Three Philadelphia police officers have been arrested in an ambitious alleged conspiracy to steal 300 grams of heroin from an alleged drug supplier and then sell the drugs to another drug dealer. The problem is that the second dealer was a DEA agent as was the money launderer. Arrested are officers Robert Snyder, 30 (shown left); Mark Williams, 27; and James Venziale, 32.
In statements which may find themselves in a defense motion for a venue change, Philadelphia Mayor Nutter stated “I’m personally pissed off about this kind of behavior . . . We do not employ criminals. That’s what they are. That’s how they will be treated.”
Venziale allegedly came up with the scheme after meeting reputed drug dealer Angel “Fat Boy” Ortiz. They targeted Miguel Santiago and arranged with the undercover agent to sell the drugs and launder the money. The officers allegedly also conspired with reputed drug dealer, Zachary Young. The officer were to stop Santaigo’s car to make it seem that the drugs were seized by law enforcement. plan called for officers to perform a staged vehicle stop to make it appear to Santiago that the drugs were seized by law enforcement, the indictment states
On May 14, Williams and Venziale stopped a car occupied by Ortiz and the undercover agent. They handcuffed Ortiz and allowed the other man to drive off with 299 grams of heroin. Williams and Venziale then drove Ortiz in their cruiser to another location and released him. Ortiz later allegedly paid the officers $6,000. He also allegedly paid Christal Snyder an unknown amount of cash.
Source: Philly.
FFLEO:
great news and you can give them back to their parents as well 🙂
FFLeo:
Let me add my congratulations too. I look forward to another chip off the FFLeo block.
Thanks Buddha!
FFLEO,
I sent Mike a consolidated “Get Well” e-mail from all the posts over the w/e and I highlighted your good news post. I’m sure that combined with the outpouring of well wishes made his day. I hope it did anyway.
When I hear from him again, I’ll be sure to let you all know first.
Stay cool, my friend!
Thanks much to all for the comments/congrats.
Buddha, I am sure you will keep us updated on Mike Spindell and thank you again.
114 degrees F today, so not much computer use time.
FFLEO, congratulations. My first grandchild is 19 months old now and visiting for the week. He’s great fun. I’ve told his mom that I’ve decided that grandkids are definitely preferable to kids.
FF LEO–
Congratulations on the good news! How exciting!
You’ll probably change your Turley nom de plume after the baby’s arrival to “NG LEO” (New Grandpa LEO).
FFLEO,
That is great news and I also think you’ll be a really wonderful grandparent. Congratulations!!!!
Blouise,
That was an hilarious story you told yesterday. It’s always nice to see a woman of principle kicking ass and taking names! Good show!!
FFLEO,
Congratulations, grandpa!
As one who had a most excellent grandfather, I’m certain you’ll make a great one.
Former Federal LEO
… My son told me a few weeks ago that I am going to be a grandfather—imagine that.
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Lucky grandchild! There is nothing better in the whole wide world than the love between a grandparent and a grandchild … absolutely nothing better!
FFLEO:
On behalf of the blog, I wish to commend you on your success in fulfilling your quota of producing more bloggers to our ranks. We await the first postings of the progeny of FFLEO. Congratulations!
JT
Former Federal LEO: My son told me a few weeks ago that I am going to be a grandfather
sounds as though congratulations are in order..so congrations soon to be gramdfather
Some supplement income in various fashions…..NY Hit-man for instance….
Thank you Buddha!
Mike Spindell (aka, my hippy friend)
I am one tough ol’ hombre but there is a bit of a mist in my eyes as I pen this note—perhaps I just need to increase my reading glasses to a 1.25 diopter, dang computers are hard on the ol’ eyes.
If’n you are looking for a heart to match one as big as yours is, another one simply does not exist; therefore, you will have to live the next 20-30+ years with a donor heart that is not quite up to snuff. However, your fine mind will complement and balance any debits.
Should I not awake the morrow, there should be no sorrow. I have lived a good, full life and I know you have done the same—and then some. We lived in a darn fine era and we had many freedoms that our kids and grandchildren will never know.
Life goes on my friend. My son told me a few weeks ago that I am going to be a grandfather—imagine that.
Your goat roper friend,
FFLEO
Dear Pete
I think that a high percentage of the population has used illegal drugs at various times in their life whether they got caught or not.
I think public officials should have full disclosure at a minimum.
As a policy alternative, I would probably have a thresh-hold evaluation for risky jobs followed by regular re-evaluation. This could include exams for vision and response time. I think all commercial drivers should have to blow every time they drive. That would be good for the profession because it would make people see more of a benefit in paying a commercial driver. With the economy, more people might be interested in paying for rides as an alternative to car ownership. So that is a business opportunity. Keeping drivers with impairment out of the profession is not only a public health mandate it is also a barrier to entry, which usually are associated with higher compensation. Should lower insurance and repair costs too, plus, drivers with the best self-control are also less likely to be involved in sexual harassment or other non professional behavior.
All those driving related skills exist in varying degrees in both the population and the individual. You could just completely ignore past drug use and have a goal something like all commercial drivers should score at the current time in the top 25% of the population in …. vision, hearing, short-term memory, response time etc. If commercial driving becomes an admired profession that kids are aspiring too, they might be measuring their vision, hearing, short term memory, response time etc. and that could have all sorts of benefits.
The badge seems to allow one extreme to another:
Police Brutality VIDEO: SHOCKING Texas Incident Caught On Tape
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/15/police-brutality-video-sh_n_648289.html
In all nations the law is a necessary evil, but one often suspects that it is more evil than necessary.
In the USA it seems to me that the excess over necessary evil is extreme. Can one really blame police for concluding that engaging in profitable drug war related corruption is the sensible thing to do.
People spend too much time thinking and talking about police corruption and ignore much worse in other areas of the criminal justice system, namely unscrupulousness among prosecutors and racial and class prejudice among jurors. Good examples of both are provided by Alan Bean’s collection of articles on the Curtis Flowers prosecution at Alan’s Friend of Justice website.
Best wishes to Mike Spindell, I am very sorry to hear that he is ill andwish him a quick recovery. I have been missing Mike’s comments on the Turley blog for some time and wondering what had happened to silence him.
raff,
I intend to compile the well wishes from all and e-mail them to him over the weekend. A little “get well” package that will hopefully bolster his spirits.
Buddha,
Give Mike S. my best. We miss him here! Get well soon.
I know Mike would not be surprised that some big city cops are dirty. These guys should be put away for a long time!
Mike S:
hope to see you soon back in fighting trim.