New Haven Independent

DeStefano, just back in town from a national League of Cities meeting in D.C., addressed the press on the third floor of police headquarters. He was flanked by a phalanx of top cops and city aldermen.

FBI agents had swarmed onto that same floor earlier in the day in the course of arresting two members of the narcotics unit: its head, Lt. Billy White, and Detective Justen Kasperzyk. White was accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from a local family-run bondsman company to hunt down fugitives; and of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from crime scenes, some of them real, others orchestrated as part of an FBI sting. Kasperzyk was charged with theft of government funds under $1,000. (Click here for more details on that case and Tuesday’s arraignment in federal court.)

Cops were still visibly shaken by the day’s events when DeStefano stepped up to the microphone shortly after 9:30 p.m.

“To read the [government’s] complaint, as I did, is to make you sick,” DeStefano said. “It is a disservice to justice and fairness in our city… What it is not is [a judgment on] the hard work of hundreds of men and women in this department…. We will learn from this. We will deal with this.”

One of his main goals in the coming days, DeStefano said, “is “to ensure the men and women of this department are supported and not distracted.” Click on the play arrow of the video clip below to watch DeStefano invoke his late father’s badge #101 in solidarity with the rank and file.

DeStefano and Police Chief Francisco Ortiz did promise action at the press conference. Starting Wednesday, they said, a thorough review will commence of the narcotics unit, with the help of the state police’s narcotics task force. All personnel, and cases, will be reviewed. A sergeant from the New Haven department’s internal affairs division will assume command of the narcotics unit.

“It’s conceivable,” DeStefano said, “there won’t be a narcotics unit when this is over.”

Chief Ortiz (pictured) emphasized that the “two individuals [charged] do not represent my vision of community policing.” He and the mayor repeatedly focused on how this case was primarily about “two individuals.” However, the federal government, in this affidavit released Tuesday, suggested that corruption runs deeper in the narcotics unit, that more arrests may loom in a continuing investigation. DeStefano acknowledged that he’d heard “rumors” of more arrests. “I don’t rule out that more officers are involved,” he said.

Ortiz did not mention that he previously took flack from many of his cops for trying to remove Lt. White from his leadership of the narcotics unit. Those unsuccessful efforts led to a no-confidence vote against the chief. Seemingly forgotten amid the events unfolding Tuesday was that White had deep ties in the department and in the community, and a lot of supporters.

Hill Alderwoman Jackie James (pictured) represents one of the most crime-plagued stretches of New Haven. James watched Tuesday night’s press conference from the back of the room. She said afterwards that she had met with Lt. White to urge him to take action against drug-dealers in her neighborhood.

She never saw results, she said. Tuesday’s arrests led her to a rhetorical question: “You wonder why drugs are still in the city of New Haven?”

After the press conference, Mayor DeStefano took time to answer questions from longtime activist and former Black Panther George Edwards.