BOSTON, July 21 LAWFUEL – News Release Network — Three veteran Boston Police Department officers were charged in federal court with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute 100 kilograms of cocaine. The men were arrested in Miami, Florida late yesterday where they went to receive a $35,000 payment for protecting a Massachusetts drug shipment as part of an FBI undercover sting operation.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Albert Goslin, Superintendent in Chief of the Boston Police Department, announced today that ROBERTO “KIKO” PULIDO, age 41, of 57 Leighton Road in Boston, CARLOS A. PIZARRO, age 36, of 8 Lenoxdale Avenue in Boston, and NELSON
CARRASQUILLO, age 35, of 101 Gallivan Boulevard in Boston, were charged in a federal complaint with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute 100 kilograms of cocaine. PULIDO and PIZARRO have been BPD officers since 1996 and CARRASQUILLO since 1999. Both PULIDO and CARRASQUILLO are
currently assigned to the Special Operations Division, Mobile Operations
Patrol. PIZARRO is a patrol officer in Area D-4 (South End).
“This investigation and yesterday’s arrests are the result of a
cooperative effort by the FBI, BPD, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” said
U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan. “The allegations in the complaint reveal an extraordinary breadth of criminal activity by at least one officer, and a willingness of other officers to join him in selling their badges to drug dealers. This has been a painstaking investigation over more than two years, lead by a dedicated team of FBI agents working in close cooperation with the BPD and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. All of us in law enforcement are committed to investigating and expending the resources necessary to prosecuting corruption wherever we find it.”
According to an affidavit filed in support of the Complaint, it is
alleged that PULIDO came under federal scrutiny in November 2003 when it
was discovered that he engaged in a scheme to buy and distribute retail
store gift cards, which had been obtained by an identity theft ring. Over
the course of a two and one-half year investigation, agents from the FBI,
working in cooperation with the Boston Police Department’s Anti-Corruption Squad, allegedly discovered that PULIDO routinely engaged in a wide range of criminal activities including: identity theft; drug dealing; sponsoring and protecting illegal after-hours parties at which prostitutes routinely worked; framing a former business partner on gun and drug charges; robbery; threats; insurance fraud; money laundering; illegal alien smuggling; and trafficking in stolen goods. It is alleged that both PIZARRO and CARRASQUILLO joined in some of this illegal conduct.
According to the affidavit, in December 2005, the FBI developed an
undercover sting operation aimed at revealing the extent of PULIDO’s
criminal contacts within the BPD. As part of that undercover operation —
which took place in Boston, Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Miami, Florida
— in April 2006, PULIDO and CARRASQUILLO were paid $20,000 to provide
protection for the sale of 40 kilograms of cocaine. The sale, which they
agreed to protect from detection by the BPD, was actually from one FBI
undercover group to another. It is alleged that the sale took place in a
garage in Jamaica Plain operated by PULIDO.
According to the affidavit, a second sting operation took place in
early June 2006. In this operation, PULIDO and CARRASQUILLO were joined by PIZARRO in allegedly protecting the transport and sale of what they
believed to be 100 kilograms of cocaine. It is alleged that on June 8,
2006, the three officers escorted a truck they believed to be carrying 100 kilograms of cocaine from western Massachusetts to Boston, and oversaw and protected the transfer of the narcotics at PULIDO’s garage in Jamaica
Plain. During the transfer, it is alleged that PULIDO was actively
monitoring the BPD radio traffic while CARRASQUILLO and PIZARRO escorted
the drug transport vehicles and provided perimeter security. That day,
PULIDO was paid a $15,000 down payment for the police protection provided
by himself, CARRASQUILLO, and PIZARRO. The remainder — $35,000 — was to
be paid in a celebratory meeting scheduled to take place in Miami.
This week, PULIDO, PIZARRO, and CARRASQUILLO traveled to Miami to meet with the undercover agents to receive the additional $35,000 owed to them for protecting the June shipment, and to plan the next operation. It is
alleged that preliminary discussions for the third operation revealed that it was to involve as much as 500 kilograms of cocaine.
The defendants were arrested late yesterday and will appear in federal court in Miami, Florida on the charges later today.
If convicted, PULIDO, PIZARRO and CARRASQUILLO each face a minimum
mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison up to a maximum of life, and a $4 million fine.
The on-going investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in cooperation with the Boston Police Department’s
Anti-Corruption Squad. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys
Jeffrey Auerhahn and John T. McNeil in Sullivan’s Criminal Division.
The details contained in the Complaint are allegations. The defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a
reasonable doubt in a court of law.
