Emmanuel Tavarez, 31, was a one-man crime wave. He was also a cop. Tavarez is facing trial after using his NYPD connections to run a crew that dressed up as officers and stole drugs and cash. An eight-year NYPD veteran, Tavaraz is responsible for more than 100 armed robberies of narcotics traffickers. Yet, despite what he agreed was “overwhelming evidence of his client’s guilt, attorney Raymond L. Colon insisted “[f]or all intents and purposes he was a fine officer. This was really an aberration, I think.”
Tavarez obtained NYPD police jackets and equipment for his crew to convince drug dealers that they were all police officers.
He now faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for robbery conspiracy, conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine, and the use of a firearm during the raids.
He might not want to push the business of being a “fine officer” and just focus on the fact that he pleaded guilty.
Source: CityRoom
As my pal and mentor Crazy Al Greenspan would say:
“With notably rare exceptions, Mr. Tavares was an impeccably honest public servant.”
Hurry up and re-file so you can get arrested for contempt again.
Threadjacking jackass.
I’ve been watching the criminal docket for Brenda L. Stewart in federal court in Colorado 10-cr-00580. She is charged with income tax evasion in connection with her management of the Denver Players Brothel.
According to articles in 9News of Denver, DOJ got a search warrant for the Microsoft yahoo accounts of the brothel and through that got former judge Edward Nottingham’s cell phone number and the credit card numbers of a number of lawyers. Apparently there were also records of some other Denver politicians.
The docket report shows that Judge John L. Kane recused himself and the case was reassigned to a female judge. Then there were 11 ex parte documents entered! The government appointed Joseph Saint-Veltri as her public defender meaning the government is paying. I looked him up and he is a prominent and usually high priced criminal defense lawyer who apparently usually does a lot of drug case defenses.
In order to win my lawsuit, DOJ claimed that the counterfeit warrants for my arrest were entered into the Warrant Information Network and therefore were exempt from the Privacy Act. They offered two affidavits under penalty of perjury to that effect. I am convinced that is perjury because a.) The FOIA officers at the DOJ criminal division, the FBI, and the US Attorney’s office can’t find the warrants in any systems of records they have access to b.) At no time in any document has the USMS FOIA office maintained that they have copies of warrants for Mrs. Sieverding’s arrest that were entered into the WIN system. c.) Entry of a warrant into the WIN system requires a criminal docket number and there was none d.) Entry of a warrant into the WIN system requires a warrant number with a defined number of digits and dashes and there is no corresponding number in that format on any document. e.) Entry of a warrant into the WIN system requires an FBI number but the FBI has no record of the number that the USMS claimed was an FBI number for Mrs. Sieverding – “5009kc5”. f.) The WIN system requires a record of who entered the document but at no time did DOJ identify that person, or even their i.d. number. g.) I asked DOJ and USMS for a screen image and they haven’t provided one even though they provided a screen image for another system h.) USMS claimed to have a fugitive warrant for my arrest and one of the two deputies who claimed there was a WIN warrant called me in Canada and threatened me with arrest if I came back into the country without doing what he demanded — dismissing my third party civil lawsuit. However, when I finally crossed the border customs didn’t ask me about it and the FOIA officer at INTERPOL the DOJ division that handles fugitive warrants couldn’t find any record of me.
So if I am right that shows that DOJ considers itself to be “above the law”.
anon nurse,
Organized crime has taken on a whole new meaning and the players do consider themselves above the law.
“In some jurisdictions, law enforcement, attorneys, prosecutors and judges are all part of a criminal enterprise. Innocent people are stripped of their assets, even their liberty, while these criminals/corrupted public officials, act with impunity and hide behind governmental immunity.” -Callygirlmtn
As bad as it’s ever been, for sure. Worse, it seems, to some of us…
The question for me, regarding these criminal enterprises in our communities, is this: Have they become too big (and powerful) to fail?”
In Texas a former judge was convicted of accepting bribes for favorable rulings. In part, the FBI information release states :
“The formal charges as well as the plea agreement and factual summary executed by a former state district court judge resulting in his conviction for using his state court as an illegal racketeering enterprise by soliciting and accepting bribes in his official capacity in return for favorable judicial action have been unsealed”. This was released on 14th Apri, 2011.
http://sanantonio.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel11/sa041411.htm
More courts and judges need to be examined for subjective rulings which ignore evidence and the law and favor ‘code of blue’ litigants.
In some jurisdictions, law enforcement, attorneys, prosecutors and judges are all part of a criminal enterprise. Innocent people are stripped of their assets, even their liberty, while these criminals/corrupted public officials, act with impunity and hide behind governmental immunity.
DOJ recently prosecuted a magistrate and a court clerk for stealing drug evidence from the court and taking it to another state and selling it.
Agree that there’s a very fine line between cop and criminal…
As the daughter of a dirty cop, I’ve long said that cops and criminals have the same personality type. Thanks for giving me another data point.
This guy has got to spend a long time behind bars. If not, something is very wrong.
Yes and you can never know for sure how drug related corruption might affect you or has affected you.
“Attorney Raymond L. Colon insisted ‘[f]or all intents and purposes he was a fine officer. This was really an aberration, I think.'”
Ray, I know you’re just doing your job, but there’s zealous and then there is ridiculous. When dealing with the press, measure twice, cut once.
Police departments across the country are operating as the Mafia once did. I wonder if they have summit meetings under the banner of the FOP.
Sorry I can’t find a current link for the Burrows quote. I found it in 2006 at
Houghton Mifflin College Division on line
encyclopedia.”Corruption” by Edwin G. Burrows (Edwin
G. Burrows is a professor of history at Brooklyn College,
and is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Gotham: A
History of New York City to 1898.)
I quoted it in 2006 to the 10th Circuit in my opening brief for 06-1038 “Does the District of Colorado/Judge Nottingham have a basis in law and fact to maintain interference with any fee-paid litigation by plaintiff in other courts?” and wrote:
“There is at least a substantial possibility that drug related corruption or bribery was behind this gross violation of due process because a.) The defendant who started most of the events, Kevin Bennett, is as undisputed a convicted cocaine dealer and long time cocaine user. b.) The DEA identified Steamboat as a high use area c.) The Rocky Mountain News describes the cocaine industry of nearby Aspen as being very large and
accepted by many local politicians and the sheriff. d.) One of the underlying actors, disgraced Colorado Judge Joel Thompson was accused by the DEA of living with and being engaged to a cocaine importer. e.) Plaintiff was told by a former Steamboat police officer that he quit the force because of police sale of drug related evidence. f.) Plaintiff was told by a lawyer she had
employed in Steamboat, (Sandra Gardner) that she suspected that the police sold drug evidence g.) As the previous quote shows, as well as studies by the General Accounting Office and other national news, drug related corruption is a problem in many areas.”
HOWEVER, in 2009 when he was running for Steamboat Springs city council for the 3rd time, Kevin Bennett publicly stated that he had confessed to conspiracy to sell hash oil and didn’t mention dealing cocaine so I might have been misinformed. I also read later that Judge Thompson’s girlfriend, Vreeman, went into some sort of drug diversion program and something about her having introduced DEA agent Sperry to another man who sold him cocaine so maybe Vreeman wasn’t a cocaine importer.
Kay,
Do you have a link for that quote? (Thanks for sharing it.)
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/burrows/Home/index.htm
Callygirlmtn,
Thanks for your sharing that…
re: “I hope this NY police officer receives a long jail sentence and goes to a jail where there are people he’s put there.”
So do I. So do I.
re: Be very careful about going into mountain resort communities in Colorado. They’re hotbeds of criminal activity.
Sadly, given my experiences, particularly over the last four years, this is true of many communities…
=========
AY, 🙂
“Another, contemporary trend, altogether new in its scope and magnitude, is the spread of corruption financed by the stupendous resources of the illegal drug “industry”—gross sales of which neared the $120 billion mark in 1988, far exceeding the combined profits of the nation’s five hundred largest industrial corporations. According to some authorities, payoffs to police, judges, and other officials have brought about the effective disintegration of law enforcement in many parts of the United States. If that is so, then this constitutes corruption of a kind and on a scale for which there are simply no precedents in American historical experience.”
“Corruption” by Edwin G. Burrows
There’s a former Denver cop, off the force now more than two decades, doing wrong, stealing, lying, fabricating evidence, all the while collecting a police pension. He’s well connected politically.
Despite overwhelming proof of ongoing crimes, several Colorado DA’s have declined to prosecute him. Also, it pays to have a long time associate be the Police Chief where this former cop committed several crimes – that Police Chief won’t taken reports from victims! Code of Blue, anyone?
Be very careful about going into mountain resort communities in Colorado. They’re hotbeds of criminal activity. In one ski resort county the local cops’ motto is “Arrive on Vacation, Leave on Probation”. Unless, of course, you’re politically well connected, or a deep pocket perpetrator.
I hope this NY police officer receives a long jail sentence and goes to a jail where there are people he’s put there.
Does he still get his pension? I am sure while he was on duty he was one fine officer…this was just his off duty personality….