Pubdate: Mon, 03 Dec 2001 Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) Copyright: 2001 Chicago Tribune Company Contact: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82 Author: Todd Lighty Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption) FBI PROBES 5 COPS AS DRUG DEALERS Miedzianowski Case Spurs Inquiry While prosecuting a former officer who for years operated a drug ring from inside the Chicago Police Department, federal authorities discovered that as many as five other officers were involved in narcotics activity that included setting up drug dealers and stealing their cocaine, according to FBI documents obtained by the Tribune. The Police Department, which is assisting in the federal investigation, stripped three officers of their badges in the summer of 1999 and reassigned them to department headquarters, where they continue to perform administrative duties. Those under investigation include an officer who is a defendant in a federal lawsuit that accuses him and others of planting drugs on Jeremiah Mearday in March 1998. Mearday has maintained he was set up in retaliation for his earlier complaints of police brutality that touched off a storm of community protests and led to the firing of two Chicago police officers. The current investigation spilled over from the prosecution of former gang crimes officer Joseph Miedzianowski, who was convicted in April of overseeing a Miami-to-Chicago drug ring and described by authorities as the most corrupt cop ever prosecuted in northern Illinois. According to a sworn statement given in October as part of Mearday's pending lawsuit, a Cook County prosecutor testified that Officer James Benson was the target of a federal investigation that involved "narcotics, illegal narcotics activity." Assistant State's Atty. Gabriel DeMatteo also testified that Benson--who helped search Mearday when six packets of cocaine allegedly were recovered from Mearday's boots--had prior, unsubstantiated departmental complaints that involved allegations "relative to narcotics planting." DeMatteo declined to comment, as did Benson, 33, a 10-year Police Department employee. Differing accounts In his sworn statement, DeMatteo also testified that he dropped state felony drug charges against Mearday because of the ongoing federal investigation. DeMatteo's account appears to contradict the public statements by a spokesman for State's Atty. Richard Devine who had maintained the drug charges were dropped so prosecutors could concentrate on the allegations that Mearday had assaulted officers during his March 1998 arrest. DeMatteo gave his sworn statement as part of Mearday's federal civil rights lawsuit, which could go to trial early next year after settlement talks between the city's attorneys and Mearday's lawyer, Craig Tobin, broke down last month. U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo urged both sides to settle rather than go to trial, saying "it would be in the interests of all the citizens of Chicago to avoid that trauma." Tobin said the city's last offer was for less than $200,000 to settle both the federal case, alleging wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution, and a pending case in Cook County Circuit Court stemming from an incident in September 1997 when two officers were accused of beating Mearday with flashlights and breaking his jaw. In a sworn statement he gave as part of Mearday's federal lawsuit, Benson said FBI agents had interviewed him about the theft of cocaine from a drug dealer's car impounded by police. When Tobin pressed Benson about whether he participated in the theft of cocaine, the officer replied: "All I'm aware of is the allegation that was given to me that was the failure to inventory evidence. Besides that, I don't know what's alleged as far as the incident goes." Benson's criminal defense lawyer, James Cutrone, said Benson was ordered in 1999 to appear before a federal grand jury. "He was subpoenaed but his appearance has been excused," Cutrone said. "He didn't have to go in, and nothing has happened since." Assistant U.S. Atty. Brian Netols, the lead prosecutor on the case, declined to comment. The current federal investigation into alleged police corruption is the latest for the Chicago Police Department, which for years has been dogged by corruption allegations as a steady stream of officers have been led to prison in handcuffs. Federal authorities have been investigating Miedzianowski and other allegedly corrupt officers since September 1998. Miedzianowski, 48, once a celebrated gang crimes officer, was convicted on racketeering and drug conspiracy charges, and faces a lifetime behind bars when he is sentenced Jan. 25. His former partner, John Galligan, pleaded guilty Nov. 8 to covering up for Miedzianowski and is to be sentenced in March. Two federal inquiries in 1996 and 1997 led to the conviction of seven officers in the Austin District and three officers in the Gresham District on charges that they routinely shook down drug dealers. Now, federal authorities have cast their attention on the Grand-Central District, where Benson, Detective Jon Woodall and a third officer stripped of their police powers had worked and where the allegations of stealing from drug dealers bear similarities to those raised in the Austin and Gresham investigations. The third officer has not been identified in court records. One of Miedzianowski's co-defendants who testified against him has emerged as a key government source in the current investigation, providing a crisp account of alleged police corruption. According to FBI documents, convicted drug dealer Frederick Rock told agents in a series of interviews in 1998 and 1999 that he assisted as many as five officers in setting up drug dealers and selling a kilogram of cocaine. The only officer Rock identified was Woodall, according to the FBI documents. Woodall was previously identified in news accounts and court proceedings as being under federal investigation, but Rock's statements provide new details of Woodall's and other unidentified officers' alleged drug activity. Woodall could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, George Murtaugh, declined to comment. Rock told agents that Miedzianowski introduced him to Woodall in early 1997. He said he and Woodall hatched a plan in late winter 1998 to rip off two drug dealers who were supposed to make a delivery of 5 kilograms of cocaine--11 pounds--to Rock's home. "Woodall and his men eventually arrived in a number of unmarked vehicles and set up a surveillance," according to FBI documents. After the suspected drug dealers left Rock's home, Woodall and his colleagues stopped them. About two days later, Rock told the FBI, Woodall called and arranged for a meeting near Rock's home. Woodall arrived in a green double-cab Ford truck and told Rock to get in. "Woodall searched Rock and then asked Rock how long it would take to get rid of a kilogram of cocaine. Rock told Woodall that if he were to sell the whole kilogram of cocaine, he could get between $18,000 and $19,000," according to the FBI documents. "Rock told Woodall that he could make more money by cutting up the kilogram and selling the cocaine in small packages. This, however, would take about two to three weeks. Rock indicated that he could make $30,000 selling the cocaine in small packages." According to the documents, Woodall then pulled the truck into Rock's garage, allegedly reached behind the seat for a kilogram of cocaine and handed it to Rock. `5 cops involved' Woodall, according to the documents, instructed Rock to sell the cocaine and give him $25,000. "Woodall indicated that there were five cops involved in the deal and each cop would get $5,000," Rock told FBI agents. A week or two later, Rock told agents he met Woodall in the parking lot of a Northwest Side restaurant, where Rock allegedly handed the officer $4,800 and explained to him that the sale of cocaine had slowed. "Woodall related that other police officers that Woodall obtained the cocaine with were getting upset because [I] was not selling the cocaine fast enough," Rock told agents. He said he later made a second payment of $5,500 to Woodall. On March 23, 1998, a drug dealer "involved in the 5-kilogram incident" was killed and Woodall informed Rock that two detectives wanted to interview him. After Rock said he knew nothing about killing, Woodall told Rock to keep quiet about their activities and "further warned Rock that a lot of police officers were involved in the kilogram deal." Woodall drove Rock to the police station, where he was questioned about the death and where he remained silent about his alleged drug partnership with city cops, according to the FBI documents. Rock had begun cooperating with federal authorities Dec. 18, 1998, two days after he, Miedzianowski and a handful of others were arrested on drug-related charges. Rock, a former Maniac Latin Disciple, also was among the first to plead guilty in the case. He is awaiting sentencing after testifying at Miedzianowski's trial and giving a series of interviews with the FBI, providing details about other alleged drug dealers, gang members and crooked cops. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh