The Philly Rogue Cops Trial: They Were Taking Millions Of Dollars Of Poison Off The Street

Veteran crime reporter Ralph Cipriano (seen in the below photo) is covering the federal trial of six Philadelphia narcotics cops for bigtrial.net.

On the witness stand, Lt. Robert Otto was asked to give his professional assessment of former Officer Thomas Liciardello.

"He is one of the finest, most dedicated police officers," said the white-haired veteran of 26 years. Of the thousands of officers he has known during his career, Lt. Otto said, Liciardello ranks in the top 5.

"He is the best police investigator I ever met," Otto told the jury.

In court today, Otto also praised the work of the other five defendants in the rogue cops case.

  "They were very effective, very efficient, very honest," the lieutenant told the jury about the former members of the Narcotics Field Unit. "They were the best at what they did; there's no doubt about that."

"They were taking millions of dollars of poison off the streets," Otto told the jury. He said he used to tell the defendants they would never know how many lives they had saved until they went to heaven and met their maker.

He looked around the courtroom where the six former officers were sitting at several defense tables, accused by the federal government of conspiring to beat and rob drug dealers.

"And this here makes no sense to me," the lieutenant said.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2015/04/they-were-taking-millions-of-dollars-of.html#more

Note: I interviewed Lt Otto when I went out with the Philadelphia Police Narcotics Field Unit South for Counterterrorism magazine. You can read my piece via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2012/05/chasing-drugs-guns-and-violence-night.html

Defense To Rely On Top Cops To Refute Drug Dealers

Veteran crime reporter Ralph Cipriano is covering the Philly Rogue Cops trial for bigtrial.net.

It took four weeks for the government to finally run out of drug dealers.

 

After sending a parade of 16 drug dealers to the witness stand, the government this morning rested its case against six former narcotics officers accused of going rogue by allegedly  beating and robbing the suspects they busted.

 

The defense then began its case by calling FBI Agent Dennis Drum to the witness stand.

 

Defense Attorney Jack McMahon took Drum through a list of 15 superior officers and fellow officers in the case who supposedly were eyewitnesses to the various "episodes" of alleged police misconduct in the indictment. 

 

Drum testified that a dozen of the cops were interviewed by the feds between three and seven months after the defendants in the case were indicted on July 30, 2014. Two of the cops were never interviewed; a third refused to talk.

 

The defense strategy seems to be to call as many of these officers to the witness stand as possible to refute the allegations made by the drug dealers who testified on behalf of the government. The list of possible witnesses include a chief inspector, an inspector, a captain, a couple of lieutenants, a sergeant, a corporal and some fellow officers.

If the boys in blue stick together, this case is going to come down to the FBI, Jeffrey Walker and a bunch of drug dealers vs. the Philadelphia Police Department.

 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

 

http://www.bigtrial.net/2015/04/defense-to-rely-on-top-cops-to-refute.html#more 

"Ramshacked" At The Philly Rogue Cops Trial

Veteran crime reporter Ralph Cipriano is covering the federal trial of the Philadelphia narcotics cops for bigtrial.net.

As the prosecution in the rogue cops trial winds down its case, they're scraping the bottom of the barrel for witnesses.

One drug dealer on the witness stand today confessed that he had two different names.

Another drug dealer testifying on behalf of the government who was unsteady on his feet looked and smelled like he may have been drinking his favorite beverage again, Grey Goose Vodka.

Meanwhile, Judge Eduardo C. Robreno announced that the trial was moving much faster than expected, and that the prosecution would be winding down its case this week. As rumors swept the courtroom that one of the reasons why was that another unreliable prosecution witness was about to be ejected from the case.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2015/04/ramshacked-at-rogue-cops-trial.html#more

More Witnesses, More Stories Of Corruption, More Questions About Credibility In Philly Rogue Cops Case

Veteran crime reporter and author George Anastasia (seen in the above photo) is covering the so-called Philly rogue cops case for bigtrial.net.

They came dressed in black, waving their guns and hiding their faces behind ski masks.

They wanted to know where the drugs and money were and when he didn't tell them he said they threatened to take his five young children away from him.

He spent the night in a police lockup without being charged and then, he said, he was literally held hostage over the next five days in a hotel near the airport, forced to give up the names of drug dealers he knew and to set up buys so that they could be arrested.

That was the story, told through a Spanish interpreter, that Rodolfo Blanco told a federal jury today in the trial of six Philadelphia Police Department narcotics cops accused of stealing more than $500,000 in cash and drugs from targeted dealers in what Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey has called one of the worst cases of police corruption in the city's history.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2015/04/more-witnesses-more-stories-of.html#more

You can also read my Philadelphia Inquirer review of George Anastasia's Gotti's Rules via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/02/my-philadelphia-inquirer-review-of.html