 |
Nelson Carrasquillo faces 10 years to life in federal prison. |
Moments after Nelson Carrasquillo became the second Boston police officer to plead guilty to participating in a drug trafficking scheme, his 15-year-old son stood in the federal courthouse yesterday with tears in his eyes and his father's leather belt dangling from his neck.
"I'm proud of him . . . the choices that he made," said Nelson Carrasquillo Jr., who took his father's belt and olive suit jacket when deputy US marshals led the fired police officer to jail.
Carrasquillo, 36, of Dorchester, pleaded guilty to conspiracy with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin and two counts of attempted aiding and abetting the scheme as he and the alleged ringleader, his former partner Roberto "Kiko" Pulido, were about to face trial together yesterday.
Carrasquillo faces 10 years to life in federal prison when he is sentenced Feb. 5.
Two months ago, a third officer, Carlos A. Pizarro, pleaded guilty to cocaine charges for his role in the scheme. Authorities said the three officers protected shipments of cocaine for purported drug dealers who turned out to be undercover FBI agents.
Carrasquillo's wife, Sandra Marrero, said he pleaded guilty to avoid putting his family through the strain of a trial.
"He's a real man, a better man than [authorities] want to make him look like," she said.
"I'm as proud of him today as I was the day he graduated from the [police] academy."
Opening arguments are scheduled for today before US District Judge William G. Young in the trial of Pulido, the remaining defendant in what some have described as the worst Boston police corruption scandal in a decade.
"He's the last man standing," said Pulido's lawyer, Rudolph F. Miller, who said his client is a victim of government entrapment.
Prosecutors declined to comment.
The three Boston police officers were arrested in Miami in July 2006 after they were accused of protecting 100 kilograms of cocaine that was trucked to Boston from Western Massachusetts the month before. FBI agents posing as drug dealers helped arrange the deal that involved government-seized cocaine.
An FBI affidavit filed in the case also accused Pulido of being involved in a network of schemes that included stealing the identities of motorists and guarding after-hours parties where uniformed officers mingled with drug dealers and prostitutes.
He was not charged in those matters.
Before yesterday's plea, Carrasquillo and his legal team spent considerable time weighing prosecutors' case against him, poring over 6,000 pages of evidence from the government and listening to more than 1,000 hours of conversations secretly recorded by federal authorities, said Stephen Neyman, one of his lawyers.
But Carrasquillo did not make his final decision about pleading guilty until the weekend, Neyman said.
He is "absolutely not cooperating with the government" and will not testify against Pulido, said Neyman, who contends that the government, not his client, initiated the scheme to ship cocaine.
Pizarro, however, is a potential witness for the government, Miller said. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 12.
Carrasquillo's house in Dorchester was targeted by suspected arsonists three times last year. A police spokeswoman said at the time that it was unclear whether the fires were related to the federal case. No arrests were made, Neyman said.
Carrasquillo joined the police force eight years ago and was honored in 2004 for helping nab three suspects after he heard shots fired inside a garage at the New England Medical Center.
But a grainy black-and-white videotape played in a packed courtroom last year showed another side of him. In the tape produced by undercover agents, Carrasquillo, in a hotel in Coral Gables, Fla., promised an undercover FBI agent that he and the other police officers would maintain a low profile and keep the operation small.
"My thing is, I'd rather keep it like this," he said on the tape. "I don't want to bring too many people in, too many people knowing our business. Like you said, we run a chance of someone turning into Al Capone."
Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com. 
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
