Drug suspect turns tables on NYPD with videotape

Saturday, June 13, 2009 5:49:05 PM
By TOM HAYS and COLLEEN LONG

When undercover detectives busted Jose and Maximo Colon last year for selling cocaine at a seedy club in Queens, there was a glaring problem: The brothers hadn't done anything wrong.

But proclaiming innocence wasn't going to be good enough. The Dominican immigrants needed proof.

"I sat in the jail and thought ... how could I prove this? What could I do?" Jose, 24, recalled in Spanish during a recent interview.

As he glanced around a holding cell, the answer came to him: Security cameras. Since then, a vindicating video from the club's cameras has spared the brothers a possible prison term, resulted in two officers' arrest and become the basis for a multimillion-dollar lawsuit.

The officers, who are due back in court June 26, have pleaded not guilty, and New York Police Department officials have downplayed their case.

But the drug corruption case isn't alone.

On May 13, another NYPD officer was arrested for plotting to invade a Manhattan apartment where he hoped to steal $900,000 in drug money. In another pending case, prosecutors in Brooklyn say officers were caught in a 2007 sting using seized drugs to reward a snitch for information. And in the Bronx, prosecutors have charged a detective with lying about a drug bust captured on a surveillance tape that contradicts her story.

Elsewhere, Philadelphia prosecutors dismissed more than a dozen drug and gun charges against a man last month when a narcotics officer was accused of making up information on search warrants.

The revelations in New York have triggered internal affairs inquiries, transfers of commanders and reviews of dozens of other arrests involving the accused officers. Many drug defendants' cases have been tossed out. Others have won favorable plea deals.

The misconduct "strikes at the very heart of our system of justice and erodes public confidence in our courts," said Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson.

Despite the fallout, authorities describe the corruption allegations as aberrations in a city where officers daily make hundreds of drugs arrests that routinely hold up in court. They also note none of the cases involved accusations of organized crews of officers using their badges to steal or extort drugs or money for personal gain –– the story line of full-blown corruption scandals from bygone eras.

Peter Moskos, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, agrees the majority of narcotics officers probably are clean. But he also believes the city's unending war on drugs will always invite corruption by some who don't think twice about framing suspects they're convinced are guilty anyway.

"Drugs are a dirty game," Moskos said. "Once you realize it's a game, then you start playing with the rules to win the game."

Just ask the Colon brothers.

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The brothers' evening started much like any other.

Max's friend worked at a bodega down the street from Delicias de Mi Tierra, where they'd sometimes drink and play pool in the evenings. This night, the pool table was closed. They instead sat at the bar. Security cameras ended up filming their every move.

The brothers barely moved from the same spot for about 90 minutes as the undercovers entered the bar and mixed with the crowd. Moments after the officers left, a backup team barged in and grabbed six men, including the brothers.

Paperwork signed by "UC 13200" –– Officer Henry Tavarez –– claimed that he told a patron he wanted to buy cocaine. By his account, that man responded by approaching the 28-year-old Max, who then went over to the undercover and demanded to pat him down to make sure he wasn't wearing a wire.

Max collected $100 from Tavarez, the report said. The officer claimed to see two bags of cocaine pass through the hands of three men, including Jose, before they were given to him.

Jose was released after a court appearance. His brother was shipped off to Riker's Island until he could make bail.

"I was scared," Max said of his time at Rikers. "I don't get into trouble, and here I am with real criminals."

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The moment Jose walked out of the holding cell, he made a beeline for Delicias and asked for a copy of the security tapes from the night they were arrested, Jan. 4, 2008.

"I knew it would be the only way to defend myself, because I knew the police would not believe me," he said.

The owner of Delicias queued up the tapes and the two waded through an entire day's worth of surveillance –– until they found the two hours the men spent in the club that night –– supposedly selling drugs.

Jose quickly got the tape to defense attorney Rochelle Berliner, a former narcotics prosecutor. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"I almost threw up," she said. "Because I must've prosecuted 1,500, 2,000 drug cases ... and all felonies. And I think back, Oh my God, I believed everything everyone told me. Maybe a handful of times did something not sound right to me. I don't mean to sound overly dramatic but I was like, sick."

What the tape doesn't show is striking: At no point did the officers interact with the undercovers, nor did the brothers appear to be involved in a drug deal with anyone else. Adding insult to injury, an outside camera taped the undercovers literally dancing down the street.

Berliner handed the tape over to the District Attorney's integrity unit. It reviewed the images more than 100 times to make sure it wasn't doctored by the defense before deciding to drop all charges against the brothers in June.

Six months later, Officer Tavarez and Detective Stephen Anderson pleaded not guilty to drug dealing and multiple other charges that their lawyers say were overblown.

Anderson's attorney has described him as a seasoned investigator who had no reason to make a false arrest. Tavarez, his attorney said, was a novice undercover merely along for the ride.

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Life quickly deteriorated for Max and Jose after their arrest.

They owned a successful convenience store in Jackson Heights, but lost their license to sell tobacco, alcohol and lottery tickets. The store closed a week before their case was dismissed.

"My life changed completely," Jose said. "I had a life before, and I have a different existence now. ... Now, I'm not able to afford to live in my own house or care for my children."

Jose has found construction work, while Max commutes two hours to Philadelphia to work at a relative's bodega. They stay away from the old neighborhood, where they say ugly rumors about them persist.

The brothers have filed a $10 million false arrest lawsuit against the police department, the officers involved and the city.

"I'm angry because, why'd it happen to me? I know a lot of people ... they don't go the right way and they can get away with it," Max said. "I'm young and I try to go the right way and boom, this happened to me. So I'm angry with life, too."

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press.

Quoted:
Completely isolated incident.

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So two guys walk into a bar...

This could happen to anybody. If me and my brother were in this situation, I'd bring the suit too... unless my brother beat me to it.

Wow... just wow. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I am.

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You ever see the movie "American Ganster"...........that shit was isolated too!

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I wonder how many other people are doin time wrongly because of those guys.

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I hope those officers get to spend many years in gen pop.

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And the sad thing is we do hear the "isolated incedent" and other you don't know what its like excuses. But we never hear the other officers condemn their criminal brothers. Maybe some after the fact but you can't tell me that some on their department don't know this is going on. You allow it to happen and you are as guilty!!

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how long before the blue wall shows up and defends their actions?  at least they didn't kill the brothers dogs.

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I view it like this.  There are bad people out there that do bad things with guns.  Those that don't like guns or the people that own them will try to lump them all together, despite how we protest against it.

There are bad people out there that are cops, and do bad things as cops.  To believe that every cop is like this or condones this is ridiculous, though.

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I view it like this.  There are bad people out there that do bad things with guns.  Those that don't like guns or the people that own them will try to lump them all together, despite how we protest against it.

There are bad people out there that are cops, and do bad things as cops.  To believe that every cop is like this or condones this is ridiculous, though.

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This is one of the biggest arguments against the death penalty. False convictions and the execution of innocent people. If cops weren't so zealous, it wouldn't be as bad.

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"If the brothers didn't do anything wrong, then the cops wouldn't have arrested them."

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more and more all the time...  

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the local LEO trolls will be along shortly to say just because they didnt get caught clean this time, doesnt mean they werent drug dealers needing to be caught or that the video is faked.

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I can't speak for other states, but capital crimes in TX are automatically sent to an appeals court of the defendent is found guilty, and from there it can go on to more appeals and the state supreme court. We spend more money on determining guilt than we'd spend on imprisoning them for the rest of their life. And the death penalty only even sought in the most solid, extreme cases because of all these checks and balances. Bottom line - it's as secure as is humanly possible.

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Completely isolated incident.

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And people ask me why I left law enforcement after 13 years

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From what I understand, NYPD's screening practice when hiring is much to be desired...

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Most big city PD have chosen quantity over quality officers.
There are people I work with who I don't even get out of the car for.
I drive to their call, make sure they are ok, then I leave - I want nothing to do with anything they are involved in.

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It's assholes like that that make every other police officer look like shit. I hope they go to jail

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I wonder how many other people are doin time wrongly because of those guys.

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seems the war on drugs is affecting everyone.  Maybe we should end the war.

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I can't speak for other states, but capital crimes in TX are automatically sent to an appeals court of the defendent is found guilty, and from there it can go on to more appeals and the state supreme court. We spend more money on determining guilt than we'd spend on imprisoning them for the rest of their life. And the death penalty only even sought in the most solid, extreme cases because of all these checks and balances. Bottom line - it's as secure as is humanly possible.