Pubdate: Fri, 31 Jan 2003
Source: Buffalo News (NY)
Copyright: 2003 The Buffalo News
Contact:  http://www.buffalonews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/61
Authors: Michael Beebe and Dan Herbeck
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

BUFFALO'S TARNISHED BADGES

Police Department Reeling After Arrest of Narcotics Detectives

"We're getting hit from all sides right now. Everybody but the Cub Scouts 
is coming after us," said Police Commissioner Rocco Diina at a news 
conference Thursday with U.S. Attorney Michael A. Battle, left, and FBI 
Agent Stanley J. Borgia.

Federal indictments accusing three narcotics detectives with corruption 
Thursday couldn't have come at a worse time for the Buffalo Police 
Department - already being looked at for possible merger with the Erie 
County Sheriff's Department and under fire from the public for delaying 
thousands of motorists with traffic stops in a union dispute.

FBI agents accused the three detectives of lying to judges to get search 
warrants, staging bogus raids and stealing money, jewelry and electronic 
equipment from drug dealers.

Thursday's arrests come after last year's celebrated trial of Darnyl Parker 
and three other narcotics detectives indicted for stealing $36,000 from an 
undercover FBI agent posing as a drug dealer. Parker and two others were 
convicted.

And still another detective, Rene Gil, admitted last year that he was 
dealing cocaine while he worked in the narcotics squad from late 1999 to 
May 2001, telling FBI agents that he shook down drug dealers and split the 
proceeds with fellow detectives.

"This hurts my heart," said Police Commissioner Rocco J. Diina, who was 
either commissioner or first deputy when most of these events took place.

"We're getting hit from all sides right now," said Diina. "Everybody but 
the Cub Scouts is coming after us."

Mayor Anthony M. Masiello, who appointed Diina as commissioner in July 
1998, after he had served as first deputy since 1994, said he stands by Diina.

"Yeah, I have confidence in my police commissioner, absolutely," Masiello 
said. "This is terrible stuff. We need to clean it up and we need to clean 
up now. It's unfortunate these few have tarnished the badge they wear."

Masiello, Diina and federal authorities insisted those charged Thursday and 
those convicted earlier are rogue detectives who do not represent the 
average Buffalo Police officer.

"There are 800-plus Buffalo cops, and no matter the outcome of this case, 
they shouldn't be all painted with the same brush," said Thomas H. Burton, 
a longtime attorney for the Police Benevolent Association.

And federal agents point out that Thursday's indictments, which stemmed in 
part from FBI searches of the detectives' lockers and homes in August 2001, 
were delayed because FBI agents working the case were assigned to terrorist 
investigations after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and 
Washington, D.C.

But they also said the investigation, which was conducted by both the FBI 
and the Internal Revenue Service, is continuing. Sources said the 
possibility exists that more arrests could follow.

Diina and all his top aides, who came in full dress uniform to a news 
conference held by U.S. Attorney Michael A. Battle to announce the charges, 
said a number of reforms were already put in place last year in the 
Narcotics Unit to tighten procedures. "This isn't something that's just 
starting," Diina said of the charges. "It's just ending. We've not had any 
recent complaints."

Stanley J. Borgia, the assistant agent in charge of the Buffalo FBI office, 
said Diina cooperated fully with the investigation. Diina said the 
investigation was launched after police commanders asked for help.

Defense attorneys have complained for years that Buffalo narcotics 
detectives have taken money or drugs from their clients. Diina said after 
an internal investigation, the department brass asked the FBI to step in.

Police sources said money, jewelry and other items would turn up missing 
before the criminal was booked at police headquarters.

"They miscounted money," said one police source who spoke on condition of 
anonymity. "They would overlook it or the money was left at the scene and 
they would let the criminals escape."

Diina said he suspended all three detectives: Paul Skinner, 44; his brother 
Gerald, 42; and Sylvestre Acosta, 49. Only Paul Skinner was still assigned 
to the Narcotics Unit. His brother and Acosta were detectives in the Major 
Crimes Unit.

District Attorney Frank J. Clark ordered an immediate review of any pending 
cases filed by the three detectives, especially because of the allegations 
about lying to get judges to issue search warrants.

"We'll have to review all cases in which their credibility played a pivotal 
role," Clark said. "And I think we'll have to look at each case in a light 
most favorable to the defendants. That doesn't mean we will dismiss all the 
cases."

Clark had no estimate of how many cases could be involved. He said the 
Narcotics Unit brings about 80 percent of the 400 to 450 serious felony 
drug cases that grand juries review each year.

"From my perspective as a prosecutor," Clark said of the arrests, "it's 
very disturbing, not only because police officers are accused of committing 
crimes themselves, but the credibility of all police officers is called 
into question because of the actions of a few."

Victims remain anonymous

The 12-count indictment does not name those who made complaints against the 
three officers, referring to them only as victims. Sources believe Rene 
Gil, who took a plea deal in return for his cooperation, provided 
information to agents.

Darnell Jackson, a community activist on the East Side, said he has 
complained for years to the FBI and the Buffalo Police Department about one 
of the defendants, Gerald Skinner.

Jackson, a former gang member, said Skinner filed a number of search 
warrants against him at Buffalo City Court, accusing him of possessing 
drugs or weapons.

"I had six warrants filed on me," Jackson said, saying at least two were 
signed by Skinner. "They raided our houses, they were trying to make me 
look bad in the community because I was an activist."

"They never found anything, I never got any charges," Jackson said. "My 
little nieces and nephews - they put guns to their heads. My sister ran a 
day-care center. They came in with guns with the little girls there."

A tumultuous tenure

The Skinner brothers have won numerous officer-of-the-month awards for 
bravery, dangerous arrests and rescues over the years, but they often found 
themselves in trouble as well.

Gerald Skinner was arrested in November 1997 in Amherst and charged with 
third-degree assault in the beating of his wife. He pleaded guilty to a 
harassment charge and remained on duty.

In 1990, the two Skinners, along with two other brothers, were accused by 
Old First Ward residents of entering homes and beating residents as they 
searched for the killer of a fifth Skinner brother. No charges were ever 
placed. The man who killed their brother was convicted.

FBI agents had earlier botched an attempt to make a case against Gerald 
Skinner, when they gave $2,300 to a paid informer from South Carolina in 
April 1999 and told him to offer it to a narcotics officer.

Skinner pulled over the informer, Walter Heywood, after he ran a stop sign, 
and when Heywood told him to keep the money, Skinner arrested him for bribery.

FBI agents later said that Heywood, who told the officers he was an 
informant working for the FBI, was beaten during the arrest. Gerald Skinner 
was also suspended for 30 days by Diina after he and Rene Gil were accused 
of entering a home in a January 1998 drug raid before a supervising 
lieutenant arrived.

The PBA appealed the ruling and got it overturned for Skinner after an 
arbitrator said the department's policy on raids was unclear. It's not the 
end of that case for Skinner, however. The charges against Skinner and 
Acosta included the raid. They are accused of giving phony information to a 
judge to obtain the search warrant and stealing $3,600.

At the time of Skinner's PBA hearing on the charges, officials said a drug 
dealer had failed a lie detector test about the theft of the money.

"I'm not going to comment on why the union went to bat for him," said PBA 
attorney Burton, "but I suspect the city did a poor job of presenting its 
case against him."

Paul Skinner and another detective, Robert Hill, one of three detectives 
convicted last year with Darnyl Parker for stealing money from the 
undercover FBI agent, were defendants in a civil suit against the city in 1994.

Two men, arrested on drug charges, had complained that Hill and Skinner 
forced them to drink a vomit-inducing syrup after they were arrested. City 
lawyers agreed to pay the men $4,750 each to settle the federal suit.

And Paul Skinner was suspended for 10 days in August, after a laptop 
computer belonging to a drug informant was found in Skinner's home during 
the FBI search. That charge is also included in the indictments unsealed 
Thursday.

"It's sad because this is not an indication of the entire police 
department," said James Giammaresi, the department's chief of staff. "We 
have a lot of good officers, and they make a lot of good arrests.

"It kind of breaks your heart when you see this because when you get a 
blemish it rips at the hearts of all the officers," he added. "We've been 
taking a beating in the last several months and this just adds to the beating."

Integrity depends on officer

Diina said the department has designed an ethics course with Hilbert 
College for officers on dealing with various situations. He said police 
can't be supervised all the time, and that integrity comes down to each 
individual officer.

"I met with 25 of our veteran detectives today and they denounce this kind 
of activity - every one of them," Diina said. "They're disgusted."
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