 26, 1995 -- Two former 39th District officers -- Brown, named in the February indictment, and Robert Miller, 47 -- are charged with running a lucrative fencing operation out of a North Philadelphia variety store. Aug. 14, 1995 -- In the first of a series of mass transfers, Police Commissioner Richard Neal guts the 39th District's command, shifting the captain and 11 other supervisors to new assignments. In the 35th District, 11 supervisors are moved to new posts. Aug. 15, 1995 -- City Councilman Michael Nutter criticizes Mayor Rendell's response to the widening scandal and calls for an independent commission with broad powers to investigate police misconduct. An existing commission is purely advisory. Aug. 30, 1995 -- Federal investigators subpoena arrest logs in the 22d, 23d, 24th, 25th and 26th Districts and the Highway Patrol. The logs cover up to 100,000 arrests over 10 years. Aug. 31, 1995 -- Neal announces a 10-step plan to fight police corruption, including beefing up the department's Internal Affairs Division, expanding ethics training, and instituting random drug testing. Three men who claim they were falsely arrested by corrupt officers file the first federal class-action suit stemming from the scandal. Sept. 19, 1995 -- Before a packed City Council chamber, the Police Advisory Commission opens public hearings into the case of Moises DeJesus, a North Philadelphia man who died in 1994, three days after struggling with arresting officers. ``He was hit, then handcuffed, then hit again, and again, and again,'' said one witness. ``He was thrown in [ the police van ] like a dog. That's when I said, `He's dead. He's dead.' '' At the close of the hearing, about 200 off-duty officers chant: ``Kangaroo, kangaroo!'' Sept. 26, 1995 -- Breaking with a traditional code of silence, the president of the group representing the city's black officers calls on all police to turn in corrupt colleagues and report misconduct, past or present. ``The credibility of this police department is at stake,'' says David E. Fisher, president of the Guardian Civic League. ``These rogue cops are . . . tarnishing the badge.'' Nov. 16, 1995 -- The Inquirer reports that the Rendell administration paid $20 million over the preceding 28 months to settle more than 225 lawsuits alleging police misconduct. A spokesman for the mayor calls the upsurge ``a statistical anomaly.'' Dec. 21, 1995 -- In its report on the death of Moises DeJesus, the Police Advisory Commission calls for the suspension of six officers. The report says that one officer struck DeJesus with a flashlight or nightstick and that five others ``were not truthful in reporting what they observed.'' April 3 -- Four more officers -- Julio C. Aponte and Edward A. Greene of the 25th District and Lester F. Johnson and John P. O'Hanlon of the Highway Patrol -- surrender for booking on federal corruption charges. --- > April 8 -- After waiting 111 days for action, the Police Advisory > Commission calls on Rendell and Neal to punish the six officers > cited in its report. ``Any further delay,'' panel members wrote, ``. > . . does an injustice to the citizens of Philadelphia.'' > April 15 -- A federal judge sentences the five officers indicted in > February 1995 -- Baird, DeGovanni, Brown and the two Ryans -- to > prison terms ranging from 10 months to 13 years. http://www2.phillynews.com/daily_news/96/Apr/16/local/KOPS16.htm > Local > [Philadelphia Online] THE PHILADELPHIA Tuesday, April 16, > DAILY NEWS > 1996 > > > Ex-cops get little pity > > by Jim Smith > Daily News Staff Writer > > The four ex-39th District cops said they were sorry for robbing and > assaulting dozens of suspected drug dealers and for trumping up > reasons to search and arrest victims. > > One even cried. > > But the apologies and the tears and the ratting -- mostly on each > other -- didn't do them much good. > > With stunning severity, all four were sentenced to long prison terms > yesterday by U.S. District Judge Robert S. Gawthrop III. > > The judge, for the most part, refused entreaties of prosecutors and > defense attorneys to significantly reward three of the four > defendants for squealing on each other and, in some cases, on other > corrupt cops. > > The judge, however, did show mercy on a fifth defendant, Thomas > Ryan, the first to turn informant and the least involved, sending > Ryan to jail for only 10 months. > > The leader of the corrupt officers, John Baird, whom fellow officers > called ``Wacky Jacky'' -- a man who liked to play a sadistic form of > Russian roulette with victims, putting a gun to their heads and > pulling the trigger on an empty chamber -- was sentenced to 13 years > in jail without chance of parole. > > The punishment was four years longer than that required by Baird's > sentencing guidelines. > > If it withstands an appeal, it would be one of the stiffest > sentences in modern times in a Philadelphia police corruption case. > > ``The governmental functions in this town have been disrupted > immeasurably,'' the judge said, referring to the overturning of more > than 100 drug convictions as a result of wrongdoing by Baird and his > three main associates over a three-year period. > > Baird, 41, a trim, square-jawed man with long graying blond hair > parted in the middle, has been in jail for several months and came > to court in a khaki prison uniform. > > He showed no emotion as deputy U.S. marshals hauled him from the > courtroom in handcuffs to begin his sentence.A jail has yet to be > designated by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. > > While it was important to ``loosen tongues'' of potential witnesses > by rewarding those who inform on others, the judge said his primary > purpose in dealing harshly with the ex-cops was ``to deter other > police officers from committing . . . crimes in the first place.'' > > Baird, who stole more than $100,000 for his corrupt crew, would get > no ``silver platter'' from him, Gawthrop added, rejecting requests > for leniency from Assistant U.S. Attorneys William B. Carr Jr. and > Joel Goldstein, and from Baird's defense attorney, Elizabeth > Ainslie. > > At one point the judge suggested that Baird's request for mercy > ``smacked of blackmail.'' The judge noted that Baird had told a > court probation officer, Thomas Wolfe, that other corruption cases > ``would dry up'' if he was dealt a harsh sentence. > > ``Of course,'' Ainslie said, when asked if she'd appeal the stiff > sentence. > > Ex-cop Steven Brown, 49, who bawled over the shame he brought to his > family, drew 10 years from the judge, the maximum required by > Brown's sentencing guidelines. > > ``I locked up drug dealers. They were drug dealers. I went about it > the wrong way,'' Brown told the judge. ``I became a thief . . . I > needed the money. > > ``Seeing the money the drug dealers had and the way they were > living, I took it upon myself'' to steal. ``I admit it. I hope they > know I am sorry,'' Brown added, before being returned to prison. > > Ex-Sgt. Thomas DeGovanni, 45, drew seven years in prison, but was > given a week to spend with his wife and three children before the > term begins. > > ``My behavior was . . . immoral,'' DeGovanni admitted. > > ``We all start out with good intentions. Too often we fail. I > failed.'' > > James Ryan, whose ongoing cooperation recently led to the > indictments of four other cops for stealing about $30,000 from a > cockfight -- and to other still-secret investigations involving > members of the Highway Patrol -- was sentenced to six years. > > Ryan, 40, asked for 30 days to report to prison. But the judge gave > him only about seven minutes to surrender. > > Gawthrop told James Ryan he had had ``enough free will'' to resist a > cancer in the ranks of the Police Department. > > ``Tragically for you, you took the path of corruption,'' the judge > added. > > ``I cannot factor out the ugliness with which his case abounds,'' > the judge told prosecutors, rejecting a plea for more leniency. > > James Ryan's sentence was two years less than the minimum required > by his guidelines, but two years more than the four-year term the > prosecutors had recommended. > > The 10-month sentence went to Thomas Ryan, who was the least > involved and the first to inform on Baird. > > Prosecutors said Thomas Ryan was involved criminally with Baird only > one time, more than five years ago in 1991, the night he and Baird > illegally detained and roughed up a college student who had the > misfortune of getting lost on their beat. The student, Arthur > Colbert, resembled a drug dealer Baird wanted to roust. > > Baird also broke into Colbert's apartment in Cheltenham searching > for drugs or money while the student was kept in a 39th District > cell. > > In a letter to the judge, Thomas Ryan said he didn't have the > courage that night to stand up to Baird. > > Baird ``had friends throughout the ranks of the Police Department,'' > Thomas Ryan told the judge. > > The student's complaint the next day eventually got Baird, Thomas > Ryan and DeGovanni fired and brought in the FBI to help investigate > corruption in the 39th District.Thomas Ryan's prison sentence was 14 > months less than the minimum required by his guidelines. > > Defense attorney Frank DeSimone noted that Thomas Ryan, who now > works as a ``residential counselor'' in a group home for abused boys > in North Philadelphia, had letters of support and a signed petition > seeking mercy on his behalf from residents and businesspeople in the > 39th District. > > One admirer, Joan Downs, a reformed crack addict, testified > yesterday that Thomas Ryan helped convince her to get treatment. > > ``Tom is still there for me. He's my knight in shining armor,'' > Downs told the judge.The judge called her testimony ``gripping'' and > said it ``drives home the particular tragedy'' of Thomas Ryan's > case. > > ``You bore every hallmark of being a wonderful police officer,'' the > judge said. ``I think this was an aberration, but it happened and > that fact is ineradicable.'' > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > [---] http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/16/front_page/SENT16.htm > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page One > > Tuesday, April 16, 1996 > > Corrupt Officers Get Harsh Terms > 5 from 39th District given up to 13 years > > By Joseph A. Slobodzian > and Mark Fazlollah > INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS > > Philadelphia's most notorious policeman, who blazed a trail of > outrageous misconduct for 10 years and left the city with one of the > biggest police scandals in its history, was sentenced yesterday to > 13 years in prison without parole. > > Looking more like a wraith than like the flamboyant officer who > routinely beat, framed and stole from citizens, John ``Wacky Jack'' > Baird was led away stone-faced and silent. > > Four other officers who helped make the 39th District a home for > scandal received sentences ranging from 10 years to 10 months. > > Citing the legacy of the corrupt officers -- 116 of their criminal > cases overturned and more coming, millions of dollars in civil suits > filed and more coming, a justice system shaken to its roots -- U.S. > District Judge Robert Gawthrop 3d did not just sentence the five > officers. > > He knocked them out of the park. > > Gawthrop, 53, a former county prosecutor and a veteran of nine years > on the federal bench, told Baird that he had ``squashed the Bill of > Rights into the mud'' and that in his 14 years on the city police > force he had ``erred badly, grievously and repeatedly.'' > > He then sentenced the 41-year-old officer to almost twice what > federal prosecutors recommended. > > Federal prosecutors pleaded for leniency, praising the way Baird had > helped them root out corruption by helping expand the FBI probe. > > Gawthrop bristled at a prosecution suggestion that ``police > corruption in this city is inexorable'' and said he felt the need to > ``to deter other police officers from committing these crimes in the > first place.'' > > Several of the five former officers and their attorneys spoke and > acted as if they had been betrayed by the severity of the sentences. > > Baird, for one, will appeal his sentence to the Third U.S. Circuit > Court of Appeals, said his attorney, Elizabeth K. Ainslie, who told > Gawthrop that Baird's extensive cooperation and ``prodigious > memory'' had worked against him at sentencing. > > ``I think the message that this sends [ to other corrupt officers ] > ,'' Ainslie told Gawthrop, ``is don't tell them anything they don't > already know. . . . The message will be: Either fight it, or take > your medicine and shut up.'' > > Baird, whose swashbuckling style and high arrest record earned him a > reputation as a cop's cop, showed no emotion as the judge sternly > imposed the sentence. Baird has been in jail awaiting sentencing > since October, and the time away seemed to have drained the officer > once known on the streets of North Philly as Blondie for his thick > blond hair. The Baird who faced the judge yesterday stood in an > olive prison jumpsuit, tall, gaunt and pale, his head listing > slightly to the right. > > Federal prosecutors sidestepped questions about whether the > sentences might deter other police officers from disclosing > corruption. > > ``The sentencing would have been harsher if there had not been > cooperation,'' said Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Carr Jr., > adding that strong sentences might deter future misconduct. Carr > declined to say whether more indictments were imminent. > > With yesterday's sentencings, the first chapter in the continuing > federal probe of city police ended. > > It began in February 1995 with the indictment of the five former > officers from North Philadelphia's 39th District on charges that > they stole more than $100,000 from suspected drug dealers, who were > usually searched or arrested with bogus warrants. It has grown, as > Gawthrop described it, like ``a cancer.'' > > Last August a sixth former 39th District officer was charged, > pleaded guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. And on April 3 > four more officers were indicted on corruption charges: two from the > adjacent 25th District and two from the Highway Patrol, all accused > of stealing $28,000 from the participants in a cockfight they > raided. All four are awaiting trial. > > The probe has resulted in a wholesale review of 1,800 arrests > involving the five original officers, and the District Attorney's > Office has since pressed for the dismissal of charges against 116. > > And the case review may be about to go much higher. > > A sentencing memo filed by federal prosecutors for yesterday's > hearings stated that Baird's ``pattern of similar corrupt activity'' > began in 1984 -- four years earlier than alleged in the indictment. > > Bradley S. Bridge of the Public Defender's Office said yesterday > that ``if the sentence reports are correct that these officers' > corruption extends back to the early '80s, we must go back and > extend our search for people whose lives were devastated by the > police officers to the early '80s.'' > > The proceedings began at 9:30 a.m. with the sentencing of James > Ryan, 40, the officer who first protested his innocence and then > cooperated, expanding the scope of the federal probe. > > Ryan's attorney, Brian J. McMonagle, urged a sentence below the > eight-to-10-year range recommended under the federal sentencing > guidelines, and Carr said Ryan's cooperation was so important he > deserved no more than four years. > > ``He never wanted to go to that unit,'' McMonagle said of the 39th > District, ``and when he got there he made a ton of mistakes and > begged to get out of there.'' > > Ryan, who boasts a series of commendations, insisted that all but > seven months of his 17-year career were exemplary and told Gawthrop: > ``I took a lot of pride in being a police officer. It was basically > my life.'' > > ``You are a grown man,'' Gawthrop told Ryan, standing ramrod > straight below the judge. ``You could take it or leave it. . . . > Tragically for you you took the path of corruption, and now is > judgment day.'' > > The sentence -- six years in prison and a $4,000 fine -- stunned > Ryan. So did what came next. McMonagle asked that Ryan be given 20 > days to report for prison. > > ``I'll give you to quarter of 11 to report,'' Gawthrop said. ``Until > then you're a free man . . .'' > > That gave Ryan eight minutes of freedom. > > Ryan whirled among a contingent of family and friends, making > hurried goodbyes. As marshals began to escort him into custody, he > turned to one federal investigator and said he was sorry he had > cooperated. > > Next up was Thomas Ryan, 39, whose criminal conduct was limited to > the Feb. 24, 1991, incident in which he and Baird stopped and took > into custody Temple University college student Arthur Colbert. > > Colbert was taken into a vacant crack house, where Baird stuck a gun > in his face and threatened to shoot him. The pair later went to > Colbert's Cheltenham apartment, which Baird entered and searched > illegally, before they returned and released the shaken student. > > Thomas Ryan, who retired after injuring his back and now counsels > teens in the 39th District, yesterday told Gawthrop that night was > his first pairing with Baird and was ``like a roller-coaster.'' Ryan > said that he reported the incident to his supervisor but that > supervisor was Sgt. Thomas DeGovanni -- a Baird ally -- and the > probe went nowhere. > > ``I have to apologize again to Arthur Colbert,'' he told the judge. > ``What he experienced that day should not happen in this country.'' > > Ryan's case was ``distinct from the others,'' the judge said, and he > sentenced him to 10 months -- significantly below the 24- to > 30-month guideline -- and fined him $1,000. > > Ryan declined comment after the sentencing. Gawthrop gave him 20 > days to surrender to authorities. > > It was the Colbert incident, and Colbert's dogged persistence in > pressing for an investigation of what happened to him, that > triggered the federal probe in 1992. > > Colbert, reached in Detroit, where he now works with juvenile > delinquents, said he was pleased that ``justice is finally done.'' > > ``Everybody did a good job. The FBI, the police, Internal Affairs, > they all worked together,'' Colbert said. > > After Thomas Ryan, DeGovanni, 45, the 39th District supervisor who > admitted letting Baird's crimes continue unimpeded, was next and got > seven years. > > ``I'm not going to stand here and make any excuses,'' DeGovanni told > Gawthrop. ``We all start out with good intentions, and sometimes we > fail. I failed.'' > > While Gawthrop acknowledged that Baird was the ``prime mover in this > ugly chain of misery that you have visited upon a lot of people,'' > he told DeGovanni he bore much of the blame. > > ``It may be trite and perhaps a bit Trumanesque,'' Gawthrop added, > ``but the buck stops with you. You could have stopped the whole > thing if you hadn't been on the take . . . You went along with it, > gladly lining your pockets and crumpling the Constitution in your > fist.'' > > The last to be sentenced was Steven Brown, 49, Baird's frequent > partner on his late-night cruises of North Philadelphia in search of > suspected drug dealers to shake down. He was sentenced to 10 years. > > Brown said he had realized that he was doing wrong and even warned > the other corrupt 39th District officers they should stop: ``I told > all of those guys, `You're going to bet banged.' '' > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page One > > Tuesday, April 16, 1996 > > > By Jeff Gammage > INQUIRER STAFF WRITER > > The damage shows in the eyes of jurors who cast a wary eye on police > testimony. > > It shows in the way the top police command has tightened control > over some field units, slowing the move toward a decentralized, > community police force. > > And it shows in the anger of street officers and detectives, who say > they have been unjustly tarred by the villainous actions of a few. > > ``Those guys, what they did was unconscionable -- unconscionable,'' > said Homicide Detective Joseph Fischer, a 25-year veteran. > > ``Those guys'' are five corrupt 39th District officers who have > admitted robbing suspects, planting drugs and lying about it in > court. Yesterday, in a daylong series of sentencing hearings before > a dour federal judge, several were given lengthy sentences. > > The unhappy results of their actions have been far-reaching: About > 110 drug-conviction cases have been or are being overturned by the > District Attorney's Office. Some of those people have sued, > demanding millions of dollars in damages. > > Yesterday, people inside and outside the Police Department said that > was only part of the cost of corruption, and that there were other, > hidden costs, some of which will take years to remedy. > > Maybe the most serious penalty is the one that honest police > officers are paying every day, on the street and in the courtroom -- > the loss of public confidence. > > ``The lawyers are having a field day on cops in court,'' complained > one high-ranking police official. ``Every time a cop goes into > court, they think he's lying. . . . With O.J., officers were accused > of lying. Now here you have these guys admit they lied.'' > > Federal and city investigators are looking into a pattern of police > abuse, primarily against poor African American and Latino residents. > Police have been charged with framing people, lying to obtain search > warrants, stealing money, false arrest, and beating and threatening > citizens. > > It's not just that a few Philadelphia officers have been convicted > of corruption, several criminal justice authorities said. It's that > the Mollen Commission uncovered very similar wrongdoing in New York. > And that a police scandal has erupted in New Orleans. And that, on > the other side of the country, a racist police officer named Mark > Fuhrman lied on the witness stand in the double-murder trial of O.J. > Simpson. > > Those events have hurt police in the larger public view. > > The five corrupt 39th District officers have hurt them locally. > Fischer says he has felt that sting in court. ``These guys have > damaged our credibility,'' he said. ``Anybody who says otherwise is > kidding themselves.'' > > Fischer said that a few years back, police testimony was invariably > accepted as truthful. But now he says he has noticed the way some > jurors eye him on the witness stand. > > ``It's almost like if you say something out of the ordinary, there's > this automatic feeling of disbelief,'' he said. ``You have a good > case, and then you sit there and wonder why the jury didn't believe > you.'' > > Some police commanders say they have noticed that headquarters has > tightened its grip on various field units, fearful that too much > freedom may breed corruption. Some see the department taking an > uneasy, uncertain step away from community policing, toward a more > centralized decision-making process. And they worry that process may > accelerate if more officers are indicted. ``If it's just this, we'll > be OK,'' said one supervisor. ``But how much more of this is to > come, and how bad is it going to get? Is this the end, the middle or > the beginning? That's the real issue, and only the people doing the > investigation really know.'' > > Those people aren't telling. > > But U.S. District Judge Robert Gawthrop 3d sent his own message to > corrupt officers yesterday, pounding former Officer Jack Baird, who > has been described as a ringleader, with a 13-year prison term -- > four years more than called for under federal guidelines. > > ``The primary purpose of today's sentence,'' the judge said, ``is to > deter other police officers from committing those crimes in the > first place.'' > > Police Commissioner Richard Neal said he fully supported that. ``One > corrupt cop is one corrupt cop too many,'' he said yesterday. > > There's no question that police credibility has suffered, he said. > But people need to realize, he said, that the actions of a few > corrupt officers are not representative of the entire force. > > ``You have so many honest police officers who come to work each day, > and all they want to do is serve,'' Neal said. ``We know the vast > majority of our police officers are honest. They need to hold their > heads up and be proud of this organization.'' > > Neal was not the only officer upset about Baird and the others. At > the Police Administration Building yesterday, some officers were > nearly gleeful when they heard about some of the lengthy sentences. > ``That's great. That's great,'' said one former Highway Patrol > officer. Another said he hoped Baird would be raped in prison. > > But they and others acknowledged that putting five corrupt officers > in jail does not solve the Police Department's problem. > > ``There are many people in Philadelphia now, not only in the African > American community but throughout the city, who believe there has > been significant corruption in the department,'' said David > Rudovsky, a veteran civil-rights lawyer. ``My sense is, across the > city, there is distrust now of police testimony and credibility.'' > > Regaining that trust is no small task, he said. It will require > significant changes in police training, supervision and > accountability, he said. Rudovsky said he expects that under the > best circumstances, it could take years for the department to regain > its standing. > > Fischer, who spends his days chasing people wanted for murder, > thinks that time frame is about right. And he holds Baird and the > others directly responsible. > > ``Those guys, what they did, it's a disgrace,'' he said. ``What they > did is going to be here for a long, long time.'' Date: Wed Apr 24, 1996 2:52 am CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: Re: Philly Cop News Posted: Ronnie Dadone http://www2.phillynews.com/daily_news/96/Apr/15/local/KOPS15.htm Local > [Philadelphia Online] THE PHILADELPHIA Monday, April 15, DAILY NEWS 1996 > > Leniency sought for dirty cops > by Jim Smith Daily News Staff Writer > > Federal prosecutors are recommending leniency for five former 39th > District police officers who are to be sentenced today for > conspiring to rob and violate the civil rights of dozens of > suspected drug dealers. > > While acknowledging that the defendants' crimes have had ``a > devastating effect upon local law enforcement,'' prosecutors say the > five deserve to be rewarded for squealing on each other and, in some > cases, on other corrupt cops. > > ``In practical terms, the incentive to cooperate will be crushed . . > . by . . . imposition of a sentence which does not adequately reward > meaningful cooperation,'' the prosecutors wrote in a memorandum to > U.S. District Judge Robert S. Gawthrop III. > > ``The government urges the court to send the message, to all police > officers under scrutiny, that while their corruption warrants > substantial punishment, their cooperation will be meaningfully > recognized at sentencing,'' the prosecutors added. > > The memorandum was signed by assistant U.S. attorneys Joel D. > Goldstein and William B. Carr Jr. and their boss, U.S. Attorney > Michael R. Stiles, the area's top federal lawman. > > The prosecutors say the corrupt cops stole more than $100,000 from > suspected drug dealers and routinely made false statements to get > search warrants or to justify illegal searches and arrests. > > The leader of the crooked cops, John Baird, turned informant and > told authorities how he had falsified probable cause and sometimes > added drugs to what was seized. > > Baird's ``candor'' and ``prodigious recall'' enabled local > prosecutors to reverse convictions in tainted cases, the prosecutors > noted. > > Baird, they say, gave ``firsthand evidence of the practice of > systemically manufacturing legal justification to investigate, > detain, enter premises, search and arrest.'' > > The prosecutors disputed news accounts that suggested some of the > defendants had admitted framing innocent people. > > Under federal sentencing guidelines, two ex-cops, Stephen Brown, 49, > and James Ryan, 40, face eight to 10 years, according to > calculations by the prosecutors and by the U.S. Probation Office. > > James Ryan is now the government's star witness in ongoing police > corruption probes targeting members of the Highway Patrol. > > Two highway cops were indicted recently along with two 25th District > officers for allegedly stealing about $30,000 at a North > Philadelphia cockfight. > > While James Ryan contributed no new information to the investigation > of corrupt 39th District cops, he provided ``valuable information'' > about Highway Patrol, the prosecutors said. > > ``Indeed, there are other substantial matters which have already > resulted from James Ryan's cooperation which we are not yet in a > position to disclose,'' the prosecutors added. > > Baird, 41, the admitted leader of the pack, one who at times pointed > a gun at suspects' heads to force them to tell where money and drugs > were hidden, faces sentencing guidelines of seven to nine years, > primarily because he squealed more and negotiated a better plea > bargain. > > Ex-Sgt. Thomas DeGovanni, 45, is facing 6-1/2 to 8 years. > > Thomas Ryan, 39, the first to cooperate and the least involved in > the scheme, faces only 2 to 2-1/2 years because he was not part of > the February 1988 to April 1991 conspiracy with the four other 39th > District crooks. > > The prosecutors are asking the judge to go below the minimum > sentences for all five defendants. > > But the judge also has the option of going higher and imposing > stiffer prison terms. > > This option is based on matters not taken into account by the > sentencing guidelines, including ``the magnitude of harm'' caused by > the ex-cops' conduct and how they ``significantly disrupted'' the > local criminal-justice system. > > So far, 116 drug convictions have been overturned, and more are > under review by the district attorney's office. > > U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III doubled the maximum guideline > sentence earlier this year for a sixth 39th District > thief-with-a-badge, Louis Maier, 38. > > Bartle sentenced Maier to five years in prison when Maier's > guidelines called for 24 to 30 months. > > Maier, a second-generation cop and nephew of a city judge, is > appealing the sentence. Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org To subscribe, send this message: subscribe pol-abuse To this address: majordomo@igc.apc.org Date: Wed Apr 24, 1996 9:42 pm CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: Philly Cops Posted: Ronnie Dadone http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/17/city/PHA17.htm > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer] City & Region > Wednesday, April 17, 1996 > > Ex-officer's trial focuses on graft in another agency > One PHA officer has pleaded guilty to robbing suspects. The case is likened to the 39th District's. > By Mark Fazlollah > > INQUIRER STAFF WRITER > > Officers Ricardo Leon and Edward Malveiro used their badges to rob, > planted drugs on suspects and perjured themselves on the witness > stand, authorities said. > > But Leon and Malveiro were not from the 39th District. They weren't > even from the Philadelphia Police Department. The two Philadelphia > Housing Authority police officers were fired after an internal > investigation concluded that they had robbed and framed suspects. > > Malveiro pleaded guilty last year to robbery, perjury, theft and > other charges. Leon is on trial in Common Pleas Court. > > William Drummond, deputy chief of the PHA police, testified > yesterday that suspicions focused on the two when a North > Philadelphia woman, Theresa Brown, complained in August 1992 that > two PHA officers had stolen $400 from her. > > Drummond said in an interview later that the charges against Leon > and Malveiro sketched a pattern of misconduct similar to that in the > 39th District, where crooked officers robbed and framed suspects and > falsified police reports. > > ``It was the same thing,'' Drummond said. > > Leon's trial started Monday, the same day a federal judge sentenced > five former 39th District officers to prison terms ranging from 10 > months to 13 years. > > Drummond testified yesterday that on the day Brown lodged her > complaint, she identified Leon from a photograph as one of the > officers who had robbed her. > > The next day, Aug. 27, 1992, Brown returned to the PHA headquarters > and said she had seen one of the officers who had robbed her. She > had spotted him in a car at Sixth and Norris Streets. Police deter > mined that it was registered to Leon, who lives in the 300 block of > East Sheldon Street. > > The two officers were charged with planting drugs on three other > people. Idella Johnson testified yesterday that Leon planted ``16 > bundles'' -- about 350 vials -- of crack cocaine on her while > arresting her Oct. 21, 1992. > > Johnson, who was arrested near her home at Damien and Somerset > Streets, said she had only about 30 vials of crack that she was > taking to a party. > > After the arrest, Johnson pleaded guilty to distributing cocaine and > was sentenced to 3-1/2 years in prison. After the misconduct charges > against Malveiro and Leon came to light, her sentence was reduced to > 11 months. > > Drummond said it was hard to build a case against Leon and Malveiro > because the witnesses were drug dealers with long rap sheets. He > said the two officers targeted dealers because they were ``the most > vulnerable'' and were unlikely to complain to police -- the same > pattern found in the 39th District. > > Malveiro, of the 6300 block of Sylvester Street, is scheduled to > testify against Leon today. > > Leon was fired from the PHA police force in 1992, after the > allegations against him first surfaced. An arbitrator reinstated him > in September 1993 and ordered PHA to give him $19,028 in back pay. > He was fired again a year ago after he was formally charged with > robbery and other offenses. > > Leon's attorney, Jeremy Gonzalez Ibrahim, said the arbitrator's > action indicated that the case against his client was flawed. > > ``Ricardo Leon got his job back, and the investigation by PHA was > flawed from the start and fraught with corrupt witnesses,'' he said. ============== http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/17/opinion/COPS17.htm > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Opinion > Wednesday, April 17, 1996 > > Throwing the book A federal judge made no mistake in showing no mercy to the 39th District's bad cops. > > ``Tell us the truth!'' Officer John Baird shouted at Temple > University student Arthur Colbert. > > Then Baird and Officer John Ryan began whacking Mr. Colbert with > their long-handled black flashlights. > > ``You stupid nigger! Stop bulls -- ing us, you pea-brained . . . !'' > > Baird pulled his gun. Ryan stood alongside Mr. Colbert with a long > two-by-four, then pushed it into Mr. Colbert's head. > > After terrorizing Mr. Colbert for denying (truthfully) that he was a > drug dealer, Baird squatted in front of the student. > > ``We're going to give you a few seconds,'' Baird said. Then he > pointed a gun at Mr. Colbert's head and began the countdown. > > ``If you don't tell us what we want to know, I'm going to blow your > head away,'' threatened Baird, according to the account given by Mr. > Colbert to Inquirer reporters. > > It was Feb. 24, 1991. > > Just imagine that Arthur Colbert, who had no police record and had > committed no crime, was your son. How would you feel about what > these officers in blue did? > > And how would you feel if prosecutors had made a deal to go easy on > the two officers -- who faced a slew of serious charges -- in > exchange for ratting on other crooked pals? > > Would you feel outraged? > > Well, U.S. District Judge Robert Gawthrop 3d just made your day. > > He properly sent a strong message to all police officers tempted to > cross the line into a life of crime that they will get big time > behind bars. > > And even if that does make it more difficult for federal prosecutors > to make fast cases against other crooked cops, this federal judge > may scare a few cops straight. > > He made it clear to Baird that police officers should not expect to > bargain for short jail time after they've ``squashed the Bill of > Rights in the mud.'' > > He gave Baird the maximum 13 years without parole and gave six years > to Ryan, who could have gotten 10, though he felt he deserved about > four in light of his cooperation with prosecutors. Former Sgt. > Thomas DeGovanni, who was involved in covering up several crimes, > including the Colbert case, got seven years. Ex- Officer Steven Brown > got the maximum 10 years for his crimes. > > Retired Officer Thomas Ryan, who was the first in the 39th District > to begin talking to prosecutors, did get off mildly, with 10 months > in prison. Crimes committed by the five officers from the 39th > caused 116 tainted convictions to be thrown out. These cases > triggered lawsuits it's costing the city millions to settle. > > The case of the blond, swashbuckling, rights-smashing Baird is not > over just because he is in jail. > > The city still needs to commission the special panel it has promised > the citizens of Philadelphia. The panel will look into comprehensive > changes in a police department that handed Baird 15 commendations > over the same years he was racking up 23 formal citizen complaints. Date: Wed Apr 24, 1996 11:35 pm CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: Philly Cops News Posted: dadoner@chesco.com Thu Apr 18 07:14:38 1996 From: Ronnie Dadone http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/18/front_page/WILL18.htm > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page One > Thursday, April 18, 1996 > Police Sting Undercut by Ex-Chief Williams' moves in '88 focus of probe > By Mark Fazlollah INQUIRER STAFF WRITER ?1996 The Philadelphia Inquirer > A sting aimed at four Philadelphia police officers suspected of > pocketing money from a drug raid was scotched when then-Police > Commissioner Willie L. Williams transferred the officers the day > before they were to be lured into a motel room and tempted with a > pile of cash. > > Now, eight years later, city and federal investigators are looking > into both the alleged theft of drug money and the sudden transfers, > which puzzled and infuriated investigators trying to ferret out > evidence of police misconduct. > > The 1988 sting, planned by the Police Department's elite > anti-corruption team, the Ethics Accountability Division (EAD), was > called off after Williams moved the four officers from the Major > Crimes Unit to street patrols in districts around the city. None of > the four was ever charged with misconduct. > > Williams, now chief of police in Los Angeles, said through a > spokeswoman that he would have no comment. Williams served 28 years > on the Philadelphia force. > > Two former EAD officials, both of whom asked not to be named, said > Williams had been briefed in advance on the planned sting and was > told that one of the four officers had been surreptitiously recorded > talking about stolen drug money. > > The former officials said Williams gave no indication that he was > about to shift the officers to new assignments. > > A former assistant Philadelphia district attorney who worked on the > case said the transfers stunned investigators. > > ``You never have a situation where everybody gets transferred,'' > said the former official, who asked not to be identified. ``That > just blew the possibility of having video surveillance. I still > remember we were all pretty disappointed.'' > > Philadelphia police officials said the incident is being examined by > the joint city-federal task force that has been probing police > corruption for the last five years. They would not elaborate. > > Asked about the case yesterday, Police Commissioner Richard Neal, > Williams' successor, said: ``I can't respond to why Willie Williams > transferred somebody.'' In an earlier interview, Neal said he could > not comment because the matter was under investigation. > > The four officers targeted for the 1988 sting came under suspicion > because of information supplied by Officer John ``Jack'' Baird, who > would later become a key figure in the 39th District scandal. Baird > pleaded guilty last year to beating, framing and robbing civilians > and was sentenced Monday to 13 years in federal prison. > > Confidential EAD documents released by the city in civil lawsuits > over police misconduct show that long before he was implicated in > the city-federal probe, Baird was an informant and occasional > undercover operative for EAD. > > In one 1988 case, Baird helped convict a drug dealer who had tried > to bribe him and an undercover EAD officer. Baird was publicly > praised by an assistant district attorney for his role in the case. > > Fred Westerman, a retired EAD sergeant now living in Florida, said > in a recent interview that Baird approached the anti- corruption unit > in April 1988 with potentially incriminating information about > several members of the Major Crimes Unit. > > Westerman said he was skeptical of Baird at first. Though Baird had > not yet been charged with corruption, he was facing dismissal from > the force for vandalizing the cars of his ex-wife and several of her > relatives. But, Westerman said, Baird appeared to have good > information. Baird told EAD investigators that police had taken up > to $50,000 from the North Philadelphia home of Gregory Tutt on March > 22, 1988. They turned in only $7,220, police records show. Tutt, a > one-time boxer who police say was involved in the Junior Black > Mafia, was later slain by rival drug dealers. > > With Baird's help, EAD began gathering information on Officer Leslie > Gunter, who participated in the raid on Tutt's home in the 1500 > block of West Cayuga Street. > > Outfitted with a tiny, hidden, Swiss-made Narga tape recorder, Baird > secretly recorded a conversation with Gunter on May 12, 1988. Baird > talked about raiding the home of another drug suspect -- and > complained about not getting any of the money stolen from Tutt's > house. > > Baird told Gunter that he did not intend to let that happen again, > according to a transcript of the conversation included in an EAD > case report. > > ``We don't want no surprises like Cayuga Street,'' Baird said. ``We > want to whack the . . . money up in the house, and then we're out of > there . . . So, like, the lieutenant's not going to grab all the > money and disappear.'' > > Later in the conversation, Gunter said that ``if there is any whack, > you'll be calling the whack.'' > > In a recent interview, Gunter, now a University of Pennsylvania > security officer, rejected Baird's allegations that officers stole > money found in Tutt's house. > > ``I don't know what Baird is talking about,'' said Gunter, who said > he received numerous commendations while on the Philadelphia force. > ``Whatever Baird says has to be taken with a grain of salt. Anything > he says is tainted.'' > > When told that Baird's tape recorder had picked him up talking about > how to ``whack'' money, Gunter said he had no recollection of the > conversation. He said that if he had made comments about money, they > were misinterpreted by EAD investigators. > > Gunter said police officials never confronted him with evidence of > misconduct. ``If that were true, it seems like the Police Department > would say something to me,'' he said. ``I don't recall'' Baird > ``saying anything like that.'' > > In a written summary of the Baird-Gunter conversation included in > the EAD case report, Joseph Murphy, then a corporal in the > anti-corruption unit, wrote that ``the officers discussed stealing > money from these locations and splitting it up.'' > > Westerman, the former sergeant, said the tape recording ``showed > some form of intent,'' but that investigators would need more > evidence. > > So a trap was laid. > > The four officers were to be lured to a motel room on Oct. 13, 1988. > EAD officials planned to leak them a phony tip that they would find > drug money there. A stack of cash would be left in plain sight. A > concealed camera would capture everything. > > On Oct. 12, Commissioner Williams issued an order, transmitted to > police districts by teletype at 4:42 p.m., saying that 11 officers > had been transferred to new assignments, effective immediately. > Among them were Gunter and the three other officers (one has since > retired; the two others are still on the force). > > Gunter said that he, too, was baffled by his sudden transfer from > the Major Crimes Unit. He said he thought it was ``something a > little strange.'' > Inquirer staff writers Thomas J. Gibbons Jr. and Jeff Gammage > contributed to this article. ==================== http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/18/front_page/COPS18.htm > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page One > Thursday, April 18, 1996 > City seeks to seal police ethics files > Lawyers for victims say the documents could establish a pattern of corruption. Snippets have been made public. > By Joseph A. Slobodzian INQUIRER STAFF WRITER > > The 39 pages, bare-bones excerpts from files that city officials > want to keep secret, describe 658 city police-corruption > investigations dating back 12 years. > > ``Police officer is a drug dealer and frequents drug locations,'' > reads the description of one open case from this year. > > ``Police officers are selling heroin,'' says another file. > > And from the 1995 case files: ``Police officer perjuring himself > during a deposition. . . . Police officer taking bribes from a > speakeasy.'' > > These summaries catalogue the case files of the Police Department's > most secretive anti-corruption unit, the Ethics Accountability > Division. The files have become the latest battleground between > lawyers for the city and those representing victims of police > corruption. > > Lawyers for the victims want the entire contents of the files opened > in order to prove the city has done little to stifle police > misconduct and has therefore knowingly allowed ``a pattern and > practice'' of corruption. > > Lawyers for the city yesterday filed a motion asking that the files > be sealed, citing the need to protect sources, shield innocent > officers and preserve the integrity of ongoing investigations. > > Yet in trying to keep the files secret, the department supplied > spare synopses that afford a rare glimpse into its most closely > guarded anti-corruption activities. > > The EAD summaries show that: > [ * ] There are more than 161 active investigations into alleged > corruption. > [ * ] More than a third of all the EAD investigations since the unit > was founded in 1984 -- 236 cases -- have involved alleged police > involvement with drugs. > [ * ] The drug investigations centered on police allegedly selling > narcotics, using drugs, stealing from pushers or simply associating > with known dealers. > Police Commissioner Richard Neal said the list represents every EAD > investigation of a police officer, regardless of the quality of the > evidence or its source. > > ``What you have there is a list of allegations,'' he said. ``People > do call in, and we conduct investigations regarding that > information. In many instances that information that is provided may > not be substantiated.'' > > One veteran civil rights lawyer said the files could be a municipal > nightmare. > > ``These could be the police Watergate files: What did they know, and > when did they know it?'' said the lawyer, who asked not to be > identified. One of the most startling disclosures in the city's > motion divulges that John ``Jack'' Baird, who was sentenced this > week to 13 years in prison on federal corruption charges, was at one > time working both sides of the legal fence. > > He wore a wire for EAD in 1988 when he volunteered to help nail the > dirty officer. Yet, while working for EAD, he was also beating up > and framing citizens from the 39th District. > > The EAD documents do not make clear whether EAD officials knew of > Baird's 39th District illegal activities at the time he was > cooperating with them, or whether they were working with Baird > because they knew he had an inside line to police corruption. > > Legal sources say disclosure of the EAD information -- a rare > occurrence -- would be a windfall for the plaintiffs in 13 federal > civil rights suits growing from the 39th District scandal. > > They say the files might disclose more information about the > officers being sued, that they could demonstrate how city and police > officials responded -- or failed to respond -- to reports of > corruption among the city's 6,000-member police force. > > City officials say they have already given lawyers involved in the > suits the EAD files for the officers involved in those cases as well > as 85,000 other documents. > > ``The massive disclosure of all EAD files on misconduct cases would > paralyze the anti-corruption efforts of the police department at a > time when the eradication of police corruption is of paramount > public importance,'' said the motion filed yesterday in U.S. > District Court by Jeffrey M. Scott, the deputy city solicitor in > charge of the Civil Rights Division. > > Alan L. Yatvin, who is acting as the liaison for the group of > lawyers representing individuals wrongly arrested or imprisoned > because of the actions of a group of 39th District officers, > declined to comment on the city move for a protection order. > > It was an earlier motion by Yatvin and the plaintiffs' attorneys to > compel release of the EAD files that triggered the city's motion. > > The motion contends Yatvin and the other plaintiffs' attorneys > cannot be trusted with such confidential information and, as an > example, includes part of an EAD file on Baird that the city says > the plaintiffs leaked to Inquirer reporter Mark Fazlollah. > > The Baird file starts with his telephone call to the EAD on April 8, > 1988, to discuss police corruption and ends Oct. 14, 1988, after the > probe of four officers fingered by Baird collapsed when they were > suddenly transferred to different police districts. > > The document says Baird also wore a hidden tape recorder on several > occasions while he was stalking allegedly corrupt police for the > EAD. > > One source familiar with the file said Baird apparently knew he was > the subject of a criminal investigation and decided to try to avoid > prosecution by making himself invaluable to EAD by naming other > corrupt officers. > > Baird, 41, and four others indicted with him in February 1995 on > federal conspiracy and criminal civil rights charges, were sentenced > to prison Monday in a federal corruption probe that has so far > resulted in the prosecution of 10 current and former officers. > > Unlike the police Internal Affairs Division, which investigates > public complaints against police officers and makes its findings > available to the public, the EAD has always operated secretly. EAD > findings are not available to rank-and-file police or to the public, > and the unit reports directly to a deputy police commissioner who > reports directly to Neal. ``These files contain all sorts of > information,'' said Jeffrey M. Lindy, a lawyer who represents a 39th > District officer who has been named in some documents involving the > corruption scandal but who Lindy says is not a target of the probe. > > ``These files can contain interview notes from when you were hired, > psychological writeups, somebody's marital problems -- all sorts of > things that are inherently very personal and have nothing to do with > the job,'' Lindy said. > > Inquirer staff writer Jeff Gammage contributed to this article. ======================== http://www2.phillynews.com/daily_news/96/Apr/18/local/LEAK18.htm Local > [Philadelphia Online] THE PHILADELPHIA Thursday, April 18, DAILY NEWS 1996 > > City fights disclosure of cop files > by Jim Smith Daily News Staff Writer > > City lawyers say the Police Department's own anti-corruption efforts > would be ``paralyzed'' by public disclosure and press leaks of > confidential investigative files covering more than a decade. > > And that's why they oppose a request by private attorneys for all > files from the department's Ethics Accountability Division back to > 1984. > > The request goes beyond files pertaining to the former 39th District > officers who pleaded guilty to robbing and violating the civil > rights of dozens of suspected drug dealers. > > Although the private lawyers' civil rights complaints involve only > misconduct in the 39th District, they contend they need the complete > files to pursue a claim that the city fails to adequately > investigate police wrongdoing. > > The private attorneys represent more than 14 individuals who are > suing the city and several former 39th District officers for alleged > civil rights violations. > > City lawyers say reporters are getting information from secret > Ethics Accountability Division files that the city had voluntarily > disclosed to private attorneys. > > The city lawyers also noted that targets of investigations would be > ``unfairly stigmatized'' since the many files were closed without > charges being filed, and contain ``unproven allegations.'' > > If the court requires production of all files, the city says it > needs a ``protective order'' to prevent the private attorneys, their > clients and anyone else from leaking their contents to the media. > > Deputy City Solicitor Jeffrey M. Scott and Assistant City Solicitor > Marcia Berman said the secret files contained the names of > informants and police officers who have told of police corruption, > and of methods such as electronic surveillance and ``sting'' > operations that have been used by investigators to gather evidence > against corrupt cops. > > Public disclosure of such sensitive information ``would paralyze the > anti-corruption efforts of the Police Department at a time when the > eradication of police corruption is of paramount public > importance,'' city lawyers told U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell > in a memorandum. > > In a sworn statement filed with the court, Capt. Albert Harris, the > commander of the Ethics Accountability Division, wrote, ``The > protection of confidential information and police officers who > report corruption is of the highest concern.'' > > Nine Ethics Accountability Division investigations have been opened > this year and are still active, and there are many cases still open > from earlier years, the city lawyers noted. > > The city lawyers provided thumbnail descriptions of hundreds of the > investigative files. > > The more recent allegations include taking money to protect drug > corners, visiting drug houses, selling heroin, moonlighting as > security guards, living out of state, working for a bookmaker, > disclosing computer information, taking money from gypsies, lying > during a deposition, and driving prostitutes in a ``call-girl'' > operation. > Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org To subscribe, send this message: subscribe pol-abuse To this address: majordomo@igc.apc.org Date: Thu Apr 25, 1996 7:49 pm CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: Re: Philly Cops News Posted: Ronnie Dadone http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/19/front_page/COPS19.htm > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page One > Friday, April 19, 1996 > Williams denies being told of sting > The ex-police chief had transferred four officers, foiling a 1988 probe. > By Mark Fazlollah INQUIRER STAFF WRITER > > Former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Willie L. Williams yesterday > denied any knowledge of a 1988 anti-corruption sting that collapsed > when he transferred the four targeted officers 24 hours before the > trap was to be sprung. > > Williams, now chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, said that > if he had known a sting was planned, he never would have authorized > the transfers of four members of the police Major Crimes Unit on > Oct. 12, 1988. The transfers effectively killed the investigation. > > ``I have no knowledge whatsoever of ever being informed by the then > first deputy of the Philadelphia Police Department or other senior > police officials of a pending sting or other actions on or about > 10-13-88. If I had been so informed of such a plan, no movement of > the targeted personnel would have been made,'' Williams said in a > statement. > > ``I find the Philadelphia Inquirer's innuendos, including the > headline of 4-18-96, an example of reckless journalism,'' the > statement said. > > The Inquirer reported yesterday that the department planned to lure > the officers into a motel room to tempt them into stealing a pile of > cash that had been placed there. > > The sting, planned by the department's Ethics Accountability > Division, was called off after Williams moved all four to street > patrols in districts around the city. > > None of the four was ever charged with misconduct. > > The FBI-police task force began investigating the transfers last > year after two corrupt 39th District officers -- Steven Brown and > John Baird -- provided them with details of the 1988 case. > > Two former EAD officials said Williams was informed in advance of > the planned sting and did not tell EAD before the four officers were > transferred. > > Ranking police officials say it would be highly unusual for a > commissioner not to be informed about a planned sting, especially an > operation in which an officer wore a wire to ensnare another > officer, as was the case in this EAD investigation. > > The deputy commissioner to whom Williams' statement referred was > Robert F. Armstrong, who died in February 1994 of a brain tumor. > Armstrong served as the department's first deputy from 1986 to 1989. > In the 1988 investigation, EAD tape-recorded conversations between > Baird and Officer Leslie Gunter, then with the Major Crimes Unit. > > Baird, who this week was sentenced to 13 years in prison on federal > corruption charges, had volunteered to help EAD ferret out crooked > officers in 1988. Sources say Baird volunteered his services in > order to prevent the department from firing him after he had > vandalized his wife's property. > > During his work with EAD, Baird told investigators that Gunter was > involved in a raid in which money was stolen from a suspected drug > dealer. > > In an interview last month, Gunter denied that he was involved in > wrongdoing. He said EAD's 1988 investigation was ``tainted'' because > information came from Baird, an acknowledged perjurer and thief. > > In his statement, Williams said he was ``open and eager to > participate in any discussion about this issue should the > appropriate authorities in Philadelphia ever decide to request my > assistance.'' > > For the last month, The Inquirer has repeatedly requested interviews > with Williams about the 1988 case and sent him a copy of EAD's > detailed summary of its investigation. Through a spokeswoman, > Williams has declined to discuss the case. > > Williams' spokesman said that no further statements would be issued > about the 1988 investigation, and that Williams would not agree to > an interview. > > Williams' boss, Los Angeles Police Commission President Deirde Hill, > said in a statement yesterday that it ``would be premature and > inappropriate for the board to comment at this time'' because of the > current investigation. > > Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Neal also has said he could > not comment because of the investigation. > > Fraternal Order of Police president Richard Costello, meanwhile, > called for federal investigators to ferret out why Williams > transferred the officers. > > Costello said he believed the transfers were ``a case of clear- cut > obstruction.'' He said the focus of the investigation should shift > from street-level cops to the leadership of the department. > > ``Corruption doesn't start at the street level,'' Costello said. > ``Let's follow the corruption probe at the top.'' > > The union president also questioned why both the U.S. Attorney's > Office and the District Attorney's Office apparently had ignored the > case for years, though prosecutors had worked closely with the 1988 > investigation until it collapsed. > > ``When a corruption investigation reaches to a political > appointment,'' Costello said, ``it disappears. . . . Here's a case > where something happened in 1988 and nothing was done.'' > > U.S. Attorney Michael R. Stiles could not be reached for comment > yesterday. > > District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham's spokesman said she would not > comment on any case that was under investigation. = ======================== http://www2.phillynews.com/daily_news/96/Apr/19/local/KOPP19.htm Local > [Philadelphia Online] THE PHILADELPHIA Friday, April 19, DAILY NEWS 1996 > > Cop's lies cited by Jim Smith, Daily News Staff Writer > > Lying on the witness stand seven years ago by a now-convicted 39th > District police officer in a federal drug case ``does not cast doubt > on the guilt'' of the nine defendants in that case, prosecutors > contend. > > At least one defense attorney, however, insists the admitted perjury > by the former cop, John Baird, ``casts doubt on the government's > entire case.'' > > Defense attorney Sidney Kine said yesterday he would seek a new > trial for his client, Derrick Howell, who is serving a long prison > sentence. > > In a letter dated March 29 to U.S. District Judge Robert S. Gawthrop > III, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Eicher disclosed Baird's perjury > so the judge could consider it in sentencing Baird on corruption > charges. > > Baird is one of several former 39th District officers who admitted > robbing suspected drug dealers over a three-year period. > > The prosecutors also notified the nine defendants who were convicted > of federal drug conspiracy charges in 1989 that Baird has admitted > lying during their trial. > > In the drug case, Baird falsely claimed he had probable cause to > raid and arrest a drug dealer inside a house on Sterner Street near > 27th. > > In his letter to the judge, Eicher wrote, ``Baird's testimony did > not directly relate to any of the defendants on trial. > > Rather, it was simply presented to corroborate the testimony of > other witnesses that drugs were being sold out of 2715 W. Sterner > St. > > And, in order to win a new trial, Howell and his eight codefendants > would have to prove that the government knowingly used perjured > testimony -- something the government didn't know until recently, > Eicher noted. > > This week Baird was jailed for 13 years -- four more than required > by sentencing guidelines.The judge cited the disruption that Baird's > conduct caused in city courts, where more than 100 drug convictions > have been overturned so far. ====================> http://www2.phillynews.com/sunearly/city/COPS21.htm > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer] City & Region > Sunday, April 21, 1996 > Flawed reviews give top ratings to rogues > The weak job-evaluation system in the Philadelphia Police Department > feeds corruption, experts say. It allows bad officers to go unchecked. > By Mark Fazlollah INQUIRER STAFF WRITER > > From 1990 to 1995, the Philadelphia Police Department fired 82 > officers it found had committed robbery, rape, extortion, drug > trafficking and other offenses. One was convicted of murder. > > But almost until the moment it fired them, the department gave those > officers top performance ratings -- including the murderer. > > Gene Lomazoff, a sergeant in the 35th Police District in Olney, was > convicted of pulling over motorists for traffic infractions, then > shaking them down for cash between November 1990 and June 1993. He > was sentenced last year to seven years in prison. > > Throughout the period when he was abusing his badge, Lomazoff got > glowing job evaluations from his superiors. > > In 1990, Lt. Joseph Kelly of the 17th District received a perfect > rating. That same year, he and his wife ran a high-priced > prostitution ring in Center City. Both later pleaded guilty. > > Officer Terri Joell Harper, also of the 17th District, was a model > officer, to judge from her performance ratings. In 1992, she pleaded > guilty to second-degree murder in the death of a Northern Liberties > man whom she had been robbing. > > Of the 82 officers fired during the five years ending Jan. 1, 1995, > 79 consistently received top ratings until the time they were > dismissed, city records show. > > Experts on police conduct blame a flawed system that places little > emphasis on honest appraisals and gives supervisors little training > or motivation to do the job right. It is a system, they say, that > lets rogue cops operate unchecked, often for many years. > > ``It is a very detrimental system,'' said Thomas Seamon, a former > Philadelphia deputy police commissioner who is head of the > University of Pennsylvania security force. ``Certainly there needs > to be a more viable system.'' > > Job evaluations are done at varying intervals, usually at least once > a year. Officers are reviewed by their immediate superiors and given > a rating of satisfactory or unsatisfactory. There are no other > choices. The scores are often accompanied by glowing written > tributes. > > The evaluations are supposed to be confidential. The city has > released some in response to civil lawsuits alleging police > misconduct. Additional information was obtained through city > personnel records. The material could prove costly to taxpayers > because it may aid plaintiffs' lawyers in their efforts to show that > the department does not police itself. > > John Baird, the former 39th District officer at the center of the > latest corruption scandal, got perfect job ratings for 14 years - - a > period during which he robbed suspects, planted drugs and gave > perjured testimony at criminal trials. > > In Baird's annual evaluation in 1988, his boss wrote that he had > ``demonstrated dedication, integrity, as well as a willingness to > perform his duties without any supervision necessary.'' > > The Police Department did not respond to requests for comment on the > evaluation system. The City Solicitor's Office said officials would > not discuss the issue because it was part of civil-rights lawsuits > against the city. > > Superficial job reviews for police are a problem in many cities. > There is even a name for it -- ``the halo effect.'' > > Hubert Williams, president of the Police Foundation, a nonprofit > research group in Washington, said supervisors routinely give their > subordinates ``halos'' -- flawless performance ratings. Sometimes, > Williams said, the halos stay in place up to the moment an officer > is fired or jailed for misconduct. > > Milton Mollen, a former New York State Supreme Court judge who > headed a task force on police corruption in New York City, said an > ineffective rating system is a sign of weak supervision. His task > force cited that as the major cause of police corruption in New > York. > > ``Ratings, of course, are part of effective supervision,'' said > Mollen, whose task force held hearings on corruption and recommended > sweeping changes, many of which were implemented over the last two > years. > > Seamon, the former deputy commissioner, said the lack of an > effective rating system and police corruption ``are all > interlocked.'' Seamon said the Philadelphia department's current > evaluation system has not functioned properly since it was begun > about 15 years ago. > > Seamon, who left the force last year after 26 years, estimated that > 98 percent of the city's 6,000 officers receive sterling ratings. He > said most supervisors simply were unwilling to give an officer an > unsatisfactory rating. > > Most of the ratings are done by sergeants, the direct supervisors > for the line officers. Seamon said the department gives sergeants > little training in how to do ratings, or in their importance. > > ``A lot of sergeants can't separate themselves from being one of the > boys,'' said Seamon. > > Before the current system was implemented, the department had a more > sophisticated program with five possible ratings. If officers > received ratings of ``superior'' or ``exceptional,'' it helped them > win promotions. Today, laudatory evaluations are so common they have > little meaning. > > Seamon said the previous system was diluted during contract > negotiations between the city and the Fraternal Order of Police. > > FOP spokesman Dale Wilcox said the union would not comment on > performance ratings because the issue was part of its current > contract talks with the city -- and was thus covered by a secrecy > agreement between the two sides. > > At times, the rating system has weakened the city's position in > lawsuits. > > Officer Rodney Hunt had perfect performance ratings until he was > charged with first-degree murder in the off-duty slaying of Sean > Wilson in a West Philadelphia bar in November 1990. Hunt was > acquitted of the charge. Wilson's mother filed a civil suit against > the city and got a $900,000 settlement. > > Attorney Teri B. Himebaugh, who represented Wilson's family, said > the lack of an effective rating system made her case stronger, > because it bolstered her contention that the department had allowed > a ``pattern and practice'' of misconduct to persist. > > Such a claim is key to prevailing under federal civil-rights laws. > > ``In civil-rights suits, that's what we call deliberate indifference > and reckless disregard'' of civil rights, Himebaugh said. > > Civil liability isn't the only problem. The lack of rigorous job > evaluations also makes it harder to get rid of bad cops. > > When officers are fired, the FOP routinely asks arbitrators to > reinstate them -- and almost always cites the perfect performance > ratings they received before they were discharged. > > An arbitrator ordered Hunt restored to the force and granted him > $100,000 in back pay. He now works in the Second District. > > Baird, the former 39th District officer, was trying to get back on > the force until the day in 1994 when the FBI secretly recorded him > paying an informant to lie for him at an arbitration proceeding. > > Other cities have begun to develop more rigorous rating systems to > screen problem officers. > > Los Angeles attorney Merrick Bobb, who was counsel to two > commissions that investigated abuse among Los Angeles police and > sheriff's officers, said a pass-fail system like Philadelphia's is > inherently weak. > > Bobb said the Los Angeles police union initially resisted changes in > that city's rating system but agreed to accept a more sophisticated > one in exchange for pay raises. > > William Geller, associate director of the Police Executive Research > Forum in Washington, said cities must stop blaming corruption on ``a > few bad apples.'' > > ``We have to see these as not solely individual officers' problems, > but as systemic problems,'' he said. ``Bad systems cause people to > perform in ways we wouldn't want.'' Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org To subscribe, send this message: subscribe pol-abuse To this address: majordomo@igc.apc.org Date: Fri Apr 26, 1996 7:58 pm CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: Re: Philly Cops News Posted: Ronnie Dadone http://www2.phillynews.com/inquirer/96/Apr/24/front_page/COPS24.htm > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer] Page One > > Wednesday, April 24, 1996 > > U.S. and city reject cases of Pa. drug unit > Dozens of suspects have gone free since doubts were raised about the > credibility of the task force here. Police-corruption investigators > are now involved. > > By Mark Fazlollah > INQUIRER STAFF WRITER > > ?1996, The Philadelphia Inquirer > In a move that already has let dozens of drug suspects walk free > without standing trial, city and federal prosecutors are refusing to > go forward with drug cases prepared by the state attorney general's > narcotics task force in Philadelphia. > > The U.S. Attorney's Office stopped accepting cases from the attorney > general's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation several months ago after > defense lawyers raised doubts about the credibility of BNI agents > and after a federal judge said he found ``a lot of aspects'' of one > BNI case ``totally incredible.'' > > The District Attorney's Office told Philadelphia police two weeks > ago that it, too, would no longer prosecute cases from the BNI > office in Southwest Philadelphia. The decision prompted the Police > Department to withdraw five officers it had lent to the task force. > > A city-FBI team that has been investigating police corruption in > Philadelphia has now turned its attention to the BNI as well and has > been interviewing drug suspects arrested by the state agents, law > enforcement officials said. > > The collapse of confidence in the BNI is part of a nationwide > pattern in which the veracity of police has increasingly been called > into question by judges, juries and the public. In Philadelphia, > misconduct by officers in the 39th Police District has led judges to > overturn 116 criminal convictions. > > The BNI works with state police, and until recently worked with city > police, on major drug cases in Philadelphia and the city's suburbs > in Pennsylvania. Since 1990, BNI agents have reported seizing 1,000 > pounds of cocaine, 73 pounds of crack, and $13 million in cash and > assets. > > Allegations about the task force's office at 7800 Essington Ave. > center on a pattern of cases in which BNI agents said they arrested > alleged drug traffickers after seeing narcotics lying in plain view. > Defense lawyers said the agents searched their clients without > probable cause and fabricated their accounts of the arrests. > > Concerns were further heightened when a BNI agent, in recent court > testimony, admitted that he had made false statements on a search > warrant in a 1994 drug arrest. > > State Attorney General Thomas W. Corbett Jr., who took office in > October, confirmed yesterday that city and federal prosecutors > wanted no part of BNI cases from the Essington Avenue office. In an > interview, Corbett said he planned a shakeup of the task force and > would transfer some of the 25 agents. > > Corbett said he was reviewing complaints against the BNI that date > back ``many years.'' He said he could not provide any details of the > allegations. > > ``Almost from the point that I came in, we had heard complaints > about the Essington Avenue office from the U.S. attorney and the > D.A.'s Office,'' he said. ``We are taking every action we can.'' > > Corbett said the problems in the BNI could lead to a cascade of > challenges to drug convictions, similar to what has happened in the > 39th Police District. Corbett said that any lawyer who had > represented someone convicted on the basis of BNI evidence would now > be ``obligated'' to seek reversals. > > District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham and U.S. Attorney Michael Stiles > declined to comment on why they had stopped handling BNI cases. > > In recent months, dozens of BNI cases have been jettisoned by > prosecutors unwilling to proceed with what they regarded as suspect > evidence. > > Philadelphia lawyer Louis T. Savino Jr. said yesterday that in the > last week alone, the District Attorney's Office had dropped charges > against four accused drug dealers arrested by BNI agents. > > Savino said that in one case, three Dominican men were allegedly > caught in Philadelphia with three ounces of crack cocaine and > charged with drug trafficking. All three were released after the > District Attorney's Office refused to present evidence against them > at a court hearing. > > ``It made my job easier. I don't know about the general public,'' > Savino said. ``They're just letting people skate. . . . These are > allegations of significant amounts of drugs.'' > > In another recent case, a Common Pleas Court judge dismissed charges > against a man allegedly caught with three pounds of cocaine. Again, > prosecutors said they would not present evidence. They provided no > explanation. > > The U.S. Attorney's Office stopped prosecuting BNI cases after > defense lawyers pointed to a pattern of drug arrests in which the > state agents reported finding incriminating evidence in identical > circumstances. > > In those cases, BNI agents arrested suspects after supposedly > receiving information from confidential informants. Typically, the > agents said they searched suspects' cars and made arrests after > seeing packages of cocaine or heroin in plain sight, such as on a > car seat. > > Isla A. Fruchter, a Center City lawyer, said she found 11 drug cases > in which a BNI agent described the same set of circumstances > surrounding the arrests. > > ``It's exactly the same background,'' Fruchter said. ``We think > there's a problem.'' > > At a May 17 postconviction hearing for convicted drug dealer Miguel > Tapia, U.S. District Judge John P. Fullam sharply questioned a BNI > agent's account of how Tapia was arrested. The agent had testified > that he saw drugs in Tapia's car across the street from a drug > house. > > ``I find it almost inconceivable,'' Fullam said, ``that in what is > alleged to be a store which was a hotbed for narcotics trafficking, > that anyone would park a car, unlocked, catercorner across an > intersection, with $20,000 worth of drugs in plain view. > > ``I find a lot of aspects of this case totally incredible and not > understandable,'' the judge said. > > Fullam is weighing a motion by Tapia's lawyer to toss out the > conviction and grant his client a new trial. > > The allegations about the BNI bear striking similarities to the > unfolding 39th District scandal, in which rogue officers robbed and > planted evidence on drug suspects, falsified police reports, and > gave perjured testimony that helped send the suspects to prison. Six > former officers have pleaded guilty and been sent to federal prison. > Four others are awaiting trial. > > George Craig, a deputy Philadelphia police commissioner, said in an > interview that the Police Department had halted all cooperation with > the BNI as of Friday because the District Attorney's Office told him > that BNI cases would not be prosecuted. > > Craig said five Philadelphia officers who were on loan to the BNI > had been reassigned to the department's Highway Patrol. He said > there were no allegations of wrongdoing against those officers. > > A state police spokesman, Charles Tocci, said several state police > agents still were working with the BNI. Tocci said the agents try to > get around prosecutors' misgivings by omitting any reference to the > BNI's Essington Avenue address in their arrest reports. > > Tocci said an assistant Philadelphia district attorney threw out a > state police case last week solely because the arrest report listed > the Essington Avenue address. He said the state police officers > working with the BNI now list the address of the state police's > Belmont Avenue barracks on their reports. > > Corbett was critical yesterday of the decision to stop prosecuting > BNI cases, saying prosecutors were being indiscriminate. Other law > enforcement officials, who asked not to be named, expressed the same > sentiment. > > ``Let's look at this a little more intelligently,'' Corbett said. > ``This broad-brush approach is not appropriate. . . . To cut them > off all of a sudden doesn't make sense.'' > Inquirer staff writers Thomas Gibbons and Richard Jones contributed > to this article. Date: Thu May 02, 1996 8:38 pm CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: More PA Cases Dropped Posted: Ronnie Dadone http://www2.phillynews.com/daily_news/96/May/01/local/DROP01.htm > Local > [Philadelphia Online] THE PHILADELPHIA Wednesday, May 1, > DAILY NEWS > 1996 > > > DA considers the source: Drug cases dropped > > by Dave Racher > Daily News Staff Writer > > For the second straight day, the district attorney's office has > dropped drug charges against a man arrested by cops working with the > state attorney general's drug task force. > > Yesterday, Common Pleas Judge Murray C. Goldman granted a request by > the district attorney's office to drop drug charges against Karl > Hawkins, 30, of Sterner Street near 9th. > > Hawkins was accused of possessing 100 packets of crack, worth about > $2,000, after being chased into a house on Sterner Street near 9th, > on Aug. 7, 1994. > > When Goldman asked Assistant District Attorney Harry Speath why he > was dropping charges, the prosecutor said it was because the case > was related to the state's drug task force. > > Goldman didn't ask for a futher explanation, commenting, ``Well, > your credibility is fine with me.'' > > Defense lawyer James Lyons praised the DA's office for ``seeking > justice and not a conviction'' in a retrial of the case. > > Lyons pointed out that last year, a jury heard the case and couldn't > agree on a verdict. > > He said people inside the house testified that Hawkins was not > chased into the house, but was sitting on a couch when police > entered without a warrant and seized drugs. > > On Monday, the charges against two men allegedly arrested in > possession of $80,000 were withdrawn by the DA's office. Agents of > the state task force were in on that arrest. > > Sources in the DA's office said a probe of drug arrests made by > state agents is underway to detemine whether they bypassed > regulations by making seizures without warrants. > > Federal authorities are also said to be investigating the unit as > part of an on-going probe of police corruption that began after > officers of the 39th District were arrested for wrongdoing. > > -------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat May 04, 1996 10:33 pm CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: PA State Narcs Lying? Posted: Ronnie Dadone Subject: PA Drug Agents Lied http://www2.phillynews.com/daily_news/96/May/04/local/BNII04.htm > Local > [Philadelphia Online] THE PHILADELPHIA Saturday, May 4, > DAILY NEWS > 1996 > > > Pa. drug agents targeted > Defense lawyer cites repeated lies in court about city cases > by Jim Smith, Daily News Staff Writer > > A defense attorney claims there are compelling reasons to believe as > many as seven members of a state narcotics unit have been lying in > court in recent years about how they came to search and arrest > Philadelphia drug suspects. > > In a motion filed in federal court, defense attorney Guy Sciolla is > seeking to overturn the conviction of Miguel Tapia, 26, formerly of > Fisher Street near 15th, who was jailed for 63 months for > trafficking in 2.2 pounds of cocaine. > > Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Goldstein, who prosecuted Tapia, said > he could not comment on the motion. > > The seven agents named in the motion have been assigned in recent > years to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Narcotics Investigations, also > known as BNI, a 25-agent unit headquartered in Southwest > Philadelphia. > > Some 16 state prosecutions and one federal prosecution already have > been scrapped as the result of questionable conduct on the part of > the BNI agents, Sciolla said. > > Sciolla also noted in his motion that the Philadelphia district > attorney's office and the U.S. attorney's office recently stopped > prosecuting cases that the unit develops. > > A spokesman for state Attorney General Tom Corbett yesterday said > that Corbett has been meeting with federal and local prosecutors to > resolve any problems with the unit. > > Corbett also is conducting an internal investigation ``to find out > what changes need to be made,'' the spokesman, Jack Lewis, said. > > Corbett ``feels the office, overall, has been doing good work. He's > disturbed that the district attorney and the U.S. attorney are not > taking cases,'' Lewis said. > > Sciolla, meanwhile, contends that BNI agents working in Philadelphia > have a long history of concocting ``probable cause'' to search and > arrest suspects, then lying in court when questioned about their > reasons for making arrests. > > In seeking a hearing, Sciolla cited in his motion ``the background > and ongoing uncertainties of BNI investigators, the remarkable and > repeated fact patterns of BNI arrest reports, the findings of > various judges, of, at the least, testimonial inconsistencies and > contradictions, and at the worst, outright fraud and deceit.'' > > Sciolla has succeeded once before in getting what seemed like an > airtight federal drug case tossed out based on alleged wrongdoing by > BNI agents. > > In September 1994, U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody dismissed an > indictment against two reputed heroin traffickers, but not before > both men spent a year in jail awaiting trial. > > In the 1994 case, BNI agents claimed they saw heroin packets spill > from a paper bag that one suspect tossed into a car before fleeing > into the building, where the pursuing agents found even more drugs. > > Witness accounts, however, indicated that the two suspects were > arrested some distance from the apartment, and that the agents > didn't chase anyone into the apartment but entered it on their own. > > --------------------------------------------------------------- -----> > [---] Date: Tue May 14, 1996 1:37 pm CST From: Matthew Gaylor EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: freematt@coil.com TO: Matthew Gaylor EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: freematt@coil.com BCC: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: Philadelphia Ex-Cops Call Offenses Routine ACLU News *From Prison, Ex-Cops Call Offenses Routine* PHILADELPHIA -- In a front-page copywritten report, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday detailed the stories of three police officers involved in the biggest police scandal in Philadelphia's history. All three officers readily admit that they committed serious misdeeds in stealing an estimated $100,000 from suspected drug dealers. the Inquirer said. But they also say that much of their illegal activity -- including perjury and fabricating evidence -- was part of the system that police everywhere use in the war on drugs. "Its the system, they say -- they only did what they believed their commanders, politicians and yes -- you the public wanted," Inquirer reporter Mark Fazlollah wrote. He quoted one of the former officers, John Baird: "We didn't own and operate the system. We didn't invent it. We were just some of the many thousands of custodians. We inherited it." The ex-officers made a series of serious allegations, the Inquirer said, including: -- Hundreds of arrests were "bad." Baird told the Inquirer that he never saw a legal drug arrest. -- Groups of black youths hanging out on corners were routinely searched illegally. When drugs were found, the Inquirer said, police reports were fabricated to indicate that a drug sale had been witnessed. The Inquirer said that the ex-officers allegations are likely to add fuel to charges by civil rights lawyers that the Police Department has failed to police itself. David Rudovsky, a lawyer who is leading negotiations between city officials and civil rights groups -- and a member of the ACLU National Board -- told the Inquirer that what the ex-officers have said "reflects a pattern that we have seen independently." Rudovsky told the Inquirer that what the ex-officers said "rings true." "It's not only individual officers," he said. "It was a department that was indifferent to those facts." The Philadelphia Inquirer can be found on the Web at http://www.phillynews.com/inq/front_page/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- For general information about the ACLU, write to info@aclu.org ### **************************************************************************** Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues Send a blank message to: freematt@coil.com with the words subscribe FA on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week) Matthew Gaylor,1933 E. Dublin-Granville Rd.,#176, Columbus, OH 43229 **************************************************************************** @@@ 960130, Mexico City, Mexico, Reuters. Jose Armando Cruz Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 13:22:08 GMT From: adbryan@onramp.net (Alan Bryan) To: drctalk@drcnet.org Subject: Re: Mexican ``policeman of the year'' held with drugs Message-ID: <199601311224.GAA11361@mailhost.onramp.net> It happens to the best of 'em. Tue, 30 Jan 1996 12:00:13 PST: > > MEXICO CITY (Reuter) - An agent who was voted ``Policeman of >the Year'' in a northern Mexican state has been arrested on >suspicion of drug trafficking after being detained with 436 >pounds of marijuana, the Televisa television network reported >Tuesday. > It said Jose Armando Cruz Gutierrez was voted policeman of >the year just two months ago by colleagues in the Chihuahua >state detective force who gave him a new car as a prize. > The attorney-general's office confirmed Cruz's arrest, >adding in a statement that three other policemen were detained >with him including Chihuahua state detective police commander >Gerardo Maximiliano Coronel and his wife. > The group were traveling in two official cars and were armed >with pistols and AR-15 assault rifles. They claimed they had >seized the drugs as part of their police duties but were unable >to prove that, the statement said. @@@ 960201, New York City, NY, NY Times. Police Officer Randolf Date: Thu Feb 01, 1996 9:50 pm CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: NYPD - Dirty Thirty - Cop Dope Pusher Posted: Bob Witanek 2/1/96 NYPD - COP DOPE PUSHER - DIRTY THIRTY 6 MONTHS INSTEAD OF 25 YEARS TO LIFE! (NY Times, 2/1/96) By GEORGE JAMES A police officer accused of attempting to sell drugs pleaded guilty yesterday to lesser charges of conspiracy to sell drugs in the second degree and second-degree assault. Under the terms of a plea agreement in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Officer Randolf Vazquez, 39, accused in the 30th Precinct corruption scandal, will be sentenced to six months in prison and four and a half years probation. Had Officer Vazquez been convicted of the original charge of attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first degree, he would have faced 25 years to life in prison. Officer Vazquez acknowledged in court that between October 1991 and April 1992 he engaged in a conspiracy with his partner, Officer Jorge Alvarez, to steal narcotics while on duty and sell them to dealers. He admitted to taking crack from an apartment in October and selling it. He also admitted to assaulting Paul Stevens while in a police car at West 150th Street and Broadway on Jan. 27, 1994. Mr. Stevens had been arrested for obstruction of government administration, but when he became verbally abusive, Officer Vazquez hit him in the face several times with a police radio, the authorities said. Officer Alvarez, who cooperated with the authorities, pleaded guilty to third-degree grand larceny and faces up to seven years in prison. Of 33 officers arrested on corruption charges since March 1994, 20 have pleaded guilty, 3 have been convicted and 2 have been acquitted. Two cases were dismissed and six are pending. Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org To subscribe, send this message: subscribe pol-abuse To this address: majordomo@igc.apc.org @@@ 960210, Mexico City, Mexico, Reuter. Up to 30 tons of cocaine Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 19:41:33 -0800 From: mregen@ix.netcom.com (Marnie Regen ) To: DRCTalk@drcnet.org Subject: Tons of cocaine have disappeared in Mexico (Reuter) Message-ID: <199602110341.TAA29385@ix2.ix.netcom.com> Sat, 10 Feb 1996 MEXICO CITY (Reuter) - Up to 30 tons of cocaine have disappeared into the hands of Mexican federal police over the last two years, the Mexico City newspaper El Financiero reported Saturday. The newspaper said that in the last two years more than 100 tons of cocaine has entered Mexico by air, but police have seized and declared just a tenth of that amount. It said much of the drug comes from Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador before being shipped through Mexico. Earlier this week, the Mexican Attorney-General's office accused 19 Mexican police officers of helping Colombia's Cali drug cartel smuggle cocaine into the United Sates. The officers were accused of helping to unload cocaine from a jetliner that crashed landed in Baja California in 1994 when the airplane exploded, injuring three of the officers. @@@ 960212, Baja California Sur, Mexico, LA Times. 19 Mexican state Date: Tue Feb 13, 1996 8:57 am CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: Mexi-Cops and Cartels From: Bob Witanek Posted mnovickttt Mon Feb 12 23:46:37 1996 From: Michael Novick In the L.A. Times of Feb 12, MARK FINEMAN, Times Staff Writer reports that Mexican prosecutors have linked an air shipment of at least 10 tons of South American cocaine smuggled through the Baja Peninsula into the U.S., discovered last November, to police officials allegedly working for one of Mexico's powerful drug cartels. 19 Mexican state and federal police officers, including the deputy federal police chief in the state of Baja California Sur at the time of the shipment, were ordered arrested, according to the Mexican attorney general's office. The former commander of the state judicial police in the Todos Santos region and one of his agents have already been taken into custody. Eyewitnesses said that in the November incident police met, unloaded and then destroyed a French-made Caravelle jet that was carrying cocaine for Colombia's Cali cartel when it broke its nose wheel landing on a clandestine airstrip at the tip of Baja California Sur. The top prosecutor's office there said the officials had ties to the Tijuana cartel, one of five major Mexican drug mafias that supply up to three-fourths of the cocaine sold in the United States. President Ernesto Zedillo's attorney general, Antonio Lozano Gracia, has declared it will take years to separate his federal police and prosecutors from a smuggling industry that earns billions of dollars each year, according to the Times. The attorney general's office stated that the jet was traced to a Colombian company reportedly owned by Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, the alleged leaders of the Cali cartel now jailed in Colombia. Copyright Los Angeles Times @@@ 960213, Daytona Beach, FL, Philadelphia Inquirer. Francis Date: Wed Feb 14, 1996 2:36 am CST From: Moderator of conference justice.polabuse EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: bwitanek@igc.apc.org TO: * David Beiter / MCI ID: 635-1762 Subject: Daytona, FL - Cop Dope Deals From: Bob Witanek Posted dadoner@chesco.com Tue Feb 13 10:30:49 1996 From: Ronnie Dadone Subject: Philadelphia Inquirer: Suburban North http://www.phillynews.com/inq/pa_north/NTHOM13.htm > > [The Philadelphia Inquirer]