Friends,

I saw an Article in the NY Post (2nd March 2009) titled "City Cops'
Bad Buddies" followed by the subtitle "100+ Officers investigated for
ties to Mobesters, Robbers & Drug Pushers".
It is written by Murray Weiss who is the criminal justice editor at
the New York Post, reporting on everything from street crime to con
artists, law enforcement and the Mafia.
Its opening lines are- "Move over, Mafia Cops! More than 100 of New
York's Finest were investigated last year for allegedly associating
with criminals - from boozing with mobsters to pulling off robberies
with gang members to even carrying on affairs with lowlife drug dealers"
Some of the more astounding cases involve a transit cop Yaniris
Balbuena, 31, who was charged with laundering $250,000 for her
heroin-trafficking common-law husband - even making money pickups on
Bronx street corners for his far-flung operations, which reached into
the Dominican Republic, Jorge Arbaje-Diaz, a Bronx cop for three
years, who was charged federally with participating in a violent
stickup crew that posed as cops while committing 100 armed robberies
of drug traffickers along the East Coast, netting millions in cash and
drugs and Detective Luis Batista, who was implicated in a cocaine
operation.
The reason for such a behaviour has also been analysed by Murray when
he says- "The issue has been of increasing concern as the force has
gotten younger and starting salaries have fallen." As one of his
sources explains- "You pay a low salary".
Again Murray feels that "accusations of cops consorting with criminals
are extraordinarily difficult to lodge because investigators must
prove an individual was aware of someone's unsavory background. And
many cops wind up being warned to avoid their errant relations."
Finally as Murray says, the NYPD poster boys for consorting with
criminals are ex-Detectives Louis Eppolito, who boasted of having a
mob capo for an uncle and penned an autobiography, "Mafia Cop," and
Steven Caracappa. They were unmasked as being on the mob's payroll,
pocketing bribes and participating in six murders - all while on the
force.
Do these things, such news and such situations sound familiar to
people living in India? So, is there something universal about human
behaviour?

Amitabh Thakur
SP (Intll),
Faizabad
# 94155-34526