Pubdate: Fri, 23 Oct 1998
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Section: Sec. 1
Contact:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Copyright: 1998 Chicago Tribune Company
Author: Matt O'Connor

EX-COP GETS 13 MONTHS FOR TAKING 2 PAYOFFS

A former Chicago police officer was sentenced to 13 months in prison
Thursday for pocketing payoffs in return for providing sensitive details
about a police investigation of a drug dealer.

Richard Lopardo, 55, pleaded guilty nearly two years ago to accepting $500
in late 1991 and $2,000 in cash in October 1992 for his part in the scheme.

Lopardo retired in 1996 after he was confronted by the FBI and agreed to
cooperate. He was with the Chicago police for 23 years.

Here is how the scheme worked, according to government filings and sources:
Robert Merel, who owed a "juice" loan debt to reputed mob associate Richard
Spizzirri, decided to pose as a cop and extort cash from Marc Jacobs, a
dealer of Quaaludes.

To add to the realism, Spizzirri enlisted the help of a friend, Nicholas
Levas, a veteran Cook County sheriff's patrolman.

But the day after Levas and Spizzirri allegedly strong-armed Jacobs,
threatening to arrest him if he didn't hand over $100,000 in drug profits,
Jacobs went to the FBI. Over the next two months in 1991, as he paid off
his extorters, he wore a hidden recorder.

After one of Jacobs' dealers was arrested with a large quantity of
Quaaludes, Levas turned to Lopardo, a friend, to find out if the dealer was
squealing on Jacobs.

Lopardo revealed that the dealer wasn't cooperating, according to his plea
agreement.

Lopardo split half of that $500 payoff with an undisclosed Chicago police
officer who had provided the information to him, authorities said.

In 1992, when a woman dealer who had bought drugs from Jacobs was arrested,
Levas turned to Lopardo again to find out if Jacobs was under investigation.

In return for $2,000, Lopardo revealed that Jacobs had a lot of "heat" on
him from law enforcement, court documents showed.

It turned out that at some point, Levas began cooperating with authorities,
too, and wore a hidden recorder while meeting Lopardo.

Merel, Spizzirri, Jacobs and Levas also had been sentenced to prison.

At the sentencing Thursday, Assistant U.S. Atty. Gil Soffer disclosed that
Lopardo cooperated as well after the FBI confronted him, but his assistance
didn't lead to any prosecutions.

Still, the government agreed to a reduced prison term.

U.S. District Judge John Grady raised questions about whether Lopardo was
involved in other dishonest activities as a cop after noting he had a
$420,000 house in Wisconsin.

But Lopardo's lawyer, Matthias Lydon, said his client was able to buy the
house as a result of a broker friend's wise investment advice for more than
20 years. Lydon said prosecutors had looked into the purchase and were
satisfied that ill-gotten proceeds weren't used.

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