New York Chief of Detectives (24 page)

“It sounds like an implausible theory to me, Commissioner. Something has to be wrong. you have to be barking up the wrong tree with this one, O’Connor.”

“I might have agreed with you before we went to his office a little while ago. Queens Detective Mary McDonald and I paid a visit to his office and were met with immediate open hostility when we hadn’t asked the first question. As soon as we asked for him, he left the building with DeCarlo. That shows they’re connected. DeCarlo’s a bodyguard now. Then we were confronted by his lawyer, demanding that we present any questions we had for Mr. Harrison through him. He immediately got
confrontational. He even called his security guards to escort us out of the building. You should also probably know that I put one on the floor after he grabbed me.”

“What do you think he’s hiding, Patty?” The commissioner asked.

“I think it must have something to do with real estate, but I really don’t know yet. We have court orders for the phones, and are still working our sources.”

“Let me just ask you point blank, Patty. Do you think he has something to do with Tony Rodriguez’s death?”

“I can’t prove it yet, but my gut says he does. There was too much overreaction about our visit. I could’ve been coming to thank him for the reward money, and they were confrontational from the start. I’m just certain they’re into something dirty.”

“How do we handle this?”

“We have to stay focused on the evidence and see where it takes us. If Harrison is innocent, we’ll prove it. If Harrison is guilty, we’ll prove that as well and lock his ass up.”

“We have to be right on this one, because he’ll throw everything they have at us politically through the mayor’s office and maybe higher.”

“I fully expect that, Commissioner, which is why I wanted you to be fully informed. We have to keep the evidence quiet so they won’t invent alibis, but I knew that this development was going to start a brush fire.”

The commissioner shook his head.

“It will be more like a volcano. You know how the politicians cater to the high and mighty wealthy voters.”

“Of course they will, but I also know that the NYPD cannot let that affect the integrity of this or any other investigation.”

“You have my support, and I know that Charles agrees.”

Abernathy was a little red-faced, but nodded in agreement.

Commissioner Longstreet offered a closing question.

“What can we do to help you, Patty?”

“Do you have to notify the mayor?”

“Yes, pretty quickly I’m afraid.”

“I figured as much, but if you can brief him first before ‘Mr. Moneybags’ gets to him, it might be an easier pill to swallow.”

“That makes sense, but this will not go over well.”

“Thanks, Commissioner, You and the Chief keep your heads down and we’ll try our best to round up the people responsible for this.”

“I’m certain of that, Patty. I wish you Godspeed my friend.”

CHAPTER 50

Tuesday April 13-Day 12

Chief of Detectives’ Office- One Police Plaza

Borough of Manhattan, New York

1400 Hours

Pat
returned to his office and was met by Bryan Flannery. Bryan had some new information from the task force.

“Chief, something is definitely going on with these real estate deals in Queens. People act like they’re scared to death to talk to us. Sanchez talked to one lady who admitted that she’d been under a lot of pressure to sell her house. She has no place to go, and told Rosa that the gang bangers were threatening her to the point she was afraid to go out of the house. Andy Anderson also called in with similar results.”

“This may be why Harrison was meeting with this gang banger. They’re probably using the gang bangers to intimidate the hold-outs, like the mob used to do with their enforcers, so that he can have all the property for his development.”

“I agree that it’s a possibility. It would be nice if we could snatch one of those gang bangers and get him to talk.”

Pat nodded his head in agreement.

“If we can find someone who’ll cooperate, we could probably set up an undercover operation and nail them.”

“Let’s pull everyone back in at 1700 and see if we have any prospects. Maybe, we’ll have the phone toll analysis completed by then.”

“That gives us three hours.  I’ll reach out to everyone, Chief.”

“Thanks, Bryan.”  

“By the way, Chief, how did it go with the commissioner?”

“They’re supportive, but their knees are knocking together over the anticipated political fallout. Abernathy wanted to deny the possibility that Harrison could be involved, but he followed Longstreet’s lead and was behind us, at least on the surface.”

Pat went back to his desk and called Caroline Rodriguez. She answered on the first ring.

“Hello, Caroline, it’s Pat O’Connor.”

“Hi Pat, how are things going?”

“We are making a lot of progress, but we’ve still not made an arrest. We do believe we know where Tony was killed, but it’s not something I can go into, other than tell you it was at a bar in Queens.”

“I saw the protest on television. I assumed that was the place.”

“You’re very observant.”

“I was married to a cop for eighteen years. You pick up skills.”

“How are you coping?”

“I have good and bad days. I still can’t bring myself to look through Tony’s things. It’s just too painful. I get several calls a week from the members of his squad. They’re all so supportive and concerned. I’ve got enough food to feed an army in the fridge.”

“Cops look after each other, and Caroline, you’re part of our family.”

“I know, but I still cry when I see a cruiser or hear a siren. Those were the things that Tony loved so much.”

“Do you need anything?”

“No, I have more than enough. Thanks for the update. I know you won’t let go of this until you make the collar.”

“I promise you that is the truth! I’ll call you soon, and call me if you need anything whatsoever.”

“I will. Goodbye, Pat.”

“Goodbye, Caroline, keep your chin up.”

CHAPTER 51

Tuesday April 13-Day 12

Major Crimes Conference Room- One Police Plaza

Borough of Manhattan, New York

1700 Hours

The
task force was back in the conference room by 1700 hours, as requested. They were comparing notes of their conversations with home owners in Queens. Pat and Bryan walked in, and everyone sat down. Bryan Flannery started at the podium.

“Do you have anything for us, Chief?”

“No, let’s hear what we’ve found out.”

“Okay, Rosa Sanchez, would you like to start?”

“Sure, Captain, I’ll just speak from here.”

Rosa remained at the table, speaking in a strong voice. “I had four addresses to check out. At the first one, the door was closed in my face, and I was told impolitely to leave them alone. The second was that of an elderly woman, who accused me of being a gang banger until I showed her my shield. She warmed up a little and told me that her home had been in her family for seventy-five years and that she would not sell it to anyone. She told me that Hispanic gang members had been threatening her, and that she fears for her life. She has to have her groceries delivered, because she is literally afraid to walk out the door. She’s had her windows broken and tires slashed. Her car has four flat tires in the driveway. She told me she’d been going through this for the last three months. She originally had visits from a lawyer. I’m quite sure that was Romano. She said he even suggested to her that he couldn’t guarantee her safety. They’ve been mostly just saying things like ‘You better take the money and run before you can’t run anymore. We want to help you get out before something bad happens.’ It really broke my heart, Captain.”

“It supports our theory. Good information, Rosa. What did you find out about the other two addresses?”

“No one was home at her next-door neighbor, and she says she hasn’t seen them in weeks.  She thinks they moved to Jersey. At the last address, another elderly couple wouldn’t even answer a single question. There’s a lot of fear out there over this.”

Other detectives related similar results, with most people not wanting to talk to the police because of fear. Pat responded. “All we need are a couple of residents who aren’t afraid to cooperate. We’ll protect them, collar the gang bangers and squeeze them for information. Do any of you think we have someone who might be willing to do that?”

Rosa Sanchez offered her contact.

“I really think that this lady I spoke of would do this, Chief. She’s afraid, but she’s already confronted the gang bangers on her own. She has a large house. I could probably convince her to let me stay there a few days, posing as her niece or something.”

“Rosa, if she’ll do this, we’ll wire her house up, put cameras on the place and provide a surveillance van and arrest team around the clock. I’d dearly love to snag one of those thugs and
squeeze him for information. Does anyone else have any prospects? It would be great to do several locations.”

There were no other responses. Pat realized that people were in fear and there was no 100% guarantee that the NYPD could protect them.

“Okay, then we’ll go with Rosa’s new aunt. I’d like to start as soon as possible. You can set it up, Rosa. The Captain and I’ll start getting the resources we need. Let’s plan to begin this operation tomorrow night. Did she say when these visits were primarily occurring?”

“They’ve almost always been late at night, never in the daytime.”

“We’ll want Rosa in place by 1600 hours tomorrow afternoon.”

“Did you get a description of the suspect, Rosa?”

“There are usually more than one, Chief, and she’s simply described them as young Hispanic males.”

“Let’s put a photo line-up together that includes Salvatore Cortez and see if she picks him out.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll take care of it.”

Polly Greenburg from the Real Time Crime Information Center entered the conference room. Pat spoke to her, and she acknowledged that she had the preliminary analysis of the phone tolls. Pat knew there were logistics needed for tomorrow.

“Let’s take a fifteen-minute break while we get the ball rolling on this operation. We have important information to review with Polly.”

Bryan and the detectives were in a buzz making phone calls, arranging pole cameras, getting a wire to put in the residence, and providing twenty-four hour surveillance. The OCCB agreed to furnish manpower and the use of one of their large surveillance vehicles. It was a battered and older-looking New York City Housing maintenance vehicle. It was as large as a Ryder truck, but inside was a state-of-the-art sophisticated surveillance vehicle that would rival the National Security Agency. It had every camera and microphone known. It could be used to take still shots, streaming video, and night-vision. It even had thermal imaging equipment which could see a person’s body heat, even in complete darkness. There were parabolic microphones and a heating and cooling system that made no sound and did not require the engine to be on. Thrown in for good luck were a chemical toilet, some bunk-beds and a microwave oven and refrigerator. It had all the comforts of home and was owned by the NYPD. Once Sanchez was in place, she would be constantly monitored. Pat hoped her new friend would cooperate.

It took about twenty minutes to get things set up.  Rosa agreed to revisit the woman that night to make sure she would cooperate. Pat re-assembled the task force back in the conference room.

“Okay, guys and girls, I appreciate the quick work getting all this set up. The OCCB was more than willing to give us their best equipment, once they found out it involves Tony’s case. I know it’s a long shot and may take several days, but it puts us out there doing something pro-active to catch a killer. What’ve you found out for us, Polly?”    

“Thanks, Chief, I’ve run the link analysis program on the numbers, and we do have some relationship interaction between them. At various times, these guys are all calling each other. Donald Harrison uses his cell phone only in a limited fashion. He actually calls only three people with any consistency.  They are Joey DeCarlo, Daniel Pellegrino and his wife, Robin. Most of his calls are to DeCarlo. He calls him and has very short conversations, usually less than a minute. After he calls DeCarlo, DeCarlo usually makes several phone calls. Often, these phone calls have been to none other than our lawyer friend, Romano, or Salvatore Cortez. Harrison’s never contacted Cortez or Romano directly, but Romano talks to Pellegrino with regularity. Cortez had made over a hundred calls to Joey DeCarlo in the last two weeks.”

“This is great work, Polly. On the night of the murder based on the cell data, can we tell where these phones were geographically?”