Authors: Gary Hastings
Sergeant Sheldon handed Pat the email, which he and Mary read with great interest.
“My man Harry, I know we’ve been through a lot, but I have one more task for you to complete. You’ve done well on the others. I know you want out of this, but they do have your name when you witnessed the judge’s unfortunate accident. I will leave you instructions in the usual manner. As you said, he is going to DC on Monday. He needs to have a bad day. Don’t let me down, Harry. You know I can destroy you. DP”
Pat was angry hearing how Pellegrino was assigning Harry to kill him. He knew Pellegrino would come to regret that order. Mary and Pat read several other emails. On several occasions, he felt like the messages may have been referring to Forest
Butelli, but they were coded. He would let the Geek Squad figure them out and hopefully find some clue as to where Pellegrino was hiding.
Mary McDonald turned to Pat as they walked out of the computer lab. “I want to nail this bastard so much I can taste it.”
“I feel exactly the same way, but when our anger boils, we can make mistakes. So we need to stay cool and outsmart this guy at his own game.”
“I have no doubt that’s exactly what we’ll do.” Mary assured him.
“Thanks, Mary, I hope it’s soon.”
Chapter 48
Friday, February 11 - Day 24
Major Crimes Conference Room - One Police Plaza
Borough of Manhattan, New York
0900 Hours
P
at talked with Bryan Flannery about getting the District Attorney’s office involved in the investigation. As best as they could tell, the jurisdiction would fall to the Manhattan District Attorney in New York County. Without giving a lot of details, Bryan had an agreement from Joseph McMichael to attend the next task force meeting. McMichael was a senior guy and Bryan felt good about the choice.
At 0900 the task force members were drinking coffee and eating some free food courtesy of Lieutenant Angie Wilson. Bryan Flannery walked in with a well-dressed man of about 40. He had a completely shaved, but well-tanned head, and looked to be in good shape. Pat assumed that he would be Assistant District Attorney Joseph McMichael. Pat approached him with an outstretched hand.
“Good morning. I’m Pat O’Connor, Chief of Detectives. You must be our ADA.”
He smiled and shook Pat’s hand. “I’m Joe McMichael, Chief. Please call me Joe.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Joe. I appreciate your sitting in on this meeting. We’ve been working this old case for about three weeks, and Bryan and I felt it was time to get one of you guys on board.”
“Thanks, but cold cases are hard to prosecute and my boss likes sure things. I don’t want to dampen your spirits, but I hope that you have a good case.”
Pat took an immediate dislike to the ADA, but realized that District Attorney Tom Bronson had given him his marching orders. Pat tried not to show his frustration, but could not get past the fact the ADA was showing doubt, without having heard the first thing about this case. He asked Bryan Flannery to introduce the task force. After the introductions, Pat took center stage.
“Three weeks ago, I was visited by the widow of a retired detective, Forrest
Butelli, who died in 2001, the victim of an alleged suicide. The family didn’t think it was a suicide for a number of reasons and asked that we take another look.”
Joe McMichael asked a question immediately. “Excuse me, but what did the ME rule?”
“They ruled it a suicide.”
“Then officially, it’s a suicide and I’m sure you know how difficult it is to get a determination of death reversed.”
Pat was irritated
“Counselor, why don’t you let us review the entire case with you, and then we can answer your questions?”
“That’s fine, but I can see this case is not going anywhere.”
Pat tried to control his anger, but he had heard enough from the little pencil pusher.
“I’m sorry we wasted your time, Mr. ADA. I know you have important things to do like sharpening your pencils or deciding what cases you’re not going to prosecute. I’m interested in a real prosecutor, who is interested in justice. You’re not the guy!”
Joe McMichael stood up. He was red in the face and had his nose pointed high in the air.
“Mister, you just wait a minute. You’re being disrespectful. I’ll not put up with that tone from a cop.”
Pat almost chuckled at his pompousness, but decided to end it.
“Respect is earned and not demanded. I kindly suggest you get the hell out of here. Captain Flannery, please escort this talking head out of my sight.”
“Yes sir, Chief.” Bryan said shaking his head.
As Bryan Flannery walked out with the ADA, there was not a peep in the room. Pat felt they deserved an explanation.
“Maybe I was a little quick to put a pin in his balloon, but I’m not going to stand here and take his crap when he hasn’t listened to the first piece of our investigation. I’m damned proud of the work we’ve accomplished in this case, and it’ll be taken seriously if I have anything to do with it. After all, it involves at least three murders. Let’s take a break for a few minutes while I try to do some damage control.”
Pat walked into his office and was quickly joined by Bryan Flannery and Mary McDonald. Pat just shook his head.
“Maybe I went a little overboard, but I’m not going to put up with this kind of crap. His attitude got under my skin. I’m going to call the DA and see if we can get someone else.”
Mary let out a deep breath and vented. “Don’t apologize to anyone, Chief. There’s no need, because you told the truth. I support what you said, whether anyone else likes it or not. We’ve built a good case that’s only getting better. He was on his high horse, and you just put him in his proper stall. You said it best. There has to be someone interested in justice.”
“Thanks, Mary.”
Pat picked up his phone and asked Angie Wilson to get the New York County DA on the phone. Pat’s line rang.
“Pat O’Connor.”
“Good morning, Pat. It’s Tom Bronson.”
“Thanks, Tom. Have you talked to Joe McMichael yet?”
There was a pause and then Bronson spoke. “He’s actually on hold. He sounds hysterical. What in the hell happened over there?”
“We really didn’t get started before he started telling us what he wouldn’t do and how you weren’t interested in prosecuting cold cases and the like. We’ve busted our balls on this case, and things are starting to come together. I didn’t like his attitude and I sent him packing.”
“He’s one of my best ADA’s, Pat.”
“That’s what Bryan Flannery said about him.”
“Bryan should know. He’s successfully prosecuted a lot of Manhattan North’s homicides.”
“I’d like for you to review the case with us, Tom.”
“Pat, I’m covered up just running things. I don’t really prosecute many cases myself. I don’t have the time.”
“Maybe it’s time you changed that and jumped in the trenches and took a really important case. Leadership by example I’d call it.”
There was a long pause on the phone and then Tom Bronson spoke. “When can I see the casework?”
“Name your time, and we can do it today.”
“Let’s do it at 2:00 pm, my office.”
“We’ll see you there. I appreciate your willingness to do this the right way, Tom. You won’t be disappointed.”
Chapter 49
Friday, February 11 - Day 24
New York County District Attorney’s Office - 100 Center Street
Borough of Manhattan, New York
1400 Hours
C
aptain Bryan Flannery and Detective Mary McDonald went with Pat to meet with the Manhattan DA. The New York County District Attorney’s Office was located in a high-rise at 100 Center Street. They took the elevator to the sixth floor and entered the executive offices where they were quickly directed to a law library. They were seated at a large conference room table surrounded by floor to ceiling law books.
Thomas Bronson entered the room carrying a long, yellow, legal pad. He warmly shook hands with everyone and took a seat at the end of the conference table. Pat and Bronson knew of each other, but they weren’t friends. Sometimes the Police Commissioner would have meetings with all the District Attorneys in the five boroughs to discuss new enforcement strategies to ensure cooperation in prosecuting those arrested. Pat had often attended those meetings.
Bronson spoke first, “First of all, Chief, I’d like to apologize for Joe. It was really probably good for him to get a dose of reality, but it would be an understatement to say that he was pretty shook up about this.”
“Mr. DA, I hope I wasn’t too direct, but he came to our meeting with a preconceived idea that he was not going to prosecute the case. This is an old and complicated case. If you listen to the details, I’m pretty sure you’ll have no doubt that we have to pursue a prosecution in this case. I’d like to go over the entire case, and then we can dig deeper into it, if you have questions.”
“That’ll be fine with me.”
Pat explained the entire case from top to bottom. He went into great detail about his contact with Margaret
Butelli and Gloria Moses. Tom listened intently to every word.
“Tom, the family and friends of Forrest
Butelli didn’t have any indicators that he was depressed or had depression issues. Their marriage was solid, he was in good health and financially stable. However, her complaints to the NYPD went unaddressed, and she eventually accepted their decision and quit complaining. I know you probably can’t use it in a prosecution, but we had a psychological profile completed by a Secret Service psychologist which indicated there was an 88 percent chance Forrest did not commit suicide. Margaret Butelli was getting ready to move, and while getting the house ready to sell, she found a case file her husband was working on the week he died. He’d been hired by an attorney to investigate some corruption in the Kings County Courthouse over in Brooklyn.”
Bronson interrupted. “That’s not a job for some PI!”
“No question, but he was very thorough. The allegation was that an attorney, Daniel Pellegrino, was freely getting cases dismissed in court. It involved a Judge Robert Fitzpatrick, an ADA Franklyn Donovan, and of course, Pellegrino. We know Pellegrino because we have active warrants on him out of Queens for being an accessory after the fact to the murder of NYPD Detective, Tony Rodriguez, and for obstruction of justice. Pellegrino worked for Donald Harrison, the real estate entrepreneur, now in prison.”
“Wow, this is a complicated case, but I’m following you, and please continue.”
“We’ve verified over 100 criminal and traffic cases which were dismissed either by Judge Fitzpatrick, after a defense motion, or by the ADA Donovan prior to the trial.”
“That’s just circumstantial evidence, Chief. I mean there are a lot of reasons cases get dismissed.”
“Maybe not. My executive assistant recognized one of the names on Butelli’s list as an old friend, and she laid it out for us. She reluctantly admitted that she gave Pellegrino over $10,000 to get a drunk driving charge dismissed. It was paid in cash.”
“I guess that makes it pretty clear.” Bronson said, nodding his head.
“Yes sir, it does, but there’s plenty more.”
“Please go on. This is intriguing, Pat.”
“While I was headed to DC to meet the shrink, we were followed. We tried to stop this car, and it ended up in a chase with the New Jersey State Police. They shot and killed him after he took a couple of shots with a silenced 9mm. The perp’s name was Harry Pittsford, a retired Kings County Court Officer. In the follow-up investigation, we’ve discovered that Pittsford had bugged Margaret Butelli’s phone and had cameras watching the house. Before I get ahead of myself, we tried to locate the people involved. It gets really interesting. Judge Fitzpatrick was killed in a hunting accident upstate in 2001. It was witnessed by Harry Pittsford. ADA Donovan moved to California and hasn’t been seen since. Pellegrino is on the run, and we’ve been working him with the U. S. Marshals, as a fugitive case.”
“If they can’t find him, he can’t be found.” The DA said.
“So it seems. Anyway, Harry Pittsford had a girlfriend. She voluntarily came forward and is cooperating. Essentially she says Pellegrino caught Harry switching dollar bills for hundreds in a drug trial where the hundreds were evidence and held it over his head to get old Harry to take care of some business for him. She knew that he had to handle a PI, an attorney and a judge. She remembered the attorney being named Moses. We found a Nathanial Moses who was also killed in a hit and run as a pedestrian on 49
th
Street in 2001. The case was never solved. We found his wife, Gloria, and she acknowledged her husband had hired Forest Butelli to look into the corruption.”
“Anything else, Pat?”
“We’ve recovered emails from Pittsford’s computer which are pretty incriminating and have a lot more details. This was the condensed version.”