NEWS > 23 July 2006

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Boston Globe - United States
23 July 2006

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Hub police officer is put on d

A Boston police officer from the same motorcycle unit as two of three officers arrested last week in a police corruption investigation has been placed on administrative duty and had his gun confiscated, a police spokesman said yesterday.

Asked whether the move was connected to the investigation, the spokesman, Officer Michael McCarthy , declined to comment. He said the officer, Edgardo Rodriguez , 36, an 11-year veteran of the force and member of the Mobile Operations Patrol since last year, has been reassigned to the district station in East Boston.

News of Rodriguez's transfer came a day after Kenneth W. Kaiser , special agent in charge of the FBI in Boston, and Acting Police Commissioner Albert E. Goslin vowed to investigate any corruption in the city Police Department.

Decisions to place an officer on administrative duty are made ``at the discretion of the commissioner," McCarthy said. He explained that administrative duty means Rodriguez will not be on street patrols and will be performing jobs inside the police station. Rodriguez could not be reached for comment.

Officer Roberto Pulido , the alleged ringleader targeted by authorities, whose cellphone conversations were recorded by investigators, ``unwittingly provided extensive information about the illegal conduct of other Boston officers, other public officials, and private citizens," FBI Special Agent Michael J. Kreizenbeck wrote in an affidavit filed in US District Court in Boston and unsealed Friday .

Pulido, 41, a motorcycle officer, and two other officers, Nelson Carrasquillo , 35, and Carlos A. Pizarro , 36, were arrested in Miami on Thursday, accused of taking part in a wide-ranging criminal enterprise. Carrasquillo is also a motorcycle officer; Pizarro had been on injured leave.

Federal prosecutors say their crimes included protecting truckloads of cocaine in Boston, stealing the identities of drivers, and helping guard a back room bordello in Hyde Park.

Bostonians interviewed yesterday said the allegations would further erode trust in the police.

``Not good, not good at all for the young kids," said Jose Tejada , 53, who has lived in Jamaica Plain for 28 years. ``This really sends the wrong message, and for the kids around here, they'll probably see this as another reason not to trust police, whether they're Latino or not."

But Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday sought to downplay any possible damage to the police force, which is wrestling with rising violence and has been without a permanent commissioner since Kathleen M. O'Toole left the post July 1. Menino noted that the Police Department had worked with federal agents to crack the alleged criminal network.

``This is a bump in the road," Menino said in a telephone interview. ``These three individuals are not going to ruin the work of thousands of officers in our city."

The arrests followed a 2 1/2-year undercover investigation by the FBI that exposed a chilling underworld of violence and corruption. Prosecutors said Pulido took in $600 a night to guard the after-hours club in Hyde Park, where uniformed officers partied monthly with drug dealers and prostitutes. Prosecutors say Pulido also told them he had given some of the money to superior officers.

Pulido also allegedly framed a former business partner by planting a gun and heroin in the man's car. And he is accused of running the license plate numbers of drivers through his police computer and selling the data to identity thieves. When they were arrested, Pulido, Carrasquillo, and Pizarro believed they were about to meet drug dealers to collect the last $35,000 of a $50,000 payment for guarding 100 kilograms of cocaine, prosecutors say.

``There's really nothing that compares to this, and I go back to the '50s with the police," former Boston mayor Raymond L. Flynn said yesterday. ``I think you really need an independent group of people who aren't going to come out to try and tear down the Police Department or scapegoat officers, but who will look into this. This goes right to the integrity of the police and the city."

Flynn said he was troubled that other officers who had allegedly attended the parties, or who may have known about them, had not alerted the appropriate authorities.

``This is something that is very deliberate, is very organized, and it appears that it was allowed to go on with a lot of people knowing about it," Flynn said. ``Either they didn't do anything about it, or they chose not to do anything about it."

Councilor John M. Tobin Jr. said the arrests make it increasingly important for political leaders to remind residents that the vast majority of officers are honest.

``It's the responsibility of people like myself to look people in the eye and say, `Hey, we're talking about three individuals out of a pretty sizable department, and let's keep that in mind," Tobin said.

Menino said most residents trust the police.

``I give credit to the Boston Police Department and the US attorney's office for working together," Menino said. ``We rooted out the bad guys . . . These three individuals do not personify the Boston Police Department."

But Christa Gumbs , 42, a nurse at Boston Medical Center, said she was worried that the arrests would fray trust in the police, particularly among youth.

``The teenagers, they don't really trust the police officers now," said Gumbs, who was walking to the Dudley Square MBTA Station. ``How could you blame someone for not wanting to take out their identification card, thinking the police might try to steal their identity?"

``This is all about corruption," Gumbs added. ``Maybe this doesn't stop with three cops. Maybe there are other supervisors who were involved."

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Article sourced from

Boston Globe - United States23 July 2006

Hub police officer is put on d

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Boston Globe - United States
23 July 2006