EX-OFFICER GETS 18 YEARS IN DRUG PLOT

Concerns Are Raised On Wider Corruption

With a judge calling him corrupt, a former Boston police officer was
sentenced in US District Court yesterday to 18 years in prison for
his role in a drug-trafficking scheme.

In issuing the sentence, Judge William G. Young said Nelson
Carrasquillo's crimes were "extraordinarily dangerous" to the
community because they threatened to erode the public's trust in
police officers.

"What you did you did for greed and just for your own personal
gratification, that will reflect on police everywhere," Young said.

He said corrupt police officers "may be rare, but you are
one."

Carrasquillo was part of a trio of officers snarled in one of the
more embarrassing scandals in Boston Police Department history. The
case raised concerns about wider corruption in the department after
testimony in one defendant's trial revealed potentially troubling
conduct by other officers. It prompted Police Commissioner Edward F.
Davis to publicly vow to press for the strictest sanctions against
officers who violate the law.

Carrasquillo, dressed in an orange prison uniform, apologized before
the sentencing to the court, his family and his supporters. In
November, the 36-year-old Dorchester resident pleaded guilty to
conspiracy with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin and two
counts of attempted aiding and abetting the scheme.

"Have mercy on me," said Carrasquillo, who also received five years
of probation. He described the last several months as a learning
experience and said he would like "the opportunity to give back."

His lawyer, Stephen Neyman of Boston, said in an interview after the
proceedings that he would appeal the sentence. He was seeking about
eight years, significantly less than the nearly 20-year maximum the
judge calculated in court yesterday afternoon under federal
sentencing guidelines.

Neyman called Carrasquillo's role in the scheme minor, emphasizing he
was a reluctant participant. But both the prosecutor, Assistant US
Attorney John T. McNeil, and the judge said yesterday that
Carrasquillo was a sort of middleman.

Carrasquillo was recruited by another police officer, Roberto "Kiko"
Pulido, in late 2005 to pitch in with a drug smuggling scheme.
Carrasquillo then recruited a third officer, Carlos Pizarro.

On April 23, 2006, Carrasquillo assisted Pulido with a drug deal by
providing counter-surveillance and monitoring Police Department radio
channels while a transfer of 40 kilograms of cocaine took place at a
garage on Washington Street in Boston, according to the US attorney's
office.

In exchange for their assistance, the two officers split a $20,000
payment.

Then, on June 8, 2006, the three officers guided a truck containing
about 100 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated wholesale value of
more than $2 million from Western Massachusetts to the Washington
Street garage, according to the US attorney's office.

Once in Boston, Carrasquillo provided surveillance while another
truck picked up the cocaine. They were paid a total of $51,000 by FBI
agents posing as drug dealers.

The three officers were arrested in Miami in July 2006 by federal
agents, who had been investigating the officers for months.

The undercover agents, shortly before arresting the three, secured an
agreement from the officers to protect another drug shipment: 1,000
kilograms of cocaine and five kilograms of heroin.

Pizzaro, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced in December to 13 years in
prison. Next month, Williams will consider a possible sentence of
more than 20 years for Pulido, who has pleaded guilty to weapon and
narcotics charges.

Yesterday, more than a dozen of Carrasquillo's relatives and friends,
some with tears in their eyes, sat in two wooden rows of the
courtroom and watched as a US marshal handcuffed him and escorted him
out of the courtroom. A few of them told Carrasquillo they loved
him.

A woman Neyman identified as Carrasquillo's wife said little as she
walked out of the courtroom with her family.

In response to a reporter's question about the sentencing, she said
only, "I trust the system."