Pubdate: Wed, 14 Mar 2007
Source: Hartford Courant (CT)
Copyright: 2007 The Hartford Courant
Contact:  http://www.courant.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/183
Author: Edmund H. Mahony, Courant Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

ARRESTS IN CORRUPTION STING

William "Billy" White, a ponytailed police lieutenant who built a 
larger-than-life reputation crashing around New Haven after gangsters 
and killers, was arrested himself Tuesday, charged in an elaborate 
FBI sting with taking tens of thousands of dollars in what he thought 
was drug money and accepting bribes from bail bondsmen.

White looked drained during his arraignment in U.S. District Court in 
Hartford, particularly when a prosecutor produced an enlarged 
surveillance photo that caught him staring into the lens of a hidden 
camera while removing a brown paper bag stuffed with $27,500 in FBI 
cash from the trunk of a car he thought belonged to a drug dealer.

There were hints in court that the photograph could be the first in a 
series of disclosures about an out-of-control police culture in which 
officers operating in the New Haven area stole thousands from drug 
dealers and collected thousands more catching bail jumpers for bondsmen.

At one point in the affidavit, White boasted to an undercover 
officer, who secretly recorded the conversation, that he made "a ton 
of money .. over the years" from bail bondsmen.

"50, 60 thousand," White said in the affidavit. "I bet you I made 
$60,000 off this guy ... In four or five years ... easy, easy."

Kim Mertz, the special agent in charge of the FBI's New Haven 
division, said the arrests Tuesday of White and four others conclude 
an eight-month undercover investigation, culminating in the execution 
of warrants at police headquarters and private homes.

Mertz said the investigation will continue, with FBI agents working 
openly to ascertain "the full scope of the criminal acts." She asked 
anyone with knowledge of bail bondsmen paying police officers to call the FBI.

White is charged with theft of government funds for allegedly 
participating in the theft of nearly $30,000 in cash, much of it 
money that FBI agents had planted and disguised as the property of 
drug dealers. He is charged also with bribery conspiracy, accused of 
taking thousands more from a bail bond business.

The principals in the New Haven bail bond business - Robert Jacobs, 
79, and his sons, Paul, 48, and Philip, 47 - were charged with 
bribery conspiracy for allegedly paying White thousands of dollars to 
hunt absconding criminal defendants whose bonds the Jacobses had posted.

Also charged in the same case was Justen Kasperzyk, 34, a New Haven 
detective who worked for White's narcotics division. Kasperzyk, an 
officer for 12 years, is charged with stealing less than $1,000 in 
government money.

In the affidavit, Kasperzyk is accused of stuffing cash into his 
pockets during a drug raid, gambling with stolen FBI money while 
running an illegal poker game at an illegal New Haven gambling 
parlor, and shaking down a drug dealer's girlfriend for $800. 
According to a secret FBI recording, Kasperzyk wanted the $800 to buy 
jewelry for his wife.

A couple of burly U.S. marshals led the 63-year-old White into the 
courtroom, his hands manacled behind his back. He was wearing his 
customary uniform, faded dungarees and a washed-out green polo shirt. 
His hair is thinning and receding and starting to turn gray but there 
is still enough of it left to hang between his shoulder blades.

During 39 years on the force, White cultivated the image of knowing 
everything and being everywhere. He would rocket around the city in a 
dented sedan confiscated from drug dealers. He would park in 
no-parking zones to have meetings in places that serve organic 
coffee. If cars belonging to Mafia soldiers were blowing up, White 
could be depended upon to know who was doing it and why.

He was New Haven's top narcotics detective in the 1990s and collected 
much of the evidence that a federal anti-crime task force used to 
crush New Haven and Bridgeport drug crews, whose inner city sales 
were resulting in record body counts.

Tragically, while White was helping to bust the gangs, his son Tyler, 
then 22, was being captivated by them. In 1994, Tyler White was 
gunned down in one of the gang shootings his father was then working 
to stop. White, mourning a dead son, became a stone-faced fixture at 
the succeeding gang trials.

 From his stunned appearance in court Tuesday, it seemed as if White 
were just fully grasping the gravity of the charges against him, 
charges that carry maximum sentences of 15 years in prison and 
hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Ring told Magistrate Thomas P. Smith 
that White, in the hours before his court appearance, had made it 
clear to the erstwhile colleagues who arrested him that he was going 
to kill himself.

"He is at the end of his rope," Ring said in court. "This is the end 
for him. He can't go on. He has said things. He has said them 
emphatically. He is an extreme risk of suicide."

Smith ordered White held overnight in a specially arranged - 
undisclosed - jail where he can be protected from himself and the 
other inmates. Smith also ordered a comprehensive psychiatric review, 
which he said he will consider today when deciding whether to release 
White on bail. Ring has asked that White be detained without bail, 
arguing in effect, that if White doesn't kill himself, he is likely 
to use all the cash he has collected over the years to flee.

Kasperzyk and the Jacobses were released on bail late Tuesday.

New Haven Police Chief Francisco Ortiz was in court for White's 
arraignment but was uncomfortable when asked about it. Outside the 
courthouse, he said he was "disgusted" by the behavior but walked 
away, ignoring questions about why no one noticed it.

 From Ring's remarks in court and from information contained in the 
53-page FBI arrest warrant affidavit, it is clear that White was 
aware of the risks of his allegedly illegal behavior - behavior that 
was captured on audiotape, videotape and 200 intercepted telephone 
conversations.

In one series of events, White had been led to believe from the 
undercover officer that an informant was reporting that there was 
$27,500 in the trunk of a car left unattended in the city's Long Wharf area.

A partial transcript of a FBI recording characterizes White as 
agonizing with Hamlet-like intensity over stealing the money. From 
the transcript, he clearly wants the money, but he is aware that 
there are private security cameras in the area. And he is afraid that 
such a theft could result in the murder of the fictitious female informant.

"They might kill her," White told the undercover operative at one 
point. "Somebody's killing for that. What do you think, man?" At 
another point, White said, "I'm too old to be arrested, that's the thing."

After a couple of false starts, White wrapped a bandana around his 
head and pulled on a hooded sweat shirt to defeat the cameras. He 
popped the trunk and took the bag of money back to the car where the 
undercover officer was waiting. He dumped the money and, after making 
a telephone call to check the spelling, he wrote the Spanish 
equivalent of "stupid" on the bag. He would return the empty bag to 
the car and hoped the message would persuade the owners that their 
money was stolen by rival drug dealers.

"Let's go," White allegedly told the undercover operative. "Estupido 
on everybody probably."

Courant Staff Writer Josh Kovner contributed to this story.
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