Pubdate: Tue, 11 Sep 2007
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2007 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Shelley Murphy

EX-OFFICER ADMITS GUILT IN DRUG CASE

Pizarro Among Three Arrested

His days as a Boston police officer ended last summer,  when he was
arrested for helping two fellow officers  protect drug shipments,
instead of the public.

But yesterday, after a year behind bars while awaiting  trial in a
case that has rocked the police department,  Carlos A. Pizarro broke
ranks with his former  colleagues, who maintain their innocence, and
pleaded  guilty to federal cocaine charges.

Dressed in an orange prison suit, his ankles shackled,  Pizarro nodded
solemnly when US District Judge William  G. Young asked if Pizarro had
knowingly guarded a  shipment of cocaine last year for undercover FBI
agents  posing as drug dealers.

"It is true," said Pizarro, who pleaded guilty to  conspiring with his
former partners in the motorcycle  unit, Roberto "Kiko" Pulido and
Nelson Carrasquillo, to  possession of 100 kilograms of cocaine with
intent to  distribute and to a second count of possession of  cocaine
with intent to distribute. The government  dropped its allegation that
Pizarro was also involved  in heroin trafficking.

"Why are you pleading guilty?" Young asked, after  advising Pizarro
that he could face up to 24 years in  prison if convicted in a trial,
but that the government  would recommend no more than 14 years under a
plea  agreement.

"Looking at the alternative, what we agreed upon sounds  better,"
mumbled Pizarro, whose 38th birthday is today.  He sat emotionlessly
in the witness box next to the  judge during most of the hourlong hearing.

The agreement does not require Pizarro to cooperate or  testify
against Pulido and Carrasquillo, who are slated  to go to trial Nov.
5. However, it does require him to  provide the government with a
detailed account of his  own involvement in any crimes. As part of the
deal, he  also must forfeit the $17,000 he was paid to protect  the
drugs. The judge set sentencing for Dec. 12.

"Obviously this is somebody who is telling the court  he's ready to be
held accountable for his conduct,"  said Pizarro's lawyer, R. Bradford
Bailey. "Hopefully  he'll be able to get on with his life down the
line."

The three officers were arrested in Miami in July 2006,  when they
showed up for a celebratory meeting with  undercover FBI agents, who
paid them the final $36,000  of $51,000 in payments for guarding 100
kilograms of  cocaine a month earlier, while it was being trucked
from Western Massachusetts to Jamaica Plain. The FBI  recorded that
meeting and several others.

Pulido, the alleged ringleader of the group, is also  accused of an
elaborate series of crimes that include  stealing the identities of
unsuspecting motorists,  smuggling illegal immigrants, insurance
fraud, selling  steroids, and guarding after-hours parties where
uniformed officers mingled with drug dealers and  prostitutes.

Pulido allegedly boasted that after he was paid $600  for each of the
illegal parties, held monthly for five  years at a Hyde Park
warehouse, he turned over some of  the money to one or more of his
superior officers.

To date, no superior officers have been charged in the  ongoing
investigation.

In court yesterday, Assistant US Attorney John T.  McNeil said the FBI
and the Boston police  anticorruption unit began targeting Pulido in
the fall  of 2003 after an informant warned them that he was  involved
in a wide range of criminal activity,  including identity theft.

The undercover agents asked Pulido to protect drug  shipments, which
would require him to recruit  accomplices, "in order to explore the
depths of  Pulido's criminal conduct" and ferret out other  possibly
corrupt police officers, McNeil told the  court.

In April 2006, Pulido and Carrasquillo were paid  $20,000 to protect
40 kilograms of cocaine for the  undercover agents, according to the
indictment.

When the agents asked Pulido for help protecting a  bigger shipment,
he recruited Pizarro, with whom he had  graduated from the Boston
Police Academy in 1997.  Pulido told Pizarro the drug dealers were his
cousins,  according to McNeil.

Pizarro, a nine-year veteran of the Police Department  who was on
leave for an injury at the time of his  arrest, was initially
suspended without pay, then fired  in May when he violated department
rules by refusing to  supply a hair sample for his annual drug test,
according to Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the  Department.

Pulido, who has been ordered jailed until the federal  case is
resolved, and Carrasquillo, who is free on  bail, both remain
suspended without pay.

Pizarro, a father of two, was born in Puerto Rico and  raised in
Boston by an older sister after his mother  died when he was 7,
according to court documents.

When the three officers were arrested last year, the  courtroom was
packed with friends and family who  supported them.

But yesterday, only Pizarro's wife, Michele, who  declined to talk to
reporters, and two friends were  there for him.

While urging a judge to release Pizarro on bail last  year, his
lawyers argued that he had a distinguished  career as a police
officer, including two commendations  for arresting fleeing suspects,
and was viewed as a  hero in the community because he and his wife
operate a  shelter in South Boston for recovering alcoholics.
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