JUNE 23, 1998

FOUR SUSPECTS IN POLICE IMPERSONATION CASE ARRESTED IN LONG ISLAND CITY STING

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown and New York City Police Department Chief Charles Campisi, commanding officer of the NYPD's Internal Affairs Division, today announced the arrest of four men in an undercover narcotics sting operation undertaken as a part of an investigation into reports that the men had committed a series of robberies posing as police officers.

District Attorney Brown said, "More and more we are seeing push in robberies and home invasions committed by individuals masquerading as pdlice officers and wearing police windbreakers and shields. When they get away with their crimes it is very destructive of the relationship between the police and the community. These arrests should make it known that we are extremely serious about stopping these kinds of activities and they should go a long way towards maintaining public confidence in the integrity of police officers."

District Attorney Brown identified the defendants as Ramon Campana, 42, of 1091 Longfellow Ave., Bronx, N.Y., Abduho Gonzalez, 25, of 2600 Creston Ave., Bronx, N.Y., Jonathan Martinez, 43, of 306 St. Nicholas Ave., Manhattan, and Angel Martinez, 31, of 1398 Grand Concourse, Bronx, N.Y. They are charged with attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree, conspiracy and criminal impersonation. If convicted of the charges they face up to 25 years to life in prison.

According to the charges, the defendants were told that a rental truck carrying a large shipment of cocaine would be travelling through Queens County on Friday night, June 19th. At about 8 P.M. that night the suspects were told that the truck had broken down in Long Island City in the vicinity of 43rd Avenue and 9th Street. The narcotics were concealed inside several items of household furniture in the truck.

District Attorney Brown said that the defendants arrived at the location at about 9 P.M. in two vehicles and three defendants wearing police shields began unloading the furniture containing the drugs. Police officers and detectives sealed off the block and moved in to arrest the defendants.

The investigation was carried out by the New York City Police Department's Internal Affairs Division.

Assistant District Attorneys James M. Liander and Khadijah Muhammed Starling of District Attorney Brown's Integrity Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Vincent J. Carroll and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Robert D. Alexander, are in charge of the case.

It is to be noted that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.