NEW YORK (AP) ― A sadistic gang of police impersonators abducted and tortured scores of East Coast cocaine traffickers, forcing them to hand over multimillion-dollar stashes by threatening to squeeze their testicles with pliers, authorities said Tuesday. An indictment unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn charged eight men with robbery conspiracy, drug dealing and an array of other crimes. Since the spring of 2003, the gang injured about 100 people while committing 100 holdups targeting large-scale traffickers in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida, investigators said. The take: more than 1,650 pounds of cocaine worth $20 million and $4 million in cash.
The scheme “was breathtaking in the scope of its crimes and in the danger it posed to our communities,” said U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell. The robbers, court papers said, “were particularly sophisticated in their tactics,” often conducting surveillance on the drug dealers for weeks before arming themselves with handguns and making “a police-style car stop” in cars equipped with lights and sirens.
Other times, the gang gained entry into victims’ homes by identifying themselves as police officers, then holding entire families hostage at gunpoint for days on end. The victims were handcuffed, bound with duct tape and subjected to various means of torture during interrogations, including “simulated drowning through repeated submerging of victims’ heads in water for extended periods of time,” the court papers said.One victim told investigators that during a 2005 abduction, two of the defendants “applied a pair of pliers to the victim’s testicles and threatened to squeeze the pliers if the victim did not talk,” the papers added. Once the information was extracted, the bandits would retrieve large stashes of cocaine and resell it on the streets of New York. Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson described the crime spree as “a dangerous dance of alleged criminals preying upon alleged criminals, who themselves profited from the desperation of drug abusers.” The defendants, all from the Dominican Republic, were ordered held without bail after pleading not guilty Tuesday in Brooklyn. If convicted, each faces a sentence of 40 years to life behind bars.
Some days its hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys.
“hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys” – especially when the torture techniques are the same.
So, if these “bad” guys could find and nail these major dealers why couldn’t law enforcement? Pay offs. Too bad.
This is a game of bad guys and bad guys… and there is a pretty good movie in this story.
#2: It’s not that the cops can’t figure out who the criminals are, it’s a matter of proof. These bad guys only needed to have a good idea who to terrorize, and didn’t need to worry about warrants and standards of evidence. Think about famous criminals like Capone. EVERYONE knew he was a crime lord, but they couldn’t prove enough to get him behind bars until the IRS angle. I find it sad that some people have to assume malicious intent exists (all cops are on the take) instead of reasoning out another possibility. It’s not that there aren’t some bad cops, but when you assume all are receive bribes and use excessive force, you just have an agenda and ignore reason.
#2: It’s not that the cops can’t figure out who the criminals are, it’s a matter of proof. These bad guys only needed to have a good idea who to terrorize, and didn’t need to worry about warrants and standards of evidence. Think about famous criminals like Capone. EVERYONE knew he was a crime lord, but they couldn’t prove enough to get him behind bars until the IRS angle. I find it sad that some people have to assume malicious intent exists (all cops are on the take) instead of reasoning out another possibility. It’s not that there aren’t some bad cops, but when you assume all receive bribes and use excessive force, you just have an agenda and ignore reason.
#4 “you just have an agenda and ignore reason.”
Did you forget where your posting.
The notion that dedicated cops can’t make arrests because of standards of evidence is totally bogus. Whatever leads criminals to key on other criminals would be sufficient for a search warrant.
What this shows is that “the powers that be” don’t really want to stop drugs because today that makes up 80% of jail population. LIke the War on Terror, the government needs enemies to keep the sheep from paying attention.
What’s with the picture? Jacques Chirac? There’s an obvious picture you should be putting with that story, but I guess you guys aren’t fully in tune with the ‘stuff white people like.’
#7. Damn MikeN, I made Bush the Good Guy, and still you complain? There is no pleasing you is there?
#4 “I find it sad that some people have to assume malicious intent exists (all cops are on the take) instead of reasoning out another possibility.”
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.
Fool me hundreds of times and I start to make assumptions about your motives. :).
Poor Drug dealers. Until they sell to your kids.
“simulated drowning through repeated submerging of victims’ heads in water for extended periods of time,”
Hey, come on now…. we all now that that isn’t torture any more…. 😀
Can’t have these Independent Vigilantes interfering with the “Regulation” of the Drug Trafficing !!! It might interfere with Police, Prosecutor, and Judicial “Cash Flow” !!!
This action by the police is far uglier than that video you showed from Philly. They should give these guys medals(take Tenet’s).
Bush = Good; Bad = Putin; Chirac = Ugly?
=\
Chirac looks like Chris Cooper.
Where’s Omar?
>>Bush = Good
You musta been taking some of those drugs. In high doses.
>>They should give these guys medals
Yeah, there’s no quicker path to heroism than kicking guys in the balls who are handcuffed and helpless, and then dragging them across the asphalt on their faces. We may even be talking Nobel Peace Prize here!