Monday, October 14, 2013

Did NYC Cops Lie to Meet Arrest Quota?


A former city prosecutor wants the Bronx district attorney to probe a team of narcotics cops he says lied on the stand and helped put away innocent people to meet quotas.
Peter Tilem, a criminal defense lawyer and one-time ADA, has submitted an allegedly damning August deposition to Bronx DA Robert Johnson and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly from a former narcotics detective on the team.
The ex-cop, Genaro Morales, testifying in an unrelated case, admitted that he knew of cops who lied under oath when he worked in the Bronx narcotics unit from the mid-1990s to 2006.
“We received a letter from Mr. Tilem, and the first thing that we will do is have a conversation with him,” said a spokesman for Johnson.
Tilem said the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau also acknowledged receipt of his letter and plans to investigate.
The cops “were under tremendous pressure,’’ Tilem says in the letter. They would “fabricate stories of drug possession or drug sale in order to get their required number of arrests.’’
Morales, in his testimony, talked about one instance in which the cops allegedly locked up an innocent man.
Morales was being crossed-examined by strip-club owner Sam Zherka in a civil caseover a commercial-business dispute, and Zherka, acting as his own lawyer and referring to himself in the third person, asked him:
“Did you ever state to Mr. Zherka, ‘We put away some poor slob in The Bronx?’ ”
“I’m sure it did happen. I just don’t remember the exact conversation we had,” Morales replied about the 2010 incident.
Morales acknowledged that he knew of other detectives who lied to support their arrests.
“Relating to your team?” Zherka asked.
“Not my team — relating to other detectives,” Morales said.
“That worked with you?”
“Possibly,” he said.
Morales didn’t respond to a call seeking comment.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent article from the NYTimes that states (asks) what so many following the Baby Hope case have echoed:


For 22 years, as detectives pleaded for information in the killing of the unidentified young girl and scoured the city for leads, those who knew the answers kept quiet about what they had seen or heard. Indeed, more than a half-dozen of Anjelica’s relatives carried part or all of the haunting secret of her disappearance.

So it was that while the police and prosecutors said Saturday they had solved one mystery, charging her cousin Conrado Juarez with the killing, another disturbing question arose: how could so many have remained silent for so long?


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/nyregion/despite-furor-over-baby-hope-many-family-members-remained-silent.html?src=recg

John Mc Gowan said...

HI Anon,

For me its all practice.Be it the topic above,a political scandal,a missing person or something as small as a stolen pen..

Tania Cadogan said...

It wasn't stolen, i found it lying on the floor all alone and scared and being the nice hobnob that i are, i rescued and adopted it.


John Mc Gowan said...

Lol..

Sella35 said...

@anon 7:16 am- My thoughts were where are this little girls family? It was a very publicized story. I have been reading more on it and realize the mom probably never came forward because she was here illegally? Still no reason to not come forward. The other thing I read was that the mother thought her child was taken to Mexico by her ex-husband??

Still seems a ton of questions. Why would a sister help her brother do such a heinous thing? I am wondering if he is trying to "share" the blame with someone who is no longer alive.

Sella35 said...

@ John and @ Hobnob-

LOL, see John, sometimes it is just adopted and well taken care of... not stolen!:)

Jen said...

Most likely yes, cops did lie to pad their arrests, based on Morales answer.

'I don't remember', is avoidance of answering the question directly, and is one of the most common ways that people lie under oath.

John Mc Gowan said...

Sella35 said...
@ John and @ Hobnob-

LOL, see John, sometimes it is just adopted and well taken care of... not stolen!:)
................................

Right that's it i'm calling LE and the FBI. :)

John Mc Gowan said...

OT..

Twin Babies Found Neglected, Locked In Room Naked Without Food.

A mother and aunt in Texas face child neglect charges after police in Liberty County found twin baby girls locked naked in a dirty room without food.

Amy Castillo, 27, was charged with abandonment and endangerment of a child Oct 12. Charges are pending for the girls' mother, Brandy Dominguez, who police said is awaiting trial on an unrelated human trafficking charge.

According to KPRC, officers entered the home in order to check on Dominguez prior to a pre-trial hearing. She wasn't home, but Castillo, her sister, let police inside. While at the home, officers heard scratching at a double-locked door.

KTRK reports that police got permission from Castillo to open the door. When it was unlocked, they found Dominguez's twin girls, age 2, nude inside. Officers said the room smelled strongly of human waste, and that no food or toys were present.

"The condition of the home as I was told by the deputy on the scene was deplorable: very dirty, fly-infested. [The] kitchen was dirty, and the entire environment was one that two twin little girls should not be in," Liberty County Sheriff's Office Capt. Ken DeFoor told the station.

The sheriff's office told KPRC that the girls' mother arrived at the house during the investigation and told them she had only been gone for a short time.

In an interview with KHOU, Dominguez maintained that she hadn't done anything wrong. She said that their beds had been broken, and that "when you’re a low-income family, you can’t really do much."

"What’s hurting me the most is, I wasn’t here and it’s not my fault and I’m being punished. My girls are being punished for something they didn’t do,” Dominguez told the station.

Neighbors interviewed by the KPRC were oblivious to the deplorable conditions inside the trailer home.

"As far as I know, she's a great mom," neighbor Amy Chamness told the station. She said the girls would often play outside with her own children.

Child Protective Services has taken custody of the girls.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/14/twin-babies-found-neglected-brandy-dominguez-amy-castillo_n_4097373.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

Jen said...

On a related note, if you are interested in extreme corruption by LE and elected officials this case has it all:

My mom works for the Public Defenders office of WV, so I have taken an interest in these indictments. This county (Mingo) is not far from the WV capital, and is notorious for long existing corruption, and a prescription drug epidemic. A few months ago one of the judges was indicted on federal conspiracy charges, and charges of depriving a man of his constitutional rights, for repeatedly trying to 'frame' his love rival. Multiple elected officials, along with both lower and high level LE are also implicated in the conspiracy, (which has all of the drama of a Hollywood legal thriller, and some excellent quotes for SA).

The married judge (Thornsbury) carried on an affair with his married secretary. When she ended things the judge attempted on multiple occasions to have her husband imprisoned, including multiple attempts to plant drugs on the mans vehicle (by a friend of the judge, and then by a police officer). The judge also arranged to have the man 'jumped', after which charges against his attackers were dropped...he was charged with assault against them, and given a harsh sentence. Then the judge specially appointed a friend as grand jury foreman to obtain a false indictment against the man for felony theft of property, claiming that he was stealing mining bits from his employer. The employer refused to press charges because they had given the man and his brother (an innocent bystander who was also charged) permission to salvage the bits as scrap. These bits are worth pennies, although the indictment alleged them to be worth 1000's. This became part of the catalyst of the judges downfall, as the company and their attorneys (outside of the corrupt network) became involved.

A few weeks after the initial charges against Thornsbury, more federal indictments came down against the judge and several other elected officials for conspiracy in relation to a cover-up of drug conspiracy allegations against the recently elected (and promptly MURDERED) Sheriff Crum. The sheriff (Crum) owed several thousand dollars to a local man for campaign signs. When the man demanded payment, the sheriff sent in an undercover officer to attempt to buy drugs, and plant evidence to be found in a subsequent raid. When the man was arrested he was persuaded by the same judge (Thornsbury) to fire his attorney and hire one the judge 'had a better relationship with', in exchange for a more lenient sentence. The man contacted the FBI about the situation, and shared info that the sheriff had attempted to solicit his participation in the local drug trade. The sheriff was later found in his police cruiser dead, shot point blank while eating his lunch, which local LE promptly claimed was unrelated to the drug accusations. LE claimed the shooting was retaliation for having molested the alleged gunman as a child. This raised eye brows as a transparent attempt to get rid of the sheriff, and also discredit him in case he had already folded and shared info with federal investigators. 

(In my opinion the sheriff was the 'new guy', and the veteran corrupt officials feared his loyalty. If he gave them up to the FBI it would hold more weight than an accused drug dealer, who they could claim was making up these claims in an attempt to get his charges dropped/reduced.)

After his arrest, the judge agreed to cooperate with federal investigators and enter a guilty plea...after this was reported, his family's home mysteriously burned to the ground. He has been disbarred and a civil suit has been filed. Several other officials have also been indicted (some in the last week or so), and I have yet to read a reliable denial from any of them. 

Check out these two articles, they have most of the details and a few quotes. I also have a PDF copy of the indictment if anyone is interested in checking it out.

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201308150046

(Be sure to also read page 2)


http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201310090051

Jen said...

Here is another article about the conspiracy:

http://www.dailymail.com/News/201309190039

I also have a few quotes from those accused saved on my iPad...I will share them for analysis when I get home.

Lemon said...

Judge Michael Thornsbury, I might add, has terrible taste. The glare off his suit (in Jen's link) is blinding. Maybe that's his intention?

One would think if one was going to be indicted, one would get a decent suit.

Jen said...

Terrible taste indeed Lemon, lol!

From the pics I've seen his taste in mistresses is not much better!

Trigger said...

"I hit the highway and went to my first stop before Farley's market."

"I hit the highway", sounds like he was on a mission, not a work schedule. Did he pick up a helper at gas station?

"went to my first stop" He did not name his first stop, so there is a time frame missing. A dropped pronoun. Did he have someone with him?

"before Farley's market." Sounds like the merchandise was unloaded 'before" he arrived at Farley's market.