James Delahunty
22 Apr 2005 16:32
Two NYPD cops are being investigated by Internal Affairs for allegedly accepting cash payoffs from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to bust DVD pirates. One officer, a sergeant on the force since 1992, has been transferred from the Staten Island Task Force to the 122nd Precinct pending the internal investigation. The officers ages 36 and 32, would arrest he pirates and then confiscate the pirated goods. They would be acting on information from MPAA investigators, many of whom are actually former cops.
"There is nothing improper about that practice. But on at least four occasions in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island, the task force officers arrested the vendors, confiscated the illegal movies and then allegedly received gratuities of several hundred dollars from the MPAA itself or its investigators" a source told the New York Post. The Motion Picture Association of America has strongly denied the allegations.
"We don't give cash to police officers," said Bill Shannon, an MPAA anti-piracy official. "We work with law-enforcement organizations by providing information and logistical support, and the police make the arrests." The Staten Island Task Force made headlines in 2003 after one of its officers, Bryan Conroy, shot and killed an innocent bystander at a Manhattan storage warehouse where they had went to bust pirates. Ousmane Zongo, an African immigrant, was unarmed. Conroy's trial earlier this year ended in a hung jury. He will be retried this summer.
Source:
New York Post