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Brothers Prove Cops Wrong With Video

By TOM HAYS and COLLEEN LONG

posted: 4 HOURS 46 MINUTES AGO

comments: 340

filed under: Crime News, Scandals

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NEW YORK (June 13) - When undercover detectives busted Jose and Maximo Colon last year for selling cocaine at a seedy club in Queens, there was a glaring problem: The brothers hadn't done anything wrong.

But proclaiming innocence wasn't going to be good enough. The Dominican immigrants needed proof.

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"I sat in the jail and thought ... how could I prove this? What could I do?" Jose, 24, recalled in Spanish during a recent interview.

As he glanced around a holding cell, the answer came to him: Security cameras. Since then, a vindicating video from the club's cameras has spared the brothers a possible prison term, resulted in two officers' arrest and become the basis for a multimillion-dollar lawsuit.

The officers, who are due back in court June 26, have pleaded not guilty, and New York Police Department officials have downplayed their case.

But the drug corruption case isn't alone.

On May 13, another NYPD officer was arrested for plotting to invade a Manhattan apartment where he hoped to steal $900,000 in drug money. In another pending case, prosecutors in Brooklyn say officers were caught in a 2007 sting using seized drugs to reward a snitch for information. And in the Bronx, prosecutors have charged a detective with lying about a drug bust captured on a surveillance tape that contradicts her story.

Elsewhere, Philadelphia prosecutors dismissed more than a dozen drug and gun charges against a man last month when a narcotics officer was accused of making up information on search warrants.

The revelations in New York have triggered internal affairs inquiries, transfers of commanders and reviews of dozens of other arrests involving the accused officers. Many drug defendants' cases have been tossed out. Others have won favorable plea deals.

The misconduct "strikes at the very heart of our system of justice and erodes public confidence in our courts," said Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson.

Despite the fallout, authorities describe the corruption allegations as aberrations in a city where officers daily make hundreds of drugs arrests that routinely hold up in court. They also note none of the cases involved accusations of organized crews of officers using their badges to steal or extort drugs or money for personal gain — the story line of full-blown corruption scandals from bygone eras.

Peter Moskos, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, agrees the majority of narcotics officers probably are clean. But he also believes the city's unending war on drugs will always invite corruption by some who don't think twice about framing suspects they're convinced are guilty anyway.

"Drugs are a dirty game," Moskos said. "Once you realize it's a game, then you start playing with the rules to win the game."

Just ask the Colon brothers.

—

The brothers' evening started much like any other.

Max's friend worked at a bodega down the street from Delicias de Mi Tierra, where they'd sometimes drink and play pool in the evenings. This night, the pool table was closed. They instead sat at the bar. Security cameras ended up filming their every move.

The brothers barely moved from the same spot for about 90 minutes as the undercovers entered the bar and mixed with the crowd. Moments after the officers left, a backup team barged in and grabbed six men, including the brothers.

Paperwork signed by "UC 13200" — Officer Henry Tavarez — claimed that he told a patron he wanted to buy cocaine. By his account, that man responded by approaching the 28-year-old Max, who then went over to the undercover and demanded to pat him down to make sure he wasn't wearing a wire.

Max collected $100 from Tavarez, the report said. The officer claimed to see two bags of cocaine pass through the hands of three men, including Jose, before they were given to him.

Jose was released after a court appearance. His brother was shipped off to Riker's Island until he could make bail.

"I was scared," Max said of his time at Rikers. "I don't get into trouble, and here I am with real criminals."

—

The moment Jose walked out of the holding cell, he made a beeline for Delicias and asked for a copy of the security tapes from the night they were arrested, Jan. 4, 2008.

"I knew it would be the only way to defend myself, because I knew the police would not believe me," he said.

The owner of Delicias queued up the tapes and the two waded through an entire day's worth of surveillance — until they found the two hours the men spent in the club that night — supposedly selling drugs.

Jose quickly got the tape to defense attorney Rochelle Berliner, a former narcotics prosecutor. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"I almost threw up," she said. "Because I must've prosecuted 1,500, 2,000 drug cases ... and all felonies. And I think back, Oh my God, I believed everything everyone told me. Maybe a handful of times did something not sound right to me. I don't mean to sound overly dramatic but I was like, sick."

What the tape doesn't show is striking: At no point did the brothers interact with the undercovers, nor did the brothers appear to be involved in a drug deal with anyone else. Adding insult to injury, an outside camera taped the undercovers literally dancing down the street.

Berliner handed the tape over to the District Attorney's integrity unit. It reviewed the images more than 100 times to make sure it wasn't doctored by the defense before deciding to drop all charges against the brothers in June.

Six months later, Officer Tavarez and Detective Stephen Anderson pleaded not guilty to drug dealing and multiple other charges that their lawyers say were overblown.

Anderson's attorney has described him as a seasoned investigator who had no reason to make a false arrest. Tavarez, his attorney said, was a novice undercover merely along for the ride.

—

Life quickly deteriorated for Max and Jose after their arrest.

They owned a successful convenience store in Jackson Heights, but lost their license to sell tobacco, alcohol and lottery tickets. The store closed a week before their case was dismissed.

"My life changed completely," Jose said. "I had a life before, and I have a different existence now. ... Now, I'm not able to afford to live in my own house or care for my children."

Jose has found construction work, while Max commutes two hours to Philadelphia to work at a relative's bodega. They stay away from the old neighborhood, where they say ugly rumors about them persist.

The brothers have filed a $10 million false arrest lawsuit against the police department, the officers involved and the city.

"I'm angry because, why'd it happen to me? I know a lot of people ... they don't go the right way and they can get away with it," Max said. "I'm young and I try to go the right way and boom, this happened to me. So I'm angry with life, too."

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Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

2009-06-13 13:50:32

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Veachm

11:10 PMJun 14 2009

Dear (Named after an ancient noisy obsolete aircraft )Dale,Like you, I forget what this story is about, but I did notice that you "hate people who hate", which of course made me laugh out loud; part of the irony being that you don't know why that is so funny. Also in another post you mention fascist pigs and I wondered if you know from any personal experiences whether those are better than free range Berkshires?

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Itsfid70

11:10 PMJun 14 2009

**usedsins61** You are really missing the point here. These cops flat out lied! They said that they witnessed the whole transaction which never happenend. The video proves that. As a result of this, these guys have had their lives and their way of earning a living destroyed. Since then they've found other jobs. They're not hanging out and milking the welfare system, they're doing everything that they can to earn an honest living in the wake of a dishonest charge and arrest that cost them their business. And all you keep reffering to is how they look. Like that should warrant this whole false arrest. The point is this, when you go to charge someone with a felony drug case you had better be RIGHT!!!, there is no room for judging by someones appearance. Honestly, I don't like the thug look either. I'm a country boy myself.(not a redneck by any means) I believe in the old "live and let live" motto. You might do yourself a favor to try it sometime. It may keep the correct thinking people fr...

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Brianfluffy8

11:08 PMJun 14 2009

it's not the cop's!!!! it's the C I they use to set people up and pay them!!! most C I use drugs and snicht people out people for the money to get high with

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Katrocky

11:04 PMJun 14 2009

Instead of the different races fighting against each other, we need to band together and make a united stand. My family is white, middle class, and never in trouble with the law. I can't go into the specifics, but we were in the papers. The cops came to our house, wanting to search the house (they didn't have a search warrant). They threatened me if I didn't let them in now, they would tear the house apart. When they did come in, one cop went into my bedroom and was kneeling on the floor. The other cop saw me watching and tried to get me away. I refused to leave the room and noticed at that time the cop pulling out a small, clear bag with a white substance in it. He put it back in his pocket when he saw me watching him. I saw this same thing happen in front of a Convenience store involving two young white boys. I saw a cop go to the trunk of the squad car and the cop started to pull out a clear bag with a white substance. When he saw me and others watching, he quickly put it...

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VirusJC1

11:04 PMJun 14 2009

Bbrockp10:52 PMJun 14 2009If you hate cops, you must be a criminal.---------------Or you can pull your head out of the sand and realize many cops are criminals.

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Latinguy27051

10:58 PMJun 14 2009

another think that bothers me. Is that they guys own a business and that it ruined their lives and their families, plus paying for their bills and homes. Disgusting. Regardless if they were illegal; regardless. One the cops were Latino. Hmmm one jealous hateful Latino who hates his own kind. I'm glad,God don't like ugly. Speaking of God, I hope he shows favor on those two brothers and their family.

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MJVDCNH

10:55 PMJun 14 2009

"there's just a few bad apples in law enforcement"... then how come we see these stories every day? Even to the point where people on death row have been found to be innocent. The days of always believing law enforcement are over. Makes me thing of Verbal Kent's (Kevin Spacey) line in The Usual Suspects "F***en Cops"

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Bbrockp

10:52 PMJun 14 2009

If you hate cops, you must be a criminal.

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Bbrockp

10:51 PMJun 14 2009

I wonder if they are legal.

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Wylecote

10:49 PMJun 14 2009

Just more prove that all cops are really scumbag criminals who pretend they are better. A typical cop makes more per year in money stolen from the taxpayers than the taxpayers themselves. Then they go after petty thieves who don't even steal one tenth of what the cops get.

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