[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 136 (Friday, September 27, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1733-E1734]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INVESTIGATION OF JOSEPH OCCHIPINTI
______
HON. JAMES A. TRAFICANT, JR.
of ohio
in the house of representatives
Thursday, September 26, 1996
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, as part of my on-going investigation of
the case of former Immigration and Naturalization Service agent Joseph
Occhipinti, I am inserting into the Record the following sworn
affidavit:
Affidavit, State of New Jersey, County of Monmouth
William Acosta, Being Duly Sworn, Deposes and States:
1. I executed this affidavit on behalf of Staten Island
Borough President Guy V. Molinari and U.S. Representative
James Traficant, Jr. who are investigating the alleged drug
cartel conspiracy against former Immigration & Naturalization
Service Agent Joseph Occhipinti. I possess evidence which can
corroborate the drug cartel conspiracy
[[Page E1734]]
against Mr. Occhipinti and I have agreed to share that
evidence with the United States Congress and Borough
President Molinari.
2. I am a former thirteen year law enforcement official who
successfully infiltrated the Medellin and Cali Colombian drug
cartels. I am considered an expert on the Colombian and
Dominican drug and money laundering operations in the New
York City area.
3. In 1987, I was previously employed as an undercover
operative for the United States Customs Service, wherein I
was assigned to route out corruption at John F. Kennedy
International Airport. In 1987, I was the principle
undercover agent on ``Operation Airport 88'', which resulted
in the prosecution and conviction of seventeen government
officials for bribery corruption and related criminal
charges. I was then promoted to Special Agent and reassigned
to the Los Angeles District Office.
4. In 1990, I was appointed to the New York City Police
Department as a Police Officer. In view of my Colombian
heritage and confidential sources close to the Colombian
cartel, I was eventually assigned to the Internal Affairs
Unit. During my undercover activity, I generated evidence of
police corruption for the Deputy Commissioner of Internal
Affairs which was later corroborated by the ``Mollen
Commission'' hearings which investigated police corruption.
5. On January 14, 1992, Manuel De Dios, a close personal
friend and world renown journalist executed the attached
notarized affidavit, wherein, Mr. Dios corroborated the
existence of a drug cartel conspiracy against Mr. Occhipinti.
The orchestrators of the conspiracy were major Dominican
organized crime figures connected with the ``Dominican
Federation'' which is the front for the Dominican drug
cartel. The Federation are the principle drug distributors in
the United States for the Colombian cartel. Unfortunately,
Mr. De Dios was assassinated before he could bring forward
his sources who could prove the drug cartel conspiracy
against Mr. Occhipinti. After Mr. De Dios assassination, I
too became fearful of my personal safety and never made
public the evidence on the Occhipinti case.
6. It should be noted that I personally assisted Mr. De
Dios in this investigation of the Occhipinti case which
corroborated the Federation conspiracy. In fact, I personally
accompanied Mr. De Dios to the Washington Heights area where
we secretly taped recorded Federation members who conformed
the drug cartel conspiracy. Those tapes still exist and can
exonerate Mr. Occhipinti. In essence, Mr. Occhipinti was set
up because of his increased enforcement efforts on Project
Bodega which was exposing and hurting the Dominican
Federation's criminal operations in New York City, which
included illegal wire transfers, drug distribution, gambling
operations, food stamp fraud, food coupon fraud, among other
organized crime activity.
7. My investigation also determined that Mr. Occhipinti was
exposing a major money laundering and loan sharking operation
relating to the Federation which was controlled by the ``Sea
Crest Trading Company'' of Greenwich, Connecticut. Sea Crest
also maintains an office at 4750 Bronx River Parkway in the
Bronx, New York. Sea Crest was using the Capital National
Bank in order to facilitate their money laundering
operations. In 1993, Carlos Cordoba, the President of Capital
National Bank was convicted in Federal Court at Brooklyn, New
York for millions of dollars in money laundering and he
received a token sentence of probation. My investigation
confirmed that Sea Crest, as well as the Dominican
Federation, are being politically protected by high ranking
public officials who have received illegal political
contributions which were drug proceeds. In addition, the
operatives in Sea Crest were former CIA Cuban operatives who
were involved in the ``Bay of Pigs''. This is one of the
reasons why the intelligence community has consistently
protected and insulated Sea Crest and the Dominican
Federation from criminal prosecution.
8. At present, there are nine major Colombian drug families
which control drug operations in the New York City area.
These drug families often referred to as the ``Nine Kings''.
The Dominican Federation are part of their drug trafficking
and money laundering operations. I possess documentary
evidence, as well as video surveillance tapes of their drug
operations. In addition, the New York City Police has
investigative files to corroborate this fact. I have also
uncovered substantial evidence of political and police
corruption which has been intentionally ignored. In fact, it
is my belief that former New York City Police Internal
Affairs Commissioner Walter Mack, who I directly worked for,
was intentionally fired because of his efforts to expose
police corruption. I plan to make public this evidence to the
United States Congress, as well as key members of the media
in order to preserve this evidence in the event I am
assassinated like Mr. De Dios.
9. It should also be noted that Criminal Investigators
Benjamin Saurino and Ronald Gardello of the U.S. Attorney's
Office in Manhattan similarly ignored the evidence I brought
forward to them on the Nine Kings and Dominican Federation.
These two investigators who were credited for convicting Mr.
Occhipinti and they made it clear to me they didn't want to
hear the evidence I had on the Federation which could have
exonerated Mr. Occhipinti. They were only interested in
corruption cases I had brought to their office. In fact, I
recall a conversation, wherein, Investigator Saurino asked me
about my involvement with Manuel De Dios and if I knew
anything about the Occhipinti case. He then stopped and
referred to Occipinti in a derogatory manner, by saying
``He's no * * * good''. Realizing his bias and lack of
interest in investigating the Federation and Nine Kings, I
changed the subject of conversation.
10. In April, 1995, I resigned from the New York City
Police Department, Internal Affairs Unit after it became
evident that my efforts to expose police corruption was being
hampered. The same reason why I believe Commissioner Walter
Mack was fired. It became evident to me that my life was in
eminent danger and I could be easily set up on fabricated
misconduct charges like Mr. Occhipinti. In fact, they brought
departmental charges against me in 1995 and I won the case.
The trial judge also admonished the department on the record
for perjury. Often, I found myself isolated and in constant
danger working alone in the worst neighborhoods of the city
without a backup. Today, I possess substantial evidence to
prove that the NYC Police Department media campaign to
demonstrate that they could independently police themselves
and route out corruption was simply a media ploy to avoid
having an independent counsel to oversee their internal
affairs unit. In reality, corruption is still rampant in the
department and high ranking police brass are intentionally
terminating viable corruption investigations in order to
avoid future scandals exposed by the Mollen Commission. I
also possess a consensually monitored tape conversation which
implicates a high ranking police official who received bribes
from the Dominican Federation.
11. I am willing to testify before Congress as to the
allegations set forth in this affidavit. In addition, I am
willing to turn over to Borough President Molinari and
Congressman Traficant the documentary evidence I possess on
the Dominican Federation, the Nine Kings and the Occhipinti
drug cartel conspiracy. There are other important pieces of
information relating to drug cartel operations and political
corruption that I have not made public in this affidavit in
order to protect my sources as well as ongoing media
investigations that I am involved with. In addition, I am
willing to submit to a polygraph examination to prove the
veracity of my allegations.
William Acosta.
______
Affidavit, State of New York, County of Queens
Manual DeDios, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
I am a former editor of El Diario/La Prensa Newspaper and
am currently the editor of a weekly newspaper published in
the Spanish language known as Canbyo.
During the course of my work for Canbyo, I undertook to
write an expose concerning criminal complaints brought
against an Immigration and Naturalization Service Supervisory
Special Agent named Joseph Occhipinti by various members of
the Federation of Dominican Merchants and Industrialists of
New York.
During the course of my investigatory work in researching
for the article, I interviewed numerous individuals who are
members of the Federation of Dominican Merchants and
Industrialists of New York. These individuals confided to me
that Mr. Occhipinti had been set up by the Federation and
that the complaints against him were fraudulent. These
individuals have indicated to me that they are in fear of
their safety and as a result would not go public with this
information.
I would be more than willing to share my information with
any law enforcement agencies or Courts concerned with these
matters and would cooperate fully in any further
investigations.
Manual DeDios.
____________________