A federal prosecutor told a jury yesterday that a veteran Boston police officer was eager to protect truckloads of cocaine that came into Boston in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in cash and told an undercover FBI agent posing as a drug dealer that he looked forward to a long relationship.
In his opening statement to the jury, Assistant US Attorney George W. Vien said Roberto Pulido allowed his rented garage to be used for the transfer of 40 kilograms of cocaine to undercover agents posing as drug dealers and buyers in April 2006. Two months later, he arranged for two other officers to help him escort 100 kilograms of cocaine from Western Massachusetts to Boston.
"Pulido didn't hesitate," Vien told the 16 jurors as the drug-trafficking trial of the former motorcycle officer began in the federal courthouse in Boston. "He was in. He was ready, willing, and able to play a role in the conspiracy."
But Pulido's lawyer, Rudolph F. Miller, denied that Pulido was a drug dealer and said his client was entrapped by FBI agents who relied on a scheming informant with a long criminal record.
"This case isn't about a corrupt Boston police officer," Miller said as Pulido sat erectly at the defense table in a dark suit, rose-colored dress shirt, and bright red tie. "This case is about a crime that has been completely manufactured . . . by the government."
Also yesterday, an FBI agent testified that Pulido told the informant that several Boston police officers who have not been charged knew about illegal after-hours parties that Pulido protected and, in at least one case, may have been doing something similar. A Boston police spokeswoman said the department is monitoring the trial and will look into the allegations. The trial is expected to last about a month.
For about 2 1/2 hours yesterday, Assistant US Attorney John T. McNeil questioned an FBI agent, Kevin Constantine, who described how the investigation started. He testified that the informant, a childhood friend of Pulido named Troy Lozano, began secretly recording meetings with Pulido in late 2003 after Lozano was arrested on federal firearms charges.
Constantine described a number of scams that Pulido allegedly engaged in, but for which he was never charged. Prosecutors elicited the testimony to show that Pulido was inclined toward criminal acts.
During numerous meetings, Constantine said, Pulido sold Lozano the names, license plate numbers, and other confidential information of motorists he had stopped. In exchange, Lozano gave Pulido gift cards for stores such as
Pulido also sold Lozano steroids that the informant told the officer he planned to sell for a profit, the FBI agent said.
Wearing a wire, Lozano also attended an illegal after-hours club that Pulido invited him to several times in Hyde Park, where there were strippers, prostitutes, drug dealers plying their trade, and uniformed police officers, Constantine said.
Pulido has been charged with attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine, conspiracy, and carrying a firearm to further drug trafficking and could face life in prison if convicted. He has not been charged with any of the other alleged crimes that Constantine outlined in detail yesterday.
US District Judge William G. Young told the jury that they should consider evidence of those alleged crimes only if it illustrates that Pulido was inclined to commit the drug-trafficking offenses.
"It's about whether [Pulido] was more likely to get into what the government set up," Young said.
Two other Boston police officers, Pulido's former partner Nelson Carrasquillo Jr., and Carlos A. Pizarro have pleaded guilty to participating in a drug-trafficking scheme with Pulido.
Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com.
