By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon DocCloud
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
FEDERAL COURT, Nov 9 – A New York City Police Officer, Amaury Abreu, has been indicted for participating in importing and distributing cocaine in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. EDNY prosecutors sought but did not obtain his detention pending trial.
Inner City Press put the detention memo online here. Then it live tweeted the bail proceeding:
Now at 4:50 pm, detention hearing of NYPD Amaury Abreu is starting before EDNY Magistrate Judge Sanket J. Bulsara (who minutes ago bailed out Abreu's co-defendant Junior Ortiz).
Erin Reid says US is asking for detention - the organization brought in a steady supply of drugs, through JFK. "He's an NYPD officer, he abused that position over several years."
AUSA: He gave the DTO organization about its competitors. He ran a warrant check for a co-defendant. That is provable. He lied about all of this - he could be charged under 1001.
Abreu's CJA laywer Matthew Galluzzo: He owns two houses on Long Island, his wife is a dental hygienist making $5000 a year. His service weapon has been seized. He should be released rather than into the MDC.
Judge: Does he have any other weapons? Defense lawyer: I don't believe so. Judge: The charges are significant. It is a presumption case. The US says there has been an abuse of trust. But the Bail Reform Act requires me to consider this is his first case, & his job
Judge: Also, Pre-Trial Services recommends he be bailed. So, with home confinement, I'm releasing him.
$1 million bond, with confession of judgment due in 3 weeks and time excluded to Dec. 18.
Before: "Between at least January 2016 and October 2020, Abreu, Bautista and Valerio were members of a multinational drug trafficking organization (“DTO”) with distributors in the New York-metropolitan area and the Dominican Republic. During that time, the DTO imported multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine into the United States through a variety of means, including by sending drug couriers on flights to the United States, concealing narcotics in mail and tractor trucks that enter the United States from Mexico, and concealing narcotics in produce shipments that are imported into the United States. Between January 2016 and February 2017, the DTO sent a series of drug couriers on flights to New York from the Dominican Republic. When the couriers landed in JFK Airport in Queens, New York, they were escorted through customs and baggage claim by a corrupt CBP officer who was part of the conspiracy. After they went through customs, the couriers were met by a driver who took them to a safe house where they waited to be paid.
2 Five couriers connected to the DTO, the corrupt CBP officer and the driver were arrested at JFK airport between January 2016 and February 2017. In total, law enforcement agents seized more than approximately 50 kilograms of cocaine and $3,622 from the couriers at the time of their arrests. In addition, in approximately May 2018, the DTO sent a shipment of approximately 250 kilograms of cocaine concealed in boxes of produce imports from the Dominican Republic to the Red Hook Port in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York. CBP officers at the port identified and seized the cocaine. In approximately July 2019, the DTO sent a shipment of approximately 66 kilograms cocaine concealed in boxes of produce imports from the Dominican Republic to a warehouse in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. CBP officers identified and seized the cocaine. Between the airport seizures, the Red Hook Port seizure and the Philadelphia seizure, since 2016 law enforcement agents have seized more than 350 kilograms of cocaine belonging to the DTO.
B. The Defendants’ Crimes Abreu, Bautista and Valerio all played key roles in the DTO between January 2016 and October 2020. i. Amaury Abreu Abreu, a police officer with the New York Police Department (“NYPD”), abused his position by providing information to the DTO about law enforcement procedures and performing warrant checks on members of the DTO using the NYPD arrest database. In addition, on at least one occasion, Valerio, a high-ranking member of the DTO, gave Abreu cocaine to distribute. Messages between Abreu and the DTO’s leadership reflect Abreu’s efforts to assist the DTO’s leadership in concealing the DTO’s criminal activities, and to keep the leadership advised of ongoing law enforcement operations that might impact the DTO’s business. For example, in January 2016, Abreu messaged the DTO’s leadership, in substance, “Today I’m going to find out the thing I couldn’t yesterday because there were too many people at the office.” One day later, Abreu messaged the DTO’s leadership, in substance, that an associate of the DTO was “fine, because here in New York you don’t see information from another state when we run a license from another state only if they’re wanted so if they stop him tell him to say he lives in Pennsylvania and not in New York and it’s cool . . . .” On or about March 11, 2016, the DTO’s leadership sent Abreu a message containing Gustavo Valerio’s full name, date of birth and social security number. An audit of the NYPD’s arrest database revealed that, that same day, Abreu searched for Valerio’s name in the database – despite having no legitimate law enforcement purpose for doing so. A few 3 days later, presumably after learning that his warrant check was clear, Valerio travelled to the Dominican Republic. In May 2016, Abreu sent messages to the DTO’s leadership asking about a license plate that Abreu had provided, “in case anything happens.” A member of the leadership responded in substance, “that’s my guardian angel brother I don’t leave it anywhere thanks so much.” On or about August 12, 2016, Abreu sent messages to the DTO’s leadership informing them of “a little clean-up of the enemy’s people on Wednesday . . . .[t]wo for sure, but they’re keeping it quiet until they clean up, because it was the Feds.” These messages likely referred to a law enforcement operation that occurred on August 11, 2016, when federal agents arrested several individuals associated with a rival drug trafficking organization to the DTO. There is evidence that, in addition to assisting the DTO, Abreu was directly involved in the DTO’s operations. For example, as noted above, Valerio, a high-ranking member of the DTO, gave Abreu cocaine to distribute on at least one occasion. Valerio also exchanged messages with the DTO’s leadership indicating that, as part of his money-collection duties on behalf of the DTO, he collected money from Abreu. There is strong evidence of Abreu’s ongoing connection to the DTO. Indeed, phone records confirm that Abreu has been in almost daily contact touch with the DTO’s leadership between 2018 and as recently as November 3, 2020. Travel records show that Abreu traveled to meet with the DTO’s leadership in the Dominican Republic in January and February 2020." Watch this site.
