WEBVTT - Cops, Corruption & Clever Cons - MIM B5

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<v Speaker 1>Murder in Miami is a production of iHeartRadio. We touched

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<v Speaker 1>upon the potential for corruption that swirls around the drug

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<v Speaker 1>trade in our last bonus. It's a topic that came

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<v Speaker 1>up with former Miami Day detective Jeff Lewis and was

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<v Speaker 1>particularly evident during Miami's darkest policing period in the late

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighties, when at one point, nearly ten percent of

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<v Speaker 1>the entire Miami Police Department was suspended or fired after

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<v Speaker 1>a drug related scandal. It seems to me like that

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<v Speaker 1>was a perfect storm because you had this influx of

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<v Speaker 1>drug money pouring into the area and you had a

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<v Speaker 1>need to increase the policing of it, just in terms

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<v Speaker 1>of the sheer number of the volume of officers who

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<v Speaker 1>were hired at that time. And did that negatively impact

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<v Speaker 1>the force?

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<v Speaker 2>I think it was both a positive and a negative.

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<v Speaker 2>Both our department and the City of Miami Police Department

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<v Speaker 2>were in a rush to hire police officers to fill

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<v Speaker 2>the void, both departments on a national recruiting effort, and

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<v Speaker 2>at that time also I believe, like some departments up

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<v Speaker 2>North New York in that area, they were laying off officers.

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<v Speaker 2>So it kind of worked out and Miami Dade ended

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<v Speaker 2>up with officers from all over the north and northeast,

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<v Speaker 2>as well as the City of Miami, although I think

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<v Speaker 2>the City of Miami ended up with more local individuals

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<v Speaker 2>becoming police officers. The problem with that was I don't

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<v Speaker 2>think they were able to do thorough background investigations or

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<v Speaker 2>really delve into who they were hiring just because they

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<v Speaker 2>needed to again fill the void, and as a result,

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<v Speaker 2>the individuals slipped through the cracks that turned out to

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<v Speaker 2>be actually criminals doing police work, and that came to

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<v Speaker 2>fruition later on with the River Cops case, an area

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<v Speaker 2>and some other incidents involving police officers. Now, the plus

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<v Speaker 2>side was they also ended up hiring quite a few

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<v Speaker 2>excellent police officers that I worked with that came on

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<v Speaker 2>with me, became detectives and became ranking individuals within the

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<v Speaker 2>department and were able to guide the department. It was

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<v Speaker 2>a plus an a negative. Fortunately, I think the plus

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<v Speaker 2>side came out ahead in the long run.

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<v Speaker 1>Could you just, in a nutshell explain what the River

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<v Speaker 1>Cops case was?

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, the River Cops case was a group of City

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<v Speaker 2>Miami uniform police officers working the midnight shift would go

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<v Speaker 2>to the Miami River and rob the locations that were

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<v Speaker 2>board the Haitian traders that were coming to Miami. Usually

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<v Speaker 2>they had multiple kilos of cocaine on board, and they

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<v Speaker 2>would literally load up their police cars with cocaine and

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<v Speaker 2>take it out, and then from there they would distribute it,

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<v Speaker 2>sell it, make money doing it, and a lot of

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<v Speaker 2>those robberies weren't reported because theations didn't want to get

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<v Speaker 2>arrested for dealing drugs. And this went on for a

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<v Speaker 2>little while until they hit a boat where the Haitian

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<v Speaker 2>victims actually jumped off the boat they would care for

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<v Speaker 2>their lives, and in doing so, a couple of them

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<v Speaker 2>drowned in the Miami River. This occurred within our jurisdiction,

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<v Speaker 2>so our homicide unit, led by Alex Alvarez, assumed the

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<v Speaker 2>investigation and subsequently arrested twelve or thirteen City Miami uniform

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<v Speaker 2>officers for this homicide and drug dealing and ensnared probably

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<v Speaker 2>another one hundred or so that were caught up one

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<v Speaker 2>way or another in the Sea Mining Police Department. Some

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<v Speaker 2>not rightfully so, but you know, some were guilty by association.

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<v Speaker 2>It was a big mess for the City Mining Police Department.

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<v Speaker 2>In our department because everyone looked down on the police

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<v Speaker 2>at that particular time, and this was again during the

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<v Speaker 2>height of the criminal activity, so it kind of hindered

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<v Speaker 2>us a little bit as well. But eventually they were

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<v Speaker 2>all arrested and exposed and were shut down by our

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<v Speaker 2>police department.

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<v Speaker 1>Am I mistaken in believing that also around this time

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<v Speaker 1>there were actually criminals who would dress up in police

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<v Speaker 1>uniforms and do you know, home break ins And.

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<v Speaker 2>What happened was eventually, as we found out and working

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<v Speaker 2>in robbery, was that that was in fact occurring where

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<v Speaker 2>the criminal element and this was basically initiated after the

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<v Speaker 2>Marrial moment. One hundreds of thousands of Mario Alitos will

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<v Speaker 2>be from prisons and mental wards in Cuba and they

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<v Speaker 2>came to Miami and they needed a job and they

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<v Speaker 2>didn't want to work, not all of them, but a

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<v Speaker 2>lot of them, and they figured out the easiest way

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<v Speaker 2>to rob a drug dealer was to dress up like

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<v Speaker 2>a police officer, get a uniform or get a shirt

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<v Speaker 2>that said the police, draft up a fake warrant, put

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<v Speaker 2>the gun belt on, get a fake badge. Anybody could

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<v Speaker 2>get a badge. You can still get badges today and

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<v Speaker 2>do it and pose as police officers, and we started

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<v Speaker 2>getting these cases. We really didn't know what to think

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<v Speaker 2>at the time because we were a little baffled by it.

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<v Speaker 2>And then we figured out that it wasn't a police

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<v Speaker 2>impersonators doing these home invasion robberies. And they were probably

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<v Speaker 2>thousands of these different groups acted as police officers to

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<v Speaker 2>do these home invasion robberies.

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<v Speaker 1>Wow, I can't imagine how difficult it would have been

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<v Speaker 1>to have been, you know, a good honest cop in

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<v Speaker 1>that time period where you had not only you know,

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<v Speaker 1>an element of rogue criminals within the department, but then

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<v Speaker 1>actual criminals impersonating police officers. All right.

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<v Speaker 2>It was definitely unique. And of course, you know, once

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<v Speaker 2>we figured it out, we started our investigations and sometimes

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<v Speaker 2>working with the FBI or the DA or ATF and

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<v Speaker 2>we started arresting these gangs and you go in and

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<v Speaker 2>start recovering the equipment and the uniforms and the guns,

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<v Speaker 2>and some of them were better equipped than we were.

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<v Speaker 2>Some of them had better firepowers, more firepower than we did.

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<v Speaker 2>And they had police radios. I mean, they would buy

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<v Speaker 2>cars and make them look like police cars at the

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<v Speaker 2>police lights. They would do traffic stops on drug dealers.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, these guys really took it to the extreme,

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<v Speaker 2>and they made a lot of money doing it because

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<v Speaker 2>again a lot of these robberies were not reported initially

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<v Speaker 2>because the drug dealers didn't want to be identified as

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<v Speaker 2>drug dealers or they didn't want to make themselves known

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<v Speaker 2>to law enforcement. So unless somebody got hurt or shot

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<v Speaker 2>or actually killed during one of these robberies, we had

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<v Speaker 2>no knowledge of it. And then what would happen when

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<v Speaker 2>we started making arrests and we started getting cooperation from

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<v Speaker 2>some of these individuals. They would identify locations to us

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<v Speaker 2>that they had robbed, and we'd checked those locations, we

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<v Speaker 2>would find out that there were no police reports made,

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<v Speaker 2>and of course we'd identify those individuals and pass out

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<v Speaker 2>on to the narcotics detectives.

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<v Speaker 1>Wow, insane, It was crazy. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

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