New Haven Independent

Judge Janet Arterton handed down the sentence, which also included two years of supervised release, in U.S. District Court in New Haven. The courthouse was mobbed with supporters and reporters; the crowd spilled out into the hallway.

In addition to his prison sentence, White was ordered to pay $15,505 in restitution, forfeit $10,200 in bribes he accepted from local bail bondsmen, and pay a $20,000 fine.

Arterton dismissed defense arguments that the sentence should be reduced below the range of 36 to 47 months because of Billy White’s “extraordinary” public service and because of post-traumatic stress syndrome he has suffered due to the murder of his son by the Latin Kings gang. In the 1990s, White headed the department’s intelligence unit and helped put heads of drug gangs in jail for long sentences.

“When a police officer such as Mr. White turns into a criminal such as those he devoted his life to enforcing the law against, kids lose their heroes. The public loses its trust in the police. The police department loses its reputation. And judges and jurors get increasingly skeptical of the sworn statements that are given to them,” Judge Arterton said.

The sentencing lasted two-and-a-half hours. Eight people spoke on White’s behalf. Attorney William McClendon told of how White went “above and beyond” his duties in protecting him when he received a death threat. Neighbors from Westville and Dixwell, former Alderwoman Mae Ola Riddick, and White’s wife Nancy also appealed for a lighter sentence.

The prosecution, for its part, argued that White knew what he was doing and didn’t deserve any leniency.

White, who’s 64, clasped his hands and hung his head as prosecutor Nora Dannehy (pictured) played a recording of him discussing with an undercover agent whether or not to put an informant’s life at risk by taking cash from a supposed drug deal. (The cash was planted in a car on Long Wharf by the FBI.)

“They’d kill ‘em for that fuckin’ much money, I know they would. They’d probably kill that girl,” says White on the recording, before proceeding to wrap a scarf around his face and steal the money.

Click here to listen to the audio segment she played. Click here to read details of that “Estupido Caper”.

Dannehy stressed that White’s crime was not an isolated incident. She played a tape recorded in 2006 in which he boasted of having taken money from bail bondsmen for four or five years.

Dannehy asked for a sentence of 36-47 months. The government got its wish.

In a brief statement before the judge, White apologized to friends, family and law enforcement officials. “I just hope everybody, some way, some time, can dig deep down in their hearts and forgive me for what I have done.”

The feds arrested White in March 2007 as part of a broader investigation into corruption in the New Haven police department, especially the narcotics unit he ran. Since then, other cops have been arrested and gone to court, a national team of experts has drawn up a plan to fix a broken department, and the police chief has retired.

Click here and here for background on the case.

Arterton ordered White to report to federal prison in Otisville, N.Y., on June 10. That has to be a relief for White and his supporters: That jail is considered a safer place for a cop who put away drug dealers than some of the others where he might have been sent to.

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