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Police Union Hires "Goodfellas" Lawyer As Ticket-Fixing Scandal Threatens To Go RICO
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 21, 2011
Modified Jul 21, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 21, 2011
Modified Jul 21, 2011
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The city's largest police union, which has become tangled in with the massive ticket-fixing scheme, has drafted an all-star team of lawyers, including one who starred as himself in the movie Goodfellas, in anticipation of the very real possibility that the union itself could be indicted along with some of its members. And as the union scrambles to deal with potentially being embroiled in a RICO case, another cop's involvement with the scandal may sink an open-and-shut DWI case.
According to DNAInfo, in addition to their on-call staff of lawyers, the Patrolman's Benevolent Association (PBA) has hired Edward McDonald, the former head of the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's Organized Crime Strike Force who starred as himself in Goodfellas; Thomas Fitzgerald, the former head of the Criminal Division in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office; and Steven Kartegener, a top criminal defense attorney who once served as head of the Bronx District Attorney’s Appeals Bureau.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that dozens of cops were the subject of a grand jury probe into whether they had been a part of a ticket-fixing scheme, which covered everything from getting tickets to disappear for family members and celebrities, sometimes in exchange for favors (such as Yankees tickets). Many of those cops in the probe are members of the PBA, and could be indicted on bribery, larceny and official misconduct charges. The union is nervous prosecutors can demonstrate that separate criminal acts were made by union members acting in concert, meaning they could argue that the union has been acting like an "ongoing criminal enterprise."
Back in April, the president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, the union for the NYPD's 12,000 front-line supervisors, rigorously defended what he dismissed as minor allegations, arguing "it is hard to call such practices acts of corruption when the culture of extending courtesies to members and their families within the NYPD has existed since the day the very first summons was ever written."
With more than 400 cops at least facing disciplinary charges, the implications of the case have had negative consequences for many separate criminal cases—already, it has been revealed that Bronx ADA Jennifer Troiano was given special treatment by cops after an alleged drunk driving incident, while another such incident disappeared completely. In May, a Bronx jury acquitted a man of attempted murder because they didn't believe the credibility of the cop who arrested him.
And now, prosecutors are frustrated that a DWI case will be sunk because one of the arresting cops is involved in the scheme, and they may have to dismiss the case. "Without the ticket-fixing element, this is probably an easy conviction," one law enforcement source told the News.
Tagged
cops
nypd
pba
police
Probe
rico
ticket-fixing
ticket-fixing scheme
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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